WO2022041229A1

WO2022041229A1 - Method and apparatus for clustering of terminal device

Info

Publication number: WO2022041229A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/112653
Authority: WO
Inventors: 张云昊; 徐修强; 吴艺群
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-08-31
Filing date: 2020-08-31
Publication date: 2022-03-03

Abstract

A method and apparatus for clustering of a terminal device, which relate to the technical field of communications. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving first information sent by a network device, the first information comprising a first condition that candidate cluster member nodes should satisfy, and/or a second condition that candidate cluster head nodes should satisfy; and according to the first information, the terminal device joining a cluster with the identity of a cluster member node or a cluster head node. According to the solution, a clustering flow is simple, such that the signaling and energy consumption overheads in a clustering process of a terminal can be reduced, and a communication effect after clustering is better.

Description

Method and device for clustering terminal equipment

technical field

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

Background technique

With the development of the Internet of Things and massive Machine Type of Communication (mMTC) technologies, in various communication scenarios such as households, industries, and public places, terminal devices gradually exhibit the characteristics of large numbers, densification, and multiple forms. For example, in an industrial automation scenario, there are a large number of monitoring equipment (eg, cameras), machines, sensors, etc. in the factory building, and there may also be a large number of mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, etc. Due to the limited number of base stations deployed by operators, there is a situation in which one base station covers a large number of terminals.

The 3GPP protocol stipulates that under the coverage of the cellular network, the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state (RRC_IDLE) and the RRC inactive state (RRC_INACTIVE) establishes the RRC connection state (RRC_CONNECTED) with the base station or sends data to the base station. Random access (random access) is required. access) process. Due to the limited number of random access preambles (preambles) specified in the protocol for random access procedures, when a base station covers a large number of terminals, two or more terminal devices may The probability of random access collision is higher by selecting the same preamble in the physical random access channel (PRACH) opportunity. After a random access collision occurs, the terminal device needs to wait for the conflict resolution message to determine whether the access is successful. The terminal device that fails to access will try the random access process again, which will cost a lot of time and energy consumption, which will seriously affect the terminal. Data transmission between the device and the base station.

At present, a feasible solution is to form a cluster by N terminals, and perform random access in units of clusters, so as to reduce the probability of random access collision. However, when the terminal device is in a disconnected state, the terminal device cannot send and receive unicast messages with the network device. Therefore, the network device cannot individually instruct the terminal device to be a cluster head node or a cluster member node. Therefore, how to realize clustering of terminal devices is still an important problem that needs to be solved urgently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a method and apparatus for clustering terminal devices, which is helpful for realizing clustering of multiple terminal devices.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for clustering terminal devices. The method can be applied to the terminal devices in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 . The method includes: the terminal device receives first information sent by a network device. , the first information includes: the first condition that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or the second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy; the terminal device, according to the first information, uses the cluster member node or The identity of the cluster head node joins the cluster.

The first information may also be referred to as clustering information, clustering indication information, or the like. Exemplarily, the network device may send the first information in a broadcast manner. The network device may directly broadcast the first information, or may carry the first information in the broadcasted system information.

Through the above design, the terminal device that receives the first information can judge whether it satisfies the corresponding first condition and/or the second condition according to the indication of the first information, and then judge whether it can be a cluster member node or a cluster head node. The identity of the device is added to the cluster, so as to realize the clustering of terminal devices. The clustering process of the scheme is simple, the signaling and energy consumption overhead in the clustering process of terminal equipment can be reduced, and the communication effect after clustering is better.

In a possible design, the first condition includes a first value interval of the specified parameter; the terminal device joins the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information, including: The terminal device determines that the candidate identity is a candidate cluster member node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval; when the terminal device determines that the first clustering condition is satisfied, the cluster member node's Identity joins the cluster.

Through the above design, in the first information, the candidate identity of the terminal device can be indicated by the first value interval of the specified parameter. After the terminal device receives the first information, it can determine whether the candidate identity can be determined by judging its own candidate identity. As a cluster member node, it forms a cluster with other terminal devices.

In a possible design, the first clustering condition includes: the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a first value, and the first value is used to indicate the number of cluster member nodes of the cluster. Quantity limit.

Through the above design, it can be determined whether a candidate cluster member node can join the cluster according to the number of allowed member nodes in the cluster. It should be understood that, this is only an example of the clustering conditions, but not any limitation. In other embodiments, it is also possible to determine whether a candidate cluster member node is allowed to join the cluster in other ways, for example, according to the capability of the terminal device. , business requirements or network structure requirements, etc., which are not repeated here.

In a possible design, the first information includes time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal device satisfies the first clustering The condition includes: the terminal device indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value according to the information on the number of cluster member nodes obtained based on the SL-SSB of the time-frequency code resource, wherein the The information on the number of cluster member nodes is included in the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource, and/or the information on the number of cluster member nodes is included in the SL-SSB indicated by the time-frequency code resource. scheduled resources.

Through the above design, an example is given to provide a way of judging whether the terminal device satisfies the first clustering condition. That is, it is judged by the number of cluster member nodes carried in the designated SL-SSB broadcast by the cluster head node to the cluster member nodes, or by the cluster head node broadcasted to the cluster member nodes. Judgment of the number of member nodes.

In a possible design, the first value interval includes at least two first sub-intervals, and the first condition further includes a first interval relationship corresponding to the at least two first sub-intervals. In a possible design, the specified parameter is reference signal received power RSRP, and the first condition further includes at least two reference signal identifiers corresponding to the at least two first subintervals respectively. In a possible design, the at least two first subsections include at least one first subsection corresponding to the first cell and/or at least one first subsection corresponding to the second cell, wherein the The first cell is a cell managed by the network device, the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and the first condition further includes a cell identifier of the second cell. That is, the first information may include any relevant information for indicating the identity of the candidate cluster member node of the terminal device.

In a possible design, the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter; the terminal device joins the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information, including: The terminal device determines that the candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval; when the terminal device determines that the second clustering condition is satisfied, the cluster head node's Identity joins the cluster.

Through the above design, the second value interval of the specified parameter can be used to indicate the candidate identity of the terminal device in the first information. After the terminal device receives the first information, it can determine whether the candidate identity can be determined by judging its own candidate identity. As the cluster head node, it forms a cluster with other terminal devices.

In a possible design, the second clustering condition includes: the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a second value, and the second value is used to indicate the number of cluster head nodes of the cluster. Quantity limit.

Through the above design, it can be determined whether the candidate cluster head node can join the cluster according to the number of allowed cluster head nodes in the cluster. It should be understood that this is only an example of the clustering condition, but not any limitation. In other embodiments, it is also possible to determine whether a candidate cluster head node is allowed to join the cluster in other ways, for example, according to the capability of the terminal device. , business requirements or network structure requirements, etc., which are not repeated here.

In a possible design, the first information includes the second value and the time-frequency code resource of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal device satisfies The second clustering condition includes: the number of SL-SSBs received by the terminal device based on the time-frequency code resource is less than the second value.

Through the above design, an example is given to provide a way of judging whether the terminal device satisfies the second clustering condition. That is, according to whether the designated SL-SSB is received, it is determined whether the corresponding cluster head node has sent the designated SL-SSB.

In a possible design, the first information includes the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal device satisfies the second clustering The condition includes: the terminal device receives the cluster head indication information sent by the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the SL-SSB as a cluster head node.

Through the above design, the terminal device whose candidate identity is the candidate cluster head node can also enter the connected state, and the terminal device is individually instructed by the network device as the cluster head node.

In a possible design, the method further includes: the terminal device sending the measurement value of the specified parameter to the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the network device according to the specified parameter measured values are sent.

Through the above design, the terminal device whose candidate identity is the candidate cluster head node can also enter the connected state, and can report the measurement result of the specified parameter to the network device, so that the network device can indicate the terminal device as the cluster according to the measurement value reported by the terminal device. head node.

In a possible design, when the terminal device is a candidate cluster head node and does not meet the second clustering condition, the terminal device uses the cluster head node or cluster member node's name according to the first information. Joining a cluster with an identity, further comprising: when the terminal device satisfies the first clustering condition, joining the cluster as a member node of the cluster; or the terminal device sends a message to the cluster head node in the cluster. A first request, where the first request carries the measurement value of the specified parameter, and is used to request to exchange node identities with the cluster head node, and join the cluster as the cluster head node.

Through the above design, when the terminal device whose candidate identity is the candidate cluster head node does not meet the second clustering condition and cannot join the cluster, the terminal device can still be clustered in other ways.

In a possible design, the method further includes: when the terminal device is a cluster head node, sending the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource; or when the terminal device is a cluster member node, sending the SL-SSB based on the cluster head The feedback resource carried in the SL-SSB sent by the node sends the clustering result information to the cluster head node.

Through the above design, the behavior of the cluster head node and/or the cluster member nodes can be indicated in the first information, so as to form a cluster with other terminal devices.

In a possible design, the second value interval includes at least two second subintervals, and the second condition further includes a second interval relationship corresponding to the at least two second subintervals. In a possible design, the at least two second subsections include at least one second subsection corresponding to the first cell and/or at least one second subsection corresponding to the second cell, wherein the The first cell is a cell managed by the network device, the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and the second condition further includes a cell identifier of the second cell. In a possible design, the specified parameter is reference signal received power RSRP, and the second condition further includes at least two reference signal identifiers corresponding to the at least two second sub-intervals respectively. That is, the first information may include any relevant information for indicating the identity of the candidate cluster head node of the terminal device.

In a possible design, the specified parameter is the reference signal received power RSRP; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the reference signal obtained by the terminal device by measuring the reference signal of the camped cell and/or the neighboring cells of the camped cell. The RSRP measurement value of the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS. In a possible design, the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates of the terminal device, and/or the terminal The value of the distance between the device and the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or the synchronization signal block SSB with the maximum RSRP received by the terminal device index value of . Thus, the network device can indicate the candidate identity of the terminal device based on any information in the first information.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for clustering terminal devices, the method is applicable to network devices in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 , the method includes: the network device generates first information, the first information The information includes: the first condition that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or the second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy; the network device sends the first information, and the first information is used to indicate the terminal The device joins the cluster as a cluster member node or cluster head node.

In a possible design, the generation of the first information by the network device includes: the network device generates the first information according to historical clustering information, wherein the historical clustering information includes clusters that have been clustered in history Information about the head node and/or cluster member nodes.

In a possible design, the first information further includes any one or a combination of the following: the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the second The value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster; the cell identifiers of the first cell and/or the second cell to which the cluster head nodes in the cluster belong, where the first cell is the network The cell managed by the device, the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell.

In a possible design, the first condition includes a first value interval of the specified parameter, for the terminal device to determine that its candidate identity is based on the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval candidate cluster head node; and/or, the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter, for the terminal device to determine its own value according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval The candidate identity is the candidate cluster member node.

In a possible design, the method further includes: the network device sends cluster head indication information to the terminal device, where the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device as a cluster head node to send the SL -SSB.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving, by the network device, a measurement value of a specified parameter sent by the terminal device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the response of the network device to the specified parameter measured values are sent.

In a possible design, the specified parameter is the reference signal received power RSRP; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the reference signal obtained by the terminal device by measuring the reference signal of the camped cell and/or the neighboring cells of the camped cell. The RSRP measurement value of the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

In a possible design, the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates of the terminal device, and/or the terminal The value of the distance between the device and the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or the synchronization signal block SSB with the maximum RSRP received by the terminal device index value of .

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for clustering terminal devices, the apparatus includes: a transceiver unit configured to receive first information sent by a network device, where the first information includes: a candidate cluster member node should The first condition that is satisfied, and/or the second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy; the processing unit, configured to join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information.

In a possible design, the first condition includes a first value interval of the specified parameter; the processing unit is configured to: determine the candidate identity according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval is a candidate cluster member node; when it is determined that the first clustering condition is met, join the cluster as the cluster member node.

In a possible design, the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter; the processing unit is configured to: determine the candidate identity according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval is a candidate cluster head node; when it is determined that the second clustering condition is satisfied, join the cluster as the cluster head node.

In a possible design, the transceiver unit is further configured to: send the measurement value of the specified parameter to the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the response of the network device to the terminal device. The measured value of the specified parameter is sent.

In a possible design, when the terminal device is a candidate cluster head node and the second clustering condition is not satisfied, the processing unit is further configured to: when the first clustering condition is satisfied, The identity of the cluster member node is added to the cluster; or, a first request is sent to the cluster head node in the cluster, where the first request carries the measurement value of the specified parameter, which is used for requesting communication with the cluster After exchanging node identities, the head node joins the cluster as the cluster head node.

In a possible design, when the processing unit is determined to be a cluster head node, the transceiver unit is further configured to send the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource; or, when the processing unit is determined to be a cluster member node , the transceiver unit is further configured to send cluster entry result information to the cluster head node based on the feedback resources carried in the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for clustering terminal devices, the apparatus includes: a processing unit configured to generate first information, where the first information includes: the first information that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy condition, and/or, the second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy; the transceiver unit, configured to send the first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to join as a cluster member node or a cluster head node cluster.

In a possible design, the processing unit is configured to: generate the first information according to historical clustering information, wherein the historical clustering information includes cluster head nodes and/or cluster member nodes that form clusters in the past Information.

In a possible design, the transceiver unit is further configured to: send cluster head indication information to the terminal device, where the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device as a cluster head node to send the SL-SSB .

In a possible design, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receive a measurement value of a specified parameter sent by the terminal device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the measurement of the network device in response to the specified parameter value sent.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is made to execute the above-mentioned first aspect or The method of any one of the second aspects.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product that, when the computer program product runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, the chip is coupled to a memory, the chip reads a computer program stored in the memory, and executes the method described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect. .

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the application;

2 is a schematic flowchart of a method for clustering terminal devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

3A-3B are schematic diagrams of a manner of indicating an area where a terminal device is located according to an embodiment of the present application;

4 is a schematic flowchart of a method for clustering terminal devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

5 is a schematic flowchart of a method for clustering terminal devices according to another embodiment of the present application;

6 is a schematic flowchart of a method for clustering terminal devices according to another embodiment of the present application;

7 is a schematic flowchart of an apparatus for clustering terminal devices according to an embodiment of the present application;

8 is a schematic flowchart of an apparatus for clustering terminal devices according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of an apparatus for clustering terminal devices according to another embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

In a wireless communication system, such as a long term evolution (LTE) system or a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) communication system, a terminal device can perform a radio resource control (RRC) establishment process with a network device , when an RRC connection is established with the network device, the RRC state of the terminal device is the RRC connected state. Subsequently, the RRC state of the terminal device may transition among the following states: RRC idle (RRC_IDLE) state, RRC connected (RRC_CONNECTED) state and RRC inactive (RRC_INACTIVE) state.

When the terminal device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state, there is an RRC connection between the terminal device and the network device. At this time, the network device knows that the terminal device is within the coverage of the network device or within the management scope of the network device, for example, the network device knows that the terminal device is within the coverage of the cell managed by the network device; the core network knows In which network device the terminal device is covered or managed, the core network knows through which network device the terminal device can be located or found. When the terminal device is in the RRC_CONNECTED state, the network device and the terminal device can transmit the data channel and/or control channel specific to the terminal device, so as to transmit the specific information or unicast information of the terminal device. For example, the network device may send a terminal device-specific physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and/or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to the terminal device, and/or the terminal device may send the network device The terminal device-specific physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and/or physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). The terminal device may receive the uplink scheduling indication or the downlink scheduling indication sent by the network device through the PDCCH. The terminal device may send hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information to the network device through the PUCCH, which is used to indicate the demodulation of the downlink data by the terminal device.

When the terminal equipment is in the RRC idle state, the RRC connection between the terminal equipment and the access network is released. At this time, the terminal device may receive a paging message, a broadcast channel, and/or system information and the like from the network device. In the RRC idle state, the network device does not know whether the terminal device is within the coverage of the network device or is within the management range of the network device, for example, the network device does not know whether the terminal device is managed by the network device. Within the coverage of the cell; the core network does not know which network device the terminal device is within the coverage or management range, and the core network does not know through which network device the terminal device can be located or found.

When the terminal device is in the RRC inactive state, the RRC connection between the terminal device and the network device is suspended, but the core network retains the registration information of the terminal. At this time, the core network knows which network device(s) the terminal device is covered by or within the management range, and the core network knows through which network device(s) the terminal device can be located or found. When the terminal device is in the RRC_INACTIVE state, the terminal device may receive paging messages, synchronization signals, broadcast messages, and/or system information, etc. from the network device.

It is proposed in the industry that N terminals form a cluster and perform the random access process in units of clusters, although the random access collision probability can be reduced to a certain extent. However, when the terminal device is in the above-mentioned disconnected state (such as RRC idle state or RRC inactive state) or other disconnected states (such as power saving mode (Power Saving Mode), Inactivity period in DRX (discontinuous reception), etc.) , the network device can broadcast messages to the terminal device, but the terminal device cannot send and receive unicast messages with the network device, so the network device cannot individually instruct the terminal device to be a cluster head node or a cluster member node, and it is difficult to ensure that the terminal can communicate with the network device after forming a cluster. communication effect.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a method and apparatus for clustering terminal equipment. The terminal equipment can receive the first information (including the indication information indicating that the terminal equipment is clustered) broadcast by network equipment, and Indicate, form a cluster with other terminal devices, so as to realize the terminal clustering. The clustering process of the scheme is simple, the signaling and energy consumption overhead in the clustering process of terminal equipment can be reduced, and the communication effect after clustering is better.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, firstly, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is described in detail by taking the communication system shown in FIG. 1 as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication system 100 includes a network device 110 and at least one terminal device 120 . The network device 110 may be configured with multiple antennas, and the terminal device 120 may also be configured with multiple antennas. It should be understood that the network device 110 or the terminal device 120 may also include various components related to signal transmission and reception (eg, processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators or demultiplexers, etc.). Due to the mobility of the terminal device 120 , as shown in FIG. 1 , the terminal device 120 may be within the coverage 111 of the network device 110 or outside the coverage 111 of the network device 110 . As shown in FIG. 1 , when the terminal device 120 is within the coverage 111 of the network device 110 , the terminal device 120 can receive downlink signals sent by the network device 110 and/or send uplink signals to the network device 110 . It should be understood that the coverage area of the network device is only schematically represented here based on the ellipse 111. In a specific application, the coverage area of the network device may be a circular area, or may include multiple sectors. This application does not Do limit.

It should be understood that FIG. 1 is only a simplified schematic diagram for easy understanding, and the communication system may further include other network devices or may also include other terminal devices, which are not shown in FIG. 1 .

It should be understood that the technical solutions of the present application can be applied in a wireless communication system. For example, in the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1, the communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device. The network device and the terminal device may also be referred to as communication devices, and the communication devices may use air interface resources for wireless communication. A network device may also be referred to as a network-side device. The air interface resources may include at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources and space resources. In the embodiments of the present application, at least one may also be described as one or more, and the multiple may be two, three, four or more, which is not limited in this application.

The terminal device involved in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a terminal, which may be a device with a wireless transceiver function, which may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it may also be deployed on water (such as ships, etc.); can also be deployed in the air (such as on airplanes, balloons, satellites, etc.). The terminal device may be a user equipment (user equipment, UE), wherein the UE includes a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device or a computing device with a wireless communication function. Exemplarily, the UE may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with a wireless transceiver function. The terminal device may also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, intelligent Wireless terminals in power grids, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, and so on. The various terminals described above, if located on the vehicle (eg, placed in the vehicle or installed in the vehicle), can be considered as vehicle-mounted terminals, and the vehicle-mounted terminal is also called, for example, an on-board unit (OBU). In this embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal may be a terminal; it may also be a device capable of supporting the terminal to realize the function, such as a chip system, and the device may be installed in the terminal. 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 device for realizing the functions of the terminal is a terminal, and the terminal is a UE as an example to describe the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application.

The network device involved in the embodiments of the present application includes a base station (base station, BS), which may be a device deployed in a wireless access network and capable of wirelessly communicating with a terminal. The base station may have various forms, such as a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay station, and an access point. Exemplarily, the base station involved in the embodiment of the present application may be a base station in 5G or a base station in LTE, where the base station in 5G may also be called a transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP) or gNB. In this embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device; it may also be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, and the apparatus may be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network equipment is the network equipment, and the network equipment is a base station as an example to describe the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application.

The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to wireless communication between communication devices. The wireless communication between communication devices may include: wireless communication between a network device and a terminal, wireless communication between a network device and a network device, and wireless communication between a terminal and a terminal. Wherein, in this embodiment of the present application, the term "wireless communication" may also be referred to as "communication" for short, and the term "communication" may also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission".

In addition, it should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, at least one may also be described as one or more, and the multiple may be two, three, four or more, which is not limited in this application. In this embodiment of the present application, "/" may indicate that the objects associated before and after are an "or" relationship, for example, A/B may indicate A or B; "and/or" may be used to describe that there are three types of associated objects A relationship, for example, A and/or B, can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In order to facilitate the description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" may be used to distinguish technical features with the same or similar functions. The words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the difference. In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to represent examples, illustrations or illustrations, and any embodiment or design solution described as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed are preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. The use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner to facilitate understanding.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application can be applied to 5G NR (New Radio) systems, and can also be applied to other communication systems, such as Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution), Code Division Multiple Access CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) Access), WIFI, or a future 6G communication system, etc., as long as there are network devices (eg, network device 110 in FIG. 1 ) and multiple terminal devices (eg, terminal device 120 in FIG. 1 ) in the communication system. There is a terminal device within the coverage of a network device, receiving a downlink signal sent by the network device, and/or sending an uplink signal to the network device. Other terminal devices may or may not be within the coverage of the network device.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method for clustering terminal devices, and the method can be implemented by the network device and/or the terminal device in FIG. 1 . The steps of the method will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 .

As shown in Figure 2, the terminal device clustering method includes the following steps:

S210: The network device sends the first information.

S220: The terminal device receives the first information sent by the network device.

S230: The terminal device joins the cluster as a cluster head node or a cluster member node according to the first information.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network device may send the first information in a broadcast manner. The network device may directly broadcast the first information, or may carry the first information in the broadcasted system information or other information, which is not limited in this application.

The first information may also be referred to as clustering information, clustering indication information, or the like. The network device may divide the clusters to be formed by a large number of terminal devices within its coverage or its management range, and generate the above-mentioned first information. The first information may include relevant indication information of one or more clusters to be formed by a large number of terminal devices within the coverage or management range of the network device, and the relevant indication information may include but not limited to: The indication information of the identity conditions that the cluster should satisfy, and the indication information about the behavior of the corresponding node identity after the terminal device forms the cluster. The network device may broadcast the first information within its entire coverage area or the entire management area, or may broadcast the first information within a preset area. The first information broadcast by the network device may include the relevant indication information of all the clusters within the coverage or management range of the network device, and may also include the relevant indication information of one or more predetermined clusters. This is not limited. It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, the network device may implement clustering of a large number of terminal devices according to application scenarios or business requirements or other requirements, so as to ensure good communication effect between terminal nodes in the cluster after clustering. , the network device may also perform clustering according to the information of the cluster head nodes and/or cluster member nodes that form a cluster in the past (referred to as historical clustering information), and this application does not make any limitation on the clustering method. It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, "clustering" refers to the division of clusters corresponding to a large number of terminal devices by network equipment, and "clustering" refers to that terminal devices that meet corresponding conditions form clusters with each other. The included indication information is the indication information that the network device divides the cluster, and is used to inform the terminal device of the relevant conditions that should be satisfied when forming a cluster with other terminal devices.

In an example, the first information may include: a first condition that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or a second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy. After the terminal device receives the first information, it can realize terminal clustering by judging whether it satisfies the first condition and/or the second condition. For example, if the terminal device satisfies the first condition, it can determine that its candidate identity in the cluster to be joined is a candidate cluster member node, and then use the identity of the candidate cluster member node to determine whether it can join the corresponding cluster as a cluster head node . If the terminal device satisfies the second condition, it can determine its candidate identity in the cluster to be joined currently as a candidate cluster head node, and then use the identity of the candidate cluster head node to determine whether it can join the corresponding cluster as a cluster member node. Therefore, the terminal device itself can form a cluster with other terminal devices according to the instruction of the first information, the clustering process is simple, and the signaling and energy consumption overhead in the clustering process of the terminal device can be reduced. here. It should be noted that if the terminal device neither satisfies the first condition nor the second condition, it can be considered that the terminal device does not need to be clustered, or the network device does not instruct it to form a cluster with other terminal devices. In other cases, this application does not limit it. In the embodiments of the present application, the main focus is on the clustering of terminal devices that can serve as candidate cluster head nodes or candidate cluster member nodes, which will not be distinguished hereinafter.

The above-mentioned first condition and/or second condition may be any condition for determining the candidate identity of the terminal device in the cluster to be joined.

In a possible design, the first condition may include, for example, information used to indicate the first area where the cluster member node is located, and the second condition may include information used to indicate the second area where the cluster head node is located, for example. The first area may also be called a cluster member area, and the second area may also be called a cluster head area. The terminal may determine its candidate identity in the cluster to be added according to the area where it is located and the relationship with the first area and the second area. For example, if the area where the terminal device is located belongs to the first area, its candidate identity can be determined as a candidate cluster member node. Alternatively, if the area where the terminal device is located belongs to the second area, its candidate identity can be determined as a candidate cluster head node. It should be understood that the first condition and/or the second condition are only exemplarily described here without any limitation. In some embodiments, the first condition and/or the second condition may also be based on services, terminals The capability, the topology structure of the terminal, etc. indicate candidate identities, which are not limited in this application.

In one example, the first condition may include a first value interval of the specified parameter, and the first value interval may be used to indicate the first area where the candidate cluster member node is located. The second condition may include a second value interval of the specified parameter, where the second value interval is used to indicate the second area where the candidate cluster head node is located. The terminal device can determine its candidate identity in the cluster to be added according to the relationship between the measured value of the specified parameter and the first value interval and the second value interval, respectively. Specifically, for example, the terminal device may determine that the candidate identity is a candidate cluster member node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval; and/or, the terminal device belongs to the specified parameter according to the measurement value of the specified parameter. In the second value interval, the candidate identity is determined as the candidate cluster head node.

The above-mentioned specified parameter may be any parameter that can be used to determine the candidate identity of the terminal device, and the measurement value of the specified parameter is a corresponding result obtained by the terminal device measuring the specified parameter. For a clearer understanding of the embodiments of the present application, an example is given below with reference to FIGS. 3A-3B .

Example 1: The specified parameter may be reference signal received power (RSRP). The measurement value of the specified parameter may include the RSRP measurement value obtained by the terminal device measuring the reference signal of the cell where it resides and/or the neighbor cell of the cell. The reference signal may include, for example, a synchronized signal block (synchronized signal block, SSB) and/or a channel state information reference signal (channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS), and the like.

Referring to FIG. 3A , it is assumed that a network device transmits multiple beams to a first cell (also referred to as this cell in this embodiment of the present application) managed by the network device, and the SSB of each beam may be used by terminal devices located within the coverage of the first cell. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 received.

Terminal devices

1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 may measure the received RSRP of one or more SSBs, respectively. Assume that the network device divides the mass terminal devices within its coverage or management range into clusters based on the signal strength. After clustering, it is determined that the area R-1 in Figure 3A is the area where the candidate cluster member nodes of a cluster are located, and the area R-2 is the area where the candidate cluster head node of the cluster is located, then the network device may use the first information based on the index value of the SSBs (for example, SSB-1 and SSB-2) that can cover the area R-2 (for example, SSB-1 and SSB-2) and each SSB The first value interval [PN-j, PN-k] of the corresponding RSRP is used as the first condition. After the

terminal devices

3 and 4 receive the corresponding SSB-1 and/or SSB-2 and measure the RSRP, they can be based on the RSRP The measured value is compared with [PN-j, PN-k] to determine whether it can be a candidate cluster member node. At the same time, the network device may scan the first information based on the index values of the SSBs (for example, SSB-1 and SSB-2) that can scan the area R-1 and the second value interval [PN-i, PN-1] As the second condition, after the

terminal devices

2 and 5 receive the corresponding SSB-1 and/or SSB-2 and measure the RSRP, they can compare with [PN-i, PN-1] based on the RSRP measurement value , to determine whether it can be a candidate cluster head node. Wherein, N is a positive integer, representing the index value of the SSB, i, l, j, and k respectively represent threshold values based on signal strength, and l and j may be the same or different.

Referring to FIG. 3A , since the coverage of the adjacent cell (ie, the second cell) of the first cell overlaps with the coverage of the first cell, the terminal device 1 located in the overlapping area of the first cell and the second cell can receive The SSB-3 of the first cell may also receive the SSB-1 of the second cell. Therefore, the network device may also use the index value of each SSB of the current cell and the neighboring cell and the corresponding RSRP value interval as the first condition and/or the second condition in the first information. Correspondingly, in order to facilitate the distinction, the measurement value of the designated parameter by the terminal device may further include the received index value of the SSB and/or the cell identifier of the cell corresponding to the SSB.

Example 2: The specified parameter may be a terminal location parameter, including but not limited to any one or combination of the following: longitude and latitude, distance, and azimuth. The measured value of the terminal location parameter and the value interval of the terminal location parameter may be associated, for example, by the location of the network device. The measured value of the specified parameter may be the longitude and latitude coordinates of the terminal device, and/or the distance value of the terminal device from the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device.

Referring to Fig. 3B, it is assumed that the network device takes itself as the reference origin, and performs clustering and division of a large number of terminal devices within its coverage or management range. After clustering, it is determined that the region R-1 in Fig. 3B is the region where the candidate cluster member nodes are located, The area R-2 is the area where the candidate cluster head node is located, and the network device can use the first information as the information based on the longitude, latitude, distance, azimuth and other information of the area R-1 relative to the network device itself and the corresponding value interval. the first condition and/or the second condition. Correspondingly, the terminal device can obtain the corresponding measurement value by measuring the specified parameter through the corresponding technology. For example, the longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates of the terminal device can be obtained through GPS positioning technology, and the distance value and/or azimuth angle from the network device can be obtained by interacting measurement signals with the network device. The present application does not limit the manner of obtaining the measured value of the terminal location parameter.

It should be noted that, in the above examples 1 and 2, the first (second) value interval of the specified parameter may be a single value interval, or may include at least two first (second) sub-intervals. If the first (2) value interval includes at least two first (2) subintervals, the first (2) condition may also include the first (2) interval corresponding to the at least two first (2) subintervals relation. The at least two first (second) sub-regions may include at least one first (second) sub-region corresponding to the first cell and/or at least one first (second) sub-region corresponding to the second cell, wherein, The first cell is a cell managed by the network device, the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and the first (second) condition may further include a cell identifier of the second cell. If the specified parameter is the reference signal received power RSRP, the first (second) condition further includes at least two reference signal identifiers corresponding to the at least two first (second) sub-intervals respectively. Wherein, if the reference signal is an SSB, the reference signal identifier is an SSB index. If the reference signal is a CSI-RS, the reference signal identifier may refer to a CSI-RS resource corresponding to the CSI-RS, and the CSI-RS resource may be indicated, for example, in other information sent by the network device, which will not be repeated here.

It should be understood that, the method for determining the candidate identity of the terminal device is only described here by taking RSRP and the terminal location parameter as examples without any limitation. In other embodiments, the candidate identity of the terminal device may also be determined in other ways. This application does not limit this.

Since the first information indicates the relevant conditions that the terminal device should meet as a candidate cluster head node and/or a candidate cluster member node, the content included in the first information will affect the clustering result of the terminal device. In order to understand the embodiments of the present application more clearly, in the following, taking the specified parameter as RSRP, and the manner in which the terminal device measures RSRP by searching for a synchronized signal block (SSB) as an example, the first information in different situations is introduced. What is included and how the terminal device determines the candidate identity according to the first information.

Example 1

The network equipment may carry the first information in the system information broadcast to the terminal equipment of the first cell (that is, the current cell) managed by the network equipment to indicate that the terminal equipment that can receive the first information and meet the corresponding conditions, as a cluster member node. Or the identity of the cluster head node is added to the corresponding cluster, and the terminal device is instructed to act as a cluster head node or a cluster member node. The terminal devices may all be in a disconnected state, and form a cluster with other terminal devices according to the received first information. The first information may include the content shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1

As shown in Table 1, the first information may include cluster identifiers of the clusters, such as

cluster numbers

1, 2, and 3. In the following description, for the convenience of distinction, each cluster indicated in the first information may be abbreviated as cluster 1, cluster 2, cluster 3 . . . correspondingly according to its cluster number.

The first information may include a first condition and a second condition corresponding to each cluster, the first condition is used to indicate the cluster member area (ie the first area) of the cluster, and the second condition is used to indicate the cluster head of the cluster. The area (ie the second area), the first condition and the second condition are used by the terminal device to determine its candidate identity in the corresponding cluster. The first condition may include the index value of the SSB of the current cell and the corresponding first value interval of the RSRP, and the second condition may include the index value of the SSB of the current cell and the corresponding second value interval of the RSRP. In the first value interval [PN-j, PN-k] or the second value interval [PN-i, PN-j] corresponding to each SSB, N is a positive integer, indicating the index value of the SSB, i, j, k represents a threshold value based on signal strength, respectively. The first information may indicate the candidate identity of the terminal device through the RSRP value interval corresponding to one SSB, or may jointly indicate the candidate identity of the terminal device through the RSRP value interval corresponding to two or more SSBs respectively. The SSB index indicated by the cluster head area and the SSB index indicated by the cluster member area may be the same, may be different, or not exactly the same. The first value interval and the second value interval corresponding to the same SSB index are different or not completely the same.

Taking the cluster 1 in Table 1 as an example, the indication information of the cluster head area and the cluster member area corresponding to the cluster 1 both indicate the candidate identity of the terminal device through an RSRP value interval corresponding to an SSB. As shown in Table 1, the indication information of the cluster head area corresponding to cluster 1 includes SSB-1 and the second value interval [P1-1, P1-2] of RSRP corresponding to SSB-1, and the indication information of the cluster member area includes SSB-1 and the first value interval [P1-2, P1-3] of RSRP corresponding to SSB-1. If the terminal device receives SSB-1, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-1 belongs to the first value interval [P1-1, P1-2] corresponding to SSB-1, it is considered that the terminal device corresponds to cluster 1 In the cluster head area, the terminal device can consider its candidate identity in cluster 1 as a candidate cluster head node. If the terminal device receives SSB-1, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-1 belongs to the second value interval [P1-2, P1-3] corresponding to SSB-1, it is considered that the terminal device corresponds to cluster 1 In the cluster member area, the terminal device can consider its candidate identity in cluster 1 as a candidate cluster member node.

Taking cluster 2 in Table 1 as an example, the indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area corresponding to cluster 2 jointly indicates the candidate identity of the terminal device through the RSRP value interval corresponding to the two SSBs, wherein the cluster head area indicates The indices of the two SSBs in the cluster member area may be the same as the indices of the two SSBs indicated by the cluster member area, and may also be different or not exactly the same. The indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area also includes an indication of the interval relationship that should be satisfied by the RSRP value ranges corresponding to the two SSBs. ; It can also be an "or" relationship, that is, one of all the conditions is satisfied; it can also be a "partial sum" relationship, that is, a part of all conditions/multiple conditions are satisfied at the same time; it can also be "partial or" relationship, that is, one of the conditions is satisfied, etc. The above relationship may be explicitly indicated, such as being explicitly indicated in the relevant field in the first information; the relationship may also be implicitly indicated, such as an “and” relationship by default, which is not implemented in this application. Do limit. In practical applications, the network device may indicate the interval relationship between the RSRP value intervals corresponding to different SSBs in the first information according to the application scenario or service requirements or other requirements, which is not limited in this application.

As shown in Table 1, the indication information of the cluster head area corresponding to cluster 2 includes SSB-2 and the first value interval [P2-1, P2-2], SSB-3 and SSB-3 of RSRP corresponding to SSB-2 The first value interval [P3-1, P3-2] of the corresponding RSRP, and the interval relationship "sum" that should be satisfied by [P2-1, P2-2] and [P3-1, P3-2]. That is to say, the terminal device receives SSB-2, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-2 belongs to the second value interval [P2-1, P2-2] corresponding to SSB-2, and the terminal device receives the SSB -3, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-3 belongs to the second value interval [P3-1, P3-2] corresponding to the SSB-3, then the terminal device can determine that its candidate identity in cluster 2 is Candidate cluster head node. The indication information of the cluster member area corresponding to cluster 2 includes SSB-1 and the first value interval [P1-2, P1-3] of the RSRP corresponding to SSB-1, and the first value range of the RSRP corresponding to SSB-2 and SSB-2. The value interval [P2-2, P2-3], and the interval relationship "or" that [P1-2, P1-3] and [P2-2, P2-3] should satisfy. That is to say, the terminal device receives SSB-1, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-1 belongs to the first value interval [P1-2, P1-3] corresponding to SSB-1, or the terminal device receives SSB-2, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-2 belongs to the first value interval [P2-2, P2-3] corresponding to SSB-2, then the terminal device can determine that its candidate identity in cluster 2 is Candidate cluster member nodes.

Similarly, if the indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area jointly indicates the candidate identity of the terminal device through the RSRP value interval corresponding to more (two or more) SSBs, then the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area The indication information of the area is an indication of the interval relationship that should be satisfied by the RSRP value intervals corresponding to the more SSBs. , and will not be repeated here.

As shown in the third column of Table 1, the first information may further include the second value and the time-frequency code of the sidelink synchronized signal block (SL-SSB) sent by the cluster head node in the corresponding cluster resource. The second value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes that form the corresponding cluster, and the time-frequency code resource of the SL-SSB is used to indicate the time-frequency position of the SL-SSB broadcast by the cluster head node that joins the corresponding cluster and sequence used. If the candidate identity of the terminal device is the candidate cluster head node, for example, it can determine whether it can join the cluster as the cluster head node according to whether the number of existing cluster head nodes in the corresponding cluster reaches the second value. If the terminal device joins the cluster as the cluster head node, it broadcasts the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resources of the SL-SSB, so that the candidate cluster member nodes of the SL-SSB broadcasted by the cluster head node can broadcast the SL-SSB according to the resources of the SL-SSB. Synchronize with the cluster head node.

If the candidate identity of the terminal device is a candidate cluster member node, it can search for the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node on the corresponding time-frequency resource according to the time-frequency code resource of the SL-SSB indicated in the first information, so as to find the SL-SSB by itself. The cluster head node of the cluster to be joined, and forms a cluster with the cluster head node and/or other existing member nodes in the cluster. The cluster head node may carry the cluster information to be broadcast to the cluster member nodes in the SL-SSB sent based on the above time-frequency code resources, or may carry the cluster information in a resource indicated by the SL-SSB or associated with the SL-SSB. Cluster information to be broadcast to cluster member nodes. The cluster information may include, for example, information on the number of cluster member nodes and feedback resources, and the information on the number of cluster member nodes may be used to indicate whether the number of cluster member nodes in the corresponding cluster is less than a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the corresponding cluster is formed The upper limit of the number of cluster member nodes. The feedback resource can be used for the candidate cluster member node to feed back the cluster entry result information to the cluster head node. If the candidate cluster member node receives the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the corresponding cluster indicating that the number of existing cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value, it means that the cluster is not full, and the candidate cluster member node can enter the cluster. cluster, the clustering result information can be fed back to the cluster head node based on the feedback resource, so as to inform the cluster head node that the clustering is successful. On the contrary, it means that the cluster is full and the candidate cluster member node fails to join the cluster, then the candidate cluster member node can also send the cluster joining result information to the cluster head node based on the feedback resource to inform the cluster head node that the cluster joining failed. That is to say, the cluster head node can achieve synchronization with the corresponding cluster member node + clustering indication through the SL-SSB function.

Therefore, the terminal device in the disconnected state can form a cluster with other terminal devices by itself according to the instruction of the first information. After that, after the cluster head node initiates the random access process and establishes an RRC connection with the network device, it can report the information of the cluster member nodes to the network device, so that the network device can establish an RRC connection with the cluster member nodes, thereby realizing the cluster as the The unit performs random access to reduce the probability of random access collision. Whether the candidate cluster head node and the candidate cluster member node can join the cluster as the corresponding node identities will be described below with reference to the corresponding flowchart, and will not be repeated here.

Example 2

The network device may carry the first information in the system information broadcast to the terminal devices of the first cell managed by the network device to indicate that the terminal devices that can receive the first information and meet the corresponding conditions, as cluster member nodes or cluster head nodes. The identity is added to the corresponding cluster. Among them, some terminal devices (such as terminal devices that may be candidate cluster member nodes) may be in a disconnected state, and some terminal devices (such as terminal devices that may be candidate cluster head nodes) may be in a connected state. If the terminal device is in a connected state and its candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node, the terminal device may be instructed by the network device to act as a cluster head node in the cluster. The first information may include the content shown in Table 2 below:

Table 2

Compared with Table 1, the indication information about the cluster head area is optional.

Specifically, the first information may include indication information of the cluster head area. If the terminal device determines that its candidate identity in the cluster to be joined is a candidate cluster head node according to the indication information of the cluster head area, the terminal device can initiate a random access procedure to establish an RRC connection with the network device, thereby entering the RRC connection state. At this time, the network device may individually instruct the terminal device, or may not instruct the terminal device as the cluster head node, or may instruct the terminal device as the cluster head node to send the designated SL-SSB, and the time-frequency code resources of the SL-SSB are is the time-frequency code resource of the SL-SSB indicated in the first information. Other terminal devices whose candidate identities are candidate cluster member nodes can search for the cluster head node of the cluster to be joined according to the instructions of the first information, and form a cluster with the cluster head node and/or other member nodes in the cluster.

Correspondingly, after the cluster head node in the connected state and the cluster member node in the non-connected state form a cluster, the information of the cluster member nodes can also be reported to the network device, and the network device can report the information of the cluster member nodes according to the cluster head node. RRC connections are established with cluster member nodes, thereby implementing random access in units of clusters and reducing the probability of random access collisions. Whether the candidate cluster head node and the candidate cluster member node can join the cluster as the corresponding node identities will be described below with reference to the corresponding flowchart, and will not be repeated here.

Example three

Due to the commercial terminal equipment in the cellular network, the SSB broadcast information of multiple cells is usually searched, and the RSRP of multiple SSBs in multiple cells can also be measured. In this embodiment of the present application, the network device may carry the first information in the system information broadcast to the terminal device of the first cell managed by the network device, where the first information includes SSBs of multiple cells (for example, the current cell and neighboring cells) and its The corresponding RSRP value interval is used to indicate that a terminal device that can receive the first information and meets the corresponding condition joins the corresponding cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node. The first information may include the content shown in Table 3 below:

table 3

Compared with Table 1, in the indication information of the cluster head area and the indication information of the cluster member area corresponding to each cluster, the relevant indication information about the adjacent cells of this cell can be added, such as the cell identifier of the adjacent cell, the adjacent cell The index value of the SSB and its corresponding RSRP value range. Meanwhile, in the third column of Table 3, the cell identifier of the cell to which the cluster head node of the corresponding cluster belongs may also be added. Based on the first information shown in Table 3, the scope of the area where the cluster head node and the corresponding cluster member nodes are located is narrowed, so that the network side can control the clustering of terminal devices in the disconnected state more finely. At the same time, it can also indicate that the terminal equipment residing in the current cell is clustered with the terminal equipment of the neighboring cell.

As shown in Table 3, the indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area includes the index value of the SSB of the current cell and the neighboring cell and the corresponding RSRP value interval. Among them, the indication information corresponding to "this cell" in the cluster head area in Table 3 is the indication information of the cluster head area in Table 1, and the indication information corresponding to "this cell" in the cluster member area in Table 3 is the indication information in Table 3. Indication information of the cluster member area in 1. The terminal equipment receiving the first information can indicate the candidate identity of the terminal equipment according to an SSB of the own cell and/or a neighboring cell included in the first information and its corresponding RSRP value interval, or can also use the information in the first information to indicate the candidate identity of the terminal equipment. The included RSRP value intervals corresponding to two or more SSBs of the current cell and/or the neighboring cell jointly indicate the candidate identity of the terminal device. The SSB index of the current cell and/or the neighboring cell indicated by the cluster head area and the SSB index of the current cell and/or the neighboring cell indicated by the cluster member area may be the same, may be different, or not exactly the same. The first value interval and the second value interval corresponding to the same SSB index of the current cell and/or the neighboring cell are different or not completely the same.

It should be noted that the indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area corresponding to the corresponding cluster in Table 3 indicates the terminal equipment's status through the RSRP value interval corresponding to one or more SSBs of the current cell and/or the adjacent cell. candidacy. The indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area may also include an indication of the interval relationship that should be satisfied by the RSRP value intervals corresponding to one or more SSBs of the current cell and/or the adjacent cell, that is, indicating the above-mentioned multiple Each RSRP value interval can be an "and" relationship, that is, all conditions are satisfied at the same time; it can also be an "or" relationship, that is, one of all the conditions is satisfied; it can also be a "partial sum" relationship, that is, it is simultaneously satisfied. Part of the conditions/multiple conditions of all conditions; it can also be a "partial OR" relationship, that is, one of the partial conditions is satisfied, etc. The above interval relationship may be explicitly indicated, such as explicitly indicated in the relevant field in the first information; the relationship may also be implicitly indicated, for example, the default is an "and" relationship, which is implemented in this application. Not limited. In practical applications, the network device may indicate, in the first information, the interval relationship between the RSRP value intervals corresponding to the SSBs of the current cell and the neighboring cells, or indicate the difference between the current cell and/or the neighboring cells according to the application scenario, service requirements, or other requirements. The interval relationship between the RSRP value intervals corresponding to the SSBs is not limited in this application.

Taking cluster 1 in Table 3 as an example, the indication information of the cluster head area corresponding to cluster 1 includes the second value interval [P1-1, P1-2] of the RSRP corresponding to SSB-1 and SSB-1 of this cell, The cell ID (cell ID-1) of the neighboring cell and the second value interval [Pn-1', Pn-2'] of the RSRP corresponding to the SSB-n and SSB-n of the neighboring cell. If the relationship that the SSB measurement results of the current cell and the neighboring cell should satisfy is not explicitly indicated, it can be considered that the relationship between the two is "and" by default. That is to say, the terminal equipment receives the SSB-1 of the cell, the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring SSB-1 belongs to the second value interval [P1-1, P1-2] corresponding to SSB-1, and the terminal equipment receives The SSB-n of the neighboring cell Cell ID-1, when the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-n belongs to the second value interval [Pn-1', Pn-2'] corresponding to the SSB-n, the terminal equipment can Determine its candidate status in cluster 1 as the candidate cluster head node.

Similarly, the indication information of the cluster member area corresponding to cluster 1 in Table 2 includes the first value interval [P1-2, P1-3] of the RSRP corresponding to SSB-1 and SSB-1 of this cell, and the cells of neighboring cells. Identity (cell ID-1) and the first value interval [Pn-2', Pn-3'] of the RSRP corresponding to the SSB-n and SSB-n of the adjacent cell, and the cell identity of the adjacent cell (cell ID-2) And the first value interval [Pm-2", Pm-3"] of the RSRP corresponding to the SSB-m and SSB-m of the adjacent cell, and the RSRP value interval of the SSB of the cell ID-1 and the value of the cell ID-2 The interval relationship "sum" of the RSRP value interval of the SSB. That is to say, the terminal equipment receives the SSB-1 of the cell, and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-1 belongs to the first value interval [P1-2, P1-3] corresponding to the SSB-1, and the terminal equipment After receiving the SSB-n of the neighboring cell Cell ID-1, the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-n belongs to the first value interval [Pn-2', Pn-3'] corresponding to the SSB-n, and the terminal equipment After receiving the SSB-m of the neighboring cell Cell ID-2, the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring the SSB-m belongs to the first value interval [Pm-2", Pm-3"] corresponding to the SSB-m, then the terminal equipment side It can be determined that its candidate status in cluster 1 is a candidate cluster head node.

Taking cluster 2 in Table 3 as an example, in the first information, if the indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area only indicates the candidate identity of the terminal equipment through the SSB of the cell and its corresponding RSRP value interval, As for how the terminal device determines its own candidate identity according to the indication information, reference may be made to the relevant description in conjunction with Table 1 above, and details are not repeated here.

The terminal device can determine its candidate identity in the corresponding cluster by matching the measurement result of the SSB of the current cell and/or the neighboring cell with the indication information of the cluster head area and/or the cluster member area in the first information. The matching method is the same as or similar to that described above in conjunction with Table 1. For details, please refer to the relevant description above, which will not be repeated here.

As shown in the third column of Table 3, the first information may further include the cell identifier of the cell to which the cluster head node in the corresponding cluster belongs, the second value, and the sidelink synchronization signal block sent by the cluster head node in the corresponding cluster Time-frequency code resources of SL-SSB. Wherein, the second value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes forming the corresponding cluster, and the time-frequency code resource of the SL-SSB is used to indicate the time-frequency position of the SL-SSB broadcast by the cluster head node that joins the corresponding cluster and the used sequence. If the terminal device determines that its candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node according to the indication information of the cluster head area, it can further determine whether it can join the cluster as a cluster head node according to the cell identifier corresponding to the cluster head node indicated in the first information. Alternatively, if the candidate identity of the terminal device is the cluster head node, it can also determine whether it can join the cluster as the cluster head node according to whether the number of the cluster head nodes in the corresponding cluster reaches the first value. If the terminal device joins the cluster as the cluster head node, it broadcasts the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resources of the SL-SSB, so that the candidate cluster member nodes that receive the SL-SSB broadcast by the cluster head node according to the SL-SSB and the Cluster head nodes synchronize and/or form clusters.

Similar to the description in Table 1, if the candidate identity of the terminal device is a candidate cluster member node, then according to the time-frequency code resources of the SL-SSB indicated in the first information, the corresponding time-frequency resources can be searched for the information sent by the cluster head node. SL-SSB, so as to find the cluster head node of the cluster to be added by itself, and form a cluster with the cluster head node and/or other existing member nodes in the cluster. For related descriptions, reference may also be made to the related descriptions in conjunction with Table 1 above, which will not be repeated here.

Therefore, according to the indication of the first information, the terminal equipment residing in the cell can form a cluster with the cluster head node of the cell, or form a cluster with the cluster head node of the adjacent cell, and the terminal equipment residing in the cell can form a cluster. The device can also be used as a cluster head node to form a cluster with the cluster member nodes of the neighboring cells. The clustering method is more flexible, and the network device can control the clustering of the terminal device more finely. Whether the candidate cluster head node and the candidate cluster member node can join the cluster as the corresponding node identities will be described below with reference to the corresponding flowchart, and will not be repeated here.

Example four

The terminal device can be in a disconnected state, and the network device can carry the first information in the system information broadcast to the terminal device to indicate the terminal device that can receive the first information, and is composed of the cluster member node and the designated cluster head node. cluster. The first information may include the content shown in Table 4 below:

Table 4

Compared with Table 1-Table 3, the first information does not include the indication information of the cluster head area, and the terminal equipment in the connected state is instructed by the network device to send the designated SL-SSB as the cluster head node. The first information includes indication information of the cluster member area corresponding to each cluster, and indication information of the designated cluster head node. If the candidate identity of the terminal device is a candidate cluster member node, it can search for the designated cluster head node by itself according to the time-frequency code resources of the SL-SSB indicated in the first information, and communicate with the designated cluster head node and/or other nodes in the cluster. Member nodes form clusters. For details, refer to the above related description, which is not repeated here. The clustering of the terminal of the candidate cluster member will be described below with reference to the corresponding flowchart, and will not be repeated here.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment shown in Table 4, it is an example in which the first information broadcast by the network device instructs the terminal device to form a cluster with the designated cluster head node as a candidate cluster member. Here, for the cluster head node The clustering method is not limited, and the cluster head node can be the one that joins the cluster after satisfying the corresponding clustering conditions after determining its own candidate identity as the candidate cluster head node in response to the first information in Table 1 or Table 2 in the non-connected state. , or the cluster head indication information sent by the network device may be received into the cluster in the connected state, which is not limited in this application. In addition, the indication information of the designated cluster head node may indicate the cluster head node of the current cell and/or the neighboring cell and the time-frequency code resources of the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node, which is not limited in this application.

Therefore, the content of the first information is described in detail through the above examples in conjunction with Table 1 and Table 4. When the terminal device is in a disconnected state, the candidate identity can be determined according to the indication of the first information broadcast by the network device, and it can be used with other The terminal devices form clusters by themselves, which simplifies the clustering process and reduces the signaling and energy consumption overhead of the terminal clustering process. Meanwhile, since the first information may be generated by the network device according to the historical clustering information, the communication effect with the network side after each terminal device forms a cluster based on the first information is more ideal.

In a possible design, in order to achieve more refined control of terminal clustering by network devices, after the terminal device determines that its candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node or candidate cluster member node, it can also determine whether it satisfies the candidate cluster by determining whether it satisfies the candidate cluster. The first clustering condition corresponding to the member node or the second clustering condition corresponding to the candidate cluster head node is used to determine whether it can join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node. As an example, the first clustering condition and the second clustering condition may respectively include conditions on the upper limit of the number of cluster member nodes and cluster head nodes that form a cluster. For example, the first clustering condition includes: The number is less than or equal to the first value, the first value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster member nodes of the cluster; the second clustering condition includes: the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to the second value, the The second value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster. The candidate cluster member node judges whether the first clustering condition is met, and the candidate cluster head node judges whether the second clustering condition is met. There may be various implementations, which are not limited in this application.

In an example, the first information may include time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster. The terminal device meeting the first clustering condition may include: the terminal device indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than The first value, wherein the information on the number of cluster member nodes is included in the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource, and/or, the information on the number of cluster member nodes is included in the time-frequency-based In the predetermined resource indicated by the SL-SSB of the code resource.

In one example, the first information may include the second value and time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster. The terminal device satisfying the second clustering condition may include: the number of SL-SSBs based on the time-frequency code resource received by the terminal device is less than the second value.

In an example, the first information may include the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; and the terminal device satisfies the second clustering condition and may include : The terminal device receives the cluster head indication information sent by the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the SL-SSB as a cluster head node.

In an example, when the terminal device is a candidate cluster head node and does not meet the second clustering condition, the terminal device joins the cluster as a cluster head node or a cluster member node according to the first information , may also include: when the terminal device satisfies the first clustering condition, joins the cluster as the cluster member node; or the terminal device sends the first cluster head node to the cluster head node. The first request carries the measurement value of the specified parameter, and is used to request to exchange node identities with the cluster head node and join the cluster as the cluster head node.

In an example, when the terminal device is a cluster head node, the designated SL-SSB may be sent based on the time-frequency code resource indicated in the first information. When the terminal device is a cluster member node, it may send the cluster entry result information to the cluster head node based on the feedback resources carried in the designated SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node.

For ease of understanding, the following descriptions are given with reference to the flowcharts of the methods in FIGS. 4 to 6 .

Referring to FIG. 4 , taking the specified parameter as RSRP and the way that the terminal device measures RSRP by searching SSB as an example, the relevant details of the clustering process when the terminal device is in a disconnected state and its candidate identity is a candidate cluster member node are introduced. Wherein, in order to facilitate partitioning, in FIG. 4 and related descriptions, terminal device 1 refers to the terminal device whose candidate identity is a candidate cluster member node.

As shown in Figure 4, the clustering process of the terminal device 1 may include:

S401: The terminal device 1 searches for an SSB, and measures the RSRP of the searched one or more SSBs. The one or more SSBs may belong to the same cell, or may belong to different cells.

S402: The terminal device 1 receives the first information sent by the network device.

The first information may include the content shown in any one of Table 1 to Table 4 above. Taking Table 3 as an example, the first information, for example, includes: a first condition, which is used to indicate the first area where the candidate cluster member node is located, and specifically includes indicating that the candidate cluster member node corresponds to: the first cell (this cell) and/ Or the index value of the SSB of the second cell (neighboring cell of the first cell) and the first sub-interval corresponding to each SSB, the first interval relationship that should be satisfied between different first sub-intervals, and the cell identifier of the second cell; The second condition is used to indicate the second area where the candidate cluster head node is located, specifically including the SSB corresponding to the candidate cluster head node: the first cell (this cell) and/or the second cell (the adjacent cell of the first cell) The index value of , the second sub-interval corresponding to each SSB, the second interval relationship that should be satisfied between different second sub-intervals, and the cell identifier of the second cell; the second value is used to indicate the cluster head node that forms the corresponding cluster The upper limit of the number of SL-SSBs sent by the cluster head node in the corresponding cluster, etc. For details, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in conjunction with Table 1 to Table 4 above, which will not be repeated here.

It should be noted that, S401 and S402 only schematically indicate that the terminal device clustering method may include this step, and do not limit the execution sequence of S401 and S402. In practical applications, S402 may be performed first and then S401 may be performed, or S401 and S402 may be performed simultaneously. In some embodiments, the terminal device 1 may also start the process of searching for the SSB and measuring the RSRP of the searched SSB in response to receiving the first information, which will not be repeated here.

S403: The terminal device 1 determines, according to the first information and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring one or more SSBs, that its candidate identity in the corresponding cluster is a candidate cluster member node.

In an example, S403 may specifically be: the terminal device 1 determines that the candidate identity is a candidate cluster member node according to the RSRP measurement value belonging to the first value interval. Wherein, if the first value interval includes at least two first sub-intervals, the terminal device 1 may also belong to the corresponding first sub-interval according to the measurement value obtained by measuring at least two SSBs, and the first condition is dominant or recessive. The first interval relationship corresponding to the at least two first sub-intervals indicated by the ground is determined, and the candidate identity is determined as a candidate cluster member node. For details, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in conjunction with Table 1 to Table 4 above, which will not be repeated here.

Taking cluster 1 in Table 1 above as an example, if terminal device 1 searches for SSB-1 and measures the RSRP measurement value of SSB-1 as P1-y, and P1-2<P1-y<P1-3, then terminal device 1 Determine its candidate status in cluster 1 as a candidate cluster member node.

S404: The terminal device 1 searches for the specified SL-SSB at the specified time-frequency position according to the time-frequency code resource indicated by the first information.

Taking cluster 1 in the above Table 1 as an example, the indication of the row where cluster 1 is located is: the terminal equipment whose RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring SSB-1 is in the range of [P1-2, P1-3] is regarded as a candidate cluster member node, and The broadcast information sent by the cluster head node in the cluster is SL-SSB-1, and indicates the time-frequency resource of SL-SSB-1. Therefore, after the terminal device 1 determines that its candidate identity in cluster 1 is a candidate cluster member node, it searches for SL-SSB-1 at the time-frequency position of SL-SSB-1 specified for cluster 1 in Table 1.

The SL-SSB-1 (or another resource indicated by the SL-SSB-1) may include cluster information to be broadcast by the cluster head node to the cluster member nodes, such as information on the number of cluster member nodes, the information on the number of the cluster member nodes It can be used to indicate whether the number of cluster member nodes in the corresponding cluster is less than the first value, and the first value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster member nodes of the cluster. Specifically, it can be in any of the following forms: the number of current cluster member nodes - the maximum number of acceptable cluster member nodes, whether the candidate cluster member nodes are currently allowed to join the cluster, and the like.

S405: The terminal device 1 determines whether the first clustering condition is satisfied according to the received designated SL-SSB. That is, it is determined whether the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster to be added currently reaches the upper limit of the allowable number, that is, the first value.

In an example, the terminal device 1 can determine whether the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value according to whether the information on the number of cluster member nodes obtained based on the SL-SSB of the time-frequency code resource indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value. It is determined whether the first clustering condition is satisfied. The information on the number of cluster member nodes may be included in the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resources, and/or the information on the number of cluster member nodes may be included in all the information on the number of cluster member nodes based on the time-frequency code resources. in the predetermined resource indicated by the SL-SSB.

If the information on the number of cluster member nodes indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value, it means that the terminal device 1 satisfies the first clustering condition and can join the cluster as a cluster member node, and the process goes to S406.

If the information on the number of cluster member nodes does not indicate that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value, it means that the terminal device 1 does not meet the first clustering condition and cannot enter the cluster as a cluster member node. S407.

S406: The terminal device 1 sends the cluster joining result information to the cluster head node in the cluster according to the feedback resource carried in the designated SL-SSB, so as to inform the cluster head node that the cluster joining is successful.

S407: The terminal device 1 sends the cluster joining result information to the cluster head node in the cluster according to the feedback resource carried in the designated SL-SSB, so as to notify the cluster head node of the failure to join the cluster.

After that, if the cluster head node initiates the random access process and enters the connected state, it can report the information of the cluster head node and/or cluster member node that has successfully joined the cluster to the network device, and can also report the terminal that failed to join the cluster to the network device. device information. The network device can update the clustering information according to the information of the cluster head node and/or the cluster member nodes reported by the cluster head node, so as to adjust the coverage or management range of the clustering information based on the historical clustering information or the clustering failure information. Clustering a large number of terminal devices to further optimize the communication effect after the terminal devices are clustered.

Referring to FIG. 5 , taking the specified parameter as RSRP and the way that the terminal device measures RSRP by searching SSB as an example, the relevant details of the clustering process when the terminal device is in a disconnected state and its candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node are introduced. Wherein, in order to facilitate partitioning, in FIG. 5 and related descriptions, the terminal device 2 refers to the terminal device whose candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node and is in a disconnected state.

As shown in Figure 5, the clustering process of the terminal device 2 may include:

S501: The terminal device 2 searches for the SSB, and measures the RSRP of the searched one or more SSBs. The one or more SSBs may belong to the same cell, or may belong to different cells.

S502: The terminal device 2 receives the first information sent by the network device.

The first information may include the content shown in any one of Table 1 to Table 4 above. For details, reference may be made to the above related descriptions in conjunction with Table 1 to Table 4 and FIG. 4 , which will not be repeated here.

S503: The terminal device 2 determines, according to the first information and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring one or more SSBs, that its candidate identity in the corresponding cluster is a candidate cluster head node.

In an example, S503 may specifically be: the terminal device 2 determines that the candidate identity is the candidate cluster head node according to the RSRP measurement value belonging to the second value interval. Wherein, if the second value interval includes at least two second sub-intervals, the terminal device 2 may also belong to the corresponding second sub-interval according to the measurement value obtained by measuring at least two SSBs, and the second condition is dominant or recessive. The second interval relationship corresponding to the at least two second sub-intervals indicated by the ground is determined, and the candidate identity is determined as a candidate cluster member node. For details, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in conjunction with Table 1 to Table 4 above, which will not be repeated here.

Taking cluster 1 in Table 1 above as an example, if terminal device 2 searches for SSB-1 and measures the RSRP measurement value of SSB-1 as P1-x, and P1-1<P1-x<P1-2, then terminal device 2 Determine its candidate identity in cluster 1 as a candidate cluster head node.

S504: The terminal device 2 searches for the specified SL-SSB at the specified time-frequency position according to the time-frequency code resource indicated by the first information.

Taking cluster 1 in Table 1 above as an example, the indication of the row where cluster 1 is located is: the terminal equipment whose RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring SSB-1 is in the range of [P1-1, P1-2] is regarded as a candidate cluster member node, and The broadcast information sent by the cluster head node in the cluster is SL-SSB-1, and indicates the time-frequency resource of SL-SSB-1. Therefore, after the terminal device 2 determines that its candidate identity in cluster 1 is a candidate cluster head node, it searches for SL-SSB-1 according to the time-frequency position of SL-SSB-1 specified for cluster 1 in Table 1.

S505: The terminal device 2 determines whether the second clustering condition is satisfied according to the received number of designated SL-SSBs. That is, it is judged whether the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster to be added currently reaches the upper limit of the allowable number, that is, the second value.

If the terminal device 2 does not meet the second clustering condition, it cannot join the cluster as the cluster head node, and the process goes to S506a or S506b.

If the terminal device 2 satisfies the second clustering condition, it can join the cluster as the cluster head node, and the process goes to S507.

S506a: The terminal device 2 can be used as a candidate cluster member node, and joins the cluster as a cluster member when it is determined that the first clustering condition is satisfied. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in conjunction with FIG. 4 above, which will not be repeated here.

S506b: The terminal device 2 still wishes to act as the cluster head node, and can send a first request to the cluster head node in the cluster, where the first request carries the RSRP measurement values of one or more SSBs measured by the terminal device 2, and is used to request Exchange node identities with the cluster head node, and join the cluster as the cluster head node. The situation where the terminal device 2 still wishes to act as a cluster head node may include, for example: the terminal device 2 has strong capabilities (eg, strong chip processing capability, more antennas, wider maximum operating bandwidth, etc.), or its own power is sufficient. The existing cluster head node in the cluster can compare itself with the RSRP measurement value or other parameters of one or more SSBs sent by the terminal device 2. If the cluster head node thinks that the parameters of the terminal device 2 are more conducive to cluster communication, the cluster The head node can send the information of the cluster member nodes that have joined the cluster to the terminal device 2, and the terminal device 2 sends the specified SL-SSB as the new cluster head node, and the original cluster head node becomes the new cluster member node. Therefore, the identity exchange is realized.

S507: As the cluster head node, the terminal device 2 sends the designated SL-SSB according to the indication of the first information.

Taking cluster 1 in the above Table 1 as an example, in S505, if the terminal device 2 does not search for SL-SSB-1 at the time-frequency position of SL-SSB-1, it means that there is no cluster head node in the current cluster 1, and the terminal Device 2 may join cluster 1 as a cluster head node, and send SL-SSB-1 outward in S507. In S505, if the terminal device 2 searches for SL-SSB-1 at the time-frequency position of SL-SSB-1, it means that the number of cluster head nodes in the current cluster 1 is 1, which has reached the number of cluster 1 indicated in the first information. The upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes. At this time, the terminal device 2 cannot join the cluster 1 as the cluster head node, and returns to S506a or S506b.

Taking cluster 2 in Table 1 above as an example, in S505, if terminal device 2 searches for SL-SSB-2 at the time-frequency position of SL-SSB-2, but does not search for SL-SSB-2 at the time-frequency position of SL-SSB-3. SSB-3, it means that the current number of cluster head nodes in cluster 2 is 1, which has not reached the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes of cluster 2 indicated in the first information. At this time, terminal device 2 can join as a cluster head node. Cluster 2, and send SL-SSB-3 out in S507.

If in S506b, the terminal device 2 has realized identity exchange with the existing cluster head node in the cluster, then in S507, the terminal device 2 can send the designated SL-SSB instead of the original cluster head node. Taking the cluster 1 in the above Table 1 as an example, the terminal device 2 can send the designated SL-SSB-1 instead of the original cluster head node.

S508: As a cluster head node, the terminal device 2 receives the clustering result information sent by the candidate cluster member node based on the feedback resources carried in the designated SL-SSB. The clustering result information may include information that the clustering is successful, and may also include information that the clustering fails.

After the terminal device is clustered, if the cluster head node initiates the random access process and enters the connected state, it can report the information of the cluster head node and/or cluster member node that has been successfully clustered to the network device, and can also report the information to the network device. Information about end devices that failed to cluster. The network device can update the clustering information according to the information of the cluster head node and/or the cluster member nodes reported by the cluster head node, so as to adjust the coverage or management range of the clustering information based on the historical clustering information or the clustering failure information. Clustering a large number of terminal devices to further optimize the communication effect after the terminal devices are clustered.

Referring to Fig. 6, taking the specified parameter as RSRP, and the way that the terminal device measures RSRP by searching the SSB as an example, the clustering process when the candidate identity of the terminal device is the candidate cluster head node and can enter the connection state and is individually indicated by the network device is introduced. relevant details. Wherein, in order to facilitate partitioning, in FIG. 6 and related descriptions, the terminal device 3 refers to the terminal device whose candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node and enters a connected state.

As shown in Figure 6, the clustering process of the terminal device 3 may include:

S601: The terminal device 3 searches for the SSB, and measures the RSRP of the searched one or more SSBs. The one or more SSBs may belong to the same cell, or may belong to different cells.

S602: The terminal device 3 receives the first information sent by the network device.

The first information may include the content shown in any one of Table 1 to Table 4 above. For details, reference may be made to the above related descriptions in conjunction with Table 1-Table 4 and FIGS. 4-5 , which will not be repeated here.

S603: The terminal device 3 determines, according to the first information and the RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring one or more SSBs, that its candidate identity in the corresponding cluster is a candidate cluster head node. For details, refer to S503 above, which will not be repeated here.

S604: The terminal device 3 initiates a random access procedure to establish an RRC connection with the network device, and enters a connected state.

S605: The terminal device 3 determines whether the second clustering condition is satisfied according to whether it receives the cluster head indication information sent by the network device. Wherein, the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the designated SL-SSB as a cluster head node.

If the terminal device 3 does not receive the cluster head indication information sent by the network device, it may not join the cluster. Alternatively, it is also possible to wait for the cluster member indication information sent by the network device, and join the cluster as a cluster member node according to the instruction of the network device. Alternatively, it can be used as a candidate cluster member node and join the cluster as a cluster member node when the first clustering condition is satisfied. Alternatively, it can also request to exchange identities with an existing cluster head node, and join the cluster as the cluster head node after exchanging identities with the original cluster head node. See S506a and S506b above for details, and details are not repeated here.

If the terminal device 3 receives the cluster head indication information sent by the network device, it goes to S607.

S607: The terminal device 3, as the cluster head node, sends the designated SL-SSB.

S608: As the cluster head node, the terminal device 3 receives the clustering result information sent by the cluster member node and/or the candidate cluster member node based on the feedback resources carried in the specified SL-SSB. The clustering result information may include information that the clustering is successful, and may also include information that the clustering fails.

S609: The terminal device 3 reports the information of the cluster head node and/or the cluster member node that has successfully joined the cluster to the network device, so that the network device can establish an RRC connection with the cluster member node. The information reported by the terminal device 3 may also include the information of the terminal device that fails to join the cluster. The network device can update the clustering information according to the information of the cluster head node and/or the cluster member nodes reported by the cluster head node, so as to adjust the coverage or management range of the clustering information based on the historical clustering information or the clustering failure information. Clustering a large number of terminal devices to further optimize the communication effect after the terminal devices are clustered.

Thus, through the methods shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 , the network device can send the first information (including any information indicating clustering of terminal devices) to the terminal devices within its coverage or management range. A kind of indication information), the terminal device can form a cluster with other terminal devices by receiving the first information broadcast by the network device, and according to the indication of the first information, so as to realize the terminal clustering. The clustering process of the scheme is simple, the signaling and energy consumption overhead in the clustering process of terminal equipment can be reduced, and the communication effect after clustering is better.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solution provided by the present application from the perspective of the interaction between the network device and the terminal device. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the network device and the terminal device include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present invention can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein. 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 the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7 , which is a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus for clustering terminal devices involved in this application, the apparatus 700 may exist in the form of software or hardware. The apparatus 700 may include a transceiving unit 710 and a processing unit 720 . The transceiver unit 710 is used to support the communication between the apparatus 700 and other network entities, and the processing unit 720 is used to control the actions of the apparatus 700 . In some embodiments, the apparatus 700 may further include a storage unit 730 for storing program codes and data of the apparatus 700 .

The processing unit may be a processor or a controller, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), general-purpose processor, digital signal processing (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuits) , ASIC), field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. The processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The storage unit may be a memory. The communication unit is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the communication unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices, or an interface circuit used by the chip to send signals to other chips or devices.

The apparatus 700 may be the terminal device in any of the foregoing embodiments, and may also be a chip used for the terminal device. For example, when the apparatus 700 is a terminal device, the processing unit may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit may be, for example, a transceiver. Optionally, the transceiver may include a radio frequency circuit, and the storage unit may be, for example, a memory. For example, when the apparatus 700 is a chip for a terminal device, the processing unit may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin or a circuit, and the like. The processing unit can execute the computer-executed instructions stored in the storage unit. Optionally, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit can also be located outside the chip in the terminal device. A storage unit, such as read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM), etc.

In one embodiment, the transceiver unit 710 is configured to receive first information sent by a network device, where the first information includes: a first condition that a candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or a candidate cluster head node should The second condition is satisfied; the processing unit 720 is configured to join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information.

In a possible implementation method, the first condition includes a first value interval of a specified parameter; the processing unit is configured to: determine the candidate according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval The identity is a candidate cluster member node; when it is determined that the first clustering condition is satisfied, the cluster member node is added to the cluster as the identity of the cluster member node.

In a possible implementation method, the first clustering condition includes: the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a first value, and the first value is used to indicate the cluster member nodes of the cluster the upper limit of the number of .

In a possible implementation method, the first information includes the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal device satisfies the first component Cluster conditions, including: the terminal device indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value according to the information on the number of cluster member nodes obtained by the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource, wherein the The information on the number of cluster member nodes is included in the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource, and/or the information on the number of cluster member nodes is included in the SL-SSB indication based on the time-frequency code resource in the scheduled resources.

In a possible implementation method, the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter; the processing unit is configured to: determine the candidate according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval The identity is the candidate cluster head node; when it is determined that the second clustering condition is satisfied, the cluster head node is used as the identity of the cluster head node to join the cluster.

In a possible implementation method, the second clustering condition includes: the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a second value, where the second value is used to indicate the cluster head nodes of the cluster the upper limit of the number of .

In a possible implementation method, the first information includes the second value and the time-frequency code resource of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal device Satisfying the second clustering condition includes: the number of SL-SSBs based on the time-frequency code resource received by the terminal device is less than the second value.

In a possible implementation method, the first information includes the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal device satisfies the second component The cluster condition includes: the terminal device receives the cluster head indication information sent by the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the SL-SSB as a cluster head node.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit is further configured to: send the measurement value of the specified parameter to the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the response of the network device to the terminal device The measured value of the specified parameter is sent.

In a possible implementation method, when the terminal device is a candidate cluster head node and the second clustering condition is not met, the processing unit is further configured to: when the first clustering condition is met,: Join the cluster as a member node of the cluster; or, send a first request to the cluster head node in the cluster, where the first request carries the measured value of the specified parameter, which is used for requesting to communicate with the The cluster head node joins the cluster as the cluster head node after exchanging node identities.

In a possible implementation method, when the processing unit is determined to be a cluster head node, the transceiver unit is further configured to: send the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource; or, the processing unit is determined to be a cluster member When the cluster head node is a node, based on the feedback resources carried in the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node, the cluster entry result information is sent to the cluster head node.

In a possible implementation method, the specified parameter is the reference signal received power RSRP; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the terminal equipment measuring the reference signal of the camping cell and/or the neighboring cells of the camping cell The obtained RSRP measurement value, the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

In a possible implementation method, the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates of the terminal device, and/or, the The value of the distance between the terminal device and the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or the synchronization signal block with the maximum RSRP of the reference signal received by the terminal device The index value of the SSB.

It can be understood that, for the specific implementation process and the corresponding beneficial effects when the apparatus is used in the above-mentioned method for clustering terminal devices, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

As shown in FIG. 8 , which is a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus for clustering terminal devices involved in this application, the apparatus 800 may exist in the form of software or hardware. The apparatus 800 may include a processing unit 810 and a transceiving unit 820 . The processing unit 810 is used to control the action of the apparatus 800, and the transceiver unit 820 is used to support the communication between the apparatus 800 and other network entities. In some embodiments, the apparatus 800 may further include a storage unit 830 for storing program codes and data of the apparatus 800 .

The apparatus 800 may be the network device in any of the foregoing embodiments, and may also be a chip used for the network device. For example, when the apparatus 800 is a network device, the processing unit may be, for example, a processor, and the transceiving unit may be, for example, a transceiver. Optionally, the transceiver may include a radio frequency circuit, and the storage unit may be, for example, a memory. For example, when the apparatus 800 is a chip used for network equipment, the processing unit may be, for example, a processor, and the transceiver unit may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin or a circuit, and the like. The processing unit can execute the computer-executed instructions stored in the storage unit. Optionally, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit can also be located outside the chip in the network device. A storage unit, such as read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM), etc.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 810 is configured to generate first information, where the first information includes: a first condition that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or a second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy condition; the transceiver unit 820 is configured to send the first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node.

In a possible implementation method, the processing unit is configured to: generate the first information according to historical clustering information, wherein the historical clustering information includes cluster head nodes and/or cluster members that form clusters in the past Node information.

In a possible implementation method, the first information further includes any one or a combination of the following: the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; A binary value, used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster; the cell identifier of the first cell and/or the second cell to which the cluster head node in the cluster belongs, wherein the first cell is the A cell managed by a network device, where the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell.

In a possible implementation method, the first condition includes a first value interval of a specified parameter, for the terminal device to determine its own candidate identity according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval is a candidate cluster head node; and/or the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter, for the terminal device to determine itself according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval The candidate identity of is a candidate cluster member node.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit is further configured to: send cluster head indication information to the terminal device, where the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device as a cluster head node to send the SL- SSB.

In a possible implementation method, the transceiver unit is further configured to: receive a measurement value of a specified parameter sent by the terminal device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the response of the network device to the specified parameter. measured values are sent.

As shown in FIG. 9 , which is a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided in the present application, the apparatus may be a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing embodiment, or an information sending apparatus or an information receiving apparatus in the foregoing embodiment. The apparatus 900 includes: a processor 902 , a communication interface 903 , and a memory 901 . Optionally, the apparatus 900 may further include a communication line 904 . Wherein, the communication interface 903, the processor 902 and the memory 901 can be connected to each other through a communication line 904; the communication line 904 can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI for short) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture). , referred to as EISA) bus and so on. The communication line 904 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 9, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The processor 902 may be a CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application.

Communication interface 903, using any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), Wired access network, etc.

The memory 901 can be a ROM or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a RAM or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory). read-only memory, EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk A storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, without limitation. The memory may exist independently and be connected to the processor through communication line 804 . The memory can also be integrated with the processor.

The memory 901 is used for storing computer-executed instructions for executing the solutions of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 902 . The processor 902 is configured to execute the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 901, thereby implementing the information sending method and/or the information receiving method provided by the above embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the computer-executed instructions in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that the first, second, and other numeral numbers involved in the present application are only for the convenience of description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application, but also represent the sequence. "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 that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects are an "or" relationship. "At least one" means one or more. At least two means two or more. "At least one", "any one", or similar expressions, refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural item(s). For example, at least one item (single, species) of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple. "Plurality" means two or more, and other quantifiers are similar. Furthermore, occurrences of the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" do not mean "one or only one" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, but rather "one or more" in one". For example, "a device" means to one or more such devices.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be downloaded from a website site, computer, server, or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server, or data center is by wire (eg, coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access, or a data storage device such as a server, a data center, or the like that includes an integration of one or more available media. The usable media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, DVD), or semiconductor media (eg, Solid State Disk (SSD)), and the like.

The various illustrative logic units and circuits described in the embodiments of this application may be implemented by general purpose processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, Discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above are designed to implement or operate the described functions. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or alternatively, the general-purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration. accomplish.

The steps of the method or algorithm described in the embodiments of this application may be directly embedded in hardware, a software unit executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. A software unit may be stored in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Illustratively, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor may read information from, and store information in, the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and storage medium may be provided in the ASIC.

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.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, this specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the 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 method for clustering terminal devices, characterized in that the method comprises:

The terminal device receives the first information sent by the network device, where the first information includes: the first condition that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or the second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy;

The terminal device joins the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first condition includes a first value interval of a specified parameter; and the terminal device joins as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information clusters, including:

The terminal device determines that the candidate identity is a candidate cluster member node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval;

When the terminal device determines that the first clustering condition is satisfied, it joins the cluster as the cluster member node.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the first clustering condition comprises:

The number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a first value, and the first value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster member nodes of the cluster.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the first information comprises the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal equipment satisfies all requirements Describe the first clustering condition, including:

The terminal device indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value according to the information on the number of cluster member nodes obtained based on the SL-SSB of the time-frequency code resource, wherein the number of cluster member nodes is less than the first value. The information is contained in the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource, and/or the information on the number of cluster member nodes is contained in a predetermined resource indicated by the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter; the terminal device selects a cluster member node or a cluster member node according to the first information The identity of the cluster head node joins the cluster, including:

The terminal device determines that the candidate identity is a candidate cluster head node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval;

When the terminal device determines that the second clustering condition is satisfied, it joins the cluster as the cluster head node.
The method according to claim 5, wherein the second clustering condition comprises:

The number of cluster head nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a second value, and the second value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes of the cluster.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the first information includes the second value and time-frequency code resources of a sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by a cluster head node in the cluster; The terminal device satisfies the second clustering condition, including:

The number of SL-SSBs received by the terminal device based on the time-frequency code resource is less than the second value.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the first information includes time-frequency code resources of a sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by a cluster head node in the cluster; and the terminal device satisfies all requirements Describe the second clustering condition, including:

The terminal device receives the cluster head indication information sent by the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the SL-SSB as a cluster head node.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

The terminal device sends the measurement value of the specified parameter to the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is sent by the network device in response to the measurement value of the specified parameter of the terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 5-9, wherein when the terminal device is a candidate cluster head node and the second clustering condition is not satisfied, the terminal device information, join the cluster as a cluster head node or a cluster member node, and also include:

When the terminal device satisfies the first clustering condition, it joins the cluster as a member node of the cluster; or

The terminal device sends a first request to the cluster head node in the cluster, and the first request carries the measurement value of the specified parameter, which is used to request to exchange the node identity with the cluster head node as the cluster head node. to join the cluster.
The method according to claim 4 or 7 or 8, wherein the method further comprises:

When the terminal device is a cluster head node, send the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource; or

When the terminal device is a cluster member node, based on the feedback resources carried in the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node, the cluster head node sends cluster entry result information to the cluster head node.
The method according to any one of claims 2-11, wherein the specified parameter is reference signal received power (RSRP); the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the terminal equipment measuring the camped cell and/or the The RSRP measurement value obtained from the reference signal of the neighbor cell of the camping cell, the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.
The method according to any one of claims 2-12, wherein the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measurement value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: the longitude coordinates of the terminal device and latitude coordinates, and/or, the distance value of the terminal device from the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or, the terminal device received The index value of the synchronization signal block SSB with the largest reference signal received power RSRP.
A method for clustering terminal devices, characterized in that the method comprises:

The network device generates first information, and the first information includes: a first condition that the candidate cluster member node should satisfy, and/or a second condition that the candidate cluster head node should satisfy;

The network device sends the first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the network device generates the first information, comprising:

The network device generates the first information according to historical clustering information, wherein the historical clustering information includes information of cluster head nodes and/or cluster member nodes that form a cluster in the past.
The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the first information further includes any one or a combination of the following:

the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster;

The second value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes of the cluster;

Cell identifiers of the first cell and/or the second cell to which the cluster head node in the cluster belongs, where the first cell is a cell managed by the network device, and the second cell is the first cell neighbouring district.
The method according to any one of claims 14-16, wherein,

The first condition includes a first value interval of the specified parameter, for the terminal device to determine its own candidate identity as a candidate cluster head node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval; and/or

The second condition includes the second value interval of the specified parameter, and is used for the terminal device to determine its own candidate identity as a candidate cluster member node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval.
The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

The network device sends cluster head indication information to the terminal device, where the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the SL-SSB as a cluster head node.
The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

The network device receives the measurement value of the specified parameter sent by the terminal device, wherein the cluster head indication information is sent by the network device in response to the measurement value of the specified parameter.
The method according to any one of claims 16-19, wherein the specified parameter is reference signal received power (RSRP); the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the terminal equipment measuring the camped cell and/or the The RSRP measurement value obtained from the reference signal of the neighbor cell of the camping cell, the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.
The method according to any one of claims 16-20, wherein the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measured value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: the longitude coordinates of the terminal device and latitude coordinates, and/or, the distance value of the terminal device from the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or, the terminal device received The index value of the synchronization signal block SSB with the largest reference signal received power RSRP.
A device for clustering terminal equipment, characterized in that the device comprises:

a transceiver unit, configured to receive first information sent by a network device, where the first information includes: a first condition that should be satisfied by the candidate cluster member node, and/or a second condition that should be satisfied by the candidate cluster head node;

The processing unit is configured to join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node according to the first information.
The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the first condition comprises a first value interval of a specified parameter; and the processing unit is configured to: a measured value according to the specified parameter belongs to the first value In the interval, the candidate identity is determined to be a candidate cluster member node; when it is determined that the first clustering condition is satisfied, the cluster member node is added to the cluster as the identity of the cluster member node.
The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the first clustering condition comprises: the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a first value, and the first value is used to indicate the cluster The upper limit of the number of cluster member nodes.
The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the first information comprises a time-frequency code resource of a sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by a cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal equipment satisfies all requirements Describe the first clustering condition, including:

The terminal device indicates that the number of cluster member nodes in the cluster is less than the first value according to the information on the number of cluster member nodes obtained based on the SL-SSB of the time-frequency code resource, wherein the number of cluster member nodes is less than the first value. The information is contained in the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource, and/or the information on the number of cluster member nodes is contained in a predetermined resource indicated by the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource.
The device according to any one of claims 22-25, wherein the second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter; the processing unit is configured to: according to the measurement value of the specified parameter, belong to In the second value interval, the candidate identity is determined as the candidate cluster head node; when it is determined that the second clustering condition is satisfied, the cluster head node is used as the identity of the cluster head node to join the cluster.
The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the second clustering condition comprises: the number of cluster head nodes in the cluster is less than or equal to a second value, and the second value is used to indicate the cluster The upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes.
The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the first information comprises the second value and time-frequency code resources of a sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by a cluster head node in the cluster; The terminal device satisfying the second clustering condition includes: the number of SL-SSBs based on the time-frequency code resource received by the terminal device is less than the second value.
The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the first information comprises a time-frequency code resource of a sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by a cluster head node in the cluster; the terminal equipment satisfies all requirements The second clustering condition includes: the terminal device receives cluster head indication information sent by the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device as a cluster head node to send the SL- SSB.
The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to: send the measurement value of the specified parameter to the network device, wherein the cluster head indication information is the response of the network device to the The measured value of the specified parameter of the terminal equipment is sent.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 26-30, wherein when the terminal device is a candidate cluster head node and does not meet the second clustering condition, the processing unit is further configured to:

When the first clustering condition is satisfied, join the cluster as the cluster member node; or,

Send a first request to the cluster head node in the cluster, and the first request carries the measurement value of the specified parameter, which is used to request to join the cluster as the cluster head node after exchanging node identities with the cluster head node. described cluster.
The device according to claim 24 or 28 or 29, characterized in that,

When the processing unit is determined to be a cluster head node, the transceiver unit is further configured to: send the SL-SSB based on the time-frequency code resource; or

When the processing unit is determined to be a cluster member node, based on the feedback resources carried in the SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node, the cluster head node sends cluster entry result information to the cluster head node.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 22-32, wherein the specified parameter is reference signal received power (RSRP); the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the terminal equipment measuring the camped cell and/or the The RSRP measurement value obtained from the reference signal of the neighbor cell of the camping cell, the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 23-33, wherein the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measured value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: the longitude coordinates of the terminal device and latitude coordinates, and/or, the distance value of the terminal device from the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or, the terminal device received The index value of the synchronization signal block SSB with the largest reference signal received power RSRP.
A device for clustering terminal equipment, characterized in that the device comprises:

a processing unit, configured to generate first information, where the first information includes: a first condition that should be satisfied by the candidate cluster member node, and/or a second condition that should be satisfied by the candidate cluster head node;

A transceiver unit, configured to send the first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to join the cluster as a cluster member node or a cluster head node.
The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

The first information is generated according to historical clustering information, wherein the historical clustering information includes information of cluster head nodes and/or cluster member nodes that form a cluster in the past.
The device according to claim 35 or 36, wherein the first information further includes any one or a combination of the following:

the time-frequency code resources of the sidelink synchronization signal block SL-SSB sent by the cluster head node in the cluster;

The second value is used to indicate the upper limit of the number of cluster head nodes of the cluster;

Cell identifiers of the first cell and/or the second cell to which the cluster head node in the cluster belongs, where the first cell is a cell managed by the network device, and the second cell is the first cell neighbouring district.
The device according to any one of claims 35-37, characterized in that,

The first condition includes a first value interval of the specified parameter, for the terminal device to determine its own candidate identity as a candidate cluster head node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the first value interval; and/or

The second condition includes a second value interval of the specified parameter, and is used by the terminal device to determine its own candidate identity as a candidate cluster member node according to the measurement value of the specified parameter belonging to the second value interval.
The device according to claim 38, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

Sending cluster head indication information to the terminal device, where the cluster head indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the SL-SSB as a cluster head node.
The device according to claim 39, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to:

A measurement value of a specified parameter sent by the terminal device is received, wherein the cluster head indication information is sent by the network device in response to the measurement value of the specified parameter.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 37-40, wherein the specified parameter is reference signal received power (RSRP); and the measurement value of the specified parameter includes the terminal equipment measuring the camped cell and/or the The RSRP measurement value obtained from the reference signal of the neighbor cell of the camping cell, the reference signal includes the synchronization signal block SSB and/or the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 37-41, wherein the specified parameter is a terminal location parameter; the measured value of the specified parameter includes any one or a combination of the following: the longitude coordinates of the terminal device and latitude coordinates, and/or, the distance value of the terminal device from the network device, and/or the azimuth angle of the terminal device relative to the network device, and/or, the terminal device received The index value of the synchronization signal block SSB with the largest reference signal received power RSRP.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is made to execute any one of claims 1-13 or 14-21. one of the methods described.
A computer program product, characterized in that, when the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method of any one of claims 1-13 or 14-21.
A chip, characterized in that the chip is coupled to a memory, and the chip reads a computer program stored in the memory to execute the method of any one of claims 1-13 or 14-21.