WO2022016542A1

WO2022016542A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022016542A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/104546
Authority: WO
Inventors: 酉春华; 徐小英
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-07-24
Filing date: 2020-07-24
Publication date: 2022-01-27

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications. Disclosed are a communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving first indication information from an access network device, wherein the first indication information indicates a first CG of an inactive state; and the terminal device then transmitting, in the inactive state, first uplink information using the first CG. By using this manner, the terminal device in the inactive state may transmit uplink information using a CG. Comparing said manner with a manner in which uplink information is sent by resuming an RRC connection or the uplink information is sent during a random access process, the power consumption and signaling overheads of uplink transmission can be effectively reduced.

Description

A communication method and device

technical field

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

Background technique

In the 5th generation (5G) communication system, there are three radio resource control (RRC) states for terminal equipment, which are RRC-connected state and RRC-idle state. state and RRC inactive state.

Wherein, the terminal device in the connected state can perform data transmission with the access network device, and when the terminal device in the inactive state wants to perform data transmission with the access network device, it needs to complete multiple information exchanges to enter the connected state. That is to say, the terminal device in the inactive state needs to enter the connected state first, and then perform data transmission with the access network device. In this way, unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead will be caused.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of this, the present application provides a communication method and apparatus, which are used to implement uplink transmission of a terminal device in an inactive state and reduce the power consumption and signaling overhead of uplink transmission.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to a terminal device, or can also be applied to a chip in the terminal device. Taking the method applied to a terminal device as an example, in this method, the terminal device receives first indication information from the access network device, and the first indication information indicates the first configuration authorization CG in the inactive state; and, in the inactive state Next, use the first CG to send the first uplink information.

In this way, the terminal device in the inactive state can use the CG to send the uplink information. Compared with the way of restoring the RRC connection and sending the uplink information or sending the uplink information during the random access process, the function of the uplink transmission can be effectively reduced. consumption and signaling overhead.

In a possible design, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the first CG; an identifier of a cell corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to the first CG; an uplink corresponding to the first CG The identifier of the carrier, the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in a connected state; wherein the first A CG belongs to one or more CGs (or one or more CGs include the first CG).

In this manner, the access network device can determine some CGs from the CGs in the connected state allocated to the terminal device, for the terminal device to send uplink information in the inactive state.

In a possible design, the first indication information includes configuration information of the first CG.

In a possible design, the first indication information further includes at least one of the following items: an identifier of a cell corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of an uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, The uplink carrier corresponding to a CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in a connected state; wherein the first CG is different from one or more CGs.

In this way, the access network device can configure a new CG for the terminal device for the terminal device to send uplink information in an inactive state.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is further configured to send the first CG after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state. The second uplink information, or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.

In a possible design, the second indication information is carried in the RRC connection recovery message.

In a possible design, in the inactive state, before using the first CG to send the first uplink information, the method further includes: determining that the timing advance TA value of the cell corresponding to the first CG is valid.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request a CG in an inactive state.

In a possible design, the request information includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state; the identifier of the cell corresponding to the candidate CG; the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG; the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the candidate CG, The uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a common uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier; the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information.

In this manner, since the request information may include at least one of the above items, the access network device can refer to the request information and configure the terminal device with an inactive CG in a more targeted manner.

In one possible design, the candidate CGs include the first CG.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in a connected state; wherein the candidate CGs are Belong to one or more CGs (or one or more CGs include candidate CGs).

In a possible design, the request information is carried in the first message, and the first message is used for the random access procedure.

In a possible design, the first indication information is carried in the RRC connection release message, or the first indication information is carried in the second message, and the second message is used for the random access procedure.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to a first access network device, or can also be applied to a chip in the first access network device. Taking the method applied to the first access network device as an example, in this method, the first access network device obtains first indication information, the first indication information indicates the first CG in an inactive state, and the first CG is used for the terminal The device sends the first uplink information in the inactive state; and sends the first indication information to the terminal device.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used by the terminal device to send the second uplink information in a connected state; the first CG belonging to the one or more CGs (or in other words, the one or more CGs include the first CG).

In a possible design, the first indication information further includes at least one of the following: an identifier of a cell corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of a BWP corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of an uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, the first CG The corresponding uplink carrier is a common uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used by the terminal device to send the second uplink information in a connected state; wherein the first A CG is different from the one or more CGs.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is also used to send the second uplink information after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state , or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving request information from a terminal device, where the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state.

In a possible design, the request information includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state; the identifier of the cell corresponding to the candidate CG; the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG; The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to a CG, the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is the normal uplink carrier or the supplementary uplink carrier; the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information.

In one possible design, the candidate CG includes the first CG.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in a connected state; wherein the candidate The CG belongs to the one or more CGs (or the one or more CGs include the candidate CG).

In a possible design, the request information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for a random access procedure.

In a possible design, acquiring the first indication information includes: receiving the first indication information from the second access network device; wherein the first access network device is the primary access network device of the terminal device, and the second access network device is the primary access network device of the terminal device. The access network equipment is the auxiliary access network equipment of the terminal equipment.

In a possible design, request information is sent to the second access network device, where the request information is used to request a CG in an inactive state.

In a possible design, the request information includes at least one of the following: in the inactive state, the transmission period of the data expected to arrive; the size of the data expected to arrive; the data expected to arrive arrival time information.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving second indication information from the second access network device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is further configured to, after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state, The second uplink information is sent, or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.

It should be noted that the method described in the second aspect above corresponds to the method described in the first aspect. For the beneficial effects of the related technical features in the method described in the second aspect, reference may be made to the description of the first aspect, and details are not repeated here. .

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to a terminal device, or can also be applied to a chip in the terminal device. Taking the method applied to a terminal device as an example, in the method, indication information from an access network device is received, the indication information indicates the first cell corresponding to the inactive state; stay in the first district.

In this way, since the access network device indicates the first cell to the terminal device, the terminal device can camp on the first cell in the inactive state without performing cell measurement and cell selection or reselection process operations, thereby The processing burden of the terminal device can be effectively reduced, and the power of the terminal device can be saved.

In a possible design, the first cell includes a first CG, and the first CG is used to send the first uplink information in the inactive state.

By adopting this method, the terminal equipment is made to camp on the cell with the inactive CG as much as possible, which facilitates the subsequent use of the inactive CG to send the first uplink information in the inactive state, and improves the utilization rate of the inactive CG. Use resources more efficiently.

In a possible design, the indication information includes an identifier of the first cell; or, the indication information includes identifiers of multiple cells in the inactive state, and the multiple cells include the first cell.

In a possible design, the cell quality of the first cell is greater than the cell quality of other cells in the plurality of cells.

In a possible design, the indication information further includes at least one of the following items: the identifier of the first CG; the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG; the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG The carrier is a common uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.

In a possible design, the indication information further includes configuration information of the first CG.

In a possible design, the indication information further includes at least one of the following items: the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG; the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, and the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a common uplink carrier or Supplement upstream carrier.

In a possible design, the method further includes: after determining that the first cell satisfies the first preset condition, performing relaxation measurement on the first cell.

In a possible design, determining that the first cell satisfies the first preset condition includes: determining that the cell quality of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first threshold; or, determining the cell quality of the first cell within the first time period greater than or equal to the first threshold.

In this way, the terminal equipment can be prevented from changing the camping cell as much as possible, thereby ensuring that the terminal equipment can use the inactive CG to send uplink information, and can also reduce the processing burden of the terminal equipment and save the power of the terminal equipment.

In a possible design, performing relaxed measurement on the first cell includes at least one of the following: not measuring the intra-frequency cell of the first cell; not measuring the inter-frequency cell of the first cell; not performing cell reselection; Cell selection.

In a possible design, the method further includes: after determining that the first cell meets the second preset condition, terminating the relaxation measurement on the first cell.

In this way, by suspending the relaxation measurement on the first cell, the terminal equipment can perform cell selection or cell reselection, and then camp on other suitable cells.

In a possible design, determining that the first cell meets the second preset condition includes at least one of the following: determining that the cell quality of the first cell is less than a second threshold; determining that the cell quality of the first cell within the second time period is less than the second threshold; it is determined that the number of consecutive failures to send uplink information using the first CG is greater than or equal to the third threshold; it is determined that the number of consecutive failures to initiate random access in the first cell is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving configuration information from the access network device, where the configuration information includes at least one of the following: a first threshold, a second threshold, a third threshold, a fourth threshold, a first threshold The duration of the time period and the duration of the second time period.

In a possible design, the indication information is carried in the RRC connection release message.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to an access network device, or can also be applied to a chip in an access network device. Taking the method applied to an access network device as an example, in this method, the access network device determines indication information, the indication information indicates the first cell corresponding to the inactive state, and the first cell is used by the terminal device in the non-active state. camping in the active state; and sending the indication information to the terminal device.

In a possible design, the cell quality of the first cell is greater than the cell quality of other cells in the one or more cells.

It should be noted that the method described in the fourth aspect corresponds to the method described in the third aspect. For the beneficial effects of the related technical features in the method described in the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the description of the third aspect, and details are not repeated here. .

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to a first access network device, or can also be applied to a chip in the first access network device. Taking the method applied to the first access network device as an example, in this method, the first access network device receives first indication information from the second access network device, and the first indication information indicates the first inactive state. CG, where the first CG is used for the terminal device to send uplink information in the inactive state; and, to send the first indication information to the terminal device.

In this way, in the dual-connection scenario, the secondary network device can also configure the terminal device with an inactive CG, so that the terminal device in the inactive state can camp on a cell within the coverage of the secondary access network device. When the CG is used, the uplink information can also be sent, which can effectively reduce the power consumption and signaling overhead of the uplink transmission.

In a possible design, the cell corresponding to the first CG is the cell of the second access network device.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending request information to the second access network device, where the request information is used to request a CG in an inactive state.

In a possible design, the request information includes at least one of the following: in the inactive state, the transmission period of the data expected to reach the terminal device; the size of the data expected to reach the terminal device; Arrival time information of the data that will arrive at the terminal device.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving second indication information from the second access network device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is further configured to, after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state, Send the second uplink information, or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state; and, the second indication information is sent to the terminal device.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to a second access network device, or can also be applied to a chip in the second access network device. Taking the method applied to the second access network device as an example, in this method, the second access network device determines the first indication information, the first indication information indicates the first CG in an inactive state, and the first CG is used for the terminal The device sends uplink information in the inactive state; and sends the first indication information to the first access network device.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving request information from the first access network device, where the request information is used to request a CG in an inactive state.

In a possible design, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the first CG; an identifier of a cell corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of a BWP corresponding to the first CG; identifier, the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending second indication information to the first access network device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is further used to send the terminal device after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state The second uplink information or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state; and the second indication information is sent to the terminal device.

It should be noted that the method described in the sixth aspect corresponds to the method described in the fifth aspect. For the beneficial effects of the related technical features in the method described in the sixth aspect, reference may be made to the description of the fifth aspect, and details are not repeated here. .

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip provided in the terminal device. The communication device has the function of implementing the first aspect or the third aspect. For example, the communication device includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the steps involved in executing the first aspect or the third aspect, and the function Either unit or means may be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, wherein the communication unit can be used to send and receive signals to implement communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, the communication unit is used to receive data from Configuration information of the terminal device; the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations involved in the first aspect above.

In a possible design, the communication apparatus includes a processor, and may also include a transceiver, where the transceiver is used for transmitting and receiving signals, and the processor executes program instructions to accomplish any of the first aspect or the third aspect above methods in possible designs or implementations. Wherein, the communication device may further include one or more memories, which are used for coupling with the processor, and the memories may store necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions involved in the first aspect or the third aspect. The processor can execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, make the communication device realize any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the third aspect. method.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which may be operative to couple with the memory. The memory may hold necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the first or third aspect above. The processor can execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, make the communication device realize any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the third aspect. method.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute any possible design or implementation of the first aspect or the third aspect above method in method.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device may be an access network device (such as a first access network device or a second access network device) or a chip provided in the access network device. The communication device has the function of implementing the second aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect. For example, the communication device includes performing the functions related to the second, fourth, fifth or sixth aspect. The modules or units or means corresponding to the operation can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, wherein the communication unit can be used to send and receive signals to implement communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, the communication unit is used to receive data from Configuration information of the terminal device; the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations involved in the second aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which may be operative to couple with the memory. The memory may hold necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the second, fourth, fifth or sixth aspects described above. The processor can execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication device can implement any of the second, fourth, fifth or sixth aspects above. methods in possible designs or implementations.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory can store necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions involved in the second, fourth, fifth or sixth aspects above. The processor can execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, the communication device can implement any of the second, fourth, fifth or sixth aspects above. methods in possible designs or implementations.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute the second aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect or the first aspect The method in any possible design or implementation of the six aspects.

It can be understood that, in the above seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, the processor may be implemented by hardware or by software. When implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc.; when implemented by software When implemented, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, which is implemented by reading software codes stored in a memory. In addition, the above processors may be one or more, and the memory may be one or more. The memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be provided separately from the processor. In a specific implementation process, the memory and the processor may be integrated on the same chip, or may be separately provided on different chips. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of the memory and the manner of setting the memory and the processor.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system may include a terminal device and an access network device; wherein, the terminal device may be used to execute any of the possible design methods in the first aspect above, The access network device can be used to execute the method in any possible design of the second aspect above; or, the terminal device can be used to execute the method in any possible design of the third aspect above, the access network device The method in any possible design of the fourth aspect may be used to perform the above.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system may include a first access network device and a second access network device, where the first access network device may be configured to perform the above-mentioned fifth aspect The method in any possible design, the second access network device may be used to execute the method in any possible design of the sixth aspect above.

In a possible design, the communication system may further include a terminal device, and the terminal device establishes dual connections with the first access network device and the second access network device.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer-readable instructions are stored in the computer storage medium, and when a computer reads and executes the computer-readable instructions, the computer is made to execute the above-mentioned first aspect The method in any possible design to the sixth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product that, when the computer reads and executes the computer program product, causes the computer to execute the method in any possible design of the first to sixth aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a chip, the chip includes a processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, and is configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory, so as to implement the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects A method in any of the six possible designs.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more clearly understood in the description of the following embodiments.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

FIG. 2a is a schematic diagram of a CU-DU separation architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram of still another CU-DU separation architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic diagram of a four-step random access process according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a two-step random access process according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 3 of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in FIG. 1 , a terminal device (such as a terminal device 1301 or a terminal device 1302 ) can access a wireless network to obtain services from an external network (such as a data network (DN)) through the wireless network, or through the wireless network Communicate with other devices, such as can communicate with other terminal devices. The wireless network includes a radio access network (RAN) and a core network (core network, CN); wherein, the RAN may also be called an access network (AN), which is used to access terminal devices to Wireless network, CN is used to manage terminal equipment and provide gateway for communication with DN.

The RAN may include one or more access network devices, such as access network device 1101 and access network device 1102. The CN may include one or more core network elements, such as the core network element 120 .

The terminal equipment, access network equipment, and core network network elements are described in detail below.

1. Terminal equipment

Terminal equipment, also known as user equipment (UE), includes equipment that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users, for example, may include handheld devices with wireless connectivity, or processing devices connected to wireless modems . The terminal equipment may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal equipment may include wireless terminal equipment, mobile terminal equipment, device-to-device communication (device-to-device, D2D) terminal equipment, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) terminal equipment, machine-to-machine/machine-type communication ( machine-to-machine/machine-type communications, M2M/MTC) terminal equipment, Internet of things (Internet of things, IoT) terminal equipment, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote station, access point (access point, AP) ), remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, user agent, or user equipment, etc. For example, these may include mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket-sized, hand-held, computer-embedded mobile devices, and the like. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistants), PDA), etc. Also includes constrained devices, such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited storage capacity, or devices with limited computing power, etc. For example, it includes information sensing devices such as barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, global positioning system (GPS), and laser scanners.

In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a combined device or component capable of realizing the function of the terminal device. Can be installed in terminal equipment. In this embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device for realizing the function of the terminal being a terminal device as an example.

2. Access network equipment

An access network device is a node or device that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network, and the access network device may also be called a base station. Access network equipment, for example, includes but is not limited to: a new generation base station (generation Node B, gNB), an evolved node B (evolved node B, eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC) in the 5G communication system, Node B (node B, NB), base station controller (base station controller, BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station ((home evolved nodeB, HeNB) or (home node B, HNB)) , baseband unit (baseBand unit, BBU), transmitting and receiving point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmitting point (transmitting point, TP), or mobile switching center.

In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the access network device may be the access network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the access network device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a device capable of realizing the function of the access network device The combination device and component of the device can be installed in the access network equipment. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device for implementing the functions of the access network equipment as an example of the access network equipment.

The interface between the access network device and the terminal device may be a Uu interface (or called an air interface). Of course, in future communications, the names of these interfaces may remain unchanged, or may be replaced with other names, which are not limited in this application. Exemplarily, the communication between the access network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure, for example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include an RRC layer, a packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer, a wireless link. The radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer and the physical layer; the user plane protocol layer structure may include the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer and the physical layer. In the implementation, the PDCP layer may also include a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer.

The access network device may implement the functions of protocol layers such as RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC by one node, or may implement the functions of these protocol layers by multiple nodes. For example, in an evolved structure, an access network device may include one or more centralized units (centralized units, CUs) and one or more distributed units (distributed units, DUs), and multiple DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU . As an example, an interface between a CU and a DU may be referred to as an F1 interface, wherein a control plane (control panel, CP) interface may be an F1-C, and a user plane (user panel, UP) interface may be an F1-U. The CU and DU can be divided according to the protocol layer of the wireless network: for example, as shown in Figure 2a, the functions of the PDCP layer and the above protocol layers are set in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the RLC layer and the MAC layer, etc.) are set in the DU.

It can be understood that the above division of the processing functions of the CU and DU according to the protocol layer is only an example, and can also be divided in other ways, for example, the functions of the protocol layer above the RLC layer are set in the CU, and the RLC layer and the following protocol layers. The function of the CU is set in the DU. For example, the CU or DU can be divided into functions with more protocol layers. For example, the CU or DU can also be divided into partial processing functions with protocol layers. In one design, some functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are placed in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are placed in the DU. In another design, the functions of the CU or DU can also be divided according to the service type or other system requirements, for example, by the delay, the functions whose processing time needs to meet the delay requirements are set in the DU, and do not need to meet the delay. The required functionality is set in the CU. In another design, the CU may also have one or more functions of the core network. Exemplarily, the CU can be set on the network side to facilitate centralized management; the DU can have multiple radio functions, or the radio functions can be set remotely. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Exemplarily, the functions of the CU may be implemented by one entity, or may also be implemented by different entities. For example, as shown in Figure 2b, the functions of the CU can be further divided, that is, the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, namely the control plane CU entity (ie, the CU-CP entity) and the user plane CU entity. (ie the CU-UP entity), the CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity can be coupled with the DU to jointly complete the functions of the access network device. The interface between the CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity may be the E1 interface, the interface between the CU-CP entity and the DU may be the F1-C interface, and the interface between the CU-UP entity and the DU may be the F1-U interface interface. Among them, one DU and one CU-UP can be connected to one CU-CP. Under the control of the same CU-CP, one DU can be connected to multiple CU-UPs, and one CU-UP can be connected to multiple DUs.

It should be noted that: in the architectures shown in the foregoing Figures 2a and 2b, the signaling generated by the CU may be sent to the terminal device through the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be sent to the CU through the DU. The DU may not parse the signaling, but directly encapsulate it through the protocol layer and transparently transmit it to the terminal device or CU. In the following embodiments, if the transmission of such signaling between the DU and the terminal device is involved, at this time, the sending or receiving of the signaling by the DU includes this scenario. For example, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer will eventually be processed as the data of the physical layer and sent to the terminal device, or converted from the received data of the physical layer. Under this architecture, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or sent by the DU and the radio frequency device.

3. Core network elements

Taking the 5G communication system as an example, the core network elements in the CN may include access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, session management function (SMF) network elements, and user plane elements. Function (user plane function, UPF) network element, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, etc., which are not specifically limited.

The network architecture shown in FIG. 1 above can be applied to communication systems of various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 4G (or long term evolution (LTE)) communication systems, It can also be a 5G (or called new radio (NR)) communication system, and of course it can also be a future communication system. The network architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are for the purpose of illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, and do not constitute limitations on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. The evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems. The apparatuses in the following embodiments of the present application may be located in terminal equipment or access network equipment according to the functions implemented by them. When the above CU-DU structure is adopted, the access network device may be a CU, or a DU, or an access network device including a CU and a DU.

In the above-mentioned network architecture shown in FIG. 1 , the states of the terminal equipment may include an RRC idle state, an RRC inactive state, and an RRC connected state. The RRC idle state may be referred to as idle state for short, the RRC inactive state may be referred to as inactive state or the third state for short, and the RRC connected state may be referred to as connected state for short.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device is in the connected state, there is an RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device. At this time, the access network device knows that the terminal device is within the coverage or management range of the access network device, for example, the access network device knows that the terminal device is within the coverage of the cell managed by the access network device; the core The network knows which access network device covers or manages the terminal device, and the core network knows through which access network device the terminal device can be located or found.

When the terminal device is in an inactive state, there is no RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device. At this time, the access network device does not know whether the terminal device is within the coverage or management range of the access network device, for example, the access network device does not know whether the terminal device is within the coverage of the cell managed by the access network device The core network knows which access network device covers or manages the terminal device, and the core network knows through which access network device the terminal device can be located or found. When the terminal device is in an inactive state, the terminal device may receive a paging message, a synchronization signal, a broadcast message, and/or system information, etc. from the access network device.

When the terminal device is in an idle state, there is no RRC connection between the terminal device and the access network device. At this time, the access network device does not know whether the terminal device is within the coverage of the access network device or whether it is within the management scope of the access network device, for example, the access network device does not know whether the terminal device is in the access network device. Within the coverage of the cell managed by the network access device; the core network does not know which access network device the terminal device is within the coverage or management range, and the core network does not know through which access network device it can locate or find the terminal. equipment. When the terminal device is in the RRC idle state, the terminal device may receive paging messages, synchronization signals, broadcast messages, and/or system information, etc. from the access network device.

For a terminal device in an inactive state, when uplink data needs to be sent, a possible way is to restore the RRC connection with the access network device, that is, the RRC state of the terminal device can be switched to the RRC connected state, and then send the uplink data. data; another possible way is to send uplink data in the random access process.

Exemplarily, the random access procedure may include a four-step random access procedure and a two-step random access procedure. The terminal device can send uplink data through the third message (Msg3) in the four-step random access process, which can be called early data transmission (EDT); or, the terminal device can also send the uplink data through the two-step random access process. The message A (MsgA) sends the uplink data.

(1) Four-step random access process

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a four-step random access process according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 3, the four-step random access procedure may include:

S300, the access network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information includes random access configuration information and a data volume threshold that can be sent through the third message; correspondingly, the terminal device can receive the configuration information.

Wherein, the random access configuration information may include a random access preamble (preamble) and/or random access resources (random access resources are used for sending random access preambles), the random access preamble and/or random access Incoming resources can be dedicated to EDT.

S301, the terminal device sends a random access preamble to the access network device through a physical random access channel (PRACH), that is, sends a message 1 (Msg1) to the access network device, then the access network device sends a message from the terminal to the access network device. Device receives message 1.

Here, when the terminal device determines that uplink data needs to be sent, the data volume of the uplink data may be compared with the data volume threshold, and if it is determined that the data volume of the uplink data is less than or equal to the data volume threshold, S301 may be performed. In addition, if the data volume of the uplink data is greater than the data volume threshold, the terminal device will not be able to perform EDT, but needs to establish or restore an RRC connection first, and then send the uplink data.

S302: After detecting the random access preamble sent by the terminal device, the access network device sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device, that is, sends a message 2 (Msg2) to the terminal device, then the terminal device sends a random access response (RAR) to the terminal device. Message 2 is received from the access network device. Wherein, message 2 may indicate the resource location of a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH).

S303, the terminal device sends a message 3 (Msg3) to the access network device through the PUSCH according to the resource location of the PUSCH indicated by the message 2, and the access network device receives the message 3 from the terminal device. Wherein, message 3 may include uplink data.

Exemplarily, the terminal device can determine whether the message 2 indicates whether the PUSCH can be used to send uplink data, and if so, the terminal device can perform the above S303. Otherwise, the terminal device will not be able to perform EDT, but needs to establish or restore the RRC connection first, and then send the uplink data.

S304, the access network device receives the message 3, and sends the message 4 (Msg4) to the terminal device, correspondingly, the terminal device may receive the message 4 from the access network device.

Optionally, message 3 may include an RRC connection resume request (RRC connection resume request). Optionally, message 4 may include one or more of the following information: RRC connection resume (RRC connection resume) message, RRC connection release (RRC connection release) message, PUSCH acknowledgement (acknowledgement)/ Negative acknowledgement (NACK), and power control commands, etc.

(2) Two-step random access process

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a two-step random access process according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4, the two-step random access procedure may include:

S401 , the terminal device sends a random access preamble to the access network device through PRACH, and sends uplink data to the access network device through the PUSCH, that is, the terminal device sends a message A (MsgA) to the access network device.

S402, after receiving the message A, the access network device sends a message B (MsgB) to the terminal device.

Optionally, message A may include an RRC connection recovery request message. Optionally, message B may include one or more of the following information: RRC connection recovery message, RRC connection release message, ACK/NACK of PUSCH in message A, and power control commands, etc.

In addition, in the above S402, the access network device needs to decode two parts of content: namely, the random access preamble and the uplink data. Generally, it is easier to decode the random access preamble, but more difficult to decode the uplink data. When the access network device successfully decodes the random access preamble and uplink data, the MsgB may include a successful random access response (success RAR); when the access network device successfully decodes the random access preamble but fails to decode the uplink data , the MsgB may include a fallback random access response (fallback RAR).

Further, if the access network device sends the success RAR to the terminal device, the terminal device can send the hybrid automatic repeat request process (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) feedback information for the success RAR to the access network device, that is, the HARQ ACK. ; Among them, the HARQ ACK is used to notify the network device that the success RAR has been successfully decoded. If the access network device sends a fallback RAR to the terminal device, the terminal device can indicate the resource location of the PUSCH according to the fallback RAR, and then the terminal device can fall back to the four-step random access process and re-direct the connection through the PUSCH. The network access device sends uplink data.

Using the above method, when sending uplink data in the random access process, taking the four-step random access process as an example, when the data volume of the uplink data is larger than the data volume threshold or the data volume of the uplink data is more than the resources indicated by the uplink grant can be When the amount of data to be accommodated is large, it is necessary to enter the connected state to send uplink data, which will lead to unnecessary power consumption and signaling overhead.

Based on this, in the embodiments of the present application, research will be conducted on the related implementation of uplink data transmission between a terminal device in an inactive state and an access network device.

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to Embodiments 1 to 3.

Example 1

In Embodiment 1, the communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application may include: a terminal device receiving first indication information from an access network device, where the first indication information indicates a first configured grant (configured grant, CG) in an inactive state , and further in the inactive state, the terminal device can use the first CG to send the first uplink information. In this way, the terminal device in the inactive state can use the CG to send the uplink information. Compared with the way of restoring the RRC connection and sending the uplink information or sending the uplink information during the random access process, the function of the uplink transmission can be effectively reduced. consumption and signaling overhead.

A possible implementation process is described below with reference to FIG. 5 respectively.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5 , the method may include S501 to S506, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S501 to S506.

S501 , the access network device sends configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, and the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in a connected state. Accordingly, the terminal device may receive configuration information of one or more CGs.

For ease of description, in this embodiment of the present application, the CG used by the terminal device to send the second uplink information in the connected state may be referred to as the CG in the connected state, such as the above one or more CGs; similarly, the CG used for the terminal device in the following The CG in which the device sends the first uplink information in the inactive state is called the CG in the inactive state. It should be noted that the uplink information (such as the first uplink information or the second uplink information, etc.) in the embodiment of the present application may include uplink data, but is not limited to include only uplink data.

Exemplarily, before the access network device sends the configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, the terminal device may establish an RRC connection with the access network device and enter a connected state. The coverage of the access network device may include one or more cells, for example, the coverage of the access network device includes cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, cell 4, cell 5, and cell 6. When the terminal device is in the connected state, the terminal device can work on a certain cell within the coverage of the access network device, that is, the terminal device communicates with the access network device on the cell. Alternatively, the terminal device can also work in multiple cells (such as cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, cell 4, and cell 5) through carrier aggregation (CA), that is, the terminal device can work in multiple cells. Communicate with access network equipment; carrier aggregation is to aggregate two or more carrier units (component carriers, CC) (also referred to as carriers) to support a larger transmission bandwidth, and each carrier unit can correspond to One cell, that is, one carrier unit is equivalent to one cell.

1. Describe the implementation of the access network device configuration CG.

In this embodiment of the present application, the use of uplink resources by the terminal device may be dynamically scheduled or non-dynamically scheduled by the access network device. In the dynamic scheduling scenario, the access network equipment can allocate uplink resources to the terminal equipment, and indicate the allocated uplink resources to the terminal equipment through downlink control information (DCI). In a non-dynamic scheduling scenario, the access network device can configure one or more CGs for the terminal device, and then the terminal device can send uplink information on the resources indicated by the CG.

Further, the CG can include two types, namely type 1 (type 1) and type 2 (type 2). For type 1, the access network device may send the configuration information of the CG to the terminal device, and the configuration information of the CG may include the period of the resource, the time domain location and the frequency domain location of the resource, and the like. Unless the terminal device receives a release command, it can be considered that the resource occurs periodically. Optionally, the configuration information of the CG may also include a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) that matches the resource. In this way, when the terminal device uses the resource to send uplink information, the MCS that matches the resource can be used to pair the uplink. The information is encoded and modulated. Optionally, the configuration information of the CG may also include one or more of the following parameters: open-loop power control related parameters, waveform, redundancy version, redundancy version sequence, repetition times, frequency hopping mode, resource allocation type, The number of HARQ processes, parameters related to demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and the size of resource block group (RBG).

For type 2, the access network device may send the configuration information of the CG to the terminal device, and the configuration information of the CG may include the period of the resource. Optionally, the configuration information of the CG may also include one or more of the following parameters: open-loop power control related parameters, waveform, redundancy version, redundancy version sequence, repetition times, frequency hopping mode, resource allocation type, DMRS related parameters and the number of HARQ processes. Further, the access network device may also send DCI to the terminal device to activate the resource. Optionally, the DCI may include one or more of the following parameters: the time domain location of the resource, the frequency domain location of the resource, and the MCS matching the resource.

Exemplarily, in the above type 1 or type 2, the access network device may send the configuration information of the CG to the terminal device through an RRC message, which is not specifically limited. In addition, the configuration information of the CG may also include other possible information, for example, may include the identifier of the CG, which is not specifically limited. It can be understood that the connected state CG configured by the access network device for the terminal device may include a type 1 CG and/or a type 2 CG.

In addition, considering that the terminal device may have multiple services, the arrival time, arrival period, and data packet size of different services may be different. Therefore, the access network device may configure multiple CGs for the terminal device.

2. Describe the correspondence between CG and cell, carrier, and BWP.

In this embodiment of the present application, the CG may be configured for a cell. If the CG in the connected state configured by the access network device for the terminal device includes multiple CGs, the multiple CGs may correspond to the same cell or may correspond to different cells. For example, CGs in the connected state include CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4, and CG5, and the terminal equipment works on cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, cell 4, and cell 5, then CG1, CG2 can correspond to cell 1, and CG3 can Corresponding to cell 2, CG4 can correspond to cell 3, cell 4 has no CG, and CG5 can correspond to cell 5. In addition, when the same cell corresponds to multiple CGs, the resource sizes and time-frequency positions of the resources corresponding to the multiple CGs may be different.

Further, the access network equipment can configure one downlink carrier and two uplink carriers for a cell to improve the uplink coverage capability of the system; wherein, the two uplink carriers are respectively: supplementary uplink (supplement uplink, SUL) carrier and normal uplink (normal uplink, NUL) carrier. In this case, the CG may also be configured for the carrier, for example, the CG corresponding to a certain cell may be configured on the SUL carrier and/or the NUL carrier. For example, the CG corresponding to cell 1 includes CG1 and CG2, and cell 1 is configured with SUL carrier and NUL carrier, then CG1 can correspond to the SUL carrier (that is, the resource indicated by CG1 is located on the SUL carrier in the frequency domain), and CG2 can correspond to the NUL carrier. The carrier (that is, the resource indicated by CG2 is located on the NUL carrier in the frequency domain); or, both CG1 and CG2 correspond to the SUL carrier; or, both CG1 and CG2 correspond to the NUL carrier.

Still further, a carrier may include one or more BWPs, and in this case, the CG may also be configured for BWPs. For example, CG1 and CG2 both correspond to the NUL carrier of cell 1. When the NUL of cell 1 includes BWP1 and BWP2, CG1 can correspond to BWP1 (that is, the resource indicated by CG1 is located in BWP1 in the frequency domain), and CG2 can correspond to BWP2 ( That is, the resource indicated by CG2 is located in BWP2 in the frequency domain); or, both CG1 and CG2 correspond to BWP1; or, both CG1 and CG2 correspond to BWP2.

It should be noted that the above S501 is an optional step, that is, the access network device may configure a CG in the connected state for the terminal device, or may not configure the CG in the connected state for the terminal device.

In addition, after receiving the configuration information of one or more CGs, if the terminal device needs to send the second uplink information in the connected state, it can use one of the CGs to send the second uplink information.

S502, the terminal device sends request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request a CG in an inactive state; correspondingly, the access network device may receive the request information.

Here, there may be multiple situations in which the terminal device sends the request information to the access network device. Two possible situations are described below, namely situation 1 and situation 2.

1. Describe the situation 1.

In case 1, the terminal device may send request information to the access network device when it is in the connected state. For example, the terminal device may send request information to the access network device before or after receiving the CG in the connected state configured by the access network device for the terminal device.

In this case, the request information may be a newly designed message dedicated to requesting a CG in an inactive state. Alternatively, the request information may also be information carried in a certain message (the specific message is not limited); for example, the request information may include at least one of the following: the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state; the identifier of the cell corresponding to the candidate CG ; the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG; the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the candidate CG; the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information. The candidate CG may include at least one CG among the CGs in the connected state; the first uplink information may be understood as uplink information that the terminal device wants to send in the inactive state.

For example, when the request information includes the identity of the candidate CG (such as CG1) and the identity of the cell (such as cell 1) corresponding to the candidate CG, it indicates that the terminal device wants to use the CG1 corresponding to cell 1 to send the first uplink information in the inactive state; When the request information includes the identity of the cell (eg, cell 1) (but not the identity of the candidate CG), it means that the terminal device wants to use all CGs corresponding to cell 1 to send the first uplink information in the inactive state. In this way, since the above information is included in the request information, after receiving the request information, the access network device can configure an inactive CG for the terminal device in a targeted manner.

Second, describe the situation 2.

In case 2, the terminal device may send request information to the access network device when it is in an inactive state. For example, the access network device sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device; correspondingly, the terminal device can receive the RRC connection release message and enter the inactive state; further, after the terminal device enters the inactive state, if it needs to send the first uplink information, the inactive camping cell (such as the first cell) can be determined, and camping in the first cell, and then sending request information to the access network device on the first cell.

In this case, in an example, the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state, which can be understood as the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state corresponding to the first cell. Exemplarily, the request information may be a first message, and the first message is a message used for a random access procedure, for example, the first message is the third message in the four-step random access procedure or the third message in the two-step random access procedure. The message A, that is to say, the terminal device implicitly requests the CG in the inactive state corresponding to the first cell by sending the third message or the message A. Alternatively, the request information may also be information carried in the first message (such as the third message in the four-step random access procedure or the message A in the two-step random access procedure); for example, the request information may include at least one of the following Item: the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state, the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG, the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the candidate CG, and the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information. The first cell includes connected CGs, such as CG1, CG2, and CG3, and the candidate CGs may include at least one CG among CG1, CG2, and CG3.

In addition, for the above situation 2, after the terminal device camps on the first cell, it can first determine whether the first cell includes a CG in an inactive state, and if it does not include a CG in an inactive state, it can send a request to the access network device If the information includes an inactive CG, the inactive CG may be used to send the first uplink information. For example, the inactive CG included in the first cell may be configured by the access network device through the implementation mode 1 in S503, that is, the situation 1 in S502 (corresponding to the implementation mode 1 in S503) and the situation 2 (corresponding to the implementation mode 2 in S503 ) may be solutions implemented independently, or the two may also be implemented in combination. When the two are implemented in combination, a possible scenario is that the access network device configures the terminal device with an inactive CG (corresponding to the second cell) through the RRC connection release message, and when the terminal device enters the inactive state, When camping on the first cell (the first cell does not have a CG in an inactive state), the access network device may request a CG in an inactive state corresponding to the first cell.

It should be noted that the above S502 is an optional step, that is, the terminal device may send request information to the access network device, and then the access network device may configure an inactive CG for the terminal device according to the request information; or, the terminal device The device may also not send request information to the access network device.

S503 , the access network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information indicates an inactive CG (eg, the first CG); correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first indication information.

Here, there may be multiple manners for the access network device to send the first indication information to the terminal device, and two possible implementation manners are described below, namely implementation manner 1 and implementation manner 2.

1. Describe implementation mode 1.

In implementation 1 (this implementation may correspond to situation 1 in S502), the access network device may send an RRC connection release message to the terminal device, where the RRC connection release message includes the first indication information.

In one example, the access network device may select some or all of the CGs in the connected state as the CGs in the inactive state. That is, the CG in the inactive state may belong to the CG in the connected state. For example, the CG in the connected state includes CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4, and CG5, and the CG in the inactive state may include CG1 and CG2. In this case, taking the inactive CG including CG1 as an example, the first indication information may include at least one of the following: the identity of CG1; the identity of the cell corresponding to CG1; the identity of the BWP corresponding to CG1; the uplink carrier corresponding to CG1 's identification. The uplink carrier corresponding to CG1 may be a SUL carrier or a NUL carrier.

Wherein, when the first indication information includes the identity of the CG1 and the identity of the cell corresponding to the CG1 (eg, the cell 1), it indicates that the CG1 corresponding to the cell 1 can be used to send uplink information in an inactive state. When the first indication information includes the identity of at least one cell (such as cell 1) (but does not include the identity of the CG), it indicates the CG corresponding to cell 1 (that is, the CG on cell 1 configured for the terminal device in S502 above, such as Both CG1 and CG2) can be used to send uplink information in an inactive state. For another example, when the first indication information includes the identity of the cell 1 and the identity of the BWP1 on the cell 1, the CG corresponding to the BWP1 (that is, the CG on the BWP1 of the cell 1 configured for the terminal device in the above S502) can be used for both Send uplink information in the inactive state.

It should be noted that: (1) The above describes an example of the content included in the first indication information. In other possible examples, for example, the first indication information may include 1 bit, if the value of the bit is 1, it means that all CGs in the connected state can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state; or, if the value of this bit is 1, it means that some or all of the CGs in the connected state can be used in the inactive state. The uplink information is sent in the state of the Indicates which CGs can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state. In addition, if the value of this bit is 0, it can indicate that none of the CGs in the connected state can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state.

(2) If the terminal device sends the request information to the access network device, and the request information includes the information described in the above S503, the access network device may refer to the request information, and select some or all CGs from the CGs in the connected state as non-contact CGs. Active CG. In an example, the CG in the inactive state determined by the access network device may have an intersection with the candidate CG requested by the request information; for example, the candidate CGs include CG1, CG2 and CG3, and the inactive state determined by the access network device For another example, the candidate CGs include CG1 and CG2, and the inactive CGs determined by the access network device include CG1, CG2, and CG3; for another example, the candidate CGs include CG1 and CG2, and then The inactive CG determined by the network access device also includes CG1 and CG2. In yet another example, the inactive CG determined by the access network device may have no intersection with the candidate CG requested by the request information (that is, the two are completely different); for example, the candidate CG includes CG1 and CG2, and the access network The CGs in the inactive state determined by the device include CG3 and CG4.

In yet another example, the access network device may newly configure an inactive CG for the terminal device. In this case, if the access network device configures the CG in the connected state for the terminal device, the CG in the inactive state may be different from the CG in the connected state. For example, the CGs in the connected state include CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4, and CG5, and the CGs in the inactive state include CG6 and CG7. In this case, taking the inactive CG including CG6 as an example, the first indication information may include configuration information of CG6. Further, the first indication information may also include at least one of the following: the identity of the cell corresponding to CG6; the identity of the BWP corresponding to CG6; the identity of the uplink carrier corresponding to CG6, and the uplink carrier corresponding to CG6 may be a SUL carrier or a NUL carrier.

It should be noted that: in other possible examples, the first indication information and the configuration information of the CG in the connected state may be carried in the same message; that is, when the access network device configures the CG in the connected state for the terminal device, Indicate which CGs in the connected state can be used to send the first uplink information in the inactive state, or the access network device can configure the connected state CGs (such as CG1, CG2, CG3, CG4, and CG5) for the terminal device at the same time. and inactive CGs (eg CG6, CG7). In this case, it can be understood that S501 and S503 are executed simultaneously. In addition, when the first indication information includes multiple pieces of information, the multiple pieces of information may be carried in the same message, or may also be carried in different messages, which is not specifically limited.

2. Describe the implementation mode 2.

In implementation mode 2 (this implementation mode may correspond to situation 2 in S503), the first indication information may be carried in the second message, and the second message is a message used for the random access process, for example, in the four-step random access process The fourth message or message B in the two-step random access procedure.

In an example, the access network device may select some or all of the CGs in the connected state corresponding to the first cell as the CGs in the inactive state. The CGs in the connected state corresponding to the first cell include CG1, CG2, and CG3, and the access network device may select at least one CG from CG1, CG2, and CG3 as the CG corresponding to the inactive state. Taking the CG corresponding to the inactive state including CG1 as an example, the first indication information may include at least one of the following: an identifier of CG1; an identifier of a BWP corresponding to CG1; and an identifier of an uplink carrier corresponding to CG1.

It should be noted that: (1) The above describes an example of the content included in the first indication information. In other possible examples, such as example 1, the first indication information may include 1 bit. If the value is 1, it means that all CGs in the connected state corresponding to the first cell can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state; or, if the value of this bit is 1, it means that the CGs in the connected state corresponding to the first cell can be used to send uplink information. Some or all of the CGs may be used to send uplink information in an inactive state; further, the first indication information may also include at least one of the following: the identifier of the CG, the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the CG, and the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the CG. identifier to further indicate which CGs can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state. In addition, if the value of this bit is 0, it can indicate that none of the CGs in the connected state corresponding to the first cell can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state.

As another example in Example 2, the access network device may send a fourth message or message B (successRAR) to implicitly indicate that all CGs in the connected state of the first cell can be used to send the first uplink information in the inactive state; or , the access network device can implicitly indicate that the CG in the connected state of the first cell can be used to send the first uplink information in the inactive state by sending a fourth message or message B (successRAR); further, the fourth message Or the message B (successRAR) may further include the identifier of the CG, the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the CG, and the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the CG, so as to further indicate which CGs can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state.

In addition, the fourth message or message B (successRAR) involved in the implementation manner 2 may be an RRC connection release message, so as to instruct the terminal device to continue to stay in the inactive state.

(2) If the terminal device sends the request information to the access network device, and the request information includes the information described in S502, the access network device may refer to the request information and select a part from the CG in the connected state corresponding to the first cell or all CGs as inactive CGs.

In yet another example, the access network device may newly configure a CG in an inactive state corresponding to the first cell for the terminal device. In this case, if the access network device configures the CG in the connected state corresponding to the first cell for the terminal device, the CG in the inactive state corresponding to the first cell may be different from the CG in the connected state. In this case, taking the inactive CG including the first CG as an example, the first indication information may include configuration information of the first CG. Further, the first indication information may further include at least one of the following items: the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG; and the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG.

S504, in the inactive state, the terminal device sends the first uplink information by using the CG in the inactive state.

Here, in the inactive state, if the terminal device needs to send the first uplink information, it can determine the camping cell in the inactive state, for example, if the camping cell is determined to be cell 1, it can camp on cell 1. Further, the terminal device can determine whether the cell 1 includes the CG in the inactive state, and if the cell 1 includes the CG in the inactive state, the first uplink information can be sent by using the CG in the inactive state. If cell 1 does not include a CG in an inactive state, the terminal device can use the method described above to send uplink information (such as restoring the RRC connection for uplink transmission or performing uplink transmission in the random access process); for example, if the terminal device is in the The first uplink information is sent during the random access process (that is, the RRC connection is not restored, and it is still in an inactive state). Further, if the terminal device moves and camps on cell 2, if cell 2 includes a CG in the inactive state, then The terminal device may use the inactive CG in cell 2 to send the first uplink information.

Exemplarily, if cell 1 includes an inactive CG, the terminal device can also determine whether the timing advance corresponding to cell 1 is valid, and if the timing advance corresponding to cell 1 is valid, it can use the inactive CG to send the Uplink information; if the timing advance corresponding to cell 1 is invalid, the method described above can be used to send the uplink information. There are various ways for the terminal device to determine whether the timing advance corresponding to cell 1 is valid. For example, if the terminal device determines that the timing advance timer corresponding to cell 1 is running, it can determine that the timing advance corresponding to cell 1 is valid.

Exemplarily, sending the first uplink information by the terminal device using the inactive CG may include: the terminal device using the resources indicated by the CG to send the first uplink information, optionally, it may further include: the terminal device using the resources indicated by the CG to send the first uplink information. The MCS performs coding and modulation processing on the first uplink information.

S505, the terminal device sends an RRC connection recovery request message to the access network device.

Here, after determining that the RRC connection needs to be restored, the terminal device may send an RRC connection restoration request message to the access network device. There may be various situations in which the terminal device determines that the RRC connection needs to be restored, for example, the terminal device receives a paging message in an inactive state, or other possible situations, which are not specifically limited.

S506, the access network device sends an RRC connection recovery message to the terminal device.

Here, after receiving the RRC connection restoration request, the access network device may send an RRC connection restoration message to the terminal device if it is determined to restore the RRC connection of the terminal device.

Exemplarily, if the access network device newly configures an inactive CG for the terminal device in the above S502, the access network device may also send second indication information to the terminal device, and the second indication information indicates the inactive CG. It can also be used to send the second uplink information after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state, or the second indication information indicates that the CG in the inactive state is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.

In an example, the second indication information may be carried in the RRC connection recovery message, or may also be carried in other possible messages, which is not specifically limited. In other possible examples, the second indication information and the first indication information may be carried in the same message, or may also be carried in a different message, which is not specifically limited.

Using the method in Embodiment 1 above, the access network device can indicate to the terminal device which CGs in the connected state can be used to send uplink information in the inactive state, or reconfigure the terminal device with the inactive CG for use in the non-active state. The uplink information is sent in the active state, so that the terminal device can also use the CG to send the uplink information in the inactive state, which can effectively reduce the power consumption and signaling overhead of uplink transmission.

Embodiment 2

In the second embodiment, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may include: the terminal device receives indication information from the access network device, the indication information indicates the corresponding first cell in the inactive state, and the terminal device may be in the inactive state down, camp on the first cell. In this way, since the access network device indicates the first cell to the terminal device, the terminal device can camp on the first cell in the inactive state without performing cell measurement and cell selection or reselection process operations, thereby The processing burden of the terminal device can be effectively reduced, and the power of the terminal device can be saved.

In addition, according to the content of the first embodiment, it can be seen that if the access network device configures the terminal device with a CG in the inactive state corresponding to the first cell, if the subsequent terminal device is in the inactive state, it will camp in the second cell. , and the second cell does not include the CG in the inactive state, so that the terminal device cannot effectively use the CG in the inactive state to send uplink information in the inactive state. Therefore, in an example, the cell indicated by the above indication information may include a CG in an inactive state, so that the terminal device can try to camp on a cell with a CG in the inactive state, so as to facilitate subsequent use of the inactive CG in the inactive state The CG in the inactive state sends the first uplink information to improve the utilization rate of the CG in the inactive state, so as to utilize the resources more effectively.

A possible implementation process is described below with reference to FIG. 6 .

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6 , the method may include S601 to S604, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S601 to S604.

S601, the access network device sends indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information indicates the cell corresponding to the inactive state; correspondingly, the terminal device may receive the indication information.

Here, the cell corresponding to the inactive state indicated by the indication information can be understood as a cell that the terminal device can preferentially camp on in the inactive state. Exemplarily, the cell corresponding to the inactive state may include at least one cell, and the at least one cell includes the first cell.

There may be various manners in which the indication information indicates a cell in an inactive state, and two possible implementation manners are described below, namely implementation manner 1 and implementation manner 2.

1. Describe implementation mode 1.

In implementation manner 1, the indication information may indicate the cell corresponding to the inactive state in an explicit manner. As mentioned above, the indication information may indicate a cell (such as the first cell) corresponding to the inactive state, or may indicate multiple cells corresponding to the inactive state. A detailed description.

In case 1, the indication information indicates a cell (such as the first cell) corresponding to the inactive state, and the first cell includes the CG in the inactive state. Exemplarily, the indication information may include the identity of the first cell.

Further, taking the first cell including the first CG in an inactive state as an example, in an example, the indication information may further include the indication information and at least one of the following items: an identifier of the first CG, an identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG The identifier, the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG; in this case, the first CG may belong to the CG in the connected state. In yet another example, the indication information may further include configuration information of the first CG, optionally, the indication information may further include at least one of the following: an identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG; an identifier of an uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG . In this case, the first CG may be a newly configured CG different from the connected state.

In case 2, the indication information indicates multiple cells corresponding to the inactive state, the multiple cells include the first cell, and each of the multiple cells may include a CG in the inactive state; multiple cells can be understood as candidates stay in the area. Exemplarily, the indication information may include identities of multiple cells.

Further, for each cell in the multiple cells, such as the first cell (the first cell includes the first CG in an inactive state): in an example, the indication information may further include at least one of the following: the first CG The identifier of the first CG, the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG, and the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG; in another example, the indication information may also include the configuration information of the first CG, optionally, the indication information may also include the following At least one item: the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG; the identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG.

2. Describe the implementation mode 2.

In implementation manner 2, the indication information may indicate the cell corresponding to the inactive state in an implicit manner. For example, the indication information may indicate an inactive CG. In this case, the cell corresponding to the inactive state may be a cell corresponding to the inactive CG indicated by the indication information. The related implementation of the CG in which the indication information indicates the inactive state may refer to the description in the first embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the access network device may send the indication information to the terminal device in various manners, for example, the access network device sends an RRC connection release message to the terminal device, and the RRC connection release message includes the indication information. In an example, the indication information in the second embodiment and the first indication information in the first embodiment may be the same information.

S602, the terminal device camps on the first cell in the inactive state according to the indication information.

Here, if the indication information indicates the first cell corresponding to the inactive state, the terminal device may camp on the first cell after the first cell satisfies the camping condition. If the indication information indicates multiple cells corresponding to the inactive state, the terminal device can select a cell (such as the first cell) that satisfies the camping condition from the multiple cells (ie, candidate camping cells) as the camping cell, and then camp on stay in the first district. There are various ways for the terminal device to select the first cell from the multiple cells. For example, the terminal device may select the first cell with the best cell quality or the first cell with the signal quality greater than a preset threshold according to the cell quality of the multiple cells. first district.

Wherein, taking the first cell as an example, the cell quality of the first cell may be obtained by the terminal device by measuring the signal sent by the access network device in the cell, and the cell quality may include reference signal receiving power (reference signal receiving power, At least one of RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (reference signal receiving quality, RSRQ), and signal to noise ratio (signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR).

S603: After determining that the first cell satisfies the first preset condition, the terminal device performs relaxation measurement on the first cell.

Exemplarily, the terminal device determining that the first cell satisfies the first preset condition includes: determining that the cell quality of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first threshold; or, determining that the cell quality of the first cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold within the first time period. equal to the first threshold.

Exemplarily, the terminal device performs relaxation measurement on the first cell, which may include at least one of the following: do not measure the intra-frequency cell of the first cell; do not measure the inter-frequency cell of the first cell; do not perform cell reselection; choose.

In the existing solution, taking cell reselection as an example, the terminal device can perform the cell reselection process after camping on the first cell and staying for an appropriate time (for example, 1 s). The cell reselection can be divided into intra-frequency cell reselection and inter-frequency cell reselection (ie, cell reselection between different radio access technologies (RATs)). That is, the terminal device may measure the intra-frequency cell of the first cell and/or the inter-frequency cell of the first cell, and then perform cell reselection to camp on another cell (eg, the second cell) according to the measurement result. However, considering that the first cell includes the CG corresponding to the inactive state, if the terminal device camps on the second cell through cell reselection (the second cell does not include the CG corresponding to the inactive state), the inactive state cannot be used anymore. The CG in the state sends uplink information. Therefore, in this embodiment of the present application, after determining that the first cell complies with the first preset condition, the terminal device may perform relaxed measurement on the first cell, that is, try not to change the camping cell as much as possible, so as to ensure that the terminal device can use the inactive The CG in the state can send uplink information, and it can also reduce the processing burden of the terminal device and save the power of the terminal device.

S604: After determining that the first cell satisfies the second preset condition, the terminal device terminates the relaxation measurement on the first cell.

Exemplarily, the terminal device determining that the first cell meets the second preset condition includes at least one of the following: (1) determining that the cell quality of the first cell is less than a second threshold; (2) determining that the first cell is within the second time period The cell quality of the cell is less than the second threshold; (3) it is determined that the number of consecutive failures of using the first CG to send uplink information is greater than or equal to the third threshold; (4) it is determined that the number of consecutive failures to initiate random access in the first cell is greater than or equal to Fourth threshold. Exemplarily, terminating the relaxed measurement of the first cell by the terminal device may include at least one of the following: measuring an intra-frequency cell of the first cell; measuring an inter-frequency cell of the first cell; performing cell reselection; and performing cell selection.

For the above (1) and/or (2), if the terminal device determines that the first cell complies with (1) and/or (2), it means that the cell quality of the first cell is poor, and if it continues to camp in the first cell Using an inactive CG to send uplink information may cause uplink information transmission failure, so the relaxation measurement on the first cell can be terminated so as to perform cell selection or cell reselection and camp on other suitable cells.

For the above (3) and/or (4), when the terminal device resides on the first cell, if it needs to send uplink information, it can send the uplink information through the CG corresponding to the inactive state, and after sending the uplink information, The terminal device can determine whether the uplink information is sent successfully according to the feedback information of the access network device. If the feedback information is not received within the preset time period or the received feedback information indicates that the transmission of uplink information fails, the terminal device can continue to use the The CG corresponding to the active state sends uplink information. Repeating this, if the number of consecutive failures of the terminal equipment to send uplink information using the CG corresponding to the inactive state is greater than or equal to the third threshold, the relaxation measurement on the first cell can be terminated, so as to perform cell selection or cell reselection to settle. to other suitable cells. Alternatively, when the number of consecutive failures of the terminal device to send uplink information using the CG corresponding to the inactive state is greater than or equal to the third threshold, it can initiate random access and send uplink information through the random access process. If the terminal device is in the first cell If the number of consecutive failures to initiate random access is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, the relaxation measurement on the first cell may be terminated, so as to perform cell selection or cell reselection and camp on other suitable cells.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned related parameters of relaxation measurement, such as the first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold, the fourth threshold, the duration of the first time period, the duration of the second time period, etc., can be determined by The protocol is pre-defined, or it can be configured by the access network device for the terminal device, or some of the parameters in the above parameters are pre-defined by the protocol, and some parameters are configured by the access network device for the terminal device. Implementation is not limited.

Embodiment 3

In the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the communication between the terminal device and the access network device is mainly described as an example, and the methods in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to a dual-connection scenario. In a dual-connection scenario, a terminal device can be connected to two access network devices at the same time, one of the two access network devices is the primary access network device, and the other access network device is the secondary access network device equipment. Therefore, in a dual-connection scenario, the access network device involved in the first embodiment or the second embodiment may be the primary access network device, that is, the primary access network device may execute the first and second embodiments above The operations of the access network equipment involved in the second step, such as configuring the CG in the inactive state for the terminal device, configuring the cell corresponding to the inactive state for the terminal device, and configuring the relevant parameters of the relaxation measurement for the terminal device (such as the first threshold, the first the second threshold, the third threshold, the fourth threshold, the duration of the first time period, the duration of the second time period); or, the access involved in the first and second embodiments may also be performed by the secondary network device. Some operations of network equipment.

Based on this, Embodiment 3 will study some possible implementations of the embodiments of the present application for a dual-connection scenario. In an example, the communication method provided in Embodiment 3 may include: the first access network device receives first indication information from the second access network device, the first indication information indicates the first CG in an inactive state, the first The CG is used for the terminal device to send uplink information in an inactive state; furthermore, the first access network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device. The terminal device may establish dual connections with the first access network device and the second access network device, the first access network device may be the primary access network device, and the second access network device may be the secondary access network device or, the first access network device may be a secondary access network device, and the second access network device may be a primary access network device.

A possible implementation flow is described below with reference to FIG. 7 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 3 of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7 , the method may include S701 to S705, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the execution order of S701 to S705.

S701, the first access network device sends request information to the second access network device, where the request information is used to request a CG in an inactive state; correspondingly, the second access network device may receive the request information.

Exemplarily, there may be various situations in which the first access network device sends the request information to the second access network device. For example, if the load of the first access network device is heavy, the terminal device cannot be allocated an inactive state. CG, the request information may be sent to the second access network device; for another example, if the cells within the coverage of the first access network device do not support the inactive CG, the request information may be sent to the second access network device .

Exemplarily, the request information includes at least one of the following: in the inactive state, the transmission period of the data (that is, the uplink data) that is expected to arrive at the terminal device; the size of the data that is expected to arrive at the terminal device (that is, the data volume of the uplink data). ); information on the arrival time of the data expected to arrive at the terminal device. The request information may also include other possible information, which is not specifically limited.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first access network device may determine the above-mentioned content included in the request information in various ways. For example, the first access network device may estimate the data transmission information according to the historical data transmission information communicated with the terminal device. In the inactive state, the transmission period, data volume, arrival time information, etc. of the data expected to arrive at the terminal device.

S702, the second access network device sends the first information to the first access network device; correspondingly, the first access network device receives the first information.

S703, the first access network device sends the first information to the terminal device.

Here, the first information may include at least one of the following: indication information 1, indication information 2, and related parameters of relaxation measurement. The indication information 1 indicates the CG in the inactive state, and the CG in the inactive state is used by the terminal device to send the first uplink information in the inactive state. For the related implementation of the indication information 1, please refer to the first indication information in the first embodiment. Description, details will not be repeated. The cell corresponding to the inactive CG indicated by the indication information 1 is a cell within the coverage of the second access network device. The indication information 2 indicates the cell corresponding to the inactive state. For the related implementation of the indication information 2, reference may be made to the description of the indication information in the second embodiment, and details are not repeated here. The cell corresponding to the inactive state indicated by the indication information 2 is a cell within the coverage of the second access network device. Relevant parameters of relaxation measurement may include a first threshold, a second threshold, a third threshold, a fourth threshold, the duration of the first time period, and the duration of the second time period. For the meaning of each parameter, refer to the description in Embodiment 2.

It should be noted that, after receiving the first information, the terminal device may perform corresponding operations according to the first information. For example, according to the indication information 1, the CG in the inactive state may be used to send the first uplink information in the inactive state. According to the indication information 2, camping on the cell corresponding to the inactive state (such as the first cell) in the inactive state, or, for example, according to the relevant parameters of the relaxation measurement, perform the relaxation measurement on the first cell and terminate the measurement of the first cell. Relax measurement. For details, refer to the descriptions in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, which will not be repeated here.

S704 , the second access network device sends the indication information 3 to the first access network device; correspondingly, the first access network device receives the indication information 3 .

Exemplarily, if the second access network device in the above S702 newly configures an inactive CG for the terminal device, the second access network device may also send indication information 3 to the first access network device, the indication information 3 The CG indicating the inactive state can also be used to send the second uplink information after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state, or the indication information 3 indicates that the CG in the inactive state is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state. For the related implementation of the indication information 3, reference may be made to the description about the second indication information in the first embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

S705, the first access network device sends indication information 3 to the terminal device.

Using the above method, the secondary access network device can indicate to the terminal device which CGs in the connected state can be used for sending uplink information in the inactive state, or reconfigure the terminal device with CGs in the inactive state for sending in the inactive state. Uplink information, so that in the inactive state, the terminal equipment can also use the CG to send uplink information when camping on a cell within the coverage of the secondary access network equipment, which can effectively reduce the power consumption and signaling overhead of uplink transmission.

For the above-mentioned Embodiment 1, Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 3, it should be noted that:

(1) The above-mentioned first and second embodiments can be implemented separately, or can also be implemented in combination. When the first and second embodiments are implemented in combination, the indication information in the second embodiment and the first indication in the first embodiment The information may be the same information, or may be different information, which is not specifically limited.

(2) The step numbers of the flowcharts described in Embodiments 1 to 3 are only an example of the execution flow, and do not constitute a restriction on the sequence of execution of the steps, and there is no timing dependency between the embodiments of this application. There is no strict order of execution between the steps of a relationship. In addition, not all the steps shown in each flowchart are steps that must be executed, and some steps may be added or deleted on the basis of each flowchart according to actual needs.

(3) The above focuses on describing the differences between the different embodiments in the first to third embodiments. Except for other contents of the differences, the first to third embodiments can be referred to each other.

(4) Some messages in the 5G communication system are used in the above-mentioned Embodiments 1 to 3, but in specific implementation, different messages or message names may be used, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of device interaction. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the access network device or the terminal device may include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the access network device or the terminal device may be divided into functional units according to the foregoing method examples. For example, each functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one unit. . The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software functional units.

In the case of using an integrated unit, FIG. 8 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8 , the apparatus 800 may include: a processing unit 802 and a communication unit 803 . The processing unit 802 is used to control and manage the actions of the device 800 . The communication unit 803 is used to support the communication between the apparatus 800 and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 803 is also referred to as a transceiving unit, and may include a receiving unit and/or a sending unit, which are respectively configured to perform receiving and sending operations. The apparatus 800 may further include a storage unit 801 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 800 .

The apparatus 800 may be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, or may also be a chip provided in the terminal device. The processing unit 802 may support the apparatus 800 to perform the actions of the terminal device in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 802 mainly performs the internal actions of the terminal device in the method example, and the communication unit 803 may support the communication between the apparatus 800 and other devices.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to: receive first indication information from the access network device, where the first indication information indicates the first CG in the inactive state; and, in the inactive state, use the first indication information A CG sends the first uplink information.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: receive configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in the connected state; Wherein, the first CG belongs to the one or more CGs.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: receive configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are configured to send the second uplink in the connected state information; wherein the first CG is different from the one or more CGs.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: receive second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is also used to enter the terminal device from an inactive state After the connected state, the second uplink information is sent, or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: send request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state.

In a possible design, the request information includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state; the identifier of the cell corresponding to the candidate CG; the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG; The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the candidate CG, the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is the normal uplink carrier or the supplementary uplink carrier; the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information.

In one possible design, the candidate CG includes the first CG.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: receive configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are configured to send the second uplink in the connected state information; wherein the candidate CG belongs to the one or more CGs.

The apparatus 800 may be the access network device in the foregoing embodiment, or may also be a chip set in the access network device. The processing unit 802 may support the apparatus 800 to perform the actions of the access network device in each method example above. Alternatively, the processing unit 802 mainly performs the internal actions of the access network device in the method example, and the communication unit 803 may support the communication between the apparatus 800 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the processing unit 802 is configured to: acquire first indication information, where the first indication information indicates a first CG in an inactive state, and the first CG is used by the terminal device to send the first uplink in an inactive state information; the communication unit 803 is configured to: send the first indication information to the terminal device.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: send configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used for the terminal device to send the second Uplink information; the first CG belongs to the one or more CGs.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: send configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used for the terminal device to send the second Uplink information; wherein the first CG is different from the one or more CGs.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is further configured to be used after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state , the second uplink information is sent, or the second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: receive request information from the terminal device, where the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state.

In one possible design, the candidate CG includes the first CG.

In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to: send configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in the connected state; The candidate CG belongs to the one or more CGs.

It should be understood that the division of units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and in actual implementation, it may be fully or partially integrated into one physical entity, or may be physically separated. And all the units in the device can be realized in the form of software calling through the processing element; also can all be realized in the form of hardware; some units can also be realized in the form of software calling through the processing element, and some units can be realized in the form of hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or can be integrated in a certain chip of the device to be implemented, and can also be stored in the memory in the form of a program, which can be called by a certain processing element of the device and execute the unit's processing. Features. In addition, all or part of these units can be integrated together, and can also be implemented independently. The processing element described here can also become a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each operation of the above method or each of the above units may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor element or implemented in the form of software being invoked by the processing element.

In one example, a unit in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, eg, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or, one or more Multiple microprocessors (digital singnal processors, DSPs), or, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a unit in the apparatus can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element can be a processor, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), or other processors that can invoke programs. For another example, these units can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for sending is an interface circuit of the device for sending signals to other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the sending unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to send signals to other chips or devices.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application, which may be the terminal device in the above embodiment, and is used to implement operations of the terminal device in the above embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9 , the terminal device includes: an antenna 910 , a radio frequency part 920 , and a signal processing part 930 . The antenna 910 is connected to the radio frequency part 920 . In the downlink direction, the radio frequency part 920 receives the information sent by the network device through the antenna 910, and sends the information sent by the network device to the signal processing part 930 for processing. In the upstream direction, the signal processing part 930 processes the information of the terminal equipment and sends it to the radio frequency part 920 , and the radio frequency part 920 processes the information of the terminal equipment and sends it to the network equipment through the antenna 910 .

The signal processing part 930 can include a modulation and demodulation subsystem, which is used to implement the processing of each communication protocol layer of the data; it can also include a central processing subsystem, which is used to implement the processing of the terminal device operating system and the application layer; in addition, it can also Including other subsystems, such as multimedia subsystem, peripheral subsystem, etc., wherein the multimedia subsystem is used to realize the control of the terminal equipment camera, screen display, etc., and the peripheral subsystem is used to realize the connection with other devices. The modem subsystem can be a separate chip.

The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 931, including, for example, a host CPU and other integrated circuits. In addition, the modulation and demodulation subsystem may also include a storage element 932 and an interface circuit 933 . The storage element 932 is used to store data and programs, but the program for executing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may not be stored in the storage element 932, but in a memory outside the modulation and demodulation subsystem, When used, the modem subsystem is loaded for use. Interface circuit 933 is used to communicate with other subsystems.

The modulation and demodulation subsystem can be implemented by a chip, the chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein the processing element is used to execute each step of any one of the methods performed by the above terminal equipment, and the interface circuit is used to communicate with other devices. In one implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler. For example, an apparatus for a terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to Execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The storage element may be a storage element in which the processing element is on the same chip, that is, an on-chip storage element.

In another implementation, the program for executing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may be in a storage element on a different chip from the processing element, that is, an off-chip storage element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads the program from the off-chip storage element to the on-chip storage element, so as to call and execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

In yet another implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements, and these processing elements are provided on the modulation and demodulation subsystem, and the processing element here may be an integrated circuit, For example: one or more ASICs, or, one or more DSPs, or, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits can be integrated together to form chips.

The units of the terminal device implementing each step in the above method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of an SOC, and the SOC chip is used to implement the above method. At least one processing element and a storage element may be integrated in the chip, and the method executed by the above terminal device may be implemented in the form of a program stored in the storage element being invoked by the processing element; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip to implement the above terminal The method for device execution; or, in combination with the above implementation manners, the functions of some units are implemented in the form of calling programs by processing elements, and the functions of some units are implemented in the form of integrated circuits.

It can be seen that the above apparatus for a terminal device may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit, where the at least one processing element is configured to execute any method performed by the terminal device provided in the above method embodiments. The processing element can execute part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device in the first way: by calling the program stored in the storage element; or in the second way: by combining the instructions with the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor element Part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may be performed in the manner of the first method; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may also be performed in combination with the first manner and the second manner.

The processing elements here are the same as those described above, and can be implemented by a processor, and the functions of the processing elements can be the same as those of the processing unit described in FIG. 8 . Illustratively, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a CPU, or may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or, one or more microprocessors, DSPs , or, one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element may be implemented by a memory, and the function of the storage element may be the same as that of the storage unit described in FIG. 8 . The storage element may be implemented by a memory, and the function of the storage element may be the same as that of the storage unit described in FIG. 8 . The storage element can be one memory or a collective term for multiple memories.

The terminal device shown in FIG. 9 can implement each process involving the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of each module in the terminal device shown in FIG. 9 are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments. For details, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments. To avoid repetition, the detailed descriptions are appropriately omitted here.

Referring to FIG. 10 , which is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application, the access network device (or base station) can be applied to the system architecture shown in FIG. The function of the network access device. Access network device 100 may include one or more DUs 1001 and one or more CUs 1002. The DU 1001 may include at least one antenna 10011, at least one radio frequency unit 10012, at least one processor 10013 and at least one memory 10014. The DU 1001 part is mainly used for the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals, the conversion of radio frequency signals and baseband signals, and part of baseband processing. The CU 1002 may include at least one processor 10022 and at least one memory 10021 .

The CU 1002 part is mainly used to perform baseband processing, control access network equipment, and the like. The DU 1001 and the CU 1002 may be physically set together, or may be physically separated, that is, a distributed base station. The CU 1002 is the control center of the access network equipment, which can also be called a processing unit, and is mainly used to complete the baseband processing function. For example, the CU 1002 may be used to control the access network device to perform the operation process of the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

In addition, optionally, the access network device 100 may include one or more radio frequency units, one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. The DU may include at least one processor 10013 and at least one memory 10014 , the radio unit may include at least one antenna 10011 and at least one radio frequency unit 10012 , and the CU may include at least one processor 10022 and at least one memory 10021 .

In an example, the CU1002 may be composed of one or more single boards, and multiple single boards may jointly support a wireless access network (such as a 5G network) with a single access indication, or may respectively support wireless access systems of different access standards. Access network (such as LTE network, 5G network or other network). The memory 10021 and the processor 10022 may serve one or more single boards. That is to say, the memory and processor can be provided separately on each single board. It can also be that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may also be provided on each single board. The DU1001 can be composed of one or more single boards, and multiple single boards can jointly support a wireless access network (such as a 5G network) with a single access indication, or can support a wireless access network with different access standards (such as a 5G network). LTE network, 5G network or other network). The memory 10014 and processor 10013 may serve one or more single boards. That is to say, the memory and processor can be provided separately on each single board. It can also be that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may also be provided on each single board.

The access network device shown in FIG. 10 can implement each process involving the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of each module in the access network device shown in FIG. 10 are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments. For details, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments. To avoid repetition, the detailed descriptions are appropriately omitted here.

The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or", which describes the association relationship of the associated objects, means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects are an "or" relationship. "At least one item(s) below" or similar expressions thereof refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority or importance of multiple objects degree.

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

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

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The apparatus implements the functions specified in the flow or flow of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that the method is applicable to a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, and the method comprises:

receiving first indication information from an access network device, where the first indication information indicates a first configuration authorization CG in an inactive state;

In the inactive state, the first CG is used to send the first uplink information.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first indication information comprises at least one of the following:

the identifier of the first CG;

the identifier of the cell corresponding to the first CG;

the identifier of the bandwidth part BWP corresponding to the first CG;

The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, where the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send second uplink information in a connected state;

Wherein, the first CG belongs to the one or more CGs.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first indication information comprises configuration information of the first CG.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the first indication information further comprises at least one of the following:

the identifier of the cell corresponding to the first CG;

the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG;

The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, where the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.
The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send second uplink information in a connected state;

Wherein, the first CG is different from the one or more CGs.
The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the method further comprises:

Receive second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information indicates that the first CG is further configured to send second uplink information after the terminal device enters a connected state from an inactive state, or The second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters a connected state from an inactive state.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the method further comprises:

Sending request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the request information includes at least one of the following:

the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state;

the identifier of the cell corresponding to the candidate CG;

the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG;

The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the candidate CG, the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a common uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier;

The identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving configuration information from one or more CGs of the access network device, where the one or more CGs are used to send second uplink information in a connected state;

Wherein, the candidate CG belongs to the one or more CGs.
The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the request information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for a random access procedure.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the first indication information is carried in an RRC connection release message, or the first indication information is carried in a second message, the second message is used for random access procedure.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the method further comprises:

In the inactive state, camp on the cell corresponding to the first CG.
A communication method, characterized in that the method is applicable to an access network device or a chip in the access network device, and the method comprises:

acquiring the first indication information, where the first indication information indicates a first CG in an inactive state, where the first CG is used by the terminal device to send the first uplink information in an inactive state;

Send the first indication information to the terminal device.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the first indication information comprises at least one of the following:

the identifier of the first CG;

the identifier of the cell corresponding to the first CG;

the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG;

The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, where the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.
The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

sending configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used by the terminal device to send second uplink information in a connected state;

Wherein, the first CG belongs to the one or more CGs.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the first indication information comprises configuration information of the first CG.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the first indication information further comprises at least one of the following:

the identifier of the cell corresponding to the first CG;

the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the first CG;

The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, where the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier.
The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the method further comprises:

sending configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used by the terminal device to send second uplink information in a connected state;

Wherein, the first CG is different from the one or more CGs.
The method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein the method further comprises:

Send second indication information to the terminal device, the second indication information indicates that the first CG is also used to send the second uplink information after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state, or the first CG The second indication information indicates that the first CG is released after the terminal device enters the connected state from the inactive state.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, wherein the method further comprises:

Receive request information from the terminal device, where the request information is used to request the CG in the inactive state.
The method according to claim 21, wherein the request information includes at least one of the following:

the identifier of the candidate CG in the inactive state;

the identifier of the cell corresponding to the candidate CG;

the identifier of the BWP corresponding to the candidate CG;

The identifier of the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG, where the uplink carrier corresponding to the first CG is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink carrier;

The identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first uplink information.
The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the method further comprises:

sending configuration information of one or more CGs to the terminal device, where the one or more CGs are used to send the second uplink information in the connected state;

Wherein, the candidate CG belongs to the one or more CGs.
The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein the request information is carried in a first message, and the first message is used for a random access procedure.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, wherein the first indication information is carried in an RRC connection release message, or the first indication information is carried in a second message, the second message is used for random access procedure.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.
A communication device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is coupled to the memory, and the processor is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor and the memory are coupled, and the processor is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from other communication devices other than the communication device and transmit to the processor or transfer signals from the processor The signal is sent to other communication devices other than the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 by means of a logic circuit or executing code instructions.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from other communication devices other than the communication device and transmit to the processor or transfer signals from the processor The signal is sent to other communication devices than the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 14 to 25 by means of logic circuits or executing code instructions.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program or instruction is stored in the storage medium, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a communication device, any one of claims 1 to 13 is implemented. or the method of any one of claims 14 to 25.
A communication system, characterized by comprising the communication device according to any one of claims 26, 28, and 30, and the communication device according to any one of claims 27, 29, and 31.