CN119893677A - Communication method and device, and computer readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a device and a computer readable storage medium, wherein the communication method comprises the following steps: and receiving a beam indication group, wherein the beam indication group is used for indicating to forward the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes on the indicated time domain resource. The application provides a scheme for realizing NCR enhanced coverage.

Description

Communication method and device, and computer readable storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

The third generation partnership project (3rd Generation Partnership Project,3GPP) protocol version 18 (Release 18, r 18) incorporates Network-controlled relay devices (Network-ControlledRepeater, NCR), also known as intelligent relay devices (SMART REPEATER), and intelligent reflective surfaces (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface, RIS). The intelligent relay device/RIS can form a beam under the control of the base station to direct the received data. Specifically, the intelligent relay device/RIS performs directional signal forwarding through control information (Side Control Information, SCI) sent by the base station, so that the coverage is increased and the waste of power is reduced.

Specifically, referring to fig. 1, taking a relay device as an example, in terms of functions, the relay device may be divided into two parts, a first part is a mobile terminal-oriented part, mainly completing control signaling transmission between a network device and the relay device, a link between the network device and the part is called a control link (or C-link), a second part is a forwarding part, data exchange between the network device and a terminal device is implemented by an amplifying and forwarding manner, a link between the network device and the forwarding part is called a backhaul link (or B-link), and a link between the terminal device and the forwarding part is an access link (ACCESS LINK or a-link). For the access link, the network device needs to instruct the relay device when and in which direction to transmit. This can be divided into two problems, time domain resource indication and beam indication. In the existing scheme, the transmission direction is represented by a beam index (beamindex), and the time resource (time resource) used by the access link is indicated by an explicit manner. For beam pointing, either dynamic or semi-static pointing may be supported, in particular periodic, aperiodic and semi-persistent access link beam pointing may be considered. When multiple beam indications are performed in one beam indication, the beams are all transmitted in a time division multiplexed (Time Division Multiplexing, TDM) manner. In the latest communication standard discussion schemes, it is desirable that NCR can have the ability to maintain multiple beams simultaneously to further enhance coverage in order to further enhance NCR capabilities.

However, there is no solution to the enhanced coverage of NCR/RIS capability.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, and provides a scheme for realizing NCR/RIS enhanced coverage.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the present application provides the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, a communication method is provided that includes receiving a beam indication group for indicating to forward on indicated time domain resources with beams indicated by at least two beam indices.

Optionally, the beam indication group indicates that the beam indicated by the at least two beam indexes is forwarded on each time domain resource, or the beam indicated by the at least two beam indexes is forwarded on the partially overlapped time domain resource.

Optionally, the beam indication group includes a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes a plurality of beam indexes and an identifier indicating time domain resources, or each forwarding resource group includes a beam index and a plurality of identifiers indicating time domain resources, and time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resource groups at least partially overlap.

Optionally, the beam indication group includes a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes a plurality of forwarding resources, each forwarding resource includes a beam index and an identifier of a time domain resource, the time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resources at least partially overlap, and K beams are indicated at most simultaneously on the same time domain resource, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

Optionally, the value of K is less than or equal to N, where N represents a maximum value of the number of beams used on the same time domain resource, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

Optionally, the beam indication group includes a radio resource control RRC list, the RRC list includes X forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes at most N groups of forwarding resources, each forwarding resource includes one beam index and one time domain resource, where N represents a maximum value of the number of beams used on the same time domain resource, and N and X are positive integers greater than or equal to 2.

Optionally, the time domain resources in the beam indication group are periodic resources or semi-persistent resources.

Optionally, the beam indication group indicates that the fully overlapping time domain resources are forwarded in the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes.

Optionally, the beam indication group is carried by a first new field in the downlink control information DCI.

Optionally, the time domain resources in the beam indication group are aperiodic resources.

Optionally, the communication method further comprises receiving beam selection information, wherein the beam selection information indicates at least one beam index used for data transmission in the beam indication group.

Optionally, the beam selection information is carried in a second newly added field of the DCI.

Optionally, the communication method further comprises receiving a priority identification of a beam indication group, the beam indications in the beam indication group being of the same type.

Optionally, the type of the beam indication group is periodic indication or semi-persistent indication, and the beam indication group with the priority identifier has a higher priority than the beam indication group with the non-periodic indication.

Optionally, the communication method further includes reporting capability indication information, where the capability indication information indicates capability of simultaneously maintaining N access link beams, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

Optionally, the communication method further comprises reporting a maximum number of beams, wherein the maximum number of beams is the maximum number of beams used on the same time domain resource.

In a second aspect, the present application also discloses a communication method, which includes transmitting a beam indication group, where the beam indication group is used to indicate to forward, on indicated time domain resources, beams indicated by at least two beam indexes.

Optionally, the beam indication group includes a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes a plurality of beam indexes and an identifier indicating time domain resources, or each forwarding resource group includes a beam index and a plurality of identifiers indicating time domain resources, and time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resource groups are partially overlapped.

Optionally, the beam indication group includes multiple forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes multiple forwarding resources, each forwarding resource includes a beam index and an identifier of a time domain resource, the time domain resources in the multiple forwarding resources at least partially overlap, and K beams are indicated at most simultaneously on the same time domain resource, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

Optionally, the beam indication group indicates that the beam indicated by the beam index is forwarded in the completely overlapping time domain resource.

Optionally, the communication method further comprises sending beam selection information, wherein the beam selection information indicates at least one beam index used for data transmission in the beam indication group.

Optionally, the communication method further comprises sending a priority identification of the beam indication group.

In a third aspect, the present application also discloses a communication device, which includes a communication module configured to receive a beam indication group, where the beam indication group is configured to indicate to forward, on indicated time domain resources, beams indicated by at least two beam indexes.

In a fourth aspect, the present application also discloses a communication device, which includes a communication module, configured to send a beam indication group, where the beam indication group is configured to indicate to forward, on indicated time domain resources, beams indicated by at least two beam indexes.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for execution by a processor to perform any one of the methods provided in the first or second aspects.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a communications apparatus comprising a memory having stored thereon a computer program executable on the processor, and a processor executing the computer program to perform any one of the methods provided in the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a communications apparatus comprising a memory having stored thereon a computer program executable on the processor, and a processor executing the computer program to perform any one of the methods provided in the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program being executable by a processor to perform any one of the methods provided in the first or second aspects.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising the above terminal device and the above network device.

In a tenth aspect, the present embodiment further provides a chip (or data transmission device), on which a computer program is stored, which when executed by the chip, implements the steps of the method described above.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a system chip, applied in a terminal, where the system chip includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, where the interface circuit and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, and the at least one processor is configured to execute instructions to perform any one of the methods provided in the first aspect or the second aspect.

Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the application has the following beneficial effects:

In the technical scheme of the application, a relay device or an intelligent reflecting surface (Reconfigurable IntelligentSurface, RIS) receives a beam indication group, wherein the beam indication group is used for indicating to forward beams indicated by at least two beam indexes on indicated time domain resources. According to the technical scheme, the network equipment indicates the relay equipment or the intelligent reflecting surface to forward on the indicated time domain resource by using a plurality of beams through the beam indication group, so that the coverage of the relay equipment or the intelligent reflecting surface is enhanced.

Further, the beam indication group indicates to forward with the beam indicated by the at least two beam indexes on each time domain resource or to forward with the beam indicated by the at least two beam indexes on the partially overlapping time domain resource. The beam indication group comprises a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group comprises a plurality of beam indexes and an identification indicating time domain resources, or each forwarding resource group comprises a beam index and a plurality of identifications indicating time domain resources, and the plurality of time domain resources are at least partially overlapped. The technical scheme of the application realizes the purpose of forwarding by at least two beams on the same time domain resource through the different indication forms, thereby realizing the enhancement of coverage of the relay equipment or the intelligent reflecting surface.

Further, beam selection information is received, the beam selection information indicating at least one beam index in the beam indication group for data transmission. The technical scheme of the application can realize the selection of at least two beams indicated in the beam indication group through the beam selection information and the forwarding by using the selected beams so as to realize the selection of specific beams and the accurate control of the forwarding on an access link.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a relay network in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is an interactive flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is an interactive flow chart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is an interactive flow chart of yet another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another communication configuration provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic hardware structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Communication systems to which embodiments of the present application are applicable include, but are not limited to, long term evolution (Long TermEvolution, LTE) systems, fifth generation (5G) systems, new Radio (NR) systems, and future evolution systems or multiple communication convergence systems. The 5G system may be a Non-independent Networking (NSA) 5G system or an independent networking (SA) 5G system. The technical scheme of the application is also suitable for different network architectures, including but not limited to a relay network architecture, a dual-connection architecture, a Vehicle-to-Everything (Vehicle-to-Everything) architecture and the like.

The present application relates generally to communications between terminal devices, relay devices/RIS and network devices. Wherein:

The network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an access network device, for example, may be a Base Station (BS) (also referred to as a Base Station device), where the network device is a device deployed in a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) to provide a wireless communication function. For example, the device for providing base station functionality in the second Generation (2 nd-Generation, 2G) network comprises a base radio transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS), the device for providing base station functionality in the third Generation (3 rd-Generation, 3G) network comprises a node B (NodeB), the device for providing base station functionality in the fourth Generation (4 th-Generation, 4G) network comprises an evolved NodeB (eNB), the device for providing base station functionality in the wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Networks, WLAN) is an Access Point (AP), the next Generation base station node (nextgeneration Node Base station, gNB) in the NR is a base station node (nextgeneration Node Base station, gNB) in the NR, and the node B (ng-eNB) continues to evolve, wherein the gNB and the terminal devices communicate using NR technology, the gNB and the terminal devices communicate using evolved universal terrestrial radio Access (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, E-UTRA) technology, and the gNB and the ng-eNB are both connectable to the 5G core network. The network device in the embodiment of the present application further includes a device for providing a base station function in a new communication system in the future, and the like.

The terminal device (terminal equipment) in embodiments of the present application may refer to various forms of access terminals, subscriber units, subscriber stations, mobile Stations (MSs), remote stations, remote terminals, mobile devices, user terminals, wireless communication devices, user agents, or user equipment. The terminal device may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session initiation protocol (Session InitiationProtocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) station, a Personal digital assistant (Personal DIGITAL ASSISTANT, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a car-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PublicLand Mobile Network, PLMN), etc., as embodiments of the present application are not limited in this respect. The terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a terminal, etc.

The control signaling between the network device and the relay device/RIS may include at least one of 1, beam information (Beamforming information) because the relay device may perform directional transmission and one beam may represent one transmission direction, and the beam information includes content related to the beam. 2. Switch information (ON-OFF information) for controlling the switch of the transfer section to determine whether the relay apparatus performs amplification transfer. 3. Uplink and downlink Time Division duplex (tdd) configuration information for allocating uplink and downlink Time.

The implementation of beam pointing in the current protocol is shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

As described in the background, there is currently no solution for enhanced coverage of NCR/RIS capabilities.

According to the technical scheme, the network equipment indicates the relay equipment or the intelligent reflecting surface to forward on the indicated time domain resource by using a plurality of beams through the beam indication group, so that the coverage of the relay equipment or the intelligent reflecting surface is enhanced.

The relay device in the embodiment of the application refers to an intelligent relay device in the 3GPP protocol R18 or relay devices in other evolution communication systems. The relay device supports both omni-directional and directional forwarding of data.

The intelligent reflecting surface in the embodiment of the application refers to a plane formed by a large number of passive reflecting elements and is arranged between the network equipment and the terminal equipment. Since each element can independently change the phase (or/and) amplitude and even the frequency of the incident signal, the intelligent reflecting surface can be utilized to enable the terminal equipment to better receive the signal sent by the network equipment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the identifier indicating the time domain resource may include a start time slot, a start symbol, and a duration, where the start time slot is defined as a time slot offset in one period, the start symbol is defined as a symbol offset in the time slot, and the duration is defined as a symbol number.

In order that the above objects, features and advantages of the application will be readily understood, a more particular description of the application will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings.

Referring to fig. 2, the method provided by the application specifically includes the following steps:

step 201, the network device transmits a beam indication group. The beam indication group is used to indicate to forward on the indicated time domain resource with the beam indicated by the at least two beam indices. Accordingly, the relay device/intelligent reflective surface receives the beam indication group.

Step 202, the relay device/intelligent reflection surface forwards the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes on the indicated time domain resource.

It should be noted that the serial numbers of the steps in the present embodiment do not represent a limitation on the execution sequence of the steps.

It will be appreciated that in a specific implementation, the communication method may be implemented in a software program running on a processor integrated within a chip or a chip module. The method may also be implemented by combining software with hardware, and the application is not limited.

In this embodiment, the network device indicates to the relay device/intelligent reflection plane, via the beam indication group, which beams to forward on which time domain resources to use. But, unlike the beam indication in the prior art, the beam indication group in the embodiment of the present application may indicate at least two beams, that is, may indicate the relay device/intelligent reflection plane to forward with at least two beams on the same time domain resource, so as to achieve enhancement of coverage of the relay device/intelligent reflection plane.

For the terminal device, it may receive on the indicated time domain resources in a few two beams.

In one non-limiting embodiment, the relay device/smart reflective surface may report its ability to maintain multiple beams to the network device to have the network device configure the beam pointing group for it based on the capabilities of the relay device/smart reflective surface.

Referring specifically to fig. 3, in step 301, the relay device/intelligent reflection plane reports capability indication information to the network device. The capability indication information indicates that the relay device/intelligent reflection surface has a capability of simultaneously maintaining N access link beams, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

Further, if the relay device/intelligent reflection plane has the capability of maintaining multiple beams, the capability indication information may also carry a maximum number of beams, where the maximum number of beams is the maximum number of beams used by the relay device/intelligent reflection plane on the same time domain resource.

In another alternative embodiment, if the relay device/intelligent reflection plane has the capability of maintaining multiple beams, step 302 may be further performed, where the relay device/intelligent reflection plane reports a maximum number of beams to the network device, where the maximum number of beams is the maximum number of beams used on the same time domain resource.

Further, in step 303, when the network device configures the beam indication group for the relay device/the intelligent reflection plane, the number of beams configured on the same time domain resource is equal to or less than the maximum number of beams. For example, the maximum number of beams is 5, and the number of beam indexes configured on the same time domain resource indicated in the beam indication group may be 2,3,4, or 5.

In particular, the network device needs to avoid configuring beam pointing beyond the relay device/smart reflector capability within one beam pointing group. For example, if the relay device/smart reflector only maintains the capability of 2 beams simultaneously, then the network device indicates 4 beams on the same time domain resource and is considered an error case.

In step 304, the relay/smart reflector forwards the indicated beam with at least two beam indices on the indicated time domain resource.

The time domain resources and the beam indexes indicated by the beam indication group can have different expression forms, and the beam indication group can also have different indication modes, which are respectively described in connection with different embodiments below.

Embodiment 1, beam indication group indicates that the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes is forwarded on each time domain resource or the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes is forwarded on the partially overlapping time domain resource.

In the embodiment of the present application, by the indication of the beam indication group, the relay device/intelligent reflection surface may forward the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes on each time domain resource, or forward the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes on the time domain resource that is partially overlapped. For non-overlapping time domain resources, the beam may be forwarded as indicated according to existing protocols.

Embodiment 2, the beam indication group comprises a plurality of forwarding resource groups (forwarding resource group), each forwarding resource group comprising a plurality of beam indexes and an identification indicating time domain resources.

In the embodiment of the application, by including a plurality of beam indexes and an identifier indicating time domain resources in each forwarding resource group, the relay device/intelligent reflecting surface can forward the beams indicated by the plurality of beam indexes on the time domain resources indicated by the forwarding resource group.

For example, the forwarding resource group is shown as { beamindex, beamindex, 2.. timeresource }. Wherein the time resource represents an identification indicating a time domain resource. The relay device/smart reflector may forward on the time domain resource indicated by time resource in the beam indicated by beamindex, beamindex 2.

Embodiment 3, each forwarding resource group includes a beam index and a plurality of identities indicating time domain resources, and there is at least a partial overlap of the time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resource groups.

In the embodiment of the present application, although one beam index is included in the forwarding resource group, there is at least partial overlapping of time domain resources in multiple forwarding resource groups, which means that, on the overlapping time domain resources, the relay device/intelligent reflection plane can forward with beams indicated by multiple beam indexes.

For example, the forwarding resource groups are shown as { beamindex, time resource1, timeresource2,.. } beamindex, time resource1, time resource3,.. } then on the time domain resources indicated by timeresource the relay device/smart reflector can forward on the beams indicated by beamindex1 and beamindex.

In embodiment 4, the beam indication group includes multiple forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes multiple forwarding resources (forwarding resource), each forwarding resource includes a beam index and an identifier of a time domain resource, the time domain resources in the multiple forwarding resources are at least partially overlapped, and K beams are indicated at most simultaneously on the same time domain resource, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

The form of forwarding resources in the embodiment of the application is the same as that of forwarding resources in the existing protocol. Because the time domain resources of the plurality of forwarding resources at least partially overlap, the relay device/smart reflector is capable of forwarding in the beam indicated by the plurality of beam indexes on the overlapping time domain resources.

Specifically, the network device indicates at most K beams simultaneously on the same time domain resource. The value of K is not greater than the maximum number of beams N supported by the relay/smart reflector.

For example, the forwarding resources in the forwarding resource group are { beamindex1, time resource 1}, { beamindex2, time resource 2}, { beamindex, time resource 1}. Wherein timeresource and time resource 2 represent identities indicating time domain resources. Then the relay device/smart reflector can forward on the time domain resource indicated by time resource 1 in the beam indicated by beamindex and beamindex.

For another example, the forwarding resources in the forwarding resource group are as shown in table 2:

TABLE 2

Specifically, the time domain resource indicated by time resource 2 overlaps partially with the time domain resource indicated by time resource 1, and the time domain resource indicated by time resource 3 overlaps another portion of the time domain resource indicated by time resource 1. On the time resource indicated by time resource 2, the relay device/smart reflector can forward with the beams indicated by beamindex and beamindex2, and on the time resource indicated by timeresource 3, the relay device/smart reflector can forward with the beams indicated by beamindex and beamindex 3.

In embodiment 5, the beam indication group includes a radio resource control RRC list, where the RRC list includes X forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes at most N forwarding resources, each forwarding resource includes one beam index and one time domain resource, where N represents a maximum value of the number of beams used on the same time domain resource, and N and X are positive integers greater than or equal to 2.

In the embodiment of the application, the network equipment configures the beam indication group through the RRC list.

In a specific embodiment, the time domain resources in the beam indication group are periodic resources. Wherein, the network device configures the period of the time domain resource and the subcarrier spacing in the RRC signaling.

In particular, the beam-indicating group may follow an existing protocol signaling format, as shown in table 3 in particular.

TABLE 3 Table 3

In another embodiment, the time domain resources in the beam indication group are semi-persistent resources. Wherein the network device sends the beam indication group to the relay device/intelligent reflection plane through an RRC list in RRC signaling, and then the network device activates/deactivates one or more of the above RRC lists through MAC CE.

In particular, the beam-indicating group may follow an existing protocol signaling format, as shown in table 4 in particular.

TABLE 4 Table 4

In embodiment 6, the beam indication group includes completely overlapped time domain resources and at least two corresponding beam indexes, and the beam indication group is carried by a first new field in the downlink control information DCI.

In the embodiment of the application, the beam indication group is carried by newly adding a first new field in DCI. The first additional field may indicate beams on the fully overlapping time domain resources. That is, the relay device or smart reflective surface can forward on the fully overlapping time domain resources in the beam indicated by the at least two beam indices.

Further, the time domain resources in the beam indication group are aperiodic resources

In particular, the beam-indicating group may follow an existing protocol signaling format, as shown in table 5 in particular.

TABLE 5

In one non-limiting embodiment, as previously described, each beam indication group has a one-to-many or many-to-one association of time domain resources with a beam index. In particular, in the case that one time domain resource is associated with a plurality of beam indexes, in order to make beam selection/enabling more flexible, the network device may instruct the relay device or the intelligent reflection surface to forward using which beam or beams in the beam instruction group through the beam selection information. That is, the beam selection information indicates at least one beam index used by the relay device or the smart reflective surface for data transmission.

In particular, referring to fig. 4, in step 401, the network device sends a beam indication group to the relay device or the smart reflective surface.

In step 402, the relay device or intelligent reflection plane forwards the indicated beam with the beam index on the indicated time domain resource.

In step 403, the network device sends beam selection information to the relay device or the smart reflective surface.

Specifically, the network device may carry the beam selection information in the second newly added field of the DCI. For example, the network device adds a second newly added field beam selection field in the DCI, which indicates the selected beam.

The embodiment of the application can be used in the scenes of periodic beam indication and semi-continuous beam indication to dynamically adjust the beam used by relay equipment or intelligent reflecting surface for forwarding and realize the flexibility of forwarding.

In one non-limiting embodiment, the network device may also send a priority identification of a beam indication group to the relay device or the intelligent reflective surface, the beam indications in the beam indication group being of the same type.

Specifically, the types of beam indications in the same beam indication group are the same. For example, the beam indications in the same beam indication group are both periodic beam indications, or the beam indications in the same beam indication group are both semi-persistent beam indications, or the beam indications in the same beam indication group are both non-periodic beam indications.

Further, the beam indication group with the priority identification has a higher priority than the beam indication group of which the type is aperiodic.

In this embodiment, the network device may configure the beam indication group with a type of periodic indication or semi-persistent indication with priority higher than that of the beam indication group with a type of non-periodic indication.

In a variation, if the network device does not configure the beam indication group with the type of periodic indication or semi-persistent indication with priority, the beam indication group with the type of non-periodic indication has highest priority, then the beam indication group with semi-persistent indication has priority, and finally the beam indication group with periodic indication has priority.

For more specific implementation manners of the embodiments of the present application, please refer to the foregoing embodiments, and the details are not repeated here.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 illustrates a communication device 50, where the communication device 50 may include:

a communication module 501 is configured to receive a beam indication group, where the beam indication group is configured to indicate to forward, on indicated time domain resources, beams indicated by at least two beam indexes.

In a specific implementation, the above-mentioned communication device 50 may correspond to a Chip with a communication function in the relay device/smart reflection surface, such as a System-On-a-Chip (SOC), a baseband Chip, or the like, or correspond to a Chip module with a communication function in the relay device/smart reflection surface, or correspond to a Chip module with a data processing function Chip, or correspond to the relay device/smart reflection surface.

In another non-limiting embodiment, the communication module 501 is configured to transmit a beam indication group for indicating to forward on indicated time domain resources with beams indicated by at least two beam indexes.

In a specific implementation, the above-mentioned communication device 50 may correspond to a chip with a communication function in the network device, such as an SOC, a baseband chip, or the like, or correspond to a chip module with a communication function included in the network device, or correspond to a chip module with a data processing function chip, or correspond to the network device.

Other relevant descriptions about the communication device 50 may refer to those in the foregoing embodiments, and are not repeated here.

With respect to each of the apparatuses and each of the modules/units included in the products described in the above embodiments, it may be a software module/unit, a hardware module/unit, or a software module/unit, and a hardware module/unit. For example, for each device, product, or application to or integration in a chip, each module/unit contained therein may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, or at least some of the modules/units may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, for each device, product, or application to or integration in a chip module, each module/unit contained therein may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, or different modules/units may be located in the same component (e.g., a chip, a circuit module, etc.) of the chip module, or in a different component, or at least some of the modules/units may be implemented in software program that runs on a processor integrated inside the chip module, and the rest of the modules/units (if any) may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, for each device, product, or application to or integration in a terminal device, each module/unit contained therein may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, and different modules/units may be located in the same component (e.g., a chip, a circuit module, etc.) of the chip module, or different component, or at least some of the modules/units may be implemented in hardware such as a software program, for each module, or at least some of the rest of the modules/units may be implemented in hardware such as a circuit, for each module, or the rest of the modules/modules may be implemented in hardware such as a software.

The embodiment of the application also discloses a storage medium which is a computer readable storage medium and is stored with a computer program, and the computer program can execute the steps of the method when running. The storage medium may include Read-Only Memory (ROM), random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), magnetic or optical disks, and the like. The storage medium may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile) or non-transitory memory (non-transitory) or the like.

Referring to fig. 6, the embodiment of the application further provides a hardware structure schematic diagram of the communication device. The apparatus comprises a processor 601, a memory 602 and a transceiver 603.

The processor 601 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the present application. Processor 601 may also include multiple CPUs, and processor 601 may be a single-Core (CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

The memory 602 may be a ROM or other type of static storage device, a RAM or other type of dynamic storage device that can store static information and instructions, or that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, as embodiments of the application are not limited in this regard. The memory 602 may be separate (in this case, the memory 602 may be located outside the apparatus or inside the apparatus), or may be integrated with the processor 601. Wherein the memory 602 may contain computer program code. The processor 601 is arranged to execute computer program code stored in the memory 602 for implementing the method provided by the embodiment of the application.

The processor 601, the memory 602 and the transceiver 603 are connected by a bus. The transceiver 603 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Alternatively, the transceiver 603 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The means for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 603 may be regarded as a receiver for performing the steps of receiving in an embodiment of the application. The means for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 603 may be regarded as a transmitter for performing the steps of transmitting in the embodiments of the present application.

While the schematic structural diagram shown in fig. 6 is used to illustrate the structure of the relay device/smart reflection surface according to the above embodiment, the processor 601 is used to control and manage the actions of the relay device/smart reflection surface, for example, the processor 601 is used to support the relay device/smart reflection surface to perform steps 201 and 202 in fig. 2, or perform steps 301 to 304 in fig. 3, or perform steps 401 to 403 in fig. 4, and/or perform actions by the terminal device in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application. The processor 601 may communicate with other network entities, such as with the network devices described above, through the transceiver 603. The memory 602 is used for storing program codes and data for the terminal device. The processor, when running the computer program, may control the transceiver 603 to receive one or more of RRC signaling, MAC signaling, and DCI.

While the schematic diagram shown in fig. 6 is used to illustrate the structure of the network device according to the above embodiment, the processor 601 is configured to control and manage the actions of the network device, for example, the processor 601 is configured to support the network device to perform step 201 in fig. 2, or perform steps 301 to 303 in fig. 3, or perform steps 401 and 402 in fig. 4, and/or perform actions by the network device in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application. The processor 601 may communicate with other network entities, e.g. with the above-mentioned terminal devices, through the transceiver 603. The memory 602 is used to store program codes and data for the network device. The processor, when running the computer program, may control the transceiver 603 to send one or more of RRC signaling, MAC signaling, and DCI.

The embodiment of the application defines that a unidirectional communication link from an access network to a terminal device is a downlink, data transmitted on the downlink is downlink data, the transmission direction of the downlink data is called as a downlink, and the unidirectional communication link from the terminal device to the access network is an uplink, the data transmitted on the uplink is uplink data, and the transmission direction of the uplink data is called as an uplink.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" is merely an association relationship describing the associated object, and means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B, and that three cases, a alone, a and B together, and B alone, may exist. In this context, the character "/" indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" as used in the embodiments of the present application means two or more.

The first, second, etc. descriptions in the embodiments of the present application are only used for illustrating and distinguishing the description objects, and no order is used, nor is the number of the devices in the embodiments of the present application limited, and no limitation on the embodiments of the present application should be construed.

The "connection" in the embodiment of the present application refers to various connection manners such as direct connection or indirect connection, so as to implement communication between devices, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired or wireless means.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed method, apparatus and system may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of 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 the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may be physically included separately, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in hardware plus software functional units.

The integrated units implemented in the form of software functional units described above may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional unit is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application.

Although the present application is disclosed above, the present application is not limited thereto. Various changes and modifications may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the application, and the scope of the application should be assessed accordingly to that of the appended claims.

Claims (27)

1. A method of communication, comprising:

and receiving a beam indication group, wherein the beam indication group is used for indicating to forward the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes on the indicated time domain resource.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the set of beam indicators indicates that the beam indicated by the at least two beam indices is to be forwarded on each time domain resource or that the beam indicated by the at least two beam indices is to be forwarded on partially overlapping time domain resources.

3. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication group comprises a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group comprises a plurality of beam indexes and an identification indicating time domain resources, or each forwarding resource group comprises a beam index and a plurality of identifications indicating time domain resources, and the time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resource groups at least partially overlap.

4. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication group includes a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes a plurality of forwarding resources, each forwarding resource includes a beam index and an identification of a time domain resource, time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resources are at least partially overlapped, and K beams are simultaneously indicated at most on a same time domain resource, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

5. The communication method according to claim 4, wherein the value of K is equal to or less than N, N being a positive integer equal to or greater than 2, representing a maximum value of the number of beams used on the same time domain resource.

6. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication group comprises a radio resource control RRC list, the RRC list comprising X forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group comprising a maximum of N groups of forwarding resources, each forwarding resource comprising a beam index and a time domain resource, wherein N represents a maximum of the number of beams used on the same time domain resource, and N and X are positive integers of 2 or more.

7. A method of communication according to any of claims 3 to 6, wherein the time domain resources in the beam indication group are periodic resources or semi-persistent resources.

8. The communication method of claim 1, wherein the set of beam indications indicates that the fully overlapping time domain resources are to be forwarded in beams indicated by at least two beam indices.

9. The communication method according to claim 8, wherein the beam indication group is carried by a first new field in downlink control information, DCI.

10. A method of communication according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the time domain resources in the beam indication group are non-periodic resources.

11. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising:

beam selection information is received, the beam selection information indicating at least one beam index in the beam indication group for data transmission.

12. The communication method of claim 11, wherein the beam selection information is carried in a second newly added field of DCI.

13. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising:

A priority identification of a beam indication group is received, the beam indications in the beam indication group being of the same type.

14. The communication method according to claim 13, wherein the type of the beam indication group is a periodic indication or a semi-persistent indication, and the beam indication group having the priority identification has a higher priority than the beam indication group having a non-periodic indication.

15. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising:

and reporting capability indication information, wherein the capability indication information indicates the capability of simultaneously maintaining N access link beams, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

16. The communication method according to claim 15, further comprising:

and reporting the maximum beam quantity, wherein the maximum beam quantity is the maximum value of the beam quantity used on the same time domain resource.

17. A method of communication, comprising:

and transmitting a beam indication group, wherein the beam indication group is used for indicating to forward the beam indicated by at least two beam indexes on the indicated time domain resource.

18. The communication method according to claim 17, wherein the beam indication group comprises a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group comprises a plurality of beam indexes and an identifier indicating time domain resources, or each forwarding resource group comprises a beam index and a plurality of identifiers indicating time domain resources, and the time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resource groups are partially overlapped.

19. The communication method according to claim 17, wherein the beam indication group includes a plurality of forwarding resource groups, each forwarding resource group includes a plurality of forwarding resources, each forwarding resource includes a beam index and an identification of a time domain resource, time domain resources in the plurality of forwarding resources at least partially overlap, and K beams are simultaneously indicated on the same time domain resource at most, and K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2.

20. The communication method of claim 17, wherein the beam indication group indicates that the beam indicated group is to be forwarded in at least two beams indicated by beam indexes at fully overlapping time domain resources.

21. The communication method according to claim 17, further comprising:

And transmitting beam selection information, wherein the beam selection information indicates at least one beam index used for data transmission in the beam indication group.

22. The communication method according to claim 17, further comprising:

and sending the priority identification of the beam indication group.

23. A communication device, comprising:

and a communication module for receiving a beam indication group, wherein the beam indication group is used for indicating to forward the beam indicated by the at least two beam indexes on the indicated time domain resource.

24. A communication device, comprising:

And a communication module, configured to send a beam indication group, where the beam indication group is configured to indicate to forward, on the indicated time domain resource, the beam indicated by the at least two beam indexes.

25. A computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, characterized in that the computer program, when being executed by a processor, performs the steps of the communication method of any one of claims 1 to 16 or performs the steps of the communication method of any one of claims 17 to 22.

26. A communication device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon a computer program executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor executes the steps of the communication method according to any of claims 1 to 16 when the computer program is executed.

27. A communication device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon a computer program executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor executes the steps of the communication method according to any of claims 17 to 22 when the computer program is executed.