WO2024087981A1

WO2024087981A1 - Data transmission scheduling method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2024087981A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/121060
Authority: WO
Inventors: 赵瑾波; 谌丽; 张大钧; 张惠英
Original assignee: 大唐移动通信设备有限公司
Priority date: 2022-10-28
Filing date: 2023-09-25
Publication date: 2024-05-02
Also published as: CN117956601A

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling method and apparatus. The method comprises: a first network device determining a main DDU from distributed data units (DDUs) to which M candidate transmission units belong; and the first network device using the main DDU to schedule N transmission units of the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with a terminal; wherein the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.

Description

Data transmission scheduling method and device

This disclosure claims priority to a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office on October 28, 2022, with application number 202211338601.4 and application name “Data Transmission Scheduling Method and Device,” the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in this disclosure.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a data transmission scheduling method and device.

Background technique

In order to enhance network coverage and improve the transmission rate of users at the cell edge, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system introduced the dual-connectivity (DC) technology. The user equipment (UE) maintains a connection with two transmission units at the same time. The two transmission units under DC are scheduled independently, and the UE maintains two different media access control (MAC) entities. With the evolution of mobile communication systems and the emergence of large-capacity services such as extended reality (XR) and holographic communication, the scheduling process is complicated and the signaling overhead is large when the UE maintains network connections with two transmission units at the same time.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a data transmission scheduling method and device, which solves the problem of large signaling overhead in the data transmission scheduling process in the related art.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling method, which is applied to a first network device, and the method includes:

The first network device determines a primary distributed data unit (DDU) from among the M candidate transmission units;

The first network device schedules N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal through the main DDU;

The M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are An integer greater than or equal to 1.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong includes the following:

If the number of the candidate transmission units is 1, determining that the DDU corresponding to the candidate transmission unit is the primary DDU;

If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, determining the primary DDU according to the DDU to which the candidate transmission units belong;

If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, the primary DDU is determined according to the DDU configuration information and/or measurement information.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU according to the DDU to which the candidate transmission unit belongs includes:

If the M candidate transmission units belong to the same DDU, determining the DDU as the primary DDU;

If the M candidate transmission units belong to multiple DDUs, it is determined that during the process of the first network device and the terminal establishing a network connection for the first time, the DDU used to transmit data and/or signaling is the primary DDU.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU according to the DDU information and/or the measurement information includes:

Determine, according to the DDU configuration information and/or the measurement information, that the DDU that satisfies the first condition is the primary DDU;

The measurement information includes: at least one of the following measurement results obtained by the first network device:

a measurement result of the terminal;

a measurement result of the candidate transmission unit;

Measurement results of DDU.

Optionally, the DDU configuration information includes at least one of the following:

The data processing capabilities of DDU;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU;

The number of interfaces for establishing communication with other DDUs;

The transmission speed of the DDU interface.

Optionally, the first condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength of the transmission unit that can provide service is greater than a first strength threshold;

The signal quality of the transmission unit that can provide the service is greater than a first quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU is greater than the number threshold;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a first load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a first interference threshold.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong includes:

Detect changes in communication scenarios and obtain communication scenario change information;

According to the communication scenario change information, a main DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong.

Optionally, the communication scenario change information includes at least one of the following:

Movement information of the terminal;

Signal quality change information of the transmission unit;

Information about changes in available resources of DDU.

Optionally, the scheduling, by the primary DDU, N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal includes:

Configuring first scheduling configuration information for the primary DDU, where the first scheduling configuration information is used by the primary DDU to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with a terminal;

The first scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

Optionally, configuring first scheduling configuration information for the primary DDU includes:

Sending first scheduling configuration information to the primary DDU through a first preset signaling;

The first preset signaling includes one of the following:

Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

Media Access Control MAC interface signaling.

Optionally, the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit for which the terminal successfully initiates random access; or,

The candidate transmission units are transmission units that meet the signal quality condition.

Optionally, the N transmission units are first N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a second interference threshold.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

In the case where the M candidate transmission units belong to different DDUs, determining that among the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, other DDUs except the primary DDU are secondary DDUs;

Configure second scheduling configuration information for the secondary DDU; wherein the second scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.

Optionally, configuring second scheduling configuration information for the secondary DDU includes:

Sending second scheduling configuration information to the secondary DDU through a second preset signaling;

The second preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

Establishing a communication interface between the primary DDU and the secondary DDU, and sending synchronization information to the primary DDU and the secondary DDU respectively;

The synchronization information includes: a terminal identification and/or a data frame number.

Optionally, after determining the primary DDU, the method further includes:

Sending primary DDU configuration information to the terminal, where the primary DDU configuration information is used to indicate a primary DDU for data transmission with the terminal.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling method, which is applied to a second network device, and the method includes:

The second network device receives the scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device;

When it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is a master DDU, scheduling N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.

Optionally, the receiving scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device includes:

Receiving scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device through preset signaling;

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Optionally, the scheduling configuration information includes first scheduling configuration information;

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

Optionally, the scheduling N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal includes:

Determine N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units;

activating the N transmission units;

Sending flexible cell configuration information to the terminal, where the flexible cell configuration information includes information of the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.

Optionally, determining N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units includes:

Determine N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition as the transmission units;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second strength threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Optionally, the method further comprises:

Receiving synchronization information sent by the first network device; the synchronization information includes: a terminal identifier and/or a data frame number;

The sending the flexible cell configuration information to the terminal includes:

Send flexible cell configuration information to the terminal according to the synchronization information.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling method, which is applied to a terminal. The method includes:

The terminal performs data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, and the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs;

The N transmission units are determined from M candidate transmission units, where M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.

Optionally, the performing data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU includes:

In case of establishing a connection with the first network device, determining a primary DDU;

receiving flexible cell configuration information sent by the master DDU, where the flexible cell configuration information includes information of the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU includes:

Receiving the main DDU configuration information sent by the first network device;

The primary DDU is determined according to the primary DDU configuration information.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Optionally, the method further comprises:

Receiving measurement configuration information sent by the first network device;

Perform signal measurement according to the measurement configuration information to obtain a measurement result;

Send the measurement result to the first network device.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a first network device, including: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor;

A memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for receiving and sending data under the control of the processor; and a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

Determine a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong;

Scheduling, by the primary DDU, N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal;

The M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.

Optionally, the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform one of the following operations:

Optionally, the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

If the M candidate transmission units belong to multiple DDUs, it is determined that during the process of the first network device and the terminal establishing a network connection for the first time, the DDU used to transmit data and/or signaling is the Main DDU.

a measurement result of the terminal;

a measurement result of the candidate transmission unit;

Measurement results of DDU.

The data processing capabilities of DDU;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU;

The number of interfaces for establishing communication with other DDUs;

The transmission speed of the DDU interface.

Optionally, the first condition includes at least one of the following:

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a first load threshold;

According to the communication scenario change information, determine from the DDU to which the M candidate transmission units belong Main DDU.

Movement information of the terminal;

Signal quality change information of the transmission unit;

Information about changes in available resources of DDU.

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

The first preset signaling includes one of the following:

Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

Media Access Control MAC interface signaling.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.

The second preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Optionally, the processor is used to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: do:

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a second network device, including: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

Receiving scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device;

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

activating the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second strength threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a terminal, including: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

A memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for receiving and sending data under the control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations do:

Under the scheduling of the main DDU, data transmission is performed with the main DDU through N transmission units;

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Send the measurement result to the first network device.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a first network device, and the device includes:

A first determining unit, configured to determine a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong;

A first scheduling unit, configured to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with a terminal through the primary DDU;

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a second network device, and the device includes:

A first receiving unit, configured to receive scheduling configuration information sent by a first network device;

A second scheduling unit, configured to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal when it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is a primary DDU;

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device, applied to a terminal, the device comprising:

A transmission unit, configured to perform data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU;

The N transmission units are determined from M candidate transmission units, where M and N are greater than or equal to An integer equal to 1.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a processor-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the above-mentioned data transmission scheduling method are implemented.

The beneficial effects of the above technical solution disclosed in the present invention are:

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a main DDU is determined from the DDUs to which one or more candidate transmission units belong, and the main DDU is used to uniformly schedule channel resources across nodes or cells to serve a terminal, thereby saving signaling overhead for resource scheduling. Moreover, the transmission unit scheduled by the main DDU is determined from the candidate transmission units, thereby enabling flexible configuration of channel resources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing a distributed multi-connection network architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing one of the flow charts of the data transmission scheduling method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram showing the initial selection of a primary DDU according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG4 shows one of the schematic diagrams of updating and selecting the master DDU according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG5 shows a second schematic diagram of updating and selecting the master DDU according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG6 is a schematic diagram showing selection of a transmission unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG7 is a second flow chart of the data transmission scheduling method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG8 is a third flow chart of the data transmission scheduling method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG9 shows one of the structural schematic diagrams of the data transmission scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG10 is a second structural diagram of the data transmission scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG11 is a third structural diagram of the data transmission scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG12 is a fourth structural diagram of the data transmission scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG13 is a fifth structural diagram of the data transmission scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 shows a sixth structural diagram of the data transmission scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and advantages to be solved by the present disclosure more clear, the following will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. In the following description, specific details such as specific configurations and components are provided only to help fully understand the embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be clear to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, for the sake of clarity and conciseness, descriptions of known functions and constructions are omitted.

It should be understood that the references to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" throughout the specification mean that specific features, structures, or characteristics associated with the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Therefore, the references to "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" appearing throughout the specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the sequence numbers of the following processes do not imply the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "and/or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and/or B may represent three situations: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" in the embodiments of the present disclosure refers to two or more than two, and other quantifiers are similar thereto.

When describing the embodiments of the present disclosure, some concepts used in the following description are first explained.

1. User-oriented distributed multi-connection network architecture

As shown in Figure 1, the architecture is compatible with various types of access network nodes and can flexibly deploy user plane functions. Among them, the cloud control unit (Cloud-based Control Unit, CCU) determines to organize flexible cell 3 (flexible cell3), and can use a variety of different transmission/receiving nodes (Transmission and Receiving Point, TRP), such as TRP1, TRP2 and TRP3 services, and configures some or all of the same access and transmission resources for TRP1, TRP2 and TRP3. If due to equipment and resource limitations, etc., TRP1 and TRP2 may form virtual cell 2 (frequency 1 + bandwidth 1), and TRP3 may form virtual cell 3 (frequency 2 + bandwidth 2), which is equivalent to two virtual cells (network side) forming a Flexible cell. Among them, the functions of each network element are introduced as follows:

(1) CCU is a functionally enhanced version of the Centralized Unit (CU).

Traditional CU functions: Access Stratum (AS)/Non Access Stratum (Non Access System message management related to Radio Frequency Stratum (NAS); paging control; RRC connection establishment, maintenance and release; security functions, such as key management; bearer establishment, configuration, maintenance and release; mobility management; UE measurement report management; Radio Link Failure (RLF); NAS message transmission; Quality of Service (QoS) management.

Enhanced CCU functions: UE context management and distribution; TRP selection; DDU selection.

(2) DDU is a functionally enhanced version of DU and can be divided into DDU High (DDU High, DDU-H) and DDU Low (DDU Low, DDU-L).

DDU-H, including Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocol layers.

DDU-L, including Radio Link Control (RLC) and Media Access Control (MAC) protocol layers.

DDU will serve as a data scheduling entity and anchor node, performing functions such as addressing, distribution, and scheduling.

(3) TRP: Physical layer transmission unit. TRP is visible to the terminal and CU. CU and DU can cooperate to configure TRP groups for UEs.

(4) Virtual cell: An area consisting of one or more TRPs with some/all of the same access and transmission parameters. The CU can flexibly configure the TRP candidate set for the terminal, that is, the coverage area of the virtual cell is variable.

The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data transmission scheduling method and device to solve the problem of large signaling overhead in the data transmission scheduling process in the related art.

Among them, the method and the device are based on the same application concept. Since the method and the device solve the problem in a similar principle, the implementation of the device and the method can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

As shown in FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling method, which is applied to a first network device and specifically includes the following steps:

Step 201: The first network device determines a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which M candidate transmission units belong;

Step 202: The first network device schedules N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units through the main DDU to transmit data with the terminal; wherein the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.

It should be noted that, when performing data transmission with a terminal, the main DDU schedules the N transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal.

In this embodiment, the first network device may be a CCU, the M candidate transmission units may be multiple, the N transmission units may be multiple, and the N transmission units are determined from the M candidate transmission units, and the N transmission units may belong to the same DDU or different DDUs. The terminal may be a terminal, that is, the CCU determines a main DDU from the DDUs to which multiple candidate transmission units belong, and uses the main DDU to schedule multiple transmission units to transmit data with a terminal. The main DDU can be used as an anchor point for the user plane to jointly schedule the resources of multiple transmission units, thereby saving signaling overhead. Since the N transmission units are determined from the M candidate transmission units, flexible configuration of the transmission units can be achieved. Even if multiple transmission units belong to different DDUs, one main DDU can be used to uniformly schedule channel resources across nodes or cells to serve the same terminal.

The transmission unit may be a TRP, an access point (AP) or other nodes. The UE may initiate random access through one or more transmission units. The basic process of the UE from idle mode to accessing the network after being powered on includes:

UE turns on;

Initial cell search (sweep frequency measurement);

Cell selection (S criterion) monitors broadcasts and obtains access information;

UE initiates random access and succeeds;

The UE enters the connected state.

Optionally, the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit to which the terminal successfully initiates random access; or, the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit that meets a signal quality condition.

For example, during the initial access phase of a terminal, all transmission units that successfully initiate random access can be used as or, when the terminal has established a network connection, a transmission unit that meets the signal quality condition (such as a signal quality greater than a predetermined threshold) is used as a candidate transmission unit for data transmission.

As an optional embodiment, determining the primary DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong includes the following:

(1) If the number of the candidate transmission units is 1, determining that the DDU corresponding to the candidate transmission unit is the primary DDU;

If the UE initiates random access through a candidate transmission unit, the candidate transmission unit and the DDU controlling it directly assume the resource scheduling function of the UE, that is, the DDU is the primary DDU.

(2) If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, the primary DDU is determined according to the DDU to which the candidate transmission units belong.

If the UE initiates random access to multiple transmission units almost simultaneously, the signal strength and quality of the transmission units that can be successfully accessed meet the basic communication conditions and can be included in the candidate transmission unit set as candidate resources for data scheduling.

1) If the M candidate transmission units belong to the same DDU, determining the DDU as the primary DDU;

Taking the transmission unit as TRP as an example, if M TRPs all belong to one DDU, the DDU is defaulted to be the main DDU, which is responsible for data scheduling, addressing, data flow distribution and aggregation, etc. as the data plane anchor point.

2) If the M candidate transmission units belong to multiple DDUs, it is determined that during the process of the first network device and the terminal establishing a network connection for the first time, the DDU used to transmit data and/or signaling is the primary DDU.

Taking the transmission unit as TRP as an example, if M TRPs belong to different DDUs (including some belonging to the same DUU, or all belonging to different DDUs), the DDU used to transmit data and/or signaling when the CCU establishes a network connection with the terminal for the first time is the main DDU.

The terminal can initiate random access in multiple TRPs. The access request is transmitted to the CCU through the TRP and the DDU to which the TRP belongs. The CCU processes the received one or more request messages and takes the DDU that is passed when the network connection is first established with the terminal as the primary DDU. For example: the terminal is in TRP1 and TRP2 initiates random access, a request message for TRP1 is sent to CCU through the corresponding DDU1, and a request message for TRP2 is sent to CCU through the corresponding DDU2. CCU processes the received request message, first establishes a network connection with the terminal through TRP1, and determines that DDU1 is the main DDU.

In this embodiment, the DDU to which the first TRP that establishes a network connection belongs can first serve as the primary DDU to provide data plane anchor services. Other DDUs serve as auxiliary DDUs, and the CCU configures different roles and parameters for the primary DDU and auxiliary DDU so that the primary DDU and auxiliary DDU can complete corresponding functions.

(3) If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, determine the primary DDU according to the DDU configuration information and/or measurement information.

Determine, according to the DDU configuration information and/or the measurement information, that the DDU that satisfies the first condition is the primary DDU; wherein the measurement information includes: at least one of the following measurement results obtained by the first network device:

1) The measurement result of the terminal; the measurement result of the terminal may be reported by the terminal to a transmission unit, and then sent by the transmission unit to the first network device.

2) The measurement result of the candidate transmission unit; the measurement result of the candidate transmission unit can be reported to the DDU to which it belongs, wherein the auxiliary DDU can be forwarded to the main DDU through the direct connection interface between the DDUs, and the main DDU can send the measurement result to the first network device.

3) Measurement results of the DDU; wherein the measurement results of the auxiliary DDU can be sent to the main DDU through the direct connection interface between the DDUs, and the main DDU can send the measurement results to the first network device.

The data processing capabilities of DDU;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU;

The number of interfaces for establishing communication with other DDUs;

The transmission speed of the DDU interface.

In this embodiment, the first network device determines that the DDU that meets the first condition is the primary DDU according to the obtained measurement information and/or DDU configuration information. Optionally, the first condition includes at least one of the following:

1) The signal strength of the transmission unit that can provide service is greater than the first strength threshold; the first strength threshold can be set according to the data transmission requirements. For example, if a stronger signal is required for data transmission, it can be set The first network device may determine the signal strength of each transmission unit according to the measurement result reported by the terminal. The signal strength may be determined according to the reference signal received power (RSRP).

2) The signal quality of the transmission unit that can provide the service is greater than a first quality threshold; the first quality threshold can be set according to the data transmission requirement, and the first network device can determine the signal quality of each transmission unit according to the measurement result reported by the terminal. The signal quality can be judged according to the reference signal received quality (RSRQ).

For the above conditions 1) and 2), the transmission units are sorted according to the signal strength and quality reported by the physical layer measurement. The reported signal parameters can be converted to the signal-to-noise ratio, corresponding to the spectrum efficiency, which affects the system throughput. Therefore, conditions 1) and/or 2) can be used as the preferred conditions for selecting the main DDU.

3) The most air interface resources can be provided for the terminal; the first network device can determine the air interface resources that can be provided by each transmission unit based on the measurement results reported by the terminal and the configuration information of the DDU, and preferably the DDU corresponding to the transmission unit that can provide the most air interface resources for the terminal is the main DDU.

Optionally, when determining the available air interface resources, the transmission unit (such as TRP) or DDU resources can be converted, and the resources that can be provided to the terminal can be evaluated using the same indicators (such as available bandwidth or the number of physical resource blocks (PRB) or theoretical capacity), with transmission units and DDU devices with more available resources being preferred.

4) The signaling overhead required for scheduling transmission units is minimized; the first network device can determine the signaling overhead required for scheduling transmission units for each DDU based on the measurement results reported by the terminal and the configuration information of the DDU. Signaling overhead includes interface signaling and air interface signaling. In order to reduce the signaling overhead of parallel transmission of multiple transmission units, as few transmission units as possible should be selected to activate the data channel during scheduling. For example: TRP scheduling under the same DDU may have smaller signaling overhead and latency than TRP scheduling across DDUs. The interface bandwidth between DDUs will also affect the latency. The higher the bandwidth, the lower the latency.

5) The delay required for scheduling the transmission unit is minimal; the first network device can determine the delay of each DDU scheduling transmission unit based on the measurement results reported by the terminal and the configuration information of the DDU. In order to reduce the service delay of parallel transmission of multiple transmission units, as few transmission units as possible should be selected to activate the data channel during scheduling. The interface bandwidth between DDUs will also affect the delay. The higher the bandwidth, the lower the delay.

Method for determining the delay of scheduling transmission units For example: Considering that multiple transmission units belonging to each DDU may all be candidate transmission units, define the transmission delay number from DDU to each candidate transmission unit The vector composed of values is the group delay. The norm of the group delay is determined, and the size of the group delay is represented by the size of the norm for comparison. The DDU with smaller group delay has smaller overall transmission delay and is more suitable as the main DDU.

In this embodiment, under the premise of comparable signal quality, the primary DDU can preferentially schedule the transmission units to which it belongs, and the DDU with more transmission units that can be scheduled for use by the current user can serve as the primary DDU.

When multiple transmission units under DDU need to be scheduled, the selection of the primary DDU needs to take into account the interface of the secondary DDU and the latency and interface bandwidth to the transmission units under the control of the secondary DDU. Devices with high bandwidth and low latency are preferred.

6) The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU is greater than the number threshold; the number threshold can be set according to the data transmission demand. The first network device determines the number of transmission units belonging to each DDU according to the DDU configuration information, and selects the DDU with a larger number of transmission units as the main DDU, that is, the DDU with more transmission units that can be scheduled for use by the current user can be used as the main DDU.

7) The interface bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth threshold; the first bandwidth threshold can be set according to the data transmission requirements. Since the selection of the main DDU needs to take into account the interface bandwidth of the auxiliary DDU and the interface bandwidth to the transmission unit under the control of the auxiliary DDU, devices with high bandwidth are preferred.

8) The service load is less than the first load threshold; when selecting the primary DDU, the first network device gives priority to selecting the DDU with a smaller load as the primary DDU, thereby ensuring successful scheduling and reducing scheduling overhead. The first load threshold can be set to a smaller load value according to scheduling requirements.

9) The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than the first interference threshold. The first interference threshold can be set to a smaller interference value according to the scheduling requirements. When the strength and quality difference between the signal of the local area where the terminal is located and the signal of the adjacent transmission unit is small, increasing the activation of the data channel of the adjacent transmission unit may increase interference for the adjacent users of the cell. Therefore, when selecting the main DDU, it is necessary to consider whether there are other adjacent users in this direction. The specific signal indicator can be manifested as follows: the same beam signal of the same adjacent transmission unit measured by the current terminal and other connected terminals in this cell is strong and of similar quality. In this case, the time domain or frequency domain resource staggering method must be used to avoid interference during scheduling.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the primary DDU is a DDU that satisfies any one or more of the above conditions 1) to 9). When determining whether each DDU satisfies the first condition, one or more of the following criteria may be referred to:

Criterion 1: Spectral efficiency optimality criterion.

The transmission units are sorted according to the signal strength and quality reported by the physical layer. The reported signal parameters can be converted to the signal-to-noise ratio, which corresponds to the spectrum efficiency and affects the system throughput. Therefore, it can be used as the preferred criterion. It can be used for both the selection of the main DDU and the selection of the transmission unit. Other criteria can be superimposed to design a refined strategy.

Principle 2: QoS principle.

According to the number of resources that can be scheduled for the user, such as frequency, time slot, PRB, power and other parameters, combined with criterion 1 and the scheduling algorithm, the data rate that each DDU can provide to the user can be calculated; according to the different UE QoS, one or more DDU data rates need to be selected for accumulation. This criterion can make the selection of the main DDU more accurate. In actual use, the method of multiplying the spectrum efficiency corresponding to the measured signal-to-noise ratio by the available bandwidth can also be used to convert it into the data rate provided to the user to simplify the calculation.

Take the transmission unit as TRP as an example: sort the TRP according to the signal quality measured and reported by the UE, and calculate the data rate that each TRP can provide to the user in turn by multiplying the measured signal-to-noise ratio by the available bandwidth. If the QoS requirement is not met, select the next TRP in sequence to calculate the data rate and then accumulate it until the user's QoS requirement is met.

Criterion 3: Available air interface resources decision criterion.

Under the premise of ensuring signal quality, the DDU that can provide the most air interface resources for the user is preferred as the DDU. For example: convert TRP/DDU resources, use the same indicators (available bandwidth or number of PRBs or theoretical capacity) to evaluate the resources that can be provided to the user, and give priority to TRP and DDU devices with more available resources;

Using this criterion to select the primary DDU can reduce real-time throughput calculations and reduce complexity; it can also be considered a load-based criterion in scenarios where device capabilities are balanced (for example, TRP supports the same number of antennas and bandwidth).

Rule 4: Control overhead and group delay rule.

In order to reduce the signaling overhead and service delay of multiple transmission units in parallel, as few transmission units as possible should be selected to activate the data channel during scheduling. Signaling overhead includes interface signaling and air interface signaling. This principle also applies to the selection of TRP and DDU, that is, under the premise of equivalent signal quality, the main DDU will give priority to scheduling the transmission units under it and contain more transmission units that can be scheduled for the current user. The DDU of the transmission unit is used as the main DDU. When multiple transmission units under DDU need to be scheduled, the selection of the main DDU needs to take into account the interface of the auxiliary DDU and the latency and interface bandwidth to the TRP under the control of the auxiliary DDU. Devices with high bandwidth and low latency are preferred.

Principle 5: Interference avoidance principle.

When selecting the primary DDU, it is necessary to consider whether there are other nearby users in the cell where the terminal is located. If the same beam signals of the same transmission unit measured by the current terminal and other connected terminals in the cell are strong and of similar quality, the time domain or frequency domain resource staggering method is used during scheduling to avoid interference.

Principle 6: Adapt to scene changes.

If the trend of each measurement quantity is statistically calculated based on periodic measurement reports, or event reports are received when the measurement quantity accumulates to a certain level, the network side can more clearly understand the significant changes in the scene compared to isolated measurement indicators, and the main DDU can be selected based on the changes. Changes in measurement quantities are for example:

a: If the user movement causes the signals of some transmission units to continue to deteriorate while the signals of other transmission units to continue to improve, the user's movement trajectory and trend can be judged, a new primary DDU can be selected based on the prediction results, and the primary DDU update can be triggered at the appropriate time.

b: System resources decrease suddenly. The available resources of this DDU or neighboring DDUs change suddenly due to device failure or sleep. After the CCU updates the available resources of the DDU, it should evaluate as soon as possible to see whether the main DDU needs to be switched.

As an optional embodiment, the scheduling, by the primary DDU, N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal includes:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

In this embodiment, after the first network device selects the master DDU, it configures the role and parameters of the master DDU, for example, indicating that the DDU is the master DDU, and the channel for data scheduling by the master DDU Resources, related parameters, signaling transmission interface, etc., and send the first scheduling configuration information to the main DDU through preset signaling.

The first preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

The first network device may send the first scheduling configuration information to the primary DDU via RRC configuration signaling, F1 interface signaling, MAC interface signaling, etc.

As an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.

In this embodiment, after the first network device selects the primary DDU, among the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, the other DDUs except the primary DDU are secondary DDUs. It is also necessary to configure the role and parameters for the secondary DDU, for example: indicating that the DDU is a secondary DDU, the channel resources, related parameters, signaling transmission interface, etc. for data scheduling of the secondary DDU, and sending the second scheduling configuration information to each secondary DDU through preset signaling.

The second preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

The first network device may send the second scheduling configuration information to the secondary DDU via RRC configuration signaling, F1 interface signaling, MAC interface signaling, etc.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

A communication interface is established between the primary DDU and the secondary DDU, and synchronization information is sent to the primary DDU and the secondary DDU respectively; the synchronization information includes: a terminal identifier and/or a data frame number.

In this embodiment, after the first network device determines the primary DDU and the secondary DDU, it establishes a communication interface between the primary DDU and the secondary DDU and performs information synchronization, such as synchronizing the service terminal identifier (UE ID), data frame number, etc.

After the master DDU obtains the first scheduling configuration information, it selects N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units, and optionally, the N transmission units are the first N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

1) The signal strength is greater than the second strength threshold; the master DDU can determine the signal strength of each transmission unit according to the measurement results reported by the terminal, and select the transmission unit greater than the second strength threshold for data transmission. The signal strength can be determined based on RSRP. The second strength threshold can be set according to the data transmission requirements. For example, if a stronger signal is required for data transmission, a higher second strength threshold can be set. The second strength threshold can be the same as or different from the first strength threshold.

2) The signal quality is greater than the second quality threshold; the master DDU can determine the signal quality of each transmission unit according to the measurement results reported by the terminal, and select the transmission unit greater than the second quality threshold for data transmission. The signal quality can be judged based on RSRQ. The second quality threshold can be the same as or different from the first quality threshold.

3) The most air interface resources can be provided for the terminal; the main DDU can determine the air interface resources that can be provided by each transmission unit according to the measurement results reported by the terminal and the configuration information of the DDU, and preferably transmit data using the transmission unit with the most air interface resources that can be provided for the terminal.

Optionally, when determining the available air interface resources, the resources of the transmission unit may be converted, and the resources that can be provided to the terminal may be evaluated with the same index, and the transmission unit with more available resources may be preferred for data transmission, for example, using available bandwidth, physical resource blocks (PRBs) quantity or theoretical capacity to assess the resources available to a terminal.

4) The signaling overhead required for scheduling transmission units is minimal; the main DDU can determine the signaling overhead required for scheduling each transmission unit based on the measurement results reported by the terminal and the configuration information of the DDU, and preferably perform data transmission on the transmission unit with small signaling overhead.

5) The delay required for scheduling the transmission unit is minimized; the main DDU can determine the delay required for scheduling each part of the transmission unit based on the measurement results reported by the terminal and the configuration information of the DDU, and preferably use the transmission unit with small delay for data transmission.

6) Transmission units belonging to the primary DDU: The primary DDU can preferentially select the transmission units to which it belongs for data transmission.

7) The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold; the second bandwidth threshold can be set according to the data transmission requirements. The master DDU can preferentially select a transmission unit with a high bandwidth for data transmission. The second bandwidth threshold can be the same as or different from the first bandwidth threshold.

8) The service load is less than the second load threshold; the primary DDU preferentially selects the transmission unit with a smaller load for data transmission, which can reduce scheduling overhead.

9) The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than the second interference threshold. The second interference threshold can be set to a smaller interference value according to the scheduling requirements. The master DDU can preferentially select the transmission unit with smaller scheduling interference for data transmission.

In this embodiment, the criteria used by the main DDU to select the transmission unit can be the same as the criteria used by the first network device to select the main DDU, and the specific criteria are not described here. When selecting the transmission unit, the information is mainly obtained by various measurement reports of the UE. Specifically, the DDU can be combined with the MAC scheduling algorithm to decide how to select the transmission unit; compared with the main DDU selection, the selection of the transmission unit is relatively fast, mainly considering user mobility, resource scheduling requirements, interference changes and signal fading, etc.

Optionally, after determining the primary DDU, the method further includes: sending primary DDU configuration information to the terminal, where the primary DDU configuration information is used to indicate the primary DDU for data transmission with the terminal.

In this embodiment, after determining the primary DDU, the first network device needs to notify the terminal of the primary DDU that will perform data transmission, for example, by indicating the primary DDU that communicates with the terminal through the primary DDU configuration information. The terminal performs data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the CCU may select a primary DDU when the terminal initially accesses. Since the communication scenario may change during the communication process, for example, the terminal moves and needs to re-measure the signal, or the signal quality of the transmission unit for communication changes, the primary DDU and the transmission unit need to be updated. The following example illustrates the initial selection process and update process of the primary DDU.

1. Initial selection and implementation process of the primary DDU:

Taking the transmission unit as TRP and the first network device as CCU as an example, as shown in FIG3 , the method includes:

Step 0: DDU configures the frequency, downlink synchronization and access signal resources of the TRP to which it belongs;

Step 1: After the UE is turned on, it performs frequency selection, downlink synchronization and signal measurement;

Step 2: The UE monitors the network-side system message, obtains access information and completes downlink measurement of the network configuration;

Step 3: The UE initiates a random access request on a TRP that meets the signal quality criteria; the connection establishment request is sent to the CCU via the TRP and DDU;

Step 4: TRP sends the measurement results configured by the network and the measurement results reported by the UE to the CCU;

Step 5: After the random access is successful, the UE establishes an RRC connection with the network;

Step 6: The UE and the core network perform security processes such as authentication, encryption, and key transfer to ensure data security during the communication process;

Step 7, CCU selects the primary DDU;

Step 8: The CCU configures scheduling configuration information for the primary DDU and the secondary DDU respectively;

Step 9: The master DDU selects a transmission unit for data transmission and activates it.

Step 10: The master DDU sends flexible cell configuration information to the terminal, indicating the transmission units included in the flexible cell; the terminal performs data transmission with the master DDU through the transmission units.

2. Update process of the main DDU:

As an optional embodiment, determining the primary DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong includes:

Detect changes in the communication scenario and obtain communication scenario change information; The change information is used to determine the main DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong.

Movement information of the terminal;

Signal quality change information of the transmission unit;

Information about changes in available resources of DDU.

In this embodiment, the scene change may include a change in communication parameters caused by the movement of the terminal and a change in communication parameters caused by a sudden reduction in system resources. The first network device may calculate the change trend of each measurement amount based on the information reported by the terminal through periodic measurements, or the first network device may receive an event report triggered by the terminal when the measurement amount accumulates to a certain level. Compared with isolated measurement indicators, the network side can more clearly understand the significant changes in the scene, and can select the main DDU according to the specific changes.

As the terminal moves, channel conditions, signal quality, and service data volume are constantly changing. The UE performs measurements and reports based on the measurement configuration on the network side. The CCU obtains and saves the UE's signal strength and signal quality reports for each transmission unit (beam level). At the same time, the number of users connected to the network side equipment, transmission power, interference, coverage, and capacity are also changing all the time. These changes in the terminal and network equipment may trigger the update of the main DDU.

The update of the main DDU can be determined and executed by the first network device with reference to the received UE measurement report and transmission unit measurement report, connection and status information, etc., and according to the criteria for determining the main DDU. The update of the main DDU needs to comprehensively consider multiple factors to ensure the service experience of the connected users, for example: the primary condition is the signal strength, quality and number of transmission units of the transmission unit that can provide services, and the necessary condition is the number of resources that can be currently scheduled for the user. The network interference situation can be estimated based on the current UE position, the main DDU and the position and number of other users served by the auxiliary DDU, and the resource overhead of the transmission units under other DDUs (such as interface signaling, data forwarding, delay, etc.), scheduling group delay, cell priority, etc. must also be considered. The above multiple considerations can be summarized as multiple first conditions provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure for the first network device to consider when selecting the main DDU.

For example, if the user's movement causes the signal of some transmission units to continue to deteriorate, while the signal of other transmission units continues to improve, the user's movement trajectory and trend can be judged, a new primary DDU can be selected based on the predicted results, and the primary DDU update can be triggered at the appropriate time. Or, if the available resources of the current primary DDU or adjacent DDU suddenly change due to device failure or sleep, the CCU needs to As soon as possible after updating the DDU available resources, evaluate whether the main DDU needs to be updated.

Optionally, if the UE's RLC and/or MAC needs to be re-established or modified while the main DDU is updated, this can be achieved through the RRC reconfiguration process; if the configurations of RLC and MAC remain unchanged, the RRC reconfiguration process does not need to be performed, and only F1 interface signaling is involved.

Taking the transmission unit as TRP and the first network device as CCU as an example, when the terminal has established a network connection with the CCU, the main DDU update and TRP selection process are shown in FIG4, including:

Step 0: The UE performs measurement reporting according to the network configuration, and the TRP sends the UE measurement combination and/or TRP measurement results to the CCU;

Step 1, the CCU selects an updated primary DDU based on measurement results and/or DDU configuration information;

Step 2, the CCU configures scheduling configuration information for the updated primary DDU and secondary DDU respectively;

Step 3: The updated master DDU selects a transmission unit for data transmission and activates it.

Step 4: The updated primary DDU sends flexible cell configuration information to the terminal, where the flexible cell configuration information includes the updated transmission unit. The terminal performs data transmission with the updated primary DDU through the updated transmission unit.

The following example illustrates the specific implementation process of the CCU selecting the updated primary DDU.

As shown in FIG5 , it is assumed that the CCU selects the primary DDU based on the TRP signal strength and/or quality received by the UE, and secondly considers the resource overhead of the TRP under scheduling other DDUs, and selects the DDU containing the most TRPs as the primary DDU; when the TRP signal strength and/or quality are similar and the resource overhead is similar, the DDU with a lighter load is selected as the primary DDU, that is, the CCU in this embodiment selects the final primary DDU based on the combination of reference criteria 1, criteria 3 and criteria 4, and the specific selection steps include:

Step 1: The CCU receives RSRP and/or RSRQ measurement results reported by the UE;

Step 2: The CCU selects the beam with the best RSRP and/or RSRQ as the signal quality representative of the TRP;

Step 3: Select TRPs with signal quality higher than a predetermined quality threshold as candidate TRPs;

Step 4: Find the DDU to which each candidate TRP belongs and count them;

Step 5: Determine whether the DDU counted in step 4 includes the current primary DDU. If so, the primary DDU is not updated.

Step 6: If the DDU counted in step 4 does not include the current primary DDU, then select the DDU with the most TRP as the primary DDU;

Step 7: If there are multiple DDUs containing the same number of TRPs, the DDU with a lighter load is selected as the primary DDU;

Step 8: Update the main DDU and send RRC reconfiguration information.

It should be noted that after determining the main DDU, the updated main DDU also needs to determine the TRP used for data transmission among the candidate TRPs. Taking the main DDU as an example, selecting the TRP or beam with the best signal quality, and then allocating resources to the UE on this basis, if the resources of the TRP with the best signal quality do not meet the resource requirements, the resources of the suboptimal TRP and beam are allocated in sequence for scheduling and activation.

The implementation process of the primary DDU selecting the TRP is shown in FIG6 , including:

Step 1: The master DDU sorts the TRPs measured and reported by the UE according to signal quality;

Step 2: Select the TRP with the highest signal quality. If the signal qualities of multiple TRPs are the same or the difference is small, the TRP to which the primary DDU belongs is selected first.

Step 3: In the TRPs selected in step 2, estimate the data rate Ri to be provided to the UE according to the available resources of each TRP;

Step 4: Sum the data rates corresponding to the TRPs selected in step 2 in sequence, and determine whether the sum of the data rates of the TRPs involved in the summation calculation (∑Ri) meets the QoS requirements of the UE;

Step 5: If the sum of the data rates corresponding to the 1st TRP to the i-th TRP meets the UE's QoS requirements, then the i-th TRP is used for data transmission and this part of the TRP is added to the flexible cell configuration;

Step 6: If the sum of the data rates of i TRPs does not meet the UE's QoS requirements, continue to sum the data rates corresponding to the 1st TRP to the i+1th TRP until the QoS requirements are met.

It should be noted that, considering the scheduling gain and scheduling complexity, the capacity of the flexible cell usually has an upper limit, namely the parameter m shown in Figure 6. The specific value can be obtained based on system simulation. TRP in the flexible cell has allocated resources and can activate the data channel at any time according to the scheduling information.

It should be noted that the reference conditions for the master DDU to select TRP are only examples and may also be any one or a combination of multiple of the second conditions.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a master DDU is determined from the DDUs to which one or more candidate transmission units belong, and the master DDU is used to uniformly schedule channel resources across nodes or cells for a terminal. The main DDU scheduler can provide end services, saving the signaling overhead of resource scheduling. The transmission unit scheduled by the main DDU is determined from the candidate transmission units, which can realize the flexible configuration of channel resources.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a data transmission scheduling method, which is applied to a second network device, and the method includes:

Step 701: The second network device receives scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device;

Step 702: When it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is a primary DDU, N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units are scheduled to perform data transmission with the terminal;

In this embodiment, the second network device may be a DDU, and the first network device may be a CCU, that is, the CCU determines a main DDU from the DDUs to which multiple candidate transmission units belong, and uses the main DDU to schedule multiple transmission units to transmit data with a terminal. Among the DDUs corresponding to the M candidate transmission units, the other DDUs except the main DDU are auxiliary DDUs. The CCU sends scheduling configuration information to the main DDU and/or auxiliary DDU respectively, and the scheduling configuration information may indicate whether the DDU receiving the scheduling configuration information is the main DDU or the auxiliary DDU. If the DDU determines that it is the main DDU based on the received scheduling configuration information, N transmission units are determined from the M candidate transmission units, and the N transmission units are used to transmit data with the terminal.

In this embodiment, when the second network device is the main DDU, the main DDU can be used as an anchor point of the user plane to jointly schedule the resources of multiple transmission units, realize unified scheduling of cross-node or cross-cell channel resources for a terminal service, and save the signaling overhead of resource scheduling. The N-th transmission unit used for data transmission is determined from the M candidate transmission units, which can realize flexible configuration of channel resources.

As an optional embodiment, the receiving the scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device includes:

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

The first network device may send the scheduling configuration information to the DDU via RRC configuration signaling, F1 interface signaling, MAC interface signaling, etc.

Optionally, the scheduling configuration information includes first scheduling configuration information; the first scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

In this embodiment, after the first network device selects the main DDU, it configures the role and parameters of the main DDU, for example: indicating that the DDU is the main DDU, the channel resources, related parameters, signaling transmission interface, etc. of the main DDU for data scheduling, and sends the first scheduling configuration information to the main DDU through preset signaling.

Optionally, the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit to which the terminal successfully initiates random access; or, the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit that meets the signal quality condition. For example, in the initial access stage of the terminal, all transmission units that successfully initiate random access can be used as candidate transmission units for data transmission; or, when the terminal has established a network connection, a transmission unit that meets the signal quality condition (such as a signal quality greater than a predetermined threshold) is used as a candidate transmission unit for data transmission.

The first network device determines a primary DDU from the DDUs to which multiple candidate transmission units belong, and a specific method for determining the primary DDU is not described herein.

As an optional embodiment, the scheduling N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal includes:

activating the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.

In this embodiment, the master DDU selects N transmission units from the M candidate transmission units, sends configuration information to the N transmission units and activates them. The master DDU also needs to send flexible The cell configuration information indicates the transmission units included in the flexible cell, so that the terminal can transmit data through the N transmission units corresponding to the flexible cell.

As an optional embodiment, determining N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units includes:

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

2) The signal quality is greater than the second strength threshold; the master DDU can determine the signal quality of each transmission unit according to the measurement results reported by the terminal, and select the transmission unit greater than the second quality threshold for data transmission. The signal quality can be judged based on RSRQ. The second quality threshold can be the same as or different from the first quality threshold.

7) The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold; the second bandwidth threshold can be set according to the data transmission requirements. The master DDU can preferentially select a transmission unit with a high bandwidth for data transmission.

8) The service load is less than the second load threshold; the primary DDU preferentially selects the transmission unit with the smaller load Data transmission can reduce scheduling overhead.

9) The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than the second interference threshold. The primary DDU may preferentially select the transmission unit with the smaller scheduling interference for data transmission.

Optionally, the method also includes: receiving synchronization information sent by the first network device; the synchronization information includes: terminal identification and/or data frame number; sending flexible cell configuration information to the terminal includes: sending flexible cell configuration information to the terminal according to the synchronization information.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, when the second network device is a master DDU, the master DDU can be used as an anchor point of the user plane to jointly schedule the resources of multiple transmission units, realize unified scheduling of cross-node or cross-cell channel resources for a terminal service, and save the signaling overhead of resource scheduling. The N-th transmission unit used for data transmission is determined from the M candidate transmission units, which can realize flexible configuration of channel resources.

As shown in FIG8 , the embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a data transmission scheduling method, which is applied to a terminal, and the method includes:

Step 801: Under the scheduling of the main DDU, the terminal performs data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units;

The main DDU is determined from the DDUs to which M candidate transmission units belong, and the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs; the N transmission units are determined from the M candidate transmission units, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.

In this embodiment, the primary DDU can be used as an anchor point for the user plane to jointly schedule multiple transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal, thereby saving signaling overhead. The transmission units are determined in the transmission unit, which can realize flexible configuration of the transmission units. Even if multiple transmission units belong to different DDUs, one main DDU can be used to uniformly schedule channel resources across nodes or cells to serve the terminal.

As an optional embodiment, the step of transmitting data with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU includes:

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.

In this embodiment, the terminal receives flexible cell configuration information sent by the main DDU, indicating the transmission units included in the flexible cell, and the terminal transmits data through the N transmission units corresponding to the flexible cell and the main DDU.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU includes:

Receive primary DDU configuration information sent by the first network device; and determine the primary DDU according to the primary DDU configuration information.

In this embodiment, after determining the primary DDU, the first network device needs to notify the terminal of the primary DDU that will perform data transmission, for example, through the above-mentioned primary DDU configuration information, indicating the primary DDU that communicates with the terminal. After the terminal determines the primary DDU, it performs data transmission with the primary DDU through N transmission units according to the flexible cell configuration information sent by the primary DDU.

Optionally, the N transmission units are the first N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

As an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

Receive measurement configuration information sent by the first network device; perform signal measurement according to the measurement configuration information to obtain a measurement result; and send the measurement result to the first network device.

In this embodiment, the first network device may send measurement configuration information to the terminal, so that the terminal can perform signal measurement according to the measurement configuration information and report the obtained measurement result to the first network device. Specifically, the terminal may report the measurement result to the first network device through the transmission unit and the DDU to which the transmission unit belongs.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the main DDU can be used as an anchor point of the user plane to jointly schedule multiple transmission units to transmit data with a terminal, so as to realize unified scheduling of channel resources across nodes or cells to serve a terminal, and save the signaling overhead of resource scheduling. The N transmission units used for data transmission are determined from the M candidate transmission units, so as to realize flexible configuration of channel resources.

The above embodiments introduce the data transmission scheduling method disclosed in the present invention. The following embodiments will further illustrate the corresponding device in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device 900, which is applied to a first network device, including:

A first determining unit 910 is configured to determine a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong;

A first scheduling unit 920, configured to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal through the primary DDU;

Optionally, the first determining unit is configured to perform one of the following:

Optionally, the first determining unit is specifically configured to:

a measurement result of the terminal;

a measurement result of the candidate transmission unit;

Measurement results of DDU.

The data processing capabilities of DDU;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU;

The number of interfaces for establishing communication with other DDUs;

The transmission speed of the DDU interface.

Optionally, the first condition includes at least one of the following:

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a first load threshold;

Optionally, the first determining unit is specifically configured to:

Movement information of the terminal;

Signal quality change information of the transmission unit;

Information about changes in available resources of DDU.

Optionally, the first scheduling unit is specifically configured to:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

Optionally, the first scheduling unit is specifically configured to:

The first preset signaling includes one of the following:

Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

Media Access Control MAC interface signaling.

Optionally, the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit in which the terminal successfully initiates random access;

or,

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Optionally, the device further comprises:

A second determining unit is configured to determine, when the M candidate transmission units belong to different DDUs, that among the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, other DDUs except the primary DDU are secondary DDUs;

The first configuration unit is configured to configure second scheduling configuration information for the secondary DDU; wherein the second scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.

Optionally, the first configuration unit is specifically used to:

The second preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Optionally, the device further comprises:

an establishing unit, configured to establish a communication interface between the primary DDU and the secondary DDU, and to send synchronization information to the primary DDU and the secondary DDU respectively;

Optionally, the device further comprises:

The first sending unit is used to send primary DDU configuration information to the terminal, where the primary DDU configuration information is used to indicate a primary DDU for data transmission with the terminal.

It should be noted here that the above-mentioned device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment applied to the first network device, and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device 1000, which is applied to a second network device, including:

The first receiving unit 1010 is used to receive scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device;

A second scheduling unit 1020 is configured to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal when it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is a primary DDU;

Optionally, the first receiving unit is specifically configured to:

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

Optionally, the second scheduling unit is specifically configured to:

activating the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second strength threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Optionally, the device further comprises:

A second receiving unit, configured to receive synchronization information sent by the first network device; the synchronization information includes: a terminal identifier and/or a data frame number;

The second scheduling unit is specifically configured to send flexible cell configuration information to the terminal according to the synchronization information.

It should be noted here that the above-mentioned device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment applied to the second network device, and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11 , an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission scheduling device 1100, which is applied to a terminal and includes:

A transmission unit 1110 is used to perform data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU;

Optionally, the transmission unit is specifically used for:

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.

Optionally, determining the primary DDU includes:

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Optionally, the device further comprises:

A third receiving unit, configured to receive measurement configuration information sent by the first network device;

A measuring unit, configured to perform signal measurement according to the measurement configuration information to obtain a measurement result;

The second sending unit is configured to send the measurement result to the first network device.

It should be noted here that the above-mentioned device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment applied to the terminal, and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present disclosure is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present disclosure may be integrated into a processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a processor-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present disclosure is essentially or the part that contributes to the relevant technology or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present disclosure. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

As shown in FIG. 12 , an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a first network device, and the device includes: a memory 1220, a transceiver 1200, and a processor 1210; wherein the memory 1220 is used to store a computer program; the transceiver 1200 is used to receive and send data under the control of the processor 1210; the processor 1210 is used to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

a measurement result of the terminal;

a measurement result of the candidate transmission unit;

Measurement results of DDU.

The data processing capabilities of DDU;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU;

The number of interfaces for establishing communication with other DDUs;

The transmission speed of the DDU interface.

Optionally, the first condition includes at least one of the following:

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a first load threshold;

Movement information of the terminal;

Signal quality change information of the transmission unit;

Information about changes in available resources of DDU.

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

The first preset signaling includes one of the following:

Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

Media Access Control MAC interface signaling.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.

The second preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

In FIG. 12 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically one or more processors represented by processor 1210 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 1220 are linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and are therefore not further described herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1200 may be a plurality of components, namely, a transmitter and a transceiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices on a transmission medium. The processor 1210 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1220 may store data used by the processor 1210 when performing operations.

The processor 1210 may be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a processor. The processor can also adopt a multi-core architecture, such as Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD).

As shown in FIG. 13 , an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a second network device, and the device includes: a memory 1320, a transceiver 1300, and a processor 1310; wherein the memory 1320 is used to store a computer program; the transceiver 1300 is used to receive and send data under the control of the processor 1310; the processor 1310 is used to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.

activating the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second strength threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

In FIG. 13 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges. Various circuits of one or more processors represented by processor 1310 and memory represented by memory 1320 are linked together. The bus architecture can also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and are therefore not further described herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1300 can be a plurality of components, namely including a transmitter and a transceiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices on a transmission medium. The processor 1310 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1320 can store data used by the processor 1310 when performing operations.

Processor 1310 can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). The processor can also adopt a multi-core architecture.

As shown in FIG. 14 , an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a data transmission scheduling device, which is applied to a terminal, and the device includes: a memory 1420, a transceiver 1400, and a processor 1410; wherein the memory 1420 is used to store a computer program; the transceiver 1400 is used to receive and send data under the control of the processor 1410; the processor 1410 is used to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Receive flexible cell configuration information sent by the master DDU, the flexible cell configuration information including Information of the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

Send the measurement result to the first network device.

In FIG. 14 , the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically linking various circuits of one or more processors represented by processor 1410 and memory represented by memory 1420. The bus architecture may also link various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and are not further described herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1400 may be a plurality of components, That is, it includes a transmitter and a transceiver, and provides a unit for communicating with various other devices on a transmission medium. For different user devices, the user interface 1430 can also be an interface that can be connected to external or internal devices, and the connected devices include but are not limited to a small keyboard, display, speaker, microphone, joystick, etc.

The processor 1410 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1420 can store data used by the processor 1410 when performing operations.

Optionally, processor 1410 can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and the processor can also adopt a multi-core architecture.

The processor calls the computer program stored in the memory to execute any of the methods provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure according to the obtained executable instructions. The processor and the memory can also be arranged physically separately.

In addition, a specific embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a processor-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored, wherein when the program is executed by the processor, the steps of the above-mentioned data transmission scheduling method are implemented and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here. Among them, the readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by the processor, including but not limited to magnetic storage (such as floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, magneto-optical disk (MO)), etc.), optical storage (such as compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), Blu-ray disc (BD), high-definition versatile disc (HVD), etc.), and semiconductor memory (such as read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), non-volatile memory (NAND FLASH), solid-state drive (Solid State Disk or Solid State Drive, SSD)), etc.

It should be noted that the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applicable to a variety of systems, especially 5G systems. For example, the applicable system can be the global system of mobile communications (global system of mobile Communication (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) general packet radio service (GPRS) system, long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) system, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) system, 5G new radio (NR) system, etc. These systems all include terminal equipment and network equipment. The system can also include a core network part, such as an evolved packet system (EPS) and a 5G system (5GS).

The terminal device involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. In different systems, the name of the terminal device may also be different. For example, in a 5G system, the terminal device may be called a user equipment (UE). A wireless terminal device may communicate with one or more core networks (CN) via a radio access network (RAN). The wireless terminal device may be a mobile terminal device, such as a mobile phone (or a "cellular" phone) and a computer with a mobile terminal device. For example, it may be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges language and/or data with a radio access network. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDA) and other devices. The wireless terminal device may also be referred to as a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, an access point, a remote terminal device, an access terminal device, a user terminal device, a user agent, and a user device, but is not limited to these in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The network device involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a base station, which may include multiple cells providing services for terminals. Depending on the specific application scenario, a base station may also be called an access point, or It can be a device in the access network that communicates with the wireless terminal device over the air interface through one or more sectors, or other names. The network device can be used to convert received air frames into Internet Protocol (IP) packets and act as a router between the wireless terminal device and the rest of the access network, where the rest of the access network may include an Internet Protocol (IP) communication network. The network device can also coordinate the attribute management of the air interface. For example, the network device involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a network device (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in the Global System for Mobile communications (Global System for Mobile communications, GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), or a network device (NodeB) in Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or an evolutionary network device (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB) in the long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a 5G base station (gNB) in the 5G network architecture (next generation system), or a home evolved Node B (Home evolved Node B, HeNB), a relay node, a home base station (femto), a pico base station (pico), etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure. In some network structures, the network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node and a distributed unit (DU) node, and the centralized unit and the distributed unit may also be arranged geographically separately.

Network devices and terminal devices can each use one or more antennas for multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transmission. MIMO transmission can be single user MIMO (SU-MIMO) or multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). Depending on the form and number of antenna combinations, MIMO transmission can be two-dimensional MIMO (2D-MIMO), three-dimensional MIMO (3D-MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO) or massive MIMO, or it can be diversity transmission, precoded transmission or beamforming transmission, etc.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present disclosure may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage and optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program codes.

The present disclosure is described with reference to the flowchart and/or block diagram of the method, device (system), and computer program product according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each process and/or box in the flowchart and/or block diagram, as well as the combination of the process and/or box in the flowchart and/or block diagram can be implemented by computer executable instructions. These computer executable instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device produce a device for implementing a process or multiple processes in the flowchart and/or a box or multiple boxes in the block diagram.

These processor-executable instructions may also be stored in a processor-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the processor-readable memory produce a product including an instruction device that implements the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

These processor-executable instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flows of a flowchart and/or one or more blocks of a block diagram.

It should be noted that it should be understood that the division of the above modules is only a division of logical functions. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into one physical entity, or they can be physically separated. And these modules can all be implemented in the form of software called by processing elements; they can also be all implemented in the form of hardware; some modules can also be implemented in the form of software called by processing elements, and some modules can be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, the determination module can be a separately established processing element, or it can be integrated in a chip of the above-mentioned device. In addition, it can also be stored in the memory of the above-mentioned device in the form of program code, and called and executed by a processing element of the above-mentioned device. The implementation of other modules is similar. In addition, these modules can be fully or partially integrated together, or they can be implemented independently. The processing element described here can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method or each module above can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor element or instructions in the form of software.

For example, each module, unit, sub-unit or sub-module may be configured to implement the above method. One or more integrated circuits, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), or one or more microprocessors (digital signal processor, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), etc. For another example, when a module above is implemented in the form of a processing element scheduling program code, the processing element can be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or other processor that can call program code. For another example, these modules can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present disclosure are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present disclosure described here, such as those illustrated or described here, are implemented in a sequence other than the sequence. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their variations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices. In addition, the use of "and/or" in the specification and claims represents at least one of the connected objects, such as A and/or B and/or C, indicating the inclusion of 7 situations including single A, single B, single C, and both A and B exist, both B and C exist, both A and C exist, and both A, B and C exist. Similarly, the use of "at least one of A and B" in the specification and claims should be understood as "single A, single B, or both A and B exist".

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

Claims

A data transmission scheduling method, comprising:

The first network device determines a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong;

The first network device schedules N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal through the main DDU;

The M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the primary DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong comprises one of the following:

If the number of the candidate transmission units is 1, determining that the DDU corresponding to the candidate transmission unit is the primary DDU;

If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, determining the primary DDU according to the DDU to which the candidate transmission units belong;

If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, the primary DDU is determined according to the DDU configuration information and/or measurement information.
The method according to claim 2, wherein determining the primary DDU according to the DDU to which the candidate transmission unit belongs comprises:

If the M candidate transmission units belong to the same DDU, determining the DDU as the primary DDU;

If the M candidate transmission units belong to multiple DDUs, it is determined that during the process of the first network device and the terminal establishing a network connection for the first time, the DDU used to transmit data and/or signaling is the primary DDU.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the determining the primary DDU according to the DDU configuration information and/or the measurement information comprises:

Determine, according to the DDU configuration information and/or the measurement information, that the DDU that satisfies the first condition is the primary DDU;

The measurement information includes: at least one of the following measurements obtained by the first network device: result:

a measurement result of the terminal;

a measurement result of the candidate transmission unit;

Measurement results of DDU.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the DDU configuration information includes at least one of the following:

The data processing capabilities of DDU;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU;

The number of interfaces for establishing communication with other DDUs;

The transmission speed of the DDU interface.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the first condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength of the transmission unit that can provide service is greater than a first strength threshold;

The signal quality of the transmission unit that can provide the service is greater than a first quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

The number of transmission units belonging to the DDU is greater than the number threshold;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a first load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a first interference threshold.
The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the primary DDU from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong comprises:

Detect changes in communication scenarios and obtain communication scenario change information;

According to the communication scenario change information, a main DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the communication scenario change information includes at least one of the following:

Movement information of the terminal;

Signal quality change information of the transmission unit;

Information about changes in available resources of DDU.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling, through the primary DDU, N transmission units of the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal comprises:

Configuring first scheduling configuration information for the primary DDU, where the first scheduling configuration information is used by the primary DDU to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with a terminal;

The first scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.
The method according to claim 9, wherein configuring the first scheduling configuration information for the primary DDU comprises:

Sending first scheduling configuration information to the primary DDU through a first preset signaling;

The first preset signaling includes one of the following:

Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

Media Access Control MAC interface signaling.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit for which the terminal successfully initiates random access;

or,

The candidate transmission units are transmission units that meet the signal quality condition.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the N transmission units are the first N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a second interference threshold.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

In the case where the M candidate transmission units belong to different DDUs, determining that among the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, other DDUs except the primary DDU are secondary DDUs;

Configure second scheduling configuration information for the secondary DDU; wherein the second scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.
The method according to claim 13, wherein the configuring the second scheduling configuration information for the secondary DDU comprises:

Sending second scheduling configuration information to the secondary DDU through a second preset signaling;

The second preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.
The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

Establishing a communication interface between the primary DDU and the secondary DDU, and sending synchronization information to the primary DDU and the secondary DDU respectively;

The synchronization information includes: a terminal identification and/or a data frame number.
The method according to claim 1, wherein after determining the primary DDU, the method further comprises:

Sending primary DDU configuration information to the terminal, where the primary DDU configuration information is used to indicate a primary DDU for data transmission with the terminal.
A data transmission scheduling method, comprising:

The second network device receives the scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device;

When it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is a master DDU, scheduling N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the receiving the scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device comprises:

Receiving scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device through preset signaling;

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the scheduling configuration information comprises first scheduling configuration information;

The first scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit for which the terminal successfully initiates random access;

or,

The candidate transmission units are transmission units that meet the signal quality condition.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the scheduling N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal comprises:

Determine N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units;

activating the N transmission units;

Sending flexible cell configuration information to the terminal, the flexible cell configuration information including the N The information of each transmission unit;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.
The method according to claim 21, wherein the determining N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units comprises:

Determine N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition as the transmission units;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second strength threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a second interference threshold.
The method according to claim 21, further comprising:

Receiving synchronization information sent by the first network device; the synchronization information includes: a terminal identifier and/or a data frame number;

The sending the flexible cell configuration information to the terminal includes:

Send flexible cell configuration information to the terminal according to the synchronization information.
A data transmission scheduling method, comprising:

The terminal performs data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, and the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs;

The N transmission units are determined from M candidate transmission units, where M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
The method according to claim 24, wherein, under the scheduling of the primary DDU, transmitting data with the primary DDU through N transmission units comprises:

In case of establishing a connection with the first network device, determining a primary DDU;

receiving flexible cell configuration information sent by the master DDU, where the flexible cell configuration information includes information of the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.
The method according to claim 25, wherein determining the primary DDU comprises:

Receiving the main DDU configuration information sent by the first network device;

The primary DDU is determined according to the primary DDU configuration information.
The method according to claim 24, wherein the N transmission units are the first N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a second interference threshold.
The method according to claim 24, wherein the candidate transmission unit is a transmission unit for which the terminal successfully initiates random access;

or,

The candidate transmission units are transmission units that meet the signal quality condition.
The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

Receiving measurement configuration information sent by the first network device;

Perform signal measurement according to the measurement configuration information to obtain a measurement result;

Send the measurement result to the first network device.
A data transmission scheduling device, comprising: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

A memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for receiving a signal under the control of the processor. receiving and sending data; a processor, configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Determine a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong;

Scheduling, by the primary DDU, N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal;

The M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform one of the following operations:

If the number of the candidate transmission units is 1, determining that the DDU corresponding to the candidate transmission unit is the primary DDU;

If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, determining the primary DDU according to the DDU to which the candidate transmission units belong;

If the number of the candidate transmission units is greater than 1, the primary DDU is determined according to the DDU configuration information and/or measurement information.
The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

If the M candidate transmission units belong to the same DDU, determining the DDU as the primary DDU;

If the M candidate transmission units belong to multiple DDUs, it is determined that during the process of the first network device and the terminal establishing a network connection for the first time, the DDU used to transmit data and/or signaling is the primary DDU.
The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Determine, according to the DDU configuration information and/or the measurement information, that the DDU that satisfies the first condition is the primary DDU;

The measurement information includes: at least one of the following measurement results obtained by the first network device:

a measurement result of the terminal;

a measurement result of the candidate transmission unit;

Measurement results of DDU.
The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Detect changes in communication scenarios and obtain communication scenario change information;

According to the communication scenario change information, a main DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong.
The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Configuring first scheduling configuration information for the primary DDU, where the first scheduling configuration information is used by the primary DDU to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with a terminal;

The first scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the main DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a primary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of the main DDU;

Interface information.
The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the N transmission units are first N candidate transmission units that satisfy a second condition;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second quality threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a second interference threshold.
The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

In the case where the M candidate transmission units belong to different DDUs, determining that among the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, other DDUs except the primary DDU are secondary DDUs;

Configure second scheduling configuration information for the secondary DDU; wherein the second scheduling configuration information includes at least one of the following:

Channel resources of the auxiliary DDU;

Indication information used to indicate that the DDU is a secondary DDU;

Scheduling parameter information of auxiliary DDU;

Interface information.
A data transmission scheduling device, comprising: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

A memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for receiving and sending data under the control of the processor; and a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

Receiving scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device;

When it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is the primary DDU, scheduling N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Receiving scheduling configuration information sent by the first network device through preset signaling;

The preset signaling includes one of the following:

RRC configuration signaling;

F1 interface signaling;

MAC interface signaling.
The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Determine N transmission units for data transmission from the M candidate transmission units;

activating the N transmission units;

Sending flexible cell configuration information to the terminal, where the flexible cell configuration information includes information of the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted to the terminal via the N transmission units.
The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

Determine N candidate transmission units that meet the second condition as the transmission units;

The second condition includes at least one of the following:

The signal strength is greater than a second strength threshold;

The signal quality is greater than a second strength threshold;

The maximum number of air interface resources can be provided for the terminal;

The signaling overhead required to schedule transmission units is minimal;

The delay required to schedule the transmission unit is minimal;

A transmission unit belonging to the main DDU;

The interface bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth threshold;

The service load is less than a second load threshold;

The interference of the scheduled transmission unit is less than a second interference threshold.
A data transmission scheduling device, comprising: a memory, a transceiver, and a processor:

A memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for receiving and sending data under the control of the processor; and a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

Under the scheduling of the main DDU, data transmission is performed with the main DDU through N transmission units;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, and the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs;

The N transmission units are determined from M candidate transmission units, where M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:

In case of establishing a connection with the first network device, determining a primary DDU;

Receive flexible cell configuration information sent by the master DDU, the flexible cell configuration information including Information of the N transmission units;

Data is transmitted with the main DDU via the N transmission units.
A data transmission scheduling device, comprising:

A first determining unit, configured to determine a primary DDU from the distributed data units DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong;

A first scheduling unit, configured to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with a terminal through the primary DDU;

The M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
A data transmission scheduling device, comprising:

A first receiving unit, configured to receive scheduling configuration information sent by a first network device;

A second scheduling unit, configured to schedule N transmission units among the M candidate transmission units to perform data transmission with the terminal when it is determined according to the scheduling configuration information that the second network device is a primary DDU;

The primary DDU is determined from the DDUs to which the M candidate transmission units belong, the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
A data transmission scheduling device, comprising:

A transmission unit, configured to perform data transmission with the main DDU through N transmission units under the scheduling of the main DDU;

The main DDU is determined from the DDUs to which M candidate transmission units belong, and the M candidate transmission units belong to the same or different DDUs; the N transmission units are determined from the M candidate transmission units, and M and N are integers greater than or equal to 1.
A processor-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer program implements the steps of the data transmission scheduling method as described in any one of claims 1 to 16, or implements the steps of the data transmission scheduling method as described in any one of claims 17 to 23, or implements the steps of the data transmission scheduling method as described in any one of claims 24 to 29.