WO2025140313A1 - Communication method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used for indicating whether the network device sends second information, and the second information comprises at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS; and processing the second information on the basis of the first information. According to the embodiments, a network device can indicate to a terminal device whether the network device sends at least one of a PBCH, a PSS or an SSS, so that the terminal device can process on the basis of requirements of the terminal device. The network device does not send second information to another terminal device that does not require the network device to send the second information, thereby reducing the resource overhead of the network device. In the early application of the 6G technology, the number of 6G terminal devices is small, so that the solution can reduce the resource overhead and the network energy consumption, and can reduce the effect on the performance of 5G users.

Description

Communication method and device

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on December 29, 2023, with application number 202311873063.3 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to a communication method and device.

Background Art

The spectrum of the fifth generation ( ^5th generation, 5G) wireless access technology and the sixth generation ( ^6th generation, 6G) can be shared, and the synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) can be used for cell access, etc. 5G SSB and 6G SSB may be incompatible. On the one hand, on the same carrier (or cell), network equipment must send both 5G SSB and 6G SSB, and the air interface resource overhead of SSB will double. On the other hand, network equipment in 6G wireless access technology will support more antennas to achieve massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission. This requires network equipment to send more beams to complete beam scanning, resulting in a further increase in the air interface resource overhead of SSB.

SSB may include synchronization signals and broadcast channels, wherein the synchronization signals may include primary synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS), and the broadcast channels may be physical broadcast channels (PBCH). In order to save the overhead of synchronization signals, the relevant technical solutions make 6G PSS and 6G SSS compatible with 5G PSS and 5G SSS respectively. In other words, 6G SSB and 5G SSB can share 5G PSS and 5G SSS signals. 6G PBCH can be used to transmit 6G system information. Since 6G PBCH is sent along with 5G SSB, the number of 6G PBCH sent is large, resulting in a large overhead of air interface resources. However, in the early stage of the deployment of 6G technology, there are few 6G users and many 5G users. The larger 6G PBCH resource overhead corresponds to fewer 6G users, resulting in a waste of resources.

Therefore, how to save resource overhead and reduce network energy consumption is an urgent problem to be solved.

The present application provides a communication method and device, which can save resource overhead and reduce network energy consumption.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, the second information comprising at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS; and processing the second information according to the first information.

The method may be executed by a terminal device, or by a component in the terminal device (eg, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first PBCH can be called 6G PBCH; the first PSS can be called 6G PSS; the first SSS can be called 6G SSS.

Through the above embodiments, the network device can instruct the terminal device whether to send at least one of PBCH, PSS or SSS, so that the terminal device can process according to its own needs. For example, if a terminal device requires the network device to send the second information, then the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information after receiving the first information instructing the network device not to send the second information. For other terminal devices that do not require the network device to send the second information, the network device may not send the second information, thereby saving the resource overhead of the network device. In the early stage of the application of 6G technology, the number of 6G terminal devices is small, and the number of 5G terminal devices is large. The above scheme supports network devices to send 6G PBCH, 6G PSS or 6G SSS according to the needs of 6G terminal devices, thereby saving resource overhead, reducing network energy consumption, and also reducing the performance impact on 5G users.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in the first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in the second wireless access technology; wherein, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information.

Through the above embodiment, the first information may include the second PSS and the second SSS. The phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS may indicate whether the network device sends the second information, so that the terminal device can process it according to its own needs. In addition, the process of parsing the synchronization signal has lower requirements on the terminal device, which can reduce the complexity of the terminal device.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second wireless access technology.

It is understandable that the physical channel often undergoes scrambling, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), channel coding, rate matching and other processes, which will improve the transmission reliability of the physical channel. Since PBCH is a physical channel, carrying the first information in the second PBCH can improve the transmission reliability of the first information, so that the terminal device can reliably know whether the network device sends the second information.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the first information does not include a reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; when the first information includes the reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

Through the above solution, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information by detecting whether the reference signal exists, thereby reducing the complexity of the terminal device obtaining information about whether the network device sends the second information.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the reference signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the first PBCH.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first information is used to indicate whether second information of the at least one beam direction is sent.

Through the above-mentioned embodiment, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information in at least one beam direction based on the first information. In this way, the terminal device can determine whether to request the second information in one or more beam directions according to its own needs. For example, the terminal device receives the second information with the best quality in a certain beam direction. When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in the beam direction, regardless of whether the network device sends the second information in other beam directions, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information in the beam direction with the best reception quality of the terminal device, thereby improving the reception performance. For the network device, if the terminal device requests the second information in some beam directions, the network device only sends the second information in the requested beam direction, and does not send the second information in other beam directions not needed by the terminal device, thereby saving air interface resource overhead and reducing network energy consumption.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the second information is processed based on the first information, including: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, sending third information to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

Through the above embodiment, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information through the third information according to its own needs. For other terminal devices that do not send the request, the network device may not send the second information, thereby saving the resource overhead of the network device.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, after sending the third information to the network device, the method also includes: receiving fourth information from the network device, wherein the fourth information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; sending fifth information to the network device, wherein the fifth information is used to request the network device to send the second information, and the transmission power corresponding to the fifth information is greater than the transmission power corresponding to the third information.

The network device may not receive the request from the terminal device, in which case the network device may still not send the second information. In the above embodiment, after the terminal device requests the network device to send the second information, if the network device still does not send the second information, the terminal device may send the request with a higher transmission power. The above solution can improve the success rate of the terminal device requesting the second information.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the third information includes at least one of a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble, a sounding reference signal (SRS), a reference signal based on a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence, and a reference signal based on a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence.

The PN sequence may include or be called a pseudo-random sequence.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, sending third information to the network device when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information includes: sending the third information to the network device on the resources corresponding to the third information when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information; or, when the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: sending first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether a network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS, or a first SSS.

The method may be executed by a network device, or by a component in the network device (eg, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device's functions.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in the first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in the second wireless access technology; wherein, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS satisfies a preset condition.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second wireless access technology.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the first information does not include a reference signal; when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the first information includes the reference signal.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the reference signal is a DMRS of the first PBCH.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first information is used to indicate whether second information of the at least one beam direction is sent.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receiving third information from the terminal device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the third information includes at least one of a PRACH preamble code, an SRS, a reference signal based on a ZC sequence, and a reference signal based on a PN sequence.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receiving the third information from the terminal device includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, receiving the third information from the terminal device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the first information is used to indicate the network device to send the second information, the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, or the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processing circuit (also referred to as a processor) and an input/output interface (also referred to as an interface circuit), the input/output interface being used to input and/or output signals, the processing circuit being used to execute the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, or the processing circuit being used to execute the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect.

In conjunction with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the processor is used to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, or execute the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect. The processor includes one or more.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may include a device or a module for performing the function of the communication device.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the communication device may include a module or unit corresponding to the method/operation/step/action described in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software.

In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the communication device may include a module or unit corresponding to the method/operation/step/action described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software.

In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or the instruction is run on a computer, the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect are executed, or the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect are executed.

In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when executed on a computer, causes the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect to be executed, or causes the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect to be executed.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor, connected to a memory, and used to call a program stored in the memory to execute any possible method of the first aspect, or to execute any possible method of the second aspect. The memory may be located inside the communication device or outside the communication device. The processor may include one or more.

In one implementation, the communication device of the second, third, fourth or seventh aspect may be a chip or a chip system.

In an eighth aspect, a chip device is provided, comprising a processor, configured to call a computer program or computer instruction in a memory so that the processor executes any one of the implementation methods in the first aspect.

In combination with the eighth aspect, in certain implementations of the eighth aspect, the processor is coupled to the memory via an interface.

In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, including a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect, and the network device is used to execute the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation method of the second aspect.

The description of the advantageous effects of any of the second aspect to the ninth aspect etc. may refer to the description of the advantageous effects of the first aspect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of SSB.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transmission pattern of SSB.

FIG4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of 6G SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG6 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It can be understood that the term "and/or" in this article is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

The technical solution in this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The present application will present various aspects, embodiments or features around a system that may include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that each system may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and/or may not include all of the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in conjunction with the figures. In addition, combinations of these schemes may also be used.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" and "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" in the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a concrete way.

The business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

References to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" etc. described in this specification mean that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of the present application. Thus, the phrases "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in some other embodiments", "in some other embodiments", etc. appearing in different places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways. The terms "including", "comprising", "having" and their variations all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in other ways.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, including but not limited to: global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), code division multiple access 2000 (CDMA2000), time division-synchronization code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), long term evolution (LTE), LTE frequency division duplex (FDD), LTE time division duplex (TD-SCDMA), LTE 5G, LTE 4G, LTE 3G, LTE 5G, LTE 4G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE 5G, LTE The following are the main features of the Internet of Things (IoT) network: the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system or new radio (NR) system, narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) system, enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) system, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) system, ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) system, satellite communication system or LTE-machine-to-machine (LTE-M) system and the future sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the term "communication" can also be described as "data transmission", "signal transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission", etc. In the embodiment of the present application, transmission can include sending or receiving. Exemplarily, the transmission can be uplink transmission, for example, the terminal device can send a signal to the network device; the transmission can also be downlink transmission, for example, the network device can send a signal to the terminal device.

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in FIG1 , a communication system 100 may include multiple communication devices, and multiple communication devices may communicate wirelessly through air interface resources, wherein the air interface resources may include at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources, and space resources. Exemplarily, the communication device may include a network device 110 and a terminal device 120.

The network device 110 may be a device for communicating with the terminal device 120, such as a base station for accessing the terminal device 120 to a radio access network (RAN). A base station may sometimes also be referred to as an access network device or an access network node. It is understandable that in systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of devices having base station functions may be different. For ease of description, the embodiments of the present application will collectively refer to devices that provide wireless communication access functions for terminal devices as base stations. In the embodiments of the present application, the network device 110 includes, but is not limited to, various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. The network equipment 110 includes an evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a radio network controller (RNC), a node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (home evolved node B, or home node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), a wireless fidelity (WI The invention may be an access point, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP) or transmission and reception point (TRP) in a 5G system, and may also be a next generation node basestation (gNB) or transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G system, one or a group of (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, network nodes constituting a gNB or transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), and network equipment in future 6G networks.

Network equipment may include a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio unit (RRU). The BBU and RRU may be placed in different locations, for example, the RRU may be placed in a remote area with high traffic volume, and the BBU may be placed in a central computer room. The BBU and RRU may also be placed in the same location, for example, in the same computer room. The BBU and RRU may also be different components under the same rack.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is a network device, and the network device is a base station as an example to describe the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application.

The terminal device 120 can be any device with wireless transceiver functions. The terminal device 120 can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water (such as ships, etc.); it can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons and satellites, etc.). The terminal device 120 can also be called user equipment (UE), access terminal, terminal, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), user station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless network equipment, user agent or user device. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 120 includes but is not limited to: a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a wireless data card, a wireless modem, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device (handset) with wireless communication function, a computing device or other device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a drone device, a terminal device in the Internet of Things or the Internet of Vehicles, as well as any form of terminal in the future network, a relay user device or a terminal in the future evolved public land mobile communication network (PLMN), etc. The terminal device 120 can also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a terminal device in industrial control, a terminal device in self driving, a terminal device in remote medical, a terminal device in a smart grid, a terminal device in a smart city, a terminal device in a smart home, etc., but the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the terminal. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device is a terminal device, which may also be referred to as a terminal. The following may take the terminal device as a UE as an example to describe the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that the above communication system 100 may be a spectrum sharing communication system, for example, a 5G and 6G spectrum sharing communication system. In a spectrum sharing communication system, the terminal device 120 may include a 5G terminal and a 6G terminal.

It should be understood that FIG1 is only a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding, and the communication system 100 may also include other network devices or other terminal devices, which are not shown in FIG1 .

The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may communicate via a wireless link. The transmission link from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 may be referred to as a downlink (DL) or a downlink channel, which is used to transmit a downlink signal. The transmission link from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 may be referred to as an uplink (UL) or an uplink channel, which is used to transmit an uplink signal. Exemplarily, the network device 110 may send a downlink reference signal, such as a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) or a UE-specific reference signal (UE-specific reference signal), to the terminal device 120 via a downlink channel for measurement of channel state information, data demodulation, beam training, time-frequency parameter tracking, etc. The terminal device 120 may send an uplink reference signal, such as an SRS or a DMRS, to the network device 110 via an uplink channel for measurement of uplink and downlink channels, data demodulation, etc. The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 may also perform downlink data transmission via a downlink channel and perform uplink data transmission via an uplink channel.

Wireless communication may also be performed between the network device 110 and other network devices, and wireless communication may also be performed between the terminal device 120 and other terminal devices.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device 110 provides services for the cell, and the terminal device 110 communicates with the network device 110 through the transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) used by the cell, such as the cell 130 shown in FIG. 1. The network device 110 may be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay station, or an access point. The cell 130 may belong to a macro base station, or to a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cell here may include: a metro cell, a micro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, etc. A small cell is relative to a macro cell. A macro cell generally has a larger coverage range (e.g., a radius of more than 500 meters) and a high transmission power, while a small cell has the characteristics of a small coverage range (e.g., a radius of tens of meters) and a low transmission power, and is suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

In the early stage of NR network construction, on the one hand, operators expected to quickly introduce NR networks, and on the other hand, there were problems such as the overall low penetration rate of NR terminals and the inconsistent growth rate of NR traffic in different regions. This brought great planning difficulties to the refarming of LTE frequency bands to NR spectrum, affecting the progress of NR network construction. In addition, NR's frequency bands include frequency range 1 (FR1) and FR2. FR1 includes C-band (4-8GHz), and FR2 includes frequency bands above 6GHz, such as millimeter wave bands. However, the coverage of high-frequency bands is poor, so NR also hopes to use some low-frequency bands of LTE for communication to ensure coverage requirements. Therefore, the standard introduces dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) between LTE and NR. Dynamic spectrum sharing can transmit 4G and 5G data in the same frequency band through frequency division multiplexing or time division multiplexing. For example, according to the traffic volume of 4G and 5G, dynamic resource division can be achieved at the millisecond level in the time domain and at the resource block (RB) level in the frequency domain.

Dynamic spectrum sharing can achieve smooth evolution between different standards, guarantee the performance experience of existing 4G users, minimize the impact on existing 4G users, and accelerate the pace of 5G deployment. In order to make 4G and 5G use spectrum resources more efficiently on the same carrier, the standard adopts a variety of technologies, such as rate matching technology (RB-level rate matching, or resource element (RE)-level rate matching), redesigning the time domain position of NR SSB, changing the time domain position of NR DMRS, etc. The purpose is to reduce the resource conflict between 4G and 5G channels/signals, thereby reducing interference to each other. For example, when LTE and NR share spectrum, LTE will always send CRS, so it is necessary to avoid resource conflicts between channels and signals in NR and CRS. Therefore, NR's PDCCH, PDSCH, DMRS, etc. cannot conflict with LTE's CRS. For example, NR's PDSCH must perform rate matching when it conflicts with CRS, and if DMRS symbols conflict with CRS, they must be relocated to other symbols.

In 5G wireless access technology, SSB may include synchronization signals and broadcast channels. Specifically, synchronization signals may include PSS and SSS; broadcast channels may be PBCH. One SSB may occupy four consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain and 20 consecutive RBs in the frequency domain. The first symbol of SSB may be PSS, and the third symbol may be SSS. Both PSS and SSS may occupy 127 subcarriers. PBCH may be distributed in the 2nd to 4th symbols of SSB. In the 2nd and 4th symbols, PBCH may occupy 240 subcarriers, and a portion of REs may be unused on both sides of the SSS of the 3rd symbol.

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an SSB. The subcarrier positions occupied by PSS, SSS and PBCH in one SSB may be shown in FIG2 .

The frequency domain bandwidth of SSB under different subcarriers is shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Among them, the SSB frequency domain bandwidth includes 20 RBs.

System information may include MIB and multiple SIBs, and SIB1 is one of the multiple SIBs. One function of SSB is cell access. For example, through SSB, a terminal device can receive master information block (MIB) information, thereby obtaining system information block 1 (SIB1) associated with SSB, and thus accessing a cell.

Since SSB includes PSS and SSS, and PBCH includes PBCH DMRS, SSB can also be used by UE to perform time-frequency tracking (or time-frequency synchronization), beam management, radio resource management (radio resource management, RRM) measurement, radio link monitoring (radio link monitoring, RLM) measurement, channel state information (channel state information, CSI) measurement, etc.

A beam is a space communication resource. Network devices or terminal devices can shape the transmission beam in analog, digital or hybrid ways through antenna arrays. Different beams are generally considered to be resources in different spaces. Therefore, the same information can be sent through different beams to cover multiple different space areas, or different information can be sent to maximize space resources. Beams can be divided into transmission beams and receiving beams of network devices, and can also be divided into transmission beams and receiving beams of terminal devices.

SSBs in the NR network can be sent using the above-mentioned multiple beams. SSBs can correspond to a transmission period, and at low frequency (or FR1), the transmission period can be 20 milliseconds (ms). In each SSB transmission period, the gNB can send multiple SSBs of different beams in a short time length in a time division manner. The set of multiple SSBs in the short time length can be called an SS burst.

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the transmission pattern of SSB. FIG3 includes (a) to (e). Each grid represents an OFDM symbol, and each time slot includes 14 OFDM symbols. SSBs in different beam directions are filled with different shadow patterns, and different SSB identifiers are marked below different OFDM symbol positions. The SSB in each beam direction occupies 4 OFDM symbols.

In the NR system, depending on the working frequency band, the SSBs of different beams can be multiplexed according to different time domain patterns. Referring to (a) in Figure 3, when the subcarrier spacing of the SSB is 15kHz, the length of the SS burst is 2ms, that is, the SSB can be sent in two time slots of 1ms. Up to 4 SSBs in different directions can be sent in the SS burst. The above 4 SSBs can be recorded as SSB0, SSB1, SSB2 and SSB3 respectively. It should be noted that the gNB does not necessarily need to send SSBs in all 4 directions. The gNB can configure the actual number of SSBs sent and the symbol position used to send the SSB through system messages. For example, the gNB can only send SSB0 and SSB1, or only send SSB1 and SSB3.

When the subcarrier spacing of SSB is 30kHz, the time domain transmission pattern can support two types of SSB patterns. For example, one type can be seen in (b) and (c) in Figure 3, and the other type can be seen in (d) and (e) in Figure 3.

When the subcarrier spacing of SSB is 30kHz, the length of an SS burst can be 2ms, and an SS burst can contain 4 time slots of 0.5ms in length. The gNB can send up to 8 SSBs in different directions in the SS burst. The above 8 SSBs can be recorded as SSB0, SSB1, SSB2, SSB3, SSB4, SSB5, SSB6 and SSB7 respectively. Similar to the case of 15kHz, the gNB does not necessarily need to send all 8 directional SSBs. The gNB can choose to send SSBs in 1, 2, 4 or 8 beam directions. The gNB can also choose to send SSBs in any beam direction. The content carried in the 4 symbols of each SSB in Figure 3 can be as shown in Figure 2.

When the UE is powered on and resides in a cell or switches to a cell, it can measure multiple SSBs in an SSB cycle of the cell to determine the beam with the best reception quality. The UE can select a beam based on the measured SSB beam quality in subsequent cell access and uplink and downlink data transmission.

As shown above, SSB may include PSS, SSS and PBCH. Among them, PBCH may be used to carry system information. PBCH may use PBCH payload to carry information. PBCH payload may include high-level signaling (23 bits in total) and 8 bits of non-high-level signaling information. In addition, high-level signaling may include 1 bit of indication information, for example, the indication information may be called broadcast control channel-broadcast channel message type (broadcast control channel-broadcast channel-messagetype, BCCH-BCH-MessageType). The indication information may be used to indicate whether the high-level RRC message carried by PBCH is MIB or other types. If the indication information indicates that the high-level signaling carried by PBCH is MIB, the 23 bits of high-level signaling are MIB, or in other words, PBCH payload may include MIB. If the indication information indicates that the high-level signaling carried by the PBCH is of other types, such as message class extension, then the 23-bit high-level signaling is other types of signaling, or in other words, the PBCH payload may include other types of signaling.

The SSB in the 6G wireless access technology may be incompatible with the SSB in the 5G wireless access technology. Alternatively, the SSB in the 6G wireless access technology may be different from the SSB in the 5G wireless access technology. Alternatively, the resources corresponding to the SSB in the 6G wireless access technology are different from the resources corresponding to the SSB in the 5G wireless access technology.

5G and 6G wireless access technologies can share spectrum. On the one hand, on the same carrier (or cell), network devices need to send both 5G SSB and 6G SSB, and the air interface resource overhead of SSB will double. On the other hand, network devices in 6G wireless access technology can support more antennas to achieve massive MIMO transmission. This requires network devices to send more beams to complete beam scanning, resulting in a further increase in the air interface resource overhead of SSB. Among them, carriers that send both 5G SSB and 6G SSB, or carriers that support both 5G and 6G wireless access technologies, can be called 5G-6G DSS carriers. In other words, the cell where the network device is located supports 5G-6G DSS.

In order to save the overhead of synchronization signals (PSS and SSS), the relevant technical solutions make 6G PSS and 6G SSS compatible with 5G PSS and 5G SSS respectively. In other words, 6G SSB and 5G SSB can share 5G PSS and 5G SSS signals. 6G PBCH can be used to transmit 6G system information. Since 6G PBCH is sent along with 5G SSB, the number of 6G PBCH transmissions is large, resulting in a large overhead of air interface resources. However, in the early stage of 6G technology deployment, there are few 6G users and many 5G users. The larger 6G PBCH resource overhead corresponds to fewer 6G users, resulting in a waste of resources.

For example, there may be no 6G users in some cells or in some beam directions, but the network equipment has been sending 6G PBCH, which not only wastes spectrum resources but also wastes power consumption of network equipment.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 400 can save resource overhead and reduce network energy consumption. The method 400 is introduced below in conjunction with Fig. 4 .

S410: The terminal device receives first information from the network device. Correspondingly, the network device sends the first information to the terminal device.

The first information may be used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information may include at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS.

The second information may also be referred to as 6G SSB. The 6G SSB here may include at least one of 6G PBCH, 6G PSS or 6G SSS. The second information may also be referred to as 6G PBCH, 6G PSS or 6G SSS. The terminal device demodulates 6G PBCH to obtain 6G system information.

For example, 6G SSB includes 6G PBCH, 6G PSS, and 6G SSS, and the second information is 6G SSB. That is, the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends 6G SSB.

Optionally, the pattern of the second information is predefined by the protocol. For example, (a) to (e) in FIG. 3 can be used as different second information patterns respectively.

In some optional embodiments, the second information is information carried by a preset channel or a preset signal. For example, the second information is information carried by the first PBCH, or the first PSS, or the first SSS. Whether the network device sends the second information can be understood as whether the network device sends a signal on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the first PBCH, the first PSS, or the first SSS, that is, whether the first PBCH, the first PSS, or the first SSS is sent.

The beam direction of the second information may be one or more. That is, optionally, when the second information is one, the first information may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information of one or more beam directions in the second information pattern. For example, if the second information pattern includes beam direction #0 and beam direction #1, the first information may indicate whether the network device sends the second information of beam direction #0 and/or beam direction #1.

Optionally, in the case where there are multiple second information, the second information can be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information of one or more beam directions in the second information patterns corresponding to these second information. For example, the second information pattern corresponding to the second information #0 includes beam direction #0 and beam direction #1, and the second information pattern corresponding to the second information #1 includes beam direction #2, beam direction #3, and beam direction #4. Then, the first information can indicate whether the network device sends the second information #0 of beam direction #0 and/or beam direction #1, and/or the first information can indicate whether the network device sends the second information #1 of beam direction #2, beam direction #3, and/or beam direction #4.

The first PBCH may be called 6G PBCH; the first PSS may be called 6G PSS; and the first SSS may be called 6G SSS. In other words, the first PBCH may be a PBCH in a 6G wireless access technology or a 6G communication technology; the first PSS may be a PSS in a 6G wireless access technology or a 6G communication technology; and the first SSS may be an SSS in a 6G wireless access technology or a 6G communication technology.

Optionally, the terminal device operates on a 5G-6G spectrum shared carrier.

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a 6G SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that FIG5 is only an example, and the present application does not limit the resources corresponding to the 6G SSB. In FIG5, an unfilled box represents a 5G SSB. The specific meaning of the box can be found in the description of FIG2 above, which will not be repeated here. In FIG5, the horizontal direction represents the time domain, for example, one grid can correspond to one OFDM symbol; the vertical direction represents the frequency domain, for example, one grid can correspond to one or more RBs.

This application does not limit the resources corresponding to the first PBCH. As an example, the first PBCH may correspond to the OFDM symbol occupied by the 5G PBCH, for example, the first PBCH may correspond to the second and fourth OFDM symbols in the 5G SSB; the RB occupied by the first PBCH may be different from the RB occupied by the 5G PBCH, for example, the RB occupied by the first PBCH may be adjacent to the RB occupied by the 5G PBCH, or near the RB occupied by the 5G PBCH. For example, see (a) in Figure 5.

As another example, the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first PBCH may be different from the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 5G SSB, for example, the OFDM symbol corresponding to the first PBCH may be before or after the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 5G SSB; the frequency range of the RB occupied by the first PBCH may be the same as the frequency range of the RB occupied by the 5G SSB. For example, see (b) or (c) in FIG. 5 .

This application does not limit the resources corresponding to the first PSS or the first SSS. As an example, the first PSS or the first SSS may correspond to a plurality of consecutive OFDM symbols, each OFDM symbol corresponds to a first PSS or a first SSS, or each OFDM symbol corresponds to a beam direction of a first PSS or a first SSS; the frequency range corresponding to the first PSS or the first SSS on each OFDM symbol may be the same. For example, see (d) in FIG. 5 .

As another example, the first PSS or the first SSS may correspond to a plurality of discontinuous OFDM symbols; and the frequency ranges corresponding to the first PSS or the first SSS on each OFDM symbol may be the same. For example, see (e) in FIG. 5 .

In some optional embodiments, 5G PSS may correspond to the same resources as 6G PSS. Optionally, the signals of 5G PSS and 6G PSS are also the same, that is, 6G SSB and 5G SSB multiplex PSS. In other optional embodiments, 5G PSS and 6G PSS may correspond to different resources. In some optional embodiments, 5G SSS may correspond to the same resources as 6G SSS. Optionally, the signals of 5G SSS and 6G SSS are also the same, that is, 6G SSB and 5G SSB multiplex SSS. In other optional embodiments, 5G SSS and 6G SSS may correspond to different resources.

For example, 6G SSB may correspond to 4 discontinuous OFDM symbols; the frequency range corresponding to 6G SSB on each OFDM symbol may be the same. For example, see (e) in FIG. 5 .

In other optional embodiments, the second information may also be referred to as 5G SSB, where the 5G SSB may include at least one of 5G PBCH, 5G PSS or 5G SSS.

This application does not limit the name of the first information. For example, the first information may be called indication information or reference information. For another example, the first information may have other names. The first information may also be called a first message, a first indication, a first signal, or a first reference signal, etc. For example, the first information may be called a reference signal or a 5G reference signal or a 6G reference signal. For another example, the first information may be a 6G PSS or a 6G SSS.

The present application does not limit the specific form of the first information. For example, the first information may be 1 bit, where the bit is 0 indicating that the network device does not send the second information, and the bit is 1 indicating that the network device sends the second information; or, where the bit is 0 indicating that the network device sends the second information, and the bit is 1 indicating that the network device does not send the second information.

For another example, when the first information is carried by a reference signal, the reference signal includes a sequence set. For example, the reference signal includes M sequences, and the M sequences correspond to N states respectively, that is, the first information can represent one of the N states. When the network device sends the first sequence of the M sequences, the first information is in the first state, which is used to indicate that the network device does not send (send) the second information. When the network device sends the second sequence of the M sequences, the first information is in the second state, which is used to indicate that the network device sends (does not send) the second information. Wherein, M and N are positive integers.

Optionally, the first information is carried by a reference signal, and the first information may be on an OFDM symbol following the OFDM symbol corresponding to the 5G SSB, and the RB corresponding to the first information has the same frequency range as the RB corresponding to the second SSS. For example, referring to FIG2 , the resource corresponding to the first information may be located on the 4th OFDM symbol (not shown in FIG2 ) following the 0th to 3rd OFDM symbols corresponding to the 5G SSB, and occupy RBs with subcarrier numbers 56 to 182. The sequence used by the first information may be the same as or similar to the sequence of the 5G PSS or 5G SSS. The first information may also have other forms, and some embodiments will be shown later, which will not be described here.

The present application does not limit the manner in which the network device sends the first information. For example, the network device may broadcast the first information. Alternatively, the network device may send the first information in the form of unicast, multicast, or groupcast.

S420: The terminal device processes the second information according to the first information.

For example, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, if the terminal device needs to receive the second information, the second information is requested from the network device. For another example, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, if the terminal device does not need to receive the second information, no processing is performed. For another example, when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, if the terminal device needs to receive the second information, there is no need to send a request message to the network device, and the second information can be directly received. For another example, when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, if the terminal device does not need to receive the second information, a request is made to the network device not to send the second information.

Through the above embodiments, the network device can instruct the terminal device whether to send at least one of PBCH, PSS or SSS, so that the terminal device can process according to its own needs. For example, a terminal device requires the network device to send the second information. After receiving the first information instructing the network device not to send the second information, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information. In the early application of 6G technology, such as the 5G-6G spectrum sharing scenario, the number of 6G terminal devices is small and the number of 5G terminal devices is large. The above scheme supports network devices to send 6G PBCH, 6G PSS or 6G SSS according to the needs of 6G terminal devices, thereby saving resource overhead, reducing network energy consumption, and also reducing the performance impact on 5G users.

Optionally, this embodiment can also be used in a 6G dedicated carrier scenario, that is, a non-spectrum sharing scenario.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiment, the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in the first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in the second wireless access technology; wherein, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets the preset condition.

In other words, the phase difference between 5G PSS and 5G SSS can be used to indicate whether to send the second information.

The second PSS may be called 5G PSS; the second SSS may be called 5G SSS. In other words, the second PSS may be the PSS in 5G wireless access technology or 5G communication technology; the second SSS may be the SSS in 5G wireless access technology or 5G communication technology. The resources corresponding to 5G PSS and 5G SSS can be found in the previous text and will not be described here.

The first wireless access technology is different from the second wireless access technology. Exemplarily, the first wireless access technology is 6G wireless access technology, and the second wireless access technology is 5G wireless access technology.

In some optional embodiments, the resources corresponding to the second PSS and the first PSS may be the same, and/or the resources corresponding to the second SSS and the first SSS may be the same. Further, the second PSS and the first PSS may correspond to the same signal, and/or the second SSS and the first SSS may correspond to the same signal. For example, 6G SSB and 5G SSB share PSS and SSS. In other optional embodiments, the resources corresponding to the second PSS and the first PSS may be different, and/or the resources corresponding to the second SSS and the first SSS may be different.

The present application does not limit the scope of the preset condition. In some optional embodiments, the preset condition may be a preset threshold. For example, 180 degrees. In this way, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS is less than or equal to 180 degrees, that is, less than or equal to the preset threshold, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. Alternatively, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS is greater than or equal to 180 degrees, that is, greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. The threshold can also be set to other values, such as 160 degrees. In some optional embodiments, the threshold is not set too small. This is because, during the communication process, phase noise (for example, due to device noise) itself will cause a certain phase difference between SSS and PSS, such as a phase difference of about 10 degrees.

By setting the phase difference between SSS and PSS at the transmitting end to be greater than a certain threshold by the network device, the terminal device can detect whether the phase difference is caused by phase noise or is set by the network device for transmitting information.

In some other optional embodiments, the preset condition may be a preset range. For example, 90 degrees to 120 degrees. Thus, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS is greater than 90 degrees and less than 120 degrees, that is, falls within the preset range, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

Optionally, the above threshold or preset range may be configured by the network device or predefined by the protocol.

In some other optional embodiments, when the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. Otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information.

Through the above embodiment, the first information may include the second PSS and the second SSS. The phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS may indicate whether the network device sends the second information, so that the terminal device can process it according to its own needs. In addition, the process of parsing the synchronization signal has lower requirements on the terminal device, which can reduce the complexity of the terminal device.

It should be noted that the second PSS and the second SSS can be used by the terminal device to obtain time and frequency synchronization. Method 400 may also include: the terminal device receives the second PSS and the second SSS from the network device. Correspondingly, the network device sends the second PSS and the second SSS to the terminal device. The present application does not limit the timing when the terminal device receives the second PSS and the second SSS, and the terminal device can receive the second PSS and the second SSS at any time. In other words, the terminal device can receive the second PSS and the second SSS before or after executing any step of method 400. In other words, the terminal device can receive the second PSS and the second SSS before or after executing any step of method 400. In other words, the terminal device can receive the PSS and SSS of 5G for time and frequency synchronization.

In some other optional embodiments, the first information includes a first PSS and a first SSS; wherein, when the phase difference between the first PSS and the first SSS satisfies a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send (send) the second information, otherwise, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send (not send) the second information. In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the phase difference between the first PSS and the first SSS satisfies the preset condition.

In other words, the phase difference between 6G PSS and 6G SSS can be used to indicate whether to send the second information (6G PBCH).

For example, the PSS and SSS in 6G SSB are certain to be sent, but whether the PBCH in 6G SSB is sent is indicated by the PSS and SSS of 6G SSB.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second wireless access technology.

In other words, the information carried by 5G PBCH can be used to indicate whether to send the second information.

Exemplarily, the first information may be carried in a spare bit of the second PBCH. However, the present application is not limited thereto, and the first information may also be carried in other bits of the second PBCH. One or more bits carried by the second PBCH may be used as the first information, so that the one or more bits may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information.

The second PBCH may be called 5G PBCH. In other words, the second PBCH may be a PBCH in 5G wireless access technology or 5G communication technology. The resources corresponding to 5G PBCH can be found in the previous text and will not be described here.

The first wireless access technology is different from the second wireless access technology. Exemplarily, the first wireless access technology is 6G wireless access technology, and the second wireless access technology is 5G wireless access technology.

In some optional embodiments, the resources corresponding to the second PBCH and the first PBCH may be different.

It is understandable that the physical channel often goes through scrambling, CRC, channel coding, rate matching and other processes, which will improve the transmission reliability of the physical channel. Since PBCH is a physical channel, carrying the first information in the second PBCH can improve the transmission reliability of the first information, so that the terminal device can reliably know whether the network device sends the second information.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, when the first information does not include a reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; when the first information includes the reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the first information does not include the reference signal; when the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, the first information includes the reference signal.

The present application does not limit the reference signal, and the reference signal may be in any form and may have other names.

In some other optional embodiments, when the first information does not include a reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information; when the first information includes the reference signal, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. In other words, when the first information instructs the network device not to send the second information, the first information includes a reference signal; when the first information instructs the network device to send the second information, the first information does not include the reference signal.

Through the above solution, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information by detecting whether the reference signal exists, thereby reducing the complexity of the terminal device obtaining information about whether the network device sends the second information.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, the reference signal is a DMRS of the first PBCH.

In other words, the first information may include the DMRS of the 6G PBCH.

The resource format of the DMRS of the first PBCH may be the same as or correspond to the resource format of the DMRS of the second PBCH. In other words, the resource mapping of the DMRS of the first PBCH may be the same as or correspond to the resource mapping of the DMRS of the second PBCH.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, the first information is used to indicate whether second information of at least one beam direction is sent.

In other words, the first information may be used to indicate the beam range of whether the second information is sent. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information of one or more beam directions is sent. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in one or more beam directions. For example, the first information may indicate that the network device does not send the second information of beam direction #0, and indicates that the network device sends the second information of beam direction #1.

In some optional embodiments, the first information may be associated with the second information of one or more beam directions. Alternatively, the first information may be associated with the one or more beam directions. The first information may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information in the one or more beam directions associated with the first information.

Different beam directions may correspond to different SSB indexes (or indexes of the second information, or indexes of 6G SSB). In some optional embodiments, the first information may be associated with at least one SSB index. The association relationship between the first information and at least one SSB index may be predefined, or determined according to a predefined rule, or indicated by signaling.

Optionally, different beam directions correspond to different precoding or transmission weights in the digital domain or the analog domain.

Under 5G-6G spectrum sharing, if the number of 5G SSBs and 6G SSBs are the same in one SS burst, it can be assumed that the index of the 5G SSB and the index of the 6G SSB correspond one-to-one, and the beam directions of the 5G SSB and 6G SSB with the same index are the same.

Optionally, the first information is associated with the second information in all beam directions, that is, the first information is associated with the 6G SSB index in all beam directions. The first information indicates whether the second information is sent, which can mean that the first information indicates whether the second information is sent in all beam directions.

Optionally, the first information corresponds to an index of a 6G SSB, and the first information also corresponds to an index of a 5G SSB, and the index of the 6G SSB corresponding to the first information is the same as the index of the 5G SSB. For example, if the first information is carried by 5G PSS and SSS, or by 5G PBCH, the first information naturally corresponds to an index of a 5G SSB.

As an example, when the first information is carried in the second PBCH, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in the beam direction corresponding to the second PBCH. Alternatively, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in all beam directions. Alternatively, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in multiple beam directions. The multiple beam directions may include a beam direction corresponding to the second PBCH and a beam direction adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the second PBCH.

In some optional embodiments, the second PBCH may be associated with an index of the second information. Alternatively, the second PBCH may be associated with a beam direction of the second information. Thus, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information in the beam direction associated with the second PBCH.

In some other optional embodiments, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information in multiple beam directions. The second information in the above multiple beam directions belongs to the same second information pattern. In some other optional embodiments, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information in all beam directions corresponding to the second information. The above all beam directions may be all beam directions in the second information pattern. Further, the second PBCH may be used to indicate whether the network device sends the second information in all beam directions corresponding to the second information, or not to send the second information in all beam directions corresponding to the second information.

As another example, when the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in a beam direction corresponding to the second PSS or the second SSS. Alternatively, the first information may be used to indicate whether the second information is sent in multiple beam directions. The multiple beam directions may include a beam direction corresponding to the second PSS or the second SSS, and a beam direction adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the second PSS or the second SSS.

Through the above-mentioned embodiment, the terminal device can determine whether the network device sends the second information in at least one beam direction based on the first information. In this way, the terminal device can determine whether to request the second information in one or more beam directions according to its own needs. For example, the terminal device receives the second information with the best quality in a certain beam direction. When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in the beam direction, regardless of whether the network device sends the second information in other beam directions, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information in the beam direction with the best reception quality of the terminal device, thereby improving the reception performance. For the network device, if the terminal device requests the second information in some beam directions, the network device only sends the second information in the requested beam direction, and does not send the second information in other beam directions not needed by the terminal device, thereby saving air interface resource overhead and reducing network energy consumption.

For example, the beam directions of 5G SSB and 6G SSB correspond one to one. The terminal device can determine the beam direction with better reception quality of 5G SSB by detecting the signal strength of 5G PSS and SSS, and then infer the beam direction with better reception quality of 6G SSB.

It should be noted that the present application also provides another communication method A, which includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; when the terminal device does not detect the reference signal, the terminal device sends a third information to the network device, and the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information. The fact that the terminal device does not detect the reference signal may indicate that the network device does not send the second information at this time.

The resource corresponding to the reference signal may be predefined, or determined according to a predefined rule, or configured by signaling. The terminal device may detect the reference signal on the resource corresponding to the reference signal, for example, detecting the reference signal on a certain time-frequency resource. If the terminal device does not detect the reference signal, the terminal device may determine that the network device does not send the second information. Thus, the terminal device may send the third information to the network device.

When the terminal device detects the reference signal, the terminal device can determine that the network device sends the second information.

For example, the reference signal is 6G PBCH DMRS. The terminal device determines whether 6G PBCH is sent by detecting whether 6G PBCH DMRS exists. If 6G PBCH DMRS is not detected, it is determined that the network device does not send 6G PBCH. The terminal device can send the third information to the network device to request the network device to send the second information (6G PBCH).

For example, the reference signal may be a newly introduced reference signal, and the time-frequency position of the reference signal is different from that of 5G SSB and that of 6G SSB.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned another communication method A includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; when the terminal device detects the reference signal, the terminal device sends third information to the network device, and the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned another communication method A includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; the terminal device determines whether the network device sends the second information based on the detection result of the reference signal.

For example, as described above, the reference signal corresponds to a sequence set, and each sequence corresponds to a state of a reference signal. When the reference signal is in the first state, the network device is instructed not to send the second information, and when the reference signal is in the second state, the network device is instructed to send the second information.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned another communication method A includes: the terminal device detects a reference signal; the terminal device determines whether to send third information to the network device based on the detection result of the reference signal, and the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

For other descriptions of the reference signal, please refer to the description of the reference signal included in the first information, which will not be described here.

Optionally, in some implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, the terminal device determines whether the second information of at least one beam direction is sent by detecting a reference signal.

As an example, the reference signal is the DMRS of the first PBCH, and the terminal device can detect the DMRS of the first PBCH in a certain beam direction. If the DMRS exists, it can be determined that the network device will send the second information of the beam direction. Alternatively, if the DMRS exists, it can be determined that the network device will send the second information of multiple beam directions. Among them, the second information of multiple beam directions belongs to a pattern of second information. The above-mentioned multiple beam directions may include a beam direction corresponding to the first PBCH, and a beam direction adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the first PBCH.

As another example, the reference signal is a newly introduced reference signal, and the terminal device determines whether the network device sends the second information in the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal by detecting the reference signal. Alternatively, it is determined whether the network device sends the second information in multiple beam directions. The multiple beam directions may include a beam direction corresponding to the reference signal and a beam direction adjacent to the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal.

Optionally, the multiple beam directions may be all beam directions.

Optionally, the association between the reference signal and the beam direction of the second information is predefined by the protocol or indicated by signaling. For example, the protocol predefines the correspondence between the reference signal and the index of the 6G SSB. It should be understood that two methods are described above to determine whether the network device sends the second information, namely, by the method indicated by the first information, or by detecting the reference signal (detecting the presence or absence of the reference signal, or detecting the status of the reference signal). In the steps of the embodiment described below, these two methods can be combined respectively to form different implementation methods. For the convenience of description, the following description is performed by the method indicated by the first information. It should be understood that it can also be replaced by the method of detecting the reference signal.

In some optional embodiments, a plurality of second information patterns are predefined, or determined by a predefined rule, or configured by a network device through signaling. The periods of the plurality of second information patterns may be different. Alternatively, the periods corresponding to the plurality of second information patterns are the same, wherein the second information respectively included in the plurality of second information patterns may have different numbers of beam directions. For example, the second information in one second information pattern is sent in 4 beam directions within a period, and the second information in another second information pattern is sent in 8 beam directions within the period.

The first information/reference signal (by detecting the presence or absence of the reference signal, or detecting different states of the reference signal) can indicate the second information pattern (or the second information pattern currently in effect) sent by the network device on the DSS carrier currently accessed by the terminal device, for example, it can indicate the identifier/number of the second information pattern. In other words, the first information/reference signal can instruct the network device to switch between different second information patterns.

The implementation method of the first information/reference signal is as described above.

For example, the second PBCH can be used to indicate at least one second information pattern sent by the network device on the DSS carrier currently accessed by the terminal device. Wherein, in the case where "at least one second information pattern" is a plurality of second information patterns, these second information patterns may have different periods, or include second information with different numbers of beam directions. Alternatively, the second PBCH can be used to indicate whether the network device sends at least one second information pattern. For example, the second PBCH can carry an identifier of the second information pattern.

Since different second information patterns have different SSB periods or different numbers of beams included in SS burst sets, different resource overheads can be achieved. For example, when there are no 6G terminal devices, or there are few 6G terminal devices, or there are 6G terminal devices only in certain beam directions, the network device can switch to a second information pattern with a larger SSB period or a smaller number of beams. Conversely, the network device can switch to a second information pattern with a smaller SSB period or a larger number of beams, which can reduce 6G SSB resource overhead (6G PBCH, 6G PSS, and/or 6G SSS) and save network energy consumption.

When the first information/reference signal indicates that the network device sends the second information according to the first pattern (i.e., the first second information pattern), the third information may be sent to the network device to request the network device to send the second information according to the second pattern (i.e., the second second information pattern). In other words, the network device may switch the second information pattern according to the request of the terminal device.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the terminal device sends third information to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

Correspondingly, the method 400 further includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the network device receives third information from the terminal device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information.

Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information of the first beam direction, the terminal device sends third information to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information of the second beam direction. The first beam direction may be one or more beam directions. The second beam direction may be one or more beam directions. The first beam direction may include the second beam direction, so that among the multiple beam directions not sent by the network device, some or all of the beam directions are required by the terminal device, and the terminal device may request the above-mentioned some or all of the beam directions (i.e., the second beam direction). Further, the third information may be used to request the sending of the second beam direction, as well as the second information of the beam direction adjacent to the second beam direction.

Optionally, the second beam direction includes the first beam direction. For example, the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information of all beam directions. This is conducive to better serving terminal devices in a mobile state.

It can be understood that if the terminal device determines that the network device does not send the second information of the beam direction required by the terminal device, it can request the network device to send the beam direction required by the terminal device and the second information of the beam direction adjacent to the required beam direction.

In some optional embodiments, the third information may be carried in a wake-up signal (WUS).

Through the above embodiment, the terminal device can request the network device to send the second information through the third information according to its own needs. For other terminal devices that do not send the request, the network device may not send the second information, thereby saving the resource overhead of the network device.

In other optional embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the terminal device does not process. In other words, S420 includes: the terminal device determines that the network device does not send the second information based on the first information. In the case where the terminal device does not need the second information and the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, no processing may be performed, so that the network device does not send the second information to the terminal device. Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in at least one beam direction, the terminal device does not process. In other words, S420 may include: when the terminal device determines that the network device does not send the second information in at least one beam direction based on the first information. In the case where the terminal device does not need the second information in one or more beam directions, and the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information in the above beam directions, no processing may be performed, so that the network device does not send the second information in the above beam directions to the terminal device.

In other optional embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the terminal device does not process. In other words, S420 includes: the terminal device determines that the network device sends the second information according to the first information. When the terminal device needs the second information and the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, no processing is required, so that the network device sends the second information to the terminal device. Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information of at least one beam direction, the terminal device does not process. In other words, S420 includes: when the terminal device determines that the network device sends the second information of at least one beam direction according to the first information. When the terminal device needs the second information of one or more beam directions and the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information of the above beam directions, no processing is required, so that the network device sends the second information of the above beam directions to the terminal device. It can be understood that the terminal device does not process, which means that the terminal device does not need to send the third information to the network device. Since the network device is determined to send the second information according to the first information, the terminal device directly receives the second information.

In other optional embodiments, S420 includes: when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the terminal device sends information to the network device, and the information is used to request or instruct the network device not to send the second information. When the terminal device does not need the second information, and the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information, the terminal device can instruct the network device not to send the second information, thereby saving the overhead of air interface resources. Further, S420 may include: when the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information of at least one beam direction, the terminal device sends information to the network device, and the information is used to request or instruct the network device not to send the second information of one or more beam directions. Among them, one or more beam directions may be part or all of at least one beam direction indicated by the first information. When the terminal device does not need the second information of one or more beam directions, and the first information indicates that the network device sends the second information of one or more beam directions, the terminal device can instruct the network device not to send the second information of the above beam directions, thereby saving the overhead of air interface resources.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiment, the third information includes at least one of a PRACH preamble, an SRS, a reference signal based on a ZC sequence, and a reference signal based on a PN sequence. That is, the third information may be carried by one of these signals or sequences. However, the present application does not limit this, and the third information may also be in other forms, or the third information may include other information.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, after sending the third information to the network device, the method 400 also includes: the terminal device receives fourth information from the network device, wherein the fourth information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; the terminal device sends fifth information to the network device, wherein the fifth information is used to request the network device to send the second information, and the transmission power corresponding to the fifth information is greater than the transmission power corresponding to the third information.

Correspondingly, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the network device receives the third information from the terminal device, including: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, the network device receives the third information from the terminal device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

It should be noted that the transmission power of the third information and the fifth information sent by the terminal device is different. For the network device, the third information received by the network device may be the third information sent by the terminal device, or it may be the fifth information sent by the terminal device. The third information and the fifth information sent by the terminal device may carry the same information content or different information content, which is not limited in this application. The description of the fifth information sent by the terminal device can refer to the description of the third information sent by the aforementioned terminal device, which is not repeated here.

A preset time may be provided between the terminal device sending the third information and receiving the fourth information. For example, after the terminal device sends the third information, it may re-detect whether the network device sends the second information after a preset time T, for example, within the SSB cycle after the interval T. If the network device still does not send the second information, the terminal device continues to send the request (i.e., the fifth information). Alternatively, in other optional embodiments, after receiving the fourth information, the terminal device still sends the third information to the network device. In other words, the terminal device may repeatedly send the third information at the same power.

It should be noted that this application takes the third information and the fifth information as examples, but does not limit the terminal device to only send two requests. It is understandable that if the network device still does not send the second information after the terminal device sends the fifth information, the terminal device can send the request again. The request sent again can further increase the transmission power relative to the fifth information, and can also use the transmission power of the third information or the fifth information, or other transmission powers.

The network device may not receive the request from the terminal device, in which case the network device may still not send the second information. In the above embodiment, after the terminal device requests the network device to send the second information, if the network device still does not send the second information, the terminal device may send the request with a higher transmission power. The above solution can improve the success rate of the terminal device requesting the second information.

Optionally, in some other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, sending the third information to the network device includes: when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, the terminal device sends the third information to the network device on the resources corresponding to the third information.

The resource corresponding to the third information may also be called a WUS resource, or other names. For ease of description, the resource corresponding to the third information may be a WUS resource as an example below, but those skilled in the art are aware that the resource corresponding to the third information may also be other resources.

The resource corresponding to the third information is configured, which can be understood as WUS resources are predefined by the protocol, or determined according to predefined rules, or configured by network equipment. For example, the standard can predefine the relative time-frequency position relationship between 5G SSB or 6G SSB and WUS resources. For another example, a 6G UE receives the configuration information of the DSS carrier on a 6G dedicated carrier, and the configuration information includes the configuration information of the WUS resources.

If the network device detects the WUS sent by the terminal device in the configured WUS resource, the network device can send the second information at the time-frequency position of the second information associated with the WUS resource. In other words, the resources corresponding to the third information can be associated with the resources of the second information, and the network device can send the second information on some resources among all the resources of the second information. The above-mentioned part of resources is associated with the resources corresponding to the third resource.

Alternatively, the network device may send the second information at all time-frequency positions of the second information.

Optionally, in other implementation scenarios of the above embodiments, when the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information; or, when the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured (or are not effective), the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

Correspondingly, when the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information, the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, or the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured (or are ineffective).

In other words, if the WUS resource is not configured (or ineffective), the terminal device can determine that the network device sends the second information. That is, by indicating that the WUS resource is not configured (or ineffective), the network device is implicitly instructed to send the second information.

It can be understood that, since the WUS resource is not configured (or is not effective), the terminal device cannot send the third information on the WUS resource, thereby sending a request to the network device. Therefore, in this case, the network device sends the second information.

For example, the configuration information in the first information is expressed in the form of a second PSS and a second SSS. For details, please refer to the above embodiment in which the second PSS and the second SSS indicate whether the network device sends the second information through a phase difference. Unlike the above embodiment, the second PSS and the second SSS in the embodiment here can be used to indicate whether the resources of the third information are configured (or whether they are effective). For another example, the configuration information in the first information is expressed in the form of a first PBCH. For details, please refer to the above embodiment in which the first PBCH indicates whether the network device sends the second information, except that the first PBCH here is used to indicate whether the resources of the third information are configured (or whether they are effective). For another example, the configuration information in the first information is expressed in the form of a reference signal. For details, please refer to the above embodiment in which the reference signal indicates whether the network device sends the second information, except that the presence or absence of the reference signal (or the different states of the reference signal) here is used to indicate whether the resources of the third information are configured (or whether they are effective).

Optionally, the time and frequency resources of WUS are pre-defined by the protocol, and the network device only needs to indicate whether the resources of WUS are effective.

For another example, the first information is configuration information. In the case where the first information does not include the configuration information of the resource corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information.

In some optional embodiments, a first message may be associated with a resource corresponding to the third message. In this way, after receiving a first message, the terminal device may send the third message according to the resource corresponding to the third message associated with the first message. For example, when the first message is carried by 5G SSB or 5G PSS/SSS, one 5G SSB corresponds to one WUS resource. Alternatively, 5G SSB corresponds to WUS resources one-to-one, or one-to-one in beam direction.

In some other optional embodiments, multiple first information can be associated with a resource corresponding to the third information. In other words, multiple first information can be associated with one WUS resource. For example, one WUS resource can be associated with multiple 5G SSBs (in the beam direction). In this way, although the multiple first information received by the terminal device are different, the third information can be sent on the same WUS resource. It can be seen that the above scheme saves uplink resource overhead.

In some other optional embodiments, all first information is associated with a resource corresponding to the third information. In other words, one WUS resource can be associated with the first information in all beam directions. In this way, any terminal device can send the third information on the WUS resource. Exemplarily, when the first information is 5G SSB, all beam directions (or indexes) of 5G SSB are associated with the same WUS resource.

Furthermore, if different terminal devices send WUS (ie, the third information) on the same WUS resource, the WUS sent by different terminal devices are the same. That is, the WUS has nothing to do with the serial number of the terminal device.

The association relationship between the first information and the resources corresponding to the third information may be predefined, or determined according to a predefined rule, or configured by a network device. For example, the first information may indicate the WUS resource associated with the first information. For another example, a first information may indicate the WUS resource associated with multiple first information (multiple first information may include or exclude the aforementioned first information). It is understandable that the first information may carry fewer bits, so that the first information may only be able to indicate whether the WUS resource exists (or whether it is effective), and cannot indicate a specific WUS resource. The WUS resource can be predetermined by predefined, predefined rules or the configuration of the network device, so that the first information only needs to use fewer bits to indicate whether the associated WUS resource exists (or whether it is effective). For example, the first information is associated with WUS resource #1, and the first information is 1 bit. When the bit is 0, it indicates that WUS resource #1 does not exist; when the bit is 1, it indicates that WUS resource #1 exists. In this way, the first information does not need more bits, for example, the first information does not need to carry a bit indicating the identifier of the WUS resource.

Optionally, the first information is associated with the third information by associating the time-frequency resources of the first information with the time-frequency resources of the third information.

Optionally, as described above, the WUS resource also has an association relationship with the resource corresponding to the third information. The association relationship may be predefined by the protocol, or determined according to a predefined rule, or configured by the network device.

For example, WUS resources correspond to the index of 6G SSB.

The description of the association relationship between the WUS resource and the resource corresponding to the third information can refer to the above association relationship between the WUS resource and the resource corresponding to the first information, and will not be repeated here.

Optionally, there is a correspondence (e.g., a one-to-one correspondence) between the indexes (or beams) of 5G SSB and 6G SSB.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method 600 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 600 may be combined with the method 400. The method 600 is described below in conjunction with Fig. 6 .

S610, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the carrier or cell supports DSS.

As an example, the indication information can be carried by 5G SSS and 5G PSS, and the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS indicates whether the carrier or cell supports 5G-6G DSS. For the specific scheme, please refer to the aforementioned description of indicating whether the network device sends the second information through the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS. The difference is that the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS here indicates whether the carrier or cell supports 5G-6G DSS. It should be noted that if the indication information is expressed in the form of the phase difference between 5G SSS and 5G PSS, then the subsequent S620 and S610 here are one step, or two steps, without limitation. That is to say, 5G SSS and 5G PSS can both indicate whether the carrier or cell supports 5G-6G DSS and enable the terminal device to obtain time and frequency synchronization.

Optionally, the order of S620 and S610 is not limited.

As another example, the indication information may be carried by other reference signals, and in the presence of the reference signal, the indication information indicates that the carrier or cell supports DSS. In the absence of the reference signal, the indication information indicates that the carrier or cell does not support DSS. The reference signal may be a DMRS of 6G PSS, 6G SSS, or 6G PBCH. Alternatively, the reference signal is a reference signal other than 6G SSB.

As yet another example, the indication information may be newly defined information, for example, see the shaded portion in FIG. 5 .

In some optional embodiments, the terminal device may access the carrier or cell if it is determined that the carrier or cell supports DSS.

In some other optional embodiments, the terminal device may first access a carrier or cell, for example, a carrier or cell that only supports 6G. In this case, the network device may configure a secondary cell for the terminal device (the cell originally accessed is used as the primary cell), and the secondary cell may support DSS, that is, the secondary cell supports both 5G transmission and 6G transmission. The above scheme is applicable to the scenario of carrier aggregation.

For a DSS carrier or cell, the pattern of the second information (e.g., 6G SSB) can be predefined. In other words, the time-frequency position of the second information in the wireless frame can be predefined.

S620, the network device sends 5G PSS and 5G SSS to the terminal device.

5G PSS and 5G SSS can be used by terminal devices to obtain time and frequency synchronization. In other optional embodiments, 5G PSS and 5G SSS can also be used as first information to indicate whether the network device sends second information.

S410, the network device sends first information to the terminal device.

The implementation example of the first information can be found in the previous text, for example, the description of S410 in the previous text is not repeated here. It should be noted that when the first information is carried by the second PSS and the second SSS, S620 and S410 can be used as one step, or two steps, without limitation. Because at this time, the 5G PSS and 5G SSS have the function of enabling the terminal device to obtain time and frequency synchronization, and also have the function of instructing the network device whether to send the second information.

In method 600, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information.

S630: The terminal device sends third information to the network device.

For the embodiment of the third information, please refer to the above. It is understandable that the scenario assumed by method 600 is that the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, and the terminal device requires the network device to send the second information. Therefore, the terminal device sends the third information to the network device to request the network device to send the second information. However, this application is not limited to this scenario.

S640: The network device sends second information to the terminal device.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method 700 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 700 may be combined with the method 400 and/or the method 600. The method 700 is described below in conjunction with Fig. 7 .

S610, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the carrier or cell supports DSS.

The embodiments of the indication information can be found in the above text, for example, the above description about S610, which will not be repeated here.

S620, the network device sends 5G PSS and 5G SSS to the terminal device.

S410, the network device sends first information to the terminal device.

In method 700, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. Furthermore, the terminal device requires the network device to send the second information.

S640: The network device sends second information to the terminal device.

That is, when the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information, and the terminal device requires the network device to send the second information, the terminal device can execute S640 to receive the second information without performing processing such as sending the third information.

It should be understood that in the present application, the resources corresponding to information, signals or channels generally refer to time-frequency resources.

In the present application, the first information indicates whether the network device sends the second information, or the reference signal (by detecting the presence or different states of the reference signal) indicates whether the network device sends the second information. Optionally, if the first information/reference signal indicates that the network device sends the second information, it means that the network device sends the second information within the first time length, and/or, the first information/reference signal indicates that the network device does not send the second information, which means that the network device does not send the second information within the second time length. In other words, whether the network device sends the second information is associated with a certain time length, and the state of whether to send is only effective within a certain time length. The lengths of the first time length and the second time length can be the same, or different.

The first duration and the second duration may be predefined by a protocol or indicated by a network device.

For example, the first duration or the second duration is equal to a period of one SSB (a period of 5G SSB, or a period of 6G SSB), or a plurality of periods of SSB.

Optionally, if the first information/reference signal instructs the network device to send the second information, the state of sending the second information is always effective, and the network device will continue to send the second information until the network device instructs the network device not to send the second information through the first information/reference signal. If the first information/reference signal instructs the network device not to send the second information, the state of not sending the second information is only effective within the second time period, and after the second time period, the network device will restart sending the second information.

Optionally, if the first information/reference signal instructs the network device to send the second information, the state of sending the second information is only effective within the first time period, and after the first time period, the network device will stop sending the second information. If the first information/reference signal instructs the network device not to send the second information, the state of not sending the second information is effective until the network device instructs the network device to send the second information through another first information/reference signal, and the network device will send the second information again within another first time period.

Optionally, within the first time period, if the network device indicates through the first information/reference signal not to send the second information, the network device stops sending the second information immediately (i.e., starting from the current SSB cycle, after the network device sends the first information/reference signal), or starting from the next SSB cycle, or after the end of the first time period.

Optionally, within the second time period, if the network device indicates to send the second information through the first information/reference signal, the network device resends the second information immediately (i.e., starting from the current SSB cycle, after the network device sends the first information/reference signal), or from the next SSB cycle, or after the end of the second time period.

Optionally, the first duration, and/or the second duration, takes effect after a preset duration after the time-frequency resource carrying the first information/reference signal. That is, the second duration and/or the second duration does not take effect immediately, but has a certain starting time.

For example, at the beginning of the next SSB cycle after the first information/reference signal indicates whether the network device sends the second information, the first duration/second duration takes effect (or starts timing).

The following is an introduction to the device embodiment corresponding to the method embodiment of the present application. The following is only a brief introduction to the device, and the specific implementation steps and details of the scheme can refer to the method embodiment above.

In order to implement the functions in the method provided in the present application, the communication device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and implement the above functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module. Whether one of the above functions is executed in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 includes a processor 810 and a communication interface 820, and the processor 810 and the communication interface 820 may be interconnected via a bus 830. The communication device 800 may be a network device or a terminal device.

Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 840. The memory 840 includes, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or a portable read-only memory (CD-ROM), and the memory 840 is used for related instructions and data. The memory 840 may be integrated with the processor 810 or separately provided.

The processor 810 may be one or more central processing units (CPUs). When the processor 810 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU. The processor 810 may be a signal processor, a chip, or other integrated circuit that can implement the method of the present application, or a portion of the circuit used for processing functions in the aforementioned processor, chip, or integrated circuit. In addition, the communication interface 820 may also be an input/output interface, which is used for input or output of signals or data, or may be an input/output circuit.

Exemplarily, when the communication device 800 is a terminal device, the processor 810 is used to perform the following operations: receive first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS, or a first SSS; and process the second information according to the first information.

The above contents are only for exemplary description. The communication device 800 is responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

Exemplarily, when the communication device 800 is a network device, the processor 810 is used to perform the following operations: sending first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS, or a first SSS.

The above contents are only exemplary descriptions. The communication device 800 is responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the network device in the above method embodiments.

It is understandable that the communication interface 820 may also be referred to as a transceiver. The transceiver may include a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitter is used to perform a sending operation, and the receiver is used to perform a receiving operation. For example, the processor 810 is used to control the transceiver to receive and/or send a signal.

It should be noted that the communication device 800 may include a transmitter but not a receiver. Alternatively, the communication device 800 may include a receiver but not a transmitter. Specifically, it may depend on whether the above solution executed by the communication device 800 includes a sending action and a receiving action.

The above description is only an exemplary description. For specific content, please refer to the content shown in the above method embodiment. The implementation of each operation in Figure 8 can also correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiment shown in Figures 4 to 7.

For example, the communication device 800 may be used to implement the solutions shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 .

When the communication apparatus 800 is a terminal device, the communication interface 820 may be used to receive first information from a network device.

When the communication apparatus 800 is a network device, the communication interface 820 may be used to send the first information to the terminal device.

For other implementations, please refer to the detailed description of the embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 7 above, which will not be repeated here. It should be understood that the specific process of each component performing the above corresponding process has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device 900 of an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 900 may be a terminal device or a network device, or a chip or module in the terminal device or the network device, for implementing the methods involved in the embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 7. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction in the above method embodiments.

The communication device 900 includes a transceiver unit 910. The transceiver unit 910 is exemplarily introduced below.

The transceiver unit 910 may include a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit is used to perform the sending action of the communication device 900, and the receiving unit is used to perform the receiving action of the communication device 900. For ease of description, the embodiment of the present application combines the sending unit and the receiving unit into one transceiver unit. A unified description is made here, and no further description is given below. The transceiver unit 910 can implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 910 can also be called a communication interface or a communication module.

It should be noted that the communication device 900 may include a sending unit but not a receiving unit. Alternatively, the communication device 900 may include a receiving unit but not a sending unit. Specifically, it may depend on whether the above solution executed by the communication device 900 includes a sending action and a receiving action.

Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 910 is used to receive first information from a network device, etc.

Optionally, the communication device 900 may further include a processing unit 920, which is used to execute the contents of steps involving processing, coordination, etc. of the terminal device.

Exemplarily, the transceiver unit 910 is used to send first information, etc. to a terminal device.

Optionally, the communication device 900 may further include a processing unit 920, which is used to execute the content of steps involving processing, coordination, etc. of the network device.

The above contents are only for exemplary description. The communication device 900 will be responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

Optionally, the communication device 900 further includes a storage unit 930, which is used to store a program or code for executing the aforementioned method. In other words, the storage unit 930 can be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing unit 920 can read the instructions and/or data in the storage unit 930 so that the communication device 900 implements the aforementioned method embodiment. For example, the communication device 900 can be used to execute the schemes shown in Figures 4 to 7.

When the communication device 900 is a terminal device, the processing unit 920 can be used to receive first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS; and process the second information according to the first information.

When the communication device 900 is a network device, the processing unit 920 can be used to send first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first PBCH, a first PSS or a first SSS.

For other implementations, please refer to the detailed description of the embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 7 above, which will not be repeated here. It should be understood that the specific process of each component performing the above corresponding process has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

The device embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 9 are used to implement the contents described in Figures 4 to 7. The specific execution steps and methods of the devices shown in Figures 8 and 9 can refer to the contents described in the above method embodiments.

The present application also provides a communication device, including a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used to store instructions, and the processor is used to call and run the instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device executes the methods in the above embodiments.

The present application also provides a chip, including a processor, for calling and executing instructions stored in a memory from the memory, so that a communication device equipped with the chip executes the methods in the above embodiments.

The present application also provides another chip, including: an input interface, an output interface, and a processor, wherein the input interface, the output interface, and the processor are connected via an internal connection path, and the processor is used to execute the code in the memory, and when the code is executed, the processor is used to execute the method in each of the above embodiments. Optionally, the chip also includes a memory, and the memory is used to store computer programs or codes.

The present application also provides a processor, which is coupled to a memory and is used to execute the method and function related to the communication device in any of the above embodiments.

In another embodiment of the present application, a computer program product including a computer program or instructions is provided. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the method of the above embodiment is implemented.

The present application also provides a computer program. When the computer program is executed in a computer, the methods of the aforementioned embodiments are implemented.

In another embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the methods of the aforementioned embodiments are implemented.

The present application also provides a communication system, including a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the actions executed by the terminal device in the aforementioned method, and the network device is used to execute the actions executed by the network device in the aforementioned method.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or partly embodied in the form of a software product that contributes to the prior art. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk, and other media that can store program codes.

The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (22)

A communication method, characterized by comprising: Receiving first information from a network device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first physical broadcast channel PBCH, a first primary synchronization signal PSS, or a first secondary synchronization signal SSS; The second information is processed according to the first information. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in a second wireless access technology; wherein, When the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition, the first information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information. The method according to claim 1 is characterized in that the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second wireless access technology. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is characterized in that the first information is used to indicate whether second information of at least one beam direction is sent. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the processing of the second information according to the first information comprises: In a case where the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, third information is sent to the network device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that after sending the third information to the network device, the method further comprises: receiving fourth information from a network device, wherein the fourth information is used to instruct the network device not to send the second information; Send fifth information to the network device, wherein the fifth information is used to request the network device to send the second information, and the transmission power corresponding to the fifth information is greater than the transmission power corresponding to the third information. The method according to claim 5 or 6 is characterized in that the third information includes at least one of a physical random access channel preamble code, a sounding reference signal, a reference signal based on a Zadov-Chu sequence, and a reference signal based on a pseudo-noise sequence. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, sending the third information to the network device comprises: When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, the third information is sent to the network device on the resources corresponding to the third information. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that In the case where the first information does not include configuration information of resources corresponding to the third information, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information; or, In a case where the first information indicates that the resource corresponding to the third information is not configured, the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information. A communication method, characterized by comprising: Sending first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information is used to indicate whether the network device sends second information, and the second information includes at least one of a first physical broadcast channel PBCH, a first primary synchronization signal PSS, or a first secondary synchronization signal SSS. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that the first information includes a second PSS and a second SSS, the first PSS and the first SSS are information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PSS and the second SSS are information used in a second wireless access technology; In which, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, the phase difference between the second PSS and the second SSS meets a preset condition. The method according to claim 10 is characterized in that the first information is carried in a second PBCH, the first PBCH is information used in a first wireless access technology, and the second PBCH is information used in a second wireless access technology. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12 is characterized in that the first information is used to indicate whether second information of at least one beam direction is sent. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, further comprising: In a case where the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, third information is received from the terminal device, wherein the third information is used to request the network device to send the second information. The method according to claim 14 is characterized in that the third information includes at least one of a physical random access channel preamble code, a sounding reference signal, a reference signal based on a Zadov-Chu sequence, and a reference signal based on a pseudo-noise sequence. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, when the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information, receiving the third information from the terminal device comprises: When the first information indicates that the network device does not send the second information and the resources corresponding to the third information are configured, the third information is received from the terminal device on the resources corresponding to the third information. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16 is characterized in that, when the first information is used to instruct the network device to send the second information, the first information does not include configuration information of the resources corresponding to the third information, or the first information indicates that the resources corresponding to the third information are not configured. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processing circuit and an input/output interface, the input/output interface is used to input and/or output signals, the processing circuit is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or the processing circuit is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 17. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises: a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a computer program or instructions, and the processor is used to, by executing the computer program or instructions, enable the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, or enable the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 17. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program or instruction is stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or the instruction is run on a computer, the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 is executed, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 17 is executed. A computer program product, characterized in that it includes a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed, it implements the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, or implements the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 17. A communication system, characterized in that it includes a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, and the network device is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 17.