RU2791244C1 - Random access method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: communication.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to random access. A random access signal and the first information used for the result of random access competition are sent to a network device, while the random access signal is used to request for random access. A tracking window is launched or re-launched in the first symbol after transmission or retransmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The first response and the second response are tracked in the tracking window, while the first response is a response to the random access signal, the second response is a response to the first information used for the result of random access competition, and the tracking window is used for tracking both the first response and the second response. It is determined, whether random access is successful.

EFFECT: reduction in delays for increasing transmission efficiency, when two different responses are tracked during a random access procedure.

13 cl, 8 dwg

Description

[0001] The present application claims the priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 201910360371.3 filed with the China Patent Office on April 30, 2019 and entitled "RANDOM ACCESS METHOD AND APPARATUS", which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY TO WHICH THE INVENTION RELATES

[0002] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies and, in particular, relate to a random access method and device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The terminal device may implement uplink synchronization with the network device in a random access (RA) procedure. The random access procedure includes a contention-free random access procedure and a contention-free random access procedure. At present, the competitive random access procedure consists of four stages: In the first stage, the terminal device sends a random access request to the network device, the random access request is referred to as message 1 (Msg1) and includes a random access preamble (preamble); in the second step, the network device sends a random access response (RAR) message to the terminal device, the RAR message may also be referred to as message 2 (Msg2); in the third step, after receiving the RAR message, the terminal device sends, in the resource allocated by the network device, a message to the network device by using the timing advance indicated by the network device, which message may also be referred to as message 3 (Msg3); and in the fourth step, the network device sends the contention result information to the terminal device, wherein the message carrying the contention result information is called message 4 (Msg4). The RAR message may include a random access preamble identifier (RAP ID), and when the RAP identifier matches (or is the same as) the preamble identifier selected by the terminal device, the RAR message is considered to have been successfully received.

[0004] The four-way contention random access procedure requires a relatively large number of interaction procedures and has a relatively high latency. Therefore, this procedure cannot be well applied to a scenario with a high latency requirement. Therefore, a two-stage adversarial random access procedure is introduced.

[0005] However, at present, some terminal devices support both the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure, and therefore, the terminal device does not know how to perform an operation while balancing the latency and power consumption of the terminal device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide a random access method and apparatus such that a terminal device selects an appropriate random access type while balancing latency and power consumption.

[0007] According to a first aspect, a random access method is provided. The method provided in the first aspect may be performed by a terminal device or may be performed by a chip located in the terminal device. In the present application, this is not limited.

[0008] Specifically, the method includes: sending, to the network device, a random access signal and first information used for a contention result; keeping track of a first response and a second response, the first response being a response to a random access signal and including an uplink grant, and the second response being a response to the first information used for a contention result; and upon detecting the first response and detecting the second response before the position in the uplink grant time domain, determining that the random access is successful; or upon detecting the first response, sending the second information used for the contention result by using the uplink grant, and upon detecting the second response or the third response, determining that the random access is successful, wherein the third response is the response to the second information used for competition result.

[0009] According to the random access method in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device monitors the first response and the second response in the first tracking window and the second tracking window, respectively, so that the terminal device performs a four-round random access procedure while performing a two-round random access procedure. When random access of any type is successful, it is determined that the terminal device's random access is successful, and therefore, the delay of the terminal device in the random access procedure is reduced.

[0010] With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations of the first aspect, monitoring the first response and the second response includes: in response to transmission of a random access signal, starting or restarting the first monitoring window and monitoring the first response in the first monitoring window; and in response to the transmission of the first information used for the race result, starting or restarting the second tracking window and monitoring the second response in the second tracking window.

[0011] It should be noted that the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window may be launched or restarted at the same time, or may be launched or restarted at different times. In the present application, this is not limited.

[0012] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when it is determined that the random access is successful, the second tracking window is stopped.

[0013] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, in response to the transmission of the second information used for the contention result, a third tracking window is started or restarted, and the third response is tracked in the third tracking window.

[0014] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the second response is detected in the second tracking window, the second tracking window and the third tracking window are stopped; or when a third response is detected in the third monitoring window, the second monitoring window and the third monitoring window are stopped.

[0015] In the technical solution of the present application, when the terminal device first detects the second response in the second snoop window, it indicates that the two-round random access is successful, so that the terminal device stops the second snoop window and the third snoop window, and stops the two-round random access, and four-stage random access. Alternatively, when the terminal device first detects the third response in the third snoop window, it indicates that the four round random access is successful, so that the terminal device stops the second snoop window and the third snoop window. Because the two-stage random access procedure and the four-stage random access procedure are executed in parallel, the random access latency of the terminal apparatus can be reduced.

[0016] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the second tracking window ends during the operation of the third tracking window, the second response is no longer tracked and the third response continues to be tracked; and when the third response is detected in the third tracking window, it is determined that the random access is successful; or when the third response is not found in the third tracking window, then the random access is re-initiated.

[0017] It should be noted that after the terminal device determines that the random access is unsuccessful, the random access re-initiated by the terminal device may be a two-stage random access or a four-stage random access. In the present application, this is not limited.

[0018] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the second snoop window ends during the operation of the third snoop window, the third snoop window is stopped and the random access is re-initiated.

[0019] In the above solution, after determining that the 2-way random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal device directly stops the 2-way random access procedure and the 4-way random access procedure, and re-initiates random access without continuing the execution of the 4-way random access procedure, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. .

[0020] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the third tracking window ends during the operation of the second tracking window, the third response stops being tracked and the second response continues to be tracked; and when the second response is detected in the second tracking window, it is determined that the random access is successful; or when the second response is not found in the second tracking window, then the random access is re-initiated.

[0021] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the first tracking window ends during the operation of the second tracking window, the second response continues to be monitored; and when the second response is detected in the second tracking window, it is determined that the random access is successful; or when the second response is not found in the second tracking window, then the random access is re-initiated.

[0022] With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations of the first aspect, when the second tracking window ends during the operation of the first tracking window, the first response continues to be tracked, and when the first response is detected, the second information used for the contention result is sent via using an uplink grant; and when the third response is found, it is determined that the random access is successful; or when no third response is found, then the random access is re-initiated.

[0023] With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementations of the first aspect, in response to the transmission of the random access signal and/or the transmission of the first information used for the contention result, then the first tracking window is started or restarted, and the first response and the second response tracked in the first tracking window.

[0024] In the above technical solution, the terminal device simultaneously monitors the first response and the second response in the same tracking window. The first watch window may reuse the watch window in current technology, such as a RAR window. Alternatively, the network device may reconfigure a new snoop window for the terminal device. In the present application, this is not limited.

[0025] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when it is determined that the random access is successful, the first tracking window is stopped.

[0026] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, in response to the transmission of the second information used for the contention result, a second tracking window is launched or restarted, and the third response is monitored in the second tracking window.

[0027] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the second response is detected in the first tracking window, the first tracking window and the second tracking window are stopped; or

when the third response is found in the second tracking window, the first tracking window and the second tracking window are stopped.

[0028] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the first tracking window ends during the operation of the second tracking window, the second response stops being tracked and the third response continues to be tracked; and when the third response is detected in the second tracking window, it is determined that the random access is successful; or when the third response is not found in the second tracking window, then the random access is re-initiated.

[0029] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the first snoop window ends during operation of the second snoop window, the second snoop window is stopped and the random access is reinitialized.

[0030] With reference to the first aspect, in some embodiments of the first aspect, when the second tracking window ends during the operation of the first tracking window, the third response stops being tracked and the second response continues to be tracked; and when the second response is detected in the first tracking window, it is determined that the random access is successful; or when the second response is not found in the first tracking window, then the random access is re-initiated.

[0031] According to a second aspect, the present application provides a random access device. The device is configured to perform the method according to any of the first aspect or possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0032] According to a third aspect, the present application provides a random access device. The device includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, and at least one processor is configured to perform a method according to any of the first aspect or possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0033] According to a fourth aspect, the present application provides a random access device. The device includes at least one processor configured to be connected to the memory to call a program in the memory to perform the method provided in the first aspect. The memory may be located within the device or may be located outside the device. In addition, there are one or more processors.

[0034] According to a fifth aspect, the present application provides a terminal device. The terminal device includes the device provided in the second aspect, or the terminal device includes the device provided in the third aspect, or the terminal device includes the device provided in the fourth aspect.

[0035] According to a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions; and when the computer instructions are executed on the computer, causing the computer to execute the method according to any of the first aspect or embodiments of the first aspect.

[0036] According to the seventh aspect, the present application provides a chip. The microcircuit includes a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute a computer program stored in the memory to perform the method according to any of the first aspect or possible implementations of the first aspect.

[0037] Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, the memory and the processor are connected by a circuit or a wire, and the memory is adapted to store a computer program.

[0038] In addition, optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface.

[0039] According to the eighth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program code; and when the computer program code is executed on the computer, causing the computer to execute the method according to any of the first aspect or embodiments of the first aspect.

[0040] According to the technical solutions of the present application, the terminal device performs the two-round random access procedure and the four-round random access procedure in parallel, so that the terminal device can select an appropriate random access type while balancing the latency and power consumption of the terminal device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] Figure 1 shows an architectural diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

[0042] Figure 2 shows an architectural diagram of another communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

[0043] FIG. 3 shows an architectural diagram of yet another communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

[0044] Figure 4 shows a message exchange diagram of an existing 4-round contentious random access procedure;

[0045] Figure 5 shows a message exchange diagram of an existing two-stage contentious random access procedure;

[0046] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a random access method according to one embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present application; And

[0048] FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to one embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0049] Technical solutions according to the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0050] Figure 1 shows an architectural diagram of a communication system according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system may include a terminal device 100 and a network device 200. The number of terminal devices 100 and network devices 200 is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. A terminal device 100 located within the coverage of the network device 200 may communicate wirelessly with the network device 200. Specifically, when the network device 200 serves as a sender, the network device 200 can send downlink information to the terminal device 100. Accordingly, the terminal device 100 serves as a receiver and can receive the downlink information sent by the network device 200. When the terminal device 100 serves as a sender , terminal device 100 may send uplink information to network device 200. Accordingly, network device 200 serves as a receiver and may receive uplink information sent by terminal device 100. Terminal device 100 may be at a fixed location or may be mobile.

[0051] Optionally, the communication system may further include another device. For example, the communication system may further include a core network device (not shown in FIG. 1). The network device 200 may be connected to the core network device in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device and the network device 200 may be different physical devices independent of each other, or the functions of the core network device and the functions of the network device 200 may be integrated into the same physical device, or part of the functions of the core network device and part of the functions of the network device 200 can be integrated into one physical device. In another example, the communication system may further include a wireless relay device or a wireless hop device (not shown in FIG. 1).

[0052] The network device 200 is a network-side signaling and receiving device, such as a radio access network (RAN) node that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. At present, for example, a RAN node is a generation NodeB (gNB) base station in a new radio access technology (NR) (or 5G) system, a transmission reception point (TRP )), advanced NodeB (evolved NodeB (eNB)), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NodeB, NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station (BTS)), home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB or home NodeB (HNB)), baseband unit (BBU)), relay node or access point (AP) "wireless fidelity " (Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). In a network structure, a network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and DU node Wireless coverage of the network unit The host 200 may include one or more cells. Terminal device 100 within cell coverage communicates with network device 200 by using a transmission resource (eg, frequency domain resource, spectrum resource, or time-frequency resource) of the cell. The cell may be a macro cell or may be a small cell. Optionally, a small cell may include a metro cell, a micro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and the like. The specific technology and specific device shape used by the network device 200 is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0053] The terminal device 100 is also referred to as user equipment (user equipment (UE)), mobile station (mobile station (MS)), mobile terminal (mobile terminal (MT)) or the like, and is a device that provides the user the ability to transmit voice and / or data, for example, a portable device or a device installed on a vehicle with a wireless connection function. Currently, for example, the terminal device is a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, a laptop, a PDA, a mobile Internet device (MID), a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) device. , augmented reality (AR) device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), wireless terminal in self driving, wireless terminal in remote medical surgery, wireless terminal in smart network (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, or a wireless terminal in a smart home.

[0054] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, the network architecture includes a core network (CN) device and a RAN device. The RAN device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. The baseband device may be implemented by a single node, or may be implemented by multiple nodes. The RF device may be independently implemented remotely from the baseband device, may be integrated into the baseband device, or some remote parts may be integrated into the baseband device. For example, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, a RAN device (eNB) includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. The RF device may be located remotely from the baseband device. For example, a remote radio unit (RRU) is remotely located relative to the BBU.

[0055] Communication between the RAN device and the terminal device corresponds to the specified protocol layer structure. For example, a control plane protocol layer structure may include protocol layer functions such as a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control layer ( radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC) layer, and physical layer. layer: In one implementation, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer is further included above the PDCP layer.

[0056] The functions of these protocol layers may be implemented by a single node, or may be implemented by multiple nodes. For example, in an evolved structure, a RAN device may include CUs and DUs, and a plurality of DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. As shown in Fig. 2, CU and DU may be separated based on the protocol layer of the wireless network. For example, the functions of the PDCP layer and the layer above the PDCP layer are set on the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer, such as the RLC layer and the MAC layer, are set on the DU.

[0057] The separation into protocol layers is just an example, and the separation may alternatively be performed based on another protocol layer, such as the RLC layer. The functions of the RLC layer and the layer above the RLC layer are set on the CU, and the function of the protocol layer below the RLC layer is set on the DU. Alternatively, the separation is done at the protocol level. For example, part of the RLC layer functions and the protocol layer function above the RLC layer are set to the CU, and the remaining RLC layer function and the protocol layer function below the RLC layer are set to the DU. In addition, alternatively, the separation may be performed in another way, for example, the separation is performed on a delay basis. The function whose processing time must meet the delay requirement is set to DU, and the function whose processing time must not meet the delay requirement is set to CU.

[0058] In addition, the RF device may not be located in the DU, but remote from the DU, or may be integrated into the DU, or some remote parts are integrated into the DU. It's not limited here.

[0059] Compared to the architecture shown in FIG. 2 with reference to FIG. 3, the control plane (CP) and user plane (UP) of the CU can be further separated and implemented by using different objects, which are respectively the object of the CU. control plane (CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (CU-UP entity).

[0060] In the above network architecture, the signaling generated by the CU may be sent to the terminal device by using the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be sent to the CU by using the DU. The DU can transparently pass the signaling to the terminal device or CU by directly encapsulating the signaling at the protocol level without analyzing the signaling. In the following embodiments, if such signaling is used between the DU and the terminal device, in this case that the DU sends or receives the signaling includes this scenario. For example, the signaling at the RRC layer or the PDCP layer is finally processed as signaling at the PHY layer (physical layer) and sent to the terminal device, or converted from the received signaling at the PHY layer. This architecture can also take into account that the signaling at the RRC layer or the PDCP layer is sent by the DU, or sent by the DU and RF.

[0061] In the above embodiments, the CU is classified as a network device on the RAN side. In addition, alternatively, the CU can be classified as a network device on the side of the CN. It's not limited here.

[0062] When the above CU-DU structure is used, the network device in embodiments of the present application may be a CU node, a DU node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.

[0063] A terminal device may implement uplink synchronization with a network device in a random access procedure. 4 shows a message exchange diagram of an existing contention random access procedure. As shown in FIG. 4, the procedure mainly includes four steps, and therefore may be referred to as a four-way random access procedure.

[0064] S401: The terminal device sends a random access request to the network device, the random access request is referred to as message 1 (Msg1) and includes a random access preamble (preamble).

[0065] Accordingly, the network device receives the preamble, learns that the terminal device is requesting access, and further performs the next step S402.

[0066] S402: The network device sends a random access response (RAR) message to the terminal device, and the RAR message may also be referred to as message 2 (Msg2).

[0067] The RAR message may include the following content: (1) a RAP identifier, wherein the RAP identifier is a preamble identifier obtained when a network device detects a preamble, and may also be referred to as a preamble index; (2) a timing advance command (TA command), wherein the TA command is used to indicate the timing adjustment (also called timing advance) required by the terminal device to perform uplink synchronization; (3) uplink grant information (UL grant), wherein the UL grant is used to indicate an uplink resource that is allocated by the network device to the terminal device to send Msg3 (message 3); and (4) a temporary cell radio network temporary identity (TC-RNTI) used for subsequent data transmission between the terminal device and the network device.

[0068] Accordingly, the terminal device calculates a random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI) by using the frequency-time resource to send the preamble, and monitors in the RAR time window the physical downlink control channel ( physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) scrambled by using the RA-RNTI to receive the RAR corresponding to the RA-RNTI. When the terminal device performs decoding by using the RA-RNTI and successfully receives the RAR, and the RAP ID value in the RAR matches the index value used when the terminal device sends the preamble, the RAR is considered to have been received successfully. The terminal device starts processing the TA command, granting the UL and TC-RNTI that are included in the RAR. If the terminal device does not receive the RAR for the preamble within the RAR time window, then it is considered that the RAR could not be received. It then returns to S401 to perform the four round contention random access again.

[0069] S403: The terminal device sends, based on the RAR and the uplink resource allocated by the network device, Msg3 (message 3) to the network device by using the timing advance indicated by the network device.

[0070] In particular, after sending Msg3, the terminal device starts or restarts the race result timer. Msg3 includes the terminal device ID. The terminal device ID is to be used for the contention result in step S404. The terminal device identifier may be associated with the status of the terminal device in the communication system. For example, when the terminal device is in RRC connected mode (RRC_CONNECTED), the terminal device identifier may be a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) . When the terminal device is in non-RRC connection mode, the terminal device identifier may be a terminal device identifier from the core network. Optionally, the terminal device identifier from the core network may be a system architecture evolution temporary mobile station identifier (S-TMSI) or an arbitrary number.

[0071] S404: The network device sends Msg4 (message 4) to the terminal device.

[0072] Msg4 may include contention result information to indicate that the contention result is successful. Optionally, the contention result information may be a UE contention resolution identity MAC CE, that is, part or all of the Msg3 content. Alternatively, the contention result information may be a PDCCH scrambled by using a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), that is, upon detecting a PDCCH scrambled by using a C-RNTI, the terminal device considers that the contention is has a result in his favor. Accordingly, the terminal device waits to receive the Msg4 message in the contention result timer. If the contention result timer expires and the terminal apparatus has not received the contention result information, it returns to S401 to perform the four-round contention random access again.

[0073] The four-way contention random access procedure is applied to a scenario with relatively high latency requirements. Since there are a relatively large number of interaction procedures, the delay is relatively large, and therefore it is difficult to meet the delay requirement. Therefore, a two-stage random access procedure is introduced. 5 shows a message exchange diagram of a two-stage random access procedure according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the random access procedure may include the following steps.

[0074] S501: The terminal device sends a request message to the network device.

[0075] Accordingly, the network device receives the request message sent by the terminal device.

[0076] The request message may include a random access signal and information used for a contention result.

[0077] The random access signal is used to request random access. The network device can detect the random access signal and know that the terminal device is requesting random access.

[0078] In different communication systems or different application scenarios, the random access signal may be implemented in different ways. For example, in an NR system, the random access signal may be a Preamble, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), or another detection signal used for random access. Implementation, length, name, etc. random access signals are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0079] The information used for the contention result is sent by the terminal device to the network device and used for the contention result.

[0080] Optionally, the information used for the race result may include a terminal device identifier. The terminal device identifier may be associated with the status of the terminal device in the communication system. For example, when the terminal device is in RRC connected mode (RRC_CONNECTED), the terminal device identifier may be a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) . When the terminal device is in non-RRC connection mode, the terminal device identifier may be a terminal device identifier from the core network. Optionally, the terminal device identifier from the core network may be a system architecture evolution temporary mobile station identifier (S-TMSI) or an arbitrary number.

[0081] S502: The network device sends a response message to the terminal device to the request message.

[0082] Accordingly, the terminal device receives a response message that is for the request message and sent by the network device.

[0083] The response message includes contention result information and a payload, and the payload in the response message may include some or all of the contents of the RAR in a four-way contention random access procedure. For example, the payload may include one or any combination of the following information: UL grant, TA command, and TC-RNTI. Alternatively, the payload may include newly defined content, such as a downlink assignment (DL assignment). The specific content of the payload in the response message is not limited in this application. The contention result information in the response message is obtained by the terminal device based on the information used for the contention result, and is part or all of the contents of the information used for the contention result, or the PDCCH scrambled by using the terminal device's C-RNTI, or the C-RNTI explicitly carried in response message.

[0084] For example, with reference to S404 in FIG. 4, in the four-way contention random access procedure for a terminal device that is in RRC_CONNECTED mode, Msg4 is realized by using a PDCCH scrambled by using C-RNTI. In step S403, the terminal device may send the C-RNTI of the terminal device to the network device by using the C-RNTI MAC CE. In step S404, when the terminal device detects the PDCCH scrambled by using the C-RNTI, the terminal device considers that the random access is successful. In the two-way contention random access procedure for a terminal device that is in RRC_CONNECTED mode, the terminal device has received a C-RNTI. In step S501, in a message sent by the terminal device to the network device, the C-RNTI may be sent to the network device as information used for the contention result. Accordingly, the network device may explicitly include the C-RNTI in the response message as contention result information.

[0085] From the above, it can be understood that the two-stage random access procedure has fewer interaction procedures than the four-stage random access procedure, so that the random access delay can be significantly reduced, thereby satisfying a new application scenario with a relatively high delay requirement, for example, unlicensed spectrum cell, short delay service, or small packet data service.

[0086] However, since some existing terminal devices can support both the four-way random access procedure and the two-way random access procedure, when two aspects of delay and power consumption are considered, the terminal device does not know how to choose between the four-way random access procedure and the two-way random access procedure. access. In this regard, embodiments of the present application provide a random access method. When the terminal device performs the two-way random access procedure, if the terminal device detects the random access signal response message, the terminal device returns to the four-way random access procedure and continues to perform the two-way random access procedure. In other words, the two-round random access procedure and the four-round random access procedure are performed simultaneously, and when either procedure is successful, the terminal device determines that the random access is successful this time, thereby greatly reducing the random access delay.

[0087] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a random access method 600 according to one embodiment of the present application. Method 600 includes steps S601 through S603. Below is a detailed description of these steps.

[0088] S601: Sending the random access signal and the first information used for the contention result.

[0089] The terminal device sends the random access signal and the first information used for the contention result to the network device. The random access signal is used to request random access; and the first information used for the contention result is sent by the terminal device to the network device and used for the contention result. For information about specific contents, see descriptions in S501. For brevity, the details are not repeated here.

[0090] The manner in which the terminal device sends the random access signal and the first information used for the contention result to the network device is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0091] S602: The terminal device monitors the first response and the second response.

[0092] After receiving the random access signal and the first information used for the contention result, which are sent by the terminal device, the network device sends the first response to the random access signal and the second response to the first information used for the contention result, and the terminal device monitors the first response and second answer.

[0093] The first response may be an existing RAR (Random Access Response) message or another newly defined response message. The title of the first response is not limited in the present application. The first response includes part or all of the contents of the RAR in a four-way contention random access procedure and includes one or more pieces of uplink grant information (UL grant), timing advance command (TA command), and TC-RNTI.

[0094] The second response is obtained by the terminal device based on the first information used for the contention result, e.g., is part or all of the content of the first information used for the contention result, or is the PDCCH scrambled by using the C-RNTI, or is the C-RNTI explicitly transmitted in second answer.

[0095] For example, with reference to S602 in FIG. 6, for a terminal device that is in the RRC_CONNECTED mode, the terminal device has received a C-RNTI. In step S601, in a message sent by the terminal device to the network device, the C-RNTI may be sent to the network device as information used for the contention result. Accordingly, the network device may explicitly include the C-RNTI in the second response as contention result information.

[0096] S603: The terminal device determines whether the random access is successful.

[0097] Upon detecting the first response and detecting the second response before the position in the uplink grant time domain, the terminal device determines that the random access is successful. Alternatively, upon detecting the first response, the terminal device sends the second information used for the contention result by using the uplink grant, and upon detecting the second response or the third response, the terminal apparatus determines that the random access is successful, with the third response being the response to the second information used for the result of the match.

[0098] In some possible implementations, the second information used for the contention result may be message 3 in the four-round contention random access procedure. For information about specific content, see the description in S403. For brevity, the details are not repeated here.

[0099] In some possible implementations, the third response may be message 4 in the four round contention random access procedure and may include contention result information to indicate that the contention result is successful. Optionally, the contention result information may be a UE contention resolution identity (MAC CE) MAC control, i.e., part or all of the content of message 3. The contention result information may alternatively be a PDCCH scrambled by using C-RNTI.

[00100] It should be noted that a successful race result is also referred to as a successful random access. Specifically, when determining based on the tracking status of the first response, the second response, and the third response that the race result is successful, the terminal device may also consider that the random access is successful; when determining based on the tracking status of the first response, the second response, and the third response that the contention result is unsuccessful, the terminal device may also consider that the random access is unsuccessful. For ease of description, whether the contention result is successful or the contention result is unsuccessful is collectively referred to as random access successful or random access unsuccessful in this embodiment of the present application.

[00101] In order to monitor the first response and the second response, the network device may send the configuration information of the two monitoring windows to the terminal device and determine the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window. The first tracking window is used to track the first response and the second tracking window is used to track the second response.

[00102] The first snooping window may be a RAR window in the current technology, or may be a snooping window that is reconfigured by the network device and used to track the first response. The specific names of the first tracking window and the second tracking window are not limited in this embodiment of the present application. In addition, the tracking window can also be called a timer.

[00103] In addition, the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window may be launched or restarted at the same time, or may be launched or restarted at different times. For example, the first tracking window is started or restarted after the terminal device finishes sending the random access signal. For example, the first tracking window is started or restarted on the first PDCCH resource (eg, PDCCH event) after completion of random access signal transmission, or the first tracking window is started or restarted after a time offset after completion of random access signal transmission. The time offset may be predetermined or may be configured on the side of the network device. The second tracking window is started or restarted after the terminal device completes sending or retransmitting a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . For example, the second tracking window is started or restarted in the first symbol (eg, symbol) after the completion of the transmission or retransmission of the PUSCH, or the second tracking window is started or restarted after a time offset after the completion of the transmission or retransmission of the PUSCH. The time offset may be predetermined or may be configured on the side of the network device. Alternatively, the first snoop window and the second snoop window are simultaneously started or restarted after the terminal device completes sending or retransmitting the PUSCH. For example, the first tracking window and the second tracking window are simultaneously started or restarted in the first symbol (for example, symbol) after the end of transmission or retransmission of PUSCH, or the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window are simultaneously started or restarted after a time offset after the end of transmission. or retransmission PUSCH. The time offset may be predetermined or may be configured on the side of the network device. Alternatively, the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window are simultaneously started or restarted after the terminal device completes sending the random access signal. For example, the first tracking window and the second tracking window are simultaneously started or restarted on the first PDCCH resource (eg, PDCCH event) after the completion of the random access signal transmission, or the first tracking window and the second tracking window are started simultaneously or restarted after a time offset after the end random access signal transmission. The time offset may be predetermined or may be configured on the side of the network device.

[00104] It should be understood that the above methods for starting or restarting the first watch window and the second watch window are merely examples. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[00105] If the terminal device first detects the second response and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the first tracking window and the second tracking window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00106] It should be understood that stopping the first tracking window means stopping tracking the first response, and stopping the second tracking window means stopping tracking the second response.

[00107] It should be noted that in the present application, stopping the tracking window means stopping tracking the corresponding response. For brevity, the details are not described further.

[00108] If the terminal device detects the first response first, the terminal device stops the first tracking window but does not stop the second tracking window, and returns to the four-way random access procedure while continuing to monitor the second response. In other words, the terminal device performs two round random access and four round random access in parallel. When it is determined that either the two-way random access procedure or the four-way random access procedure is successful, the terminal device stops the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure, and determines that the random access is successful this time, thereby reducing the random access delay.

[00109] Random access return means that a return is being made from the two-round contention random access procedure to the four-round contention random access procedure.

[00110] In particular, if the network device controls the terminal device to perform a return from the two-way contention random access procedure to the four-way contention random access procedure, the network device may send a first response to the random access signal to the terminal device. Optionally, the first response includes uplink grant information, a timing advance command, and a TC-RNTI. Subsequently, the terminal device may perform steps S403 and S404 in Fig. 4 based on the received first response to perform random access return.

[00111] In some embodiments, when the terminal device first detects the first response and detects the second response up to the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the second tracking window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00112] In some embodiments, when the terminal device first detects the first response and the second tracking window ends before the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response, the terminal device stops tracking the second response and continues to perform the four-round random access procedure , that is, the execution of steps S403 and S404 in Fig.4. If it is determined that the four-way random access procedure is successful, the terminal apparatus stops the four-way random access procedure; if it is determined that the four-way random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal device re-initiates the two-way random access or the four-way random access. Alternatively, when the second tracking window ends, the terminal device directly stops the first tracking window and re-initiates two-round random access or four-round random access.

[00113] Alternatively, the terminal device detects a second response after the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response. In this case, since the terminal device sent the uplink grant message 3 and started or restarted the third tracking window, the terminal device monitors the third response in the third tracking window while monitoring the second response in the second tracking window, and the third response may be result information. contention in the 4-way random access procedure, that is, message 4, and the second information used for the result of the contention may be message 3 in the 4-way random access procedure. If the terminal device first detects the second response and determines that the random access is successful, this indicates that the two-round random access procedure is successful, so the terminal device stops the second tracking window and the third tracking window, stops the four-round random access procedure, and determines that the random access procedure is successful. access this time is successful.

[00114] Similarly, if the terminal device detects the third response first, it indicates that the four-round random access procedure is successful, so the terminal device stops the second tracking window and the third tracking window, stops the two-round random access procedure, and determines that random access this time is successful.

[00115] Optionally, as an example, the first response is a RAR message. When the terminal device performs decoding by using the RA-RNTI and successfully receives the RAR, and the RAP ID value in the RAR matches the index value used when the terminal device sends the preamble, the RAR is considered to have been received successfully. That is, the terminal device successfully detects the first response. When the terminal device detects that the second response to the first information used for the contention result includes the contention result identifier of the terminal device, or the second response is a PDCCH scrambled by using the terminal device's C-RNTI, or the second response explicitly carries the C-RNTI terminal device, the terminal device successfully detects the second response. The third response may be contention result information (message 4) in 4-round random access, and when the terminal device detects that the third response to the second information used for the contention result includes a contention result identifier of the terminal device, or the third response is a PDCCH, scrambled by using the C-RNTI of the terminal device, the terminal device successfully detects the third response.

[00116] It should be noted that the third monitoring window may be a contention result timer in the current technology, or may be a new timer reconfigured by the network device. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[00117] When the second monitoring window ends during operation of the third monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the second response and continues to monitor the third response in the third monitoring window. If the terminal device detects a third response in the third snoop window, the terminal device stops the third snoop window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00118] Alternatively, if the terminal device does not detect a third response until the third snoop window ends, this means that both the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure are unsuccessful, so that the terminal device re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00119] In some possible implementations, when the second snoop window ends, the terminal device directly stops the third snoop window and re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00120] In addition, when the third tracking window ends during operation of the second monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the third response and continues to monitor the second response in the second monitoring window. If the terminal device detects a second response in the second snoop window, the terminal device stops the second snoop window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00121] Alternatively, if the terminal device does not detect a second response until the second snoop window ends, then this indicates that both the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure are unsuccessful, so that the terminal device re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00122] In some embodiments, when the third snoop window ends, the terminal device directly stops the second snoop window and re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00123] In the above solution, when the terminal device performs random access in order to reduce the random access latency of the terminal device, after receiving the first response, the terminal device returns to the four-round random access procedure while continuing to monitor the second response. Therefore, the terminal device performs the four-way random access procedure when executing the two-way random access procedure, and when either of the procedures is successful, the terminal device determines that the random access is successful this time, thereby greatly reducing the terminal device random access latency.

[00124] In some embodiments, when the terminal device first detects the first response, the terminal device directly stops the first snoop window and the second snoop window, directly returns from the two-round random access procedure to the four-round random access procedure, and continues to execute the subsequent four-round random access procedure , that is, perform steps S403 and S404 in Fig. 4 so that the processing of the terminal device is simplified and the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced.

[00125] Alternatively, when the terminal device detects the first response, the terminal device stops the first tracking window and continues to monitor the second response in the second tracking window. When the terminal device detects the second response during operation of the second snoop window and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the second snoop window, stops the two-stage random access procedure, and determines that the random access is successful this time. When the terminal device does not detect the second response until the second monitoring window ends, the terminal device stops the two-way random access procedure and determines whether the terminal device can return to the four-way random access procedure at this time. If the terminal device can return to the four-round random access procedure, namely, when the current moment has not reached the position in the time domain of the uplink grant included in the first response, the terminal device returns from the two-round random access procedure to the four-round random access procedure, and continues to execute the subsequent step in the four-stage random access procedure, that is, execute S403 and S404 in FIG. If the current time exceeds the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response, then the terminal device cannot return from the two-round random access procedure to the four-round random access procedure. Therefore, the terminal device re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access. Since the terminal device first performs the two-stage random access procedure during random access, when the two-stage random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal device directly returns to the four-stage random access procedure or re-initiates random access, so that the processing of the terminal device is simplified and the power consumption of the terminal device decreases.

[00126] Optionally, if the second tracking window is still operating when the first tracking window ends, then the terminal device continues to monitor the second response, and until the terminal device detects the second response during the operation of the second tracking window and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the second tracking window and determines that the random access is successful this time; or if the terminal device does not detect a second response until the second tracking window ends, the terminal device determines that the random access is unsuccessful this time and re-initiates two-round random access or four-round random access. Alternatively, when the first tracking window ends, the terminal device stops the second tracking window and re-initiates two-round random access or four-way random access.

[00127] Alternatively, if the first tracking window is still running, when the second tracking window ends, the terminal device continues to monitor the first response, and when the terminal device detects the first response during the operation of the first tracking window, the terminal device continues to perform the four-way random access procedure , that is, the execution of steps S403 and S404 in Fig.4. If it is determined that the four-way random access is successful, the terminal device stops the four-way random access procedure; if it is determined that the four-way random access is unsuccessful, the terminal device re-initiates the two-way random access or the four-way random access. Alternatively, if the terminal device does not detect the first response until the first snoop window ends, the terminal device determines that the random access is unsuccessful this time and re-initiates two-round random access or four-round random access. Alternatively, when the second tracking window ends, the terminal device directly stops the first tracking window and re-initiates two-stage random access or four-stage random access.

[00128] In addition, if the terminal device does not detect the first response and the second response until the first snoop window and the second snoop window end, the terminal device determines that the random access is unsuccessful this time and re-initiates two-stage random access or four-way random access.

[00129] In some possible implementations, the terminal device may track the first response and the second response in the same tracking window. Specifically, the network device sends the configuration information of one tracking window to the terminal device, and the tracking window is used to track both the first response and the second response.

[00130] The tracking window may reuse a tracking window or timer in current technology, such as a RAR tracking window or content resolution timer, or may be a tracking window that is reconfigured by a network device that is used for tracking. first answer and second answer. The specific name of the tracking window is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. For ease of description, this embodiment of the present application uses the first tracking window as an example.

[00131] It should also be noted that the first tracking window in this embodiment of the present application and the second tracking window below are not identical to the first tracking window and the second tracking window in the above embodiment.

[00132] The terminal device starts or restarts the first tracking window after the completion of sending or retransmission of the PUSCH, for example, starts or restarts the first tracking window in the first symbol (for example, symbol) after the end of the transmission or retransmission of the PUSCH, starts or restarts the first tracking window after time offset after end of transmission or retransmission of PUSCH. The time offset may be predetermined or may be configured on the side of the network device. Alternatively, the terminal device starts or restarts the first snoop window after completion of sending the random access signal, for example, starts or restarts the first snoop window on the first PDCCH resource (eg, a PDCCH event) after completion of transmission of the random access signal, or starts or restarts starts the first tracking window after the time offset after the end of the transmission of the random access signal. The time offset may be predetermined or may be configured on the side of the network device. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[00133] If the terminal device detects the second response in the first snoop window and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the first snoop window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00134] It should be understood that since the terminal device monitors both the first response and the second response in the first monitoring window, when the terminal device stops the first monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the first response and the second response. For brevity, details are not described below.

[00135] If the terminal device first detects the first response in the first monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the first response but does not stop the first monitoring window and returns to the four-round random access procedure while continuing to monitor the second response. In other words, the terminal device performs two round random access and four round random access in parallel. When it is determined that either the two-way random access procedure or the four-way random access procedure is successful, the terminal device stops the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure, and determines that the random access is successful this time, thereby reducing the random access delay.

[00136] For example, when the terminal device first detects the first response in the first tracking window and detects the second response up to the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the first tracking window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00137] In some possible implementations, when the terminal device detects the first response and the first tracking window ends before the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response, the terminal device stops monitoring the second response and continues to perform the four-way random access, that is, performing steps S403 and S404 in FIG. If it is determined that the four-way random access is successful, the terminal apparatus stops the four-way random access procedure; if it is determined that the four-way random access is unsuccessful, the terminal device re-initiates the two-way random access or the four-way random access. Alternatively, when the first tracking window ends, the terminal device re-initiates two-way random access or four-way random access.

[00138] Alternatively, the terminal device detects a second response after the time domain position of the uplink grant included in the first response. In this case, since the terminal device sent the uplink grant message 3 and started or restarted the second snoop window, the terminal device monitors the third response in the second snoop window while monitoring the second response in the first snoop window, where the third response may be contention result information. in the four-round random access procedure, that is, message 4, and the second information used for the contention result may be message 3 in the four-round random access procedure. If the terminal device first detects the second response and determines that the random access is successful, this indicates that the two-round random access procedure is successful, so the terminal device stops the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window, stops the four-round random access procedure, and determines that the random access procedure is successful. access this time is successful.

[00139] Similarly, if the terminal device detects the third response first, it means that the four-round random access procedure is successful, so the terminal device stops the first tracking window and the second tracking window, stops the two-round random access procedure, and determines that the random access this time is successful.

[00140] When the first monitoring window ends during operation of the second monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the second response and continues to monitor the third response in the second monitoring window. If the terminal device detects a third response in the second snoop window, the terminal device stops the second snoop window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00141] Alternatively, if the terminal device does not detect a third response until the second snoop window ends, this means that both the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure are unsuccessful, so that the terminal device re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00142] In some possible implementations, when the first snoop window ends, the terminal device directly stops the second snoop window and re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00143] In addition, when the second tracking window ends during operation of the first monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the third response and continues to monitor the second response in the first monitoring window. If the terminal device detects the second response in the first snoop window, the terminal device stops the first snoop window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00144] Alternatively, if the terminal device does not detect a second response until the first snoop window ends, this means that both the two-way random access procedure and the four-way random access procedure are unsuccessful, so that the terminal device re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00145] In some possible implementations, when the second snoop window ends, the terminal device directly stops the first snoop window and re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access.

[00146] In the above solution, when the terminal device performs random access in order to reduce the random access latency of the terminal device, after receiving the first response, the terminal device returns to the four-round random access procedure while continuing to monitor the second response. Therefore, the terminal device performs the four-way random access procedure while executing the two-way random access procedure, and when either of the procedures is successful, the terminal device determines that the random access is successful this time, thereby greatly reducing the random access latency of the terminal device.

[00147] In some embodiments, when the terminal device first detects the first response in the first snoop window, the terminal device directly stops the first snoop window, directly returns from the two-round random access procedure to the four-round random access procedure, and continues to execute the subsequent four-round random access procedure. access, that is, performing steps S403 and S404 in Fig. 4, so that the processing of the terminal device is simplified and the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced.

[00148] Alternatively, when the terminal device detects the first response in the first monitoring window, the terminal device stops monitoring the first response and continues to monitor the second response in the first monitoring window. When the terminal device detects the second response during operation of the first snoop window and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the first snoop window, stops the two-stage random access procedure, and determines that the random access is successful this time. When the terminal device does not detect the second response before the expiration of the first tracking window, the terminal device stops the two-way random access procedure and determines whether the terminal device can return to the four-way random access procedure at this time. If the terminal device can return to the four-round random access procedure, namely, when the current moment has not reached the position in the time domain of the uplink grant included in the first response, the terminal device returns from the two-round random access procedure to the four-round random access procedure, and continues to execute the next step in the four-stage random access procedure, that is, execute S403 and S404 in FIG. If the current time exceeds the position in the time domain of the uplink grant included in the first response, the terminal device cannot return from the two-round random access procedure to the four-round random access procedure. Therefore, the terminal device re-initiates random access. The terminal device may initiate a two-stage random access or may initiate a four-stage random access. Since the terminal device first performs the two-stage random access procedure during random access, when the two-stage random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal device directly returns to the four-stage random access procedure or re-initiates random access, so that the processing of the terminal device is simplified, and the power consumption of the terminal device decreases.

[00149] Optionally, if the terminal device does not detect the first response and the second response until the first tracking window ends, the terminal device determines that the random access is unsuccessful this time and re-initiates two-stage random access or four-stage random access.

[00150] It should be understood that the foregoing description is only intended to help one skilled in the art better understand the embodiments of the present application, but is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. It is clear that the person skilled in the art can make various equivalent modifications or changes based on the examples above. Alternatively, any two or more of the above embodiments may be combined. Such a modified, altered or combined solution also falls within the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[00151] It should also be understood that the previous descriptions of the embodiments of the present application have focused on the difference between the embodiments. For identical or similar parts that are not mentioned, reference should be made to each other. For brevity, the details are not described here.

[00152] In addition, it should be understood that the sequence numbers of the above processes do not indicate the sequence of execution. The sequence of execution of the processes should be determined based on the functions and internal logic of the processes and should not constitute any restrictions on the processes for implementing the embodiments of the present application.

[00153] In addition, it should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise indicated or there is no logical contradiction, the terms and / or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may be mutually related, and the specifications in the various embodiments may be combined based on their internal logical relationship to form a new embodiment.

[00154] The above describes in detail an example of the random access method presented in this application. It can be understood that in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes an appropriate hardware structure and/or a software module to perform these functions. One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that, in combination with the modules and algorithm steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. The performance of a function by hardware or hardware controlled by computer software depends on the particular application and design constraints of the technical solutions. A person skilled in the art can use various methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but such an implementation should not be considered to be outside the scope of this application.

[00155] An embodiment of the present application further provides an apparatus capable of implementing any of the above methods. For example, a device is provided. The device includes blocks (or means) configured to implement the steps performed by the terminal device in any of the aforementioned methods. As another example, another device is further provided. The device includes blocks (or means) configured to implement the steps performed by the network device in any of the aforementioned methods.

[00156] Figure 7 shows a block diagram of a device in accordance with an embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the apparatus 700 shown in FIG. 7 is merely an example. The apparatus 700 in this embodiment of the present application may further include another module or block, or include a block with a function similar to that of each block in FIG. 7, or may not necessarily include all of the blocks in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the device 700 includes a sending unit 701 and a processing unit 702.

[00157] In some possible implementations, device 700 may be a terminal device.

[00158] The sender 701 is configured to send the random access signal and the first information used for the contention result to the network device.

[00159] The processing unit 702 is configured to monitor the first response and the second response, wherein the first response is a response to a random access signal and includes an uplink grant, and the second response is a response to the first information used for a contention result.

[00160] When the first response is detected and the second response is detected up to a position in the uplink grant time domain, the processing block 702 determines that the random access is successful.

[00161] When the first response is detected, the sender 701 sends the second information used for the contention result by using the uplink grant; and when the second response or the third response is detected, the processing unit 702 determines that the random access is successful, the third response being the response to the second information used for the contention result.

[00162] In this embodiment of the present application, after sending the random access signal and the first information used for the contention result to the network device, the terminal device monitors the first response corresponding to the random access signal and the second response corresponding to the first information used for the contention result , and determines whether the random access is successful based on the tracking status of the first response, the second response, and the third response. When determining whether the random access is successful, the terminal device performs the two-round random access procedure and the four-round random access procedure in parallel, thereby reducing the random access latency of the terminal device.

[00163] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to: in response to transmission of a random access signal, start or restart the first tracking window and monitor the first response in the first tracking window; And

in response to the transmission of the first information used for the race result, launch or restart the second tracking window and monitor the second response in the second tracking window.

[00164] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further specifically configured to stop the second tracking window upon determining that the random access is successful.

[00165] For example, when the terminal device detects the second response in the second snoop window and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the second snoop window and determines that the random access is successful.

[00166] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: in response to the transmission of the second information used for the race result, launch or restart the third tracking window and monitor the third response in the third tracking window.

[00167] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: upon detecting a second response in the second tracking window, stop the second tracking window and the third tracking window; or

when a third response is found in the third monitoring window, stop the second monitoring window and the third monitoring window.

[00168] In the above technical solution, upon detecting the second response, the terminal device determines that the two-round random access is successful, so the terminal device stops the second tracking window and the third tracking window, stops the four-round random access procedure, and determines that the random access this time is successful. Alternatively, upon detecting the third response, the terminal device determines that the four round random access is successful, so the terminal device stops the second snoop window and the third snoop window, stops the two round random access procedure, and determines that the random access is successful this time. The terminal device performs the two-round random access procedure and the four-round random access procedure in parallel, and when either procedure is successful, the terminal device determines that the random access is successful this time, thereby greatly reducing the random access latency.

[00169] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the second tracking window ends during the operation of the third tracking window, stop tracking the second response and continue monitoring the third response; And

when a third response is found in the third tracking window, determine that the random access is successful; or

if no third response is found in the third tracking window, re-initiate random access.

[00170] The random access may be two-stage random access or four-stage random access. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[00171] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the second tracking window ends during the operation of the third tracking window, stop the third tracking window and re-initiate random access, wherein the random access can be two-round random access or four-round random access . When the two-stage random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal apparatus directly stops the two-stage random access procedure and the four-stage random access procedure, and directly re-initiates random access, thereby reducing power consumption of the terminal apparatus.

[00172] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the third tracking window ends during operation of the second tracking window, stop monitoring the third response and continue monitoring the second response; And

upon detecting a second response in the second tracking window, determining that the random access is successful; or

if no second response is found in the second tracking window, re-initiate random access, wherein the random access may be two-way random access or four-way random access.

[00173] The terminal device performs the two-round random access procedure and the four-round random access procedure in parallel. When the four-way random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal device continues to perform the two-way random access procedure, and when the two-way random access procedure is successful, the terminal device determines that the random access is successful this time. When the two-stage random access procedure is unsuccessful, the terminal apparatus determines that the random access is unsuccessful this time and directly re-initiates random access. Since the terminal device performs the two-round random access procedure and the four-round random access procedure during random access when either of the random access procedures is successful, the terminal device can determine that the random access procedure is successful this time, thereby reducing the latency of the terminal device when random access.

[00174] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the first tracking window ends during the operation of the second tracking window, continue to monitor the second response; And

when a second response is found in the second tracking window, determine that the random access is successful; or

if no second response is found in the second tracking window, re-initiate random access, wherein the random access may be two-way random access or four-way random access.

[00175] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the second tracking window ends during the operation of the first tracking window, continue to monitor the first response, wherein when the first response is found, the second information used for the race result is sent by using the grant uplink; And

when a third response is found, determine that the random access is successful; or

if no third response is found, re-initiate random access, where random access may be two-way random access or four-way random access.

[00176] In some possible implementations, the terminal device may track the first response and the second response in the same tracking window.

[00177] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: in response to the transmission of the random access signal and/or the transmission of the first information used for the contention result, start or restart the first tracking window and track the first response and the second response in the first tracking window.

[00178] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to stop the first tracking window upon determining that the random access is successful.

[00179] For example, when the terminal device detects the second response in the first snoop window and determines that the random access is successful, the terminal device stops the first snoop window and determines that the random access is successful this time.

[00180] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: in response to the transmission of the second information used for the race result, start or restart the second tracking window and monitor the third response in the second tracking window.

[00181] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: upon detecting a second response in the first tracking window, stop the first tracking window and the second tracking window; or

when a third response is found in the second monitoring window, stop the first monitoring window and the second monitoring window.

[00182] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the first tracking window ends during operation of the second tracking window, stop tracking the second response and continue monitoring the third response; And

when a third response is found in the second tracking window, determine that the random access is successful; or

if no third response is found in the second tracking window, re-initiate random access.

[00183] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the first snoop window ends during operation of the second snoop window, stop the second snoop window and re-initiate random access.

[00184] Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to: when the second tracking window ends during operation of the first tracking window, stop monitoring the third response and continue monitoring the second response; And

upon detecting a second response in the first tracking window, determine that the random access is successful; or

if the second response is not found in the first tracking window, re-initiate random access.

[00185] It should be understood that the division into blocks in the above device is simply a logical separation of functions. During actual implementation, all or some of the blocks may be integrated into one physical object, or may be physically separate. In addition, all blocks in the device may be implemented as software called by the processing element, or may be implemented as hardware; or some of the blocks may be implemented in software called by the processing element and some of the blocks may be implemented in hardware. For example, each block may be an independently located processing element or may be integrated into a device chip for implementation. Alternatively, each block may be stored in memory in the form of a program that must be called by a device processing element to perform the function of the block. In addition, all or some of the blocks may be combined together or may be implemented independently. The processing element herein may also be referred to as a processor and may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capability. In the implementation process, the steps in the above method or the above modules may be implemented by using a hardware integrated logic circuit of the processing element, or may be implemented in the form of software called by the processing element.

[00186] For example, a block in any device may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above method, for example, one or more specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)), one or more microprocessors (digital signal processor (DSP)), one or more field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a combination of at least two of these types of integrated circuits. In another example, when a block in a device is implemented by a program scheduled by a processing element, that processing element may be a general purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU), or other processor that can invoke the program. As another example, blocks can be integrated and implemented as a system-on-a-chip (SOC) system.

[00187] The above receiving unit is a device interface circuit and is configured to receive a signal from another device. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit that belongs to the chip and is configured to receive a signal from another chip or device. The above send unit is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to send a signal to another device. For example, when a device is implemented as a chip, the sender is an interface circuit that belongs to the chip and is configured to send a signal to another chip or device.

[00188] FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to one embodiment of the present application. The terminal device may be the terminal device in the above embodiment, and is configured to implement the operation of the terminal device in the previous embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal device includes an antenna 1110, an RF stage 1120, and a signal processing stage 1130. Antenna 1110 is connected to RF stage 1120. In the downlink direction, RF stage 1120 receives information sent by the network device via antenna 1110 and sends information sent by the network device to signal processing stage 1130 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing stage 1130 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the RF stage 1120. The RF stage 1120 processes the information of the terminal device and then sends the information to the network device through the antenna 1110.

[00189] The signal processing stage 1130 may include a modem subsystem configured to process data at each layer of the communication protocol. The signal processing stage 1130 may further include a central processing subsystem configured to implement operating system and application layer processing of the terminal device. In addition, signal processing stage 1130 may further include another subsystem, such as a multimedia subsystem or a peripheral subsystem. The multimedia subsystem is configured to control the camera or screen display of the terminal device, and the peripheral subsystem is configured to implement a connection with another device. The modem subsystem may be a separate chip. Optionally, the aforementioned device used for the terminal device may be located in the modem subsystem.

[00190] The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 1131, such as one main control CPU and another integrated circuit. In addition, the modem subsystem may further include a storage element 1132 and an interface circuit 1133. The storage element 1132 is configured to store data and a program. However, the program used to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method may not be stored in the storage element 1132, but stored in memory outside the modem subsystem, downloaded and used by the modem subsystem when needed to be used. The interface circuit 1133 is configured to communicate with another subsystem. The above device used for the terminal device may be located in the modem subsystem, and the modem subsystem may be implemented by a chip. The chip includes at least one processing element, an interface circuit. The processing element is configured to perform the steps of any method performed by the terminal device. The interface circuit is configured to communicate with another device. In one embodiment, the terminal device blocks that implement the steps of the above method may be implemented by a program called by the processing element. For example, the device used for the terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element. The processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above embodiment of the method. The storage element may be a storage element located on the same chip as the processing element, that is, an on-chip storage element.

[00191] In another embodiment, the program used to execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above methods may reside in an on-chip storage element other than the processing element, namely an off-chip storage element. In this case, the processing element calls or downloads a program from the external storage element to the on-chip storage element to call and execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[00192] In another embodiment, the terminal device blocks that implement the steps in the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements. These processing elements are located in the modem subsystem. Here, the processing element may be an integrated circuit, such as one or more ASICs, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits can be combined together to form a microchip.

[00193] The terminal device blocks that implement the steps in the above method may be combined together and implemented in the form of an SOC. The SOC chip is configured to implement this method. At least one processing element and a storage element may be integrated into the chip, and the processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to implement the above method performed by the terminal device. Alternatively, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated into a chip to implement the above method performed by the terminal device. Alternatively, with reference to the above implementations, the functions of some blocks may be implemented by the processing element calling the program, and the functions of some blocks may be implemented by an integrated circuit.

[00194] It can be recognized that the above device used for a terminal device may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit. The at least one processing element is configured to perform any method that is provided in the above method embodiments and that is performed by the terminal device. The processing element may perform some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device in the first place, namely, by calling a program stored in the storage element; or may perform some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device in a second manner, namely by using a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processing element in conjunction with instructions; or, of course, may perform, by combining the first method and the second method, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device.

[00195] As described above, the processing element herein may be a general purpose processor, such as a CPU, or may be one or more integrated circuits capable of implementing the above method, such as one or more ASICs, one or more DSP microprocessors, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of at least two of these types of integrated circuits.

[00196] A storage element may be a single storage device or may be a generic term for multiple storage elements.

[00197] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system including the aforementioned terminal device and a network device.

[00198] The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions. When computer instructions are executed on the computer, the corresponding operation and/or procedure performed by the terminal device in the method embodiments is ensured by the computer.

[00199] The present application further provides a computer program product including instructions, and when the computer program product is executed on the computer, the computer performs the steps performed by the terminal device in the manner shown in FIG.

[00200] The present application further provides a chip including a processor. The processor is configured to read and execute a computer program stored in the memory to perform a corresponding operation and/or procedure performed by a terminal device in the random access method provided in the present application. Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, the memory and the processor are connected via a circuit or wire, and the processor is configured to read and execute a computer program in the memory. Optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface. The processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is configured to receive data and/or information to be processed. The processor receives data and/or information from the communication interface and processes the data and/or information. The communication interface may be an input/output interface.

[00201] In the above embodiments, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one or more integrated circuits for controlling program execution in technical solutions. of this application, etc. For example, the processor may be a digital signal processor, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, or a digital-to-analog converter. The processor may distribute the control and signal processing functions of the terminal device or network device among these devices based on the respective functions of the devices. In addition, the processor may have functions for operating with one or more software programs, and the software programs may be stored in memory. The functions of the processor may be implemented in hardware, or may be implemented in hardware running corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[00202] The memory may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, or a random access memory (RAM) or other type of memory. dynamic memory that can store information and instructions, or can be electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD- ROM)) or other CD storage, optical disc storage (including CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disc media, or other magnetic storage device, any other medium that can be used to carry or store expected software o code in the form of instructions or a data structure and which can be accessed by a computer, or the like.

[00203] Optionally, in the above embodiments, the memory and the processor may be physically independent units, or the memory may be integrated with the processor.

[00204] The terms "uplink" and "downlink" in this application are used to describe the directions of data/information in a particular scenario. For example, the "uplink" direction is generally the direction in which data/information is transmitted from the terminal to the network side, or the direction in which data/information is transmitted from the distributed unit to the central unit, and the "downlink" direction is usually the direction in which data/information is transmitted from the network side to the terminal, or the direction in which data/information is transmitted from the central unit to the distributed unit. It can be understood that "uplink" and "downlink" are only used to describe the directions of data/information transmission, and neither the specific device from which the transmission of data/information begins, nor the specific device from which the transmission of data/information stops, are not limited.

[00205] Names may be assigned to various entities that may appear in this application, such as various messages/information/devices/network elements/systems/devices/actions/operations/procedures/concepts. It can be understood that these specific names are not a limitation to related objects, and the names assigned may vary depending on factors such as scenario, context, or usage habit. The technical meanings of the technical terms in this application should be understood and determined primarily on the basis of the functions and technical results that relate to the technical terms and which are reflected/performed in the technical solutions.

[00206] In embodiments of the present application, CU and DU architectures are not limited to 5G NR gNBs, and can be further applied to a scenario in which an LTE base station is divided into CUs and DUs. Further, CU can be divided into two parts: CP and UP. Optionally, in an LTE base station, the protocol layer does not include the SDAP layer.

[00207] In embodiments of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "many" means two or more. "And/or" describes an association relationship between associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, A and/or B could represent the following cases: Only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists. A and B can be singular or plural. The "/" character usually represents an "or" relationship between related entities. "At least one of the following" or a similar expression means any combination of the following, including any combination of one or more of the following. For example, at least one of a, b, and c may be: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, with a, b, and c being singular or plural.

[00208] One skilled in the art may be aware that, in combination with the modules and algorithm steps described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application may be implemented using electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. The performance of functions by hardware or software depends on the specific applications and design constraints of the technical solutions. A person skilled in the art can use various methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but such an implementation should not be considered to be outside the scope of this application.

[00209] One skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the purposes of a convenient and concise description of the detailed working process of the aforementioned system, apparatus, and unit, reference should be made to the corresponding process in the aforementioned method embodiments, and details are omitted here again.

[00210] In several embodiments presented in this application, the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described are merely examples. For example, block division is simply a division of logical functions and may be another division during actual implementation. For example, many blocks or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the interconnections or direct links or communication connections shown or described may be implemented through the use of certain interfaces. Indirect links or communication connections between devices or units can be implemented electrically, mechanically, or take other forms.

[00211] Blocks described as separate parts may not be physically separated, and parts displayed as blocks may not be physical blocks and may be located in the same position or may be distributed over multiple network blocks. Some or all blocks may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the technical solutions of the present application.

[00212] In addition, the functional blocks in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may exist physically separately, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

[00213] When the functions are implemented in the form of a software functional block and sold or used as a standalone product, the functions may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application per se, or part contributing to the current technology, or some of the technical solutions can be implemented in the form of a software product. The software product is stored on a storage medium and includes several instructions for instructing a computing device (which may be a personal computer, server, network device, etc.) to perform all or some of the steps of the described methods in embodiments of the present application. A storage medium includes any medium on which program code can be stored, such as a USB flash drive, removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM )), magnetic disk or optical disk.

[00214] The above description is merely specific implementations of the present application. Any change or replacement readily detectable by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should fall within the scope of this application. The scope of protection of the present application is determined by the scope of protection defined by the claims.

Claims (23)

1. A random access method comprising the steps of: sending to the network device a random access signal and first information used for a random access contention result, the random access signal being used to request random access; starting or restarting a tracking window in the first symbol after transmission or retransmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); tracking the first response and the second response in a tracking window, wherein the first response is a response to the random access signal, the second response is the response to the first information used for the random access contention result, and the tracking window is used to track both the first response and the second response ; And determine whether the random access is successful. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving tracking window configuration information from the network device. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises stopping the tracking window upon detecting a second response in the tracking window and determining that the result of the random access contention is successful. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises stopping the tracking window and returning from the 2-round random access procedure to the 4-round random access procedure upon detecting the first response in the tracking window. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first response comprises uplink grant information and an advance command for timing , the uplink grant information is used to indicate an uplink resource allocated by the network device, and an advance command for timing. th timing is used to indicate the advance for timing ; And performing a return from the two-way random access procedure to the four-way random access procedure comprises the steps of: sending, based on the first response and the uplink resource indicated by the uplink grant information, message 3 in a four-round random access procedure to the network device by using the timing advance indicated by the timing advance command; And receive message 4 in the four-way random access procedure from the network device, while the random access signal is message 1 in the four-round random access procedure, and the first response is message 2 in the four-round random access procedure. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein determining whether the random access is successful comprises: when the tracking window ends and the first response and the second response are not detected, determining that the random access is unsuccessful . 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises reinitiating the two-way random access procedure or the four-way random access procedure. 8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein determining whether the random access is successful comprises: upon detecting information in the tracking window indicating that the result of the random access contention is successful, determining that random access is successful, information indicating that the random access contention result is successful is carried in the second or third response, the first response contains an uplink grant, the uplink grant is used to send the second information used for the random access contention result , and the third response is the response to the second information used for the outcome of the random access contention. 9. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting the second response in the tracking window comprises: upon detecting in the tracking window a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) scrambled by using a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) , determine that the random access is successful. 10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, in which the first response contains one or more of the following information: random access preamble identifier (RAP ID), timing advance command, uplink grant information, and temporary cell radio network identifier (TC-RNTI); And the second response contains part or all of the contents of the first information used for the outcome of the random access contention or PDCCH scrambled by using C-RNTI or C-RNTI. 11. A random access device comprising a unit configured to perform the steps of the random access method according to any one of claims 1-10. 12. A random access device comprising a processor configured to call a program stored in memory to execute the random access method according to any one of claims 1 to 10. 13. A computer-readable medium, wherein the computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions; and when the computer-executable instructions are executed by the processor, the random access method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 is executed.

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