CN111343728B

CN111343728B - Communication method, apparatus and readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN111343728B
Application number: CN202010090825.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高宽栋; 黄煌; 颜矛; 邵华
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-04
Filing date: 2018-05-04
Publication date: 2021-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-04
Also published as: CN110445590A; CN111343728A

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and device. The method comprises the following steps: determining a request period of first system information to be requested; wherein the request period satisfies at least one of: the request period is a multiple of a random access configuration period, the request period is a multiple of a random access association period, or the request period is a multiple of a system information period, or the system information period is a multiple of the request period; determining a target random access occasion for requesting the first system information and transmitting a request message of the first system information at the target random access occasion. The communication method and the communication device of the embodiment realize the determination of the random access opportunity for requesting the system information, and reduce the overhead of the system information on the random access preamble.

Description

Communication method, apparatus and readable storage medium

Technical Field

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

Background

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) System, System Information (SI) is transmitted based on windows, and a window of an SI transmits only one type of System Information, which is called an SI, and the SI may include one or more types of System Information Blocks (SIBs). The transmission TTI period of SIB1 is fixed to 80ms, and is repeated 4 times within 80ms, each time the interval is 20ms, that is, SIB1 information is transmitted on a frame of SFN mod 2 ═ 0. The SIB 2-SIBN is transmitted based on different windows, where N is the maximum SIB index number in LTE, for example, there are 8 types of system information transmitted in one cell (cell), SIB 1-SIB 8, where SIB1 may be SI1, the transmission period is 20ms, SIB2 may be SI2, the transmission period may be 160ms, SIB3 and SIB4 may be SI3, the transmission period is 320ms, SIB 5-SIB 8 may be SI4, and the transmission period is 640 ms. The window of SI2 is adjacent to the window of SI3, and the window of SI3 is adjacent to the window of SI4, and arranged in sequence. In the SI window, the transmission of SI information may be one time or multiple times.

In LTE, the transmission of system information is broadcast, however, broadcast transmission always increases the overhead of system information transmission, and in order to reduce the overhead of system information transmission, the transmission of system information may be request-based, that is, a request message for requesting system information is transmitted at a random access occasion, and how to determine the random access occasion is an urgent technical problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for reducing the cost of requesting system information on random access preambles and reducing the influence of the requesting system information on other processes.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including:

determining a request period of first system information to be requested; wherein the request period satisfies at least one of: the request period is a multiple of a random access configuration period, the request period is a multiple of a random access association period, or the request period is a multiple of a system information period, or the system information period is a multiple of the request period;

determining a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and sending a request message of the first system information at the target random access opportunity, wherein the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in at least one random access opportunity included in a first random access configuration cycle period, a first random access association cycle period and a first system information cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access configuration cycle period is at least one random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period, the first random access association cycle period is at least one random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period, and the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

Wherein, the period of the random access configuration cycle is a period lasting for one random access configuration cycle; the random access association cycle time period is a period of time lasting for one random access association cycle; the system information cycle period is a period lasting for one system information cycle; the request cycle period is a period of time lasting one request cycle of system information.

The scheme realizes the determination of the random access opportunity for requesting the system information, and if the request period of the first system information is a multiple of the random access association period, and the request period comprises a number of random access association period periods that is less than a number of random access association periods comprised by the first random access association period, then, random access preambles do not need to be allocated to the first system information on the random access occasions included in the random access association cycle period which is not included in the first random access association cycle period in the request cycle period, more random access preambles which can be used in other random access processes are available on the random access occasions of the random access association cycle period which is not included in the first random access association cycle period in the request cycle period, and the cost of requesting the system information on the random access preambles is reduced, so that the influence of the requesting system information on other random access processes is reduced.

It can be understood that, for the communication method in which the request period of the first system information is a multiple of the random access association period, the multiple of the system information period is a multiple of the random access configuration period, and the system information period is a multiple of the request period, the above beneficial effects can also be achieved.

In one possible design, the determining a request period of the first system information to be requested includes:

determining a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information;

the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple relation between the request period and the random access configuration period; or, the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple relation between the request period and the random access association period; or the like, or, alternatively,

the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple relation between the request period and the system information period; or the like, or, alternatively,

the information of the request period is used to indicate a value of the request period.

In one possible design, before the determining a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and sending a request message of the first system information at the target random access opportunity, the method includes:

Determining a first random access configuration cycle period; or the like, or, alternatively,

determining a first random access association cycle period; or the like, or, alternatively,

a first system information cycle period is determined.

In one possible design, the determining the first random access configuration cycle period includes:

determining a first random access configuration cycle time period according to the information of the first random access configuration cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

wherein the information of the first random access configuration cycle period is used for indicating the random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period and used for forming the first random access configuration period;

or, the determining the first random access association cycle period includes:

determining a first random access association cycle time period according to the information of the first random access association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

wherein the information of the first random access association cycle period is used for indicating the random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period and used for forming the first random access association cycle period;

or, the determining the first system information cycle period includes:

Determining a first system information cycle time interval according to the information of the first system information cycle time interval corresponding to the first system information;

wherein the information of the first system information cycle period is used to indicate the system information cycle period included in the request cycle period and used to constitute the first system information cycle period.

In one possible design, the first random access configuration cycle period is a first random access configuration period included in the request cycle period or a last random access configuration period included in the request cycle period;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first random access association cycle period is a first random access configuration period included in the request cycle period or a last random access configuration period included in the request cycle period;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first system information cycle period is a first system information cycle period included in the request cycle period, or a last system information cycle period included in the request cycle period.

In one possible design, second system information with a first random access configuration cycle period different from a first random access configuration cycle period of the first system information exists in N types of second system information that can be requested by a terminal; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

Second system information with a first random access association cycle time period different from the first random access association cycle time period of the first system information exists in the N types of second system information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

second system information with a first system information cycle time period different from a first system information cycle time period of the first system information exists in the N types of second system information;

the first system information is system information in the N types of second system information, and N is a positive integer.

In one possible design, the target random access opportunity is a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information, a first random access association cycle period, a random access opportunity in a first random access opportunity set included in at least one of the first system information cycle periods;

the first set of random access occasions includes random access occasions associated with a first synchronous physical broadcast channel block SSB within the request period, where the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal device, and the first set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions.

In one possible design, the target random access opportunity is a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information, a first random access association cycle period, a random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in at least one of the first system information cycle periods;

The second random access opportunity set includes part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period, a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same synchronous physical broadcast channel block SSB, and the second random access opportunity set includes one or more random access opportunities. .

In one possible design, the second random access occasion includes a first random access occasion in each random access time group; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the second random access time comprises the last random access time in each random access time unit; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the second random access opportunity comprises a first random access opportunity and a second random access opportunity in each random access time set.

In one possible design, the target random access opportunity is a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information, a first random access association cycle period, a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in at least one of the first system information cycle periods;

the third set of random access occasions includes random access occasions corresponding to the first system information within the request period, and the third set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions.

In one possible design, a first random access configuration cycle period, a first random access association cycle period, and a random access opportunity in a part of random access opportunities included in at least one of the first system information request cycle period and the first system information request cycle period;

the set of SSBs associated with the part of random access occasions included in at least one of the first random access configuration cycle period, the first random access association cycle period, and the first system information cycle period includes all SSBs sent by the network device in a synchronous physical broadcast channel block SSB sending cycle period.

In one possible design, the method further includes:

determining a target random access preamble that can be used to request the first system information;

the determining a target random access occasion for requesting the first system information and transmitting a request message of the first system information at the target random access occasion includes:

determining a target random access occasion for requesting the first system information and transmitting the target random access preamble at the target random access occasion.

In one possible design, the determining a target random access preamble that can be used to request the first system information includes:

Determining a target random access preamble capable of being used for requesting the first system information according to the group where the first system information is located and the random access preamble corresponding to the group; the group in which the first system information is located is a group in a plurality of system information groups corresponding to N types of second system information that can be requested by the terminal device.

Optionally, the same system information is not included in each set of system information.

In one possible design, the number of system information included in each system information group is less than a predetermined value

In one possible design, the number of random access preambles corresponding to each system information group is 1.

Alternatively, the grouping of the system information may be an implicit grouping, for example, if one or more random access preambles corresponding to g system information are the same, the g system information pairs are considered as the same group.

In one possible design, the first random access preamble corresponds to at least two second SSBs; the first random access preamble is a random access preamble that can be used to request system information; the second SSB is at least a part of SSBs in the first synchronous physical broadcast channel block SSB corresponding to the terminal device.

In one possible design, first configuration information is received from a network device; and the first configuration information is used for indicating that the target random access opportunity is determined according to the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble. That is, the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble is considered when determining the target random access occasion.

Optionally, when determining the target random access occasion, the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble may also be considered.

In one possible design, the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in a fourth random access opportunity included in at least one of a first random access configuration cycle period, a first random access association cycle period, and a first system information cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information;

wherein the fourth set of random access occasions comprises random access occasions associated with a second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble, the fourth set of random access occasions comprising one or more random access occasions; the target random access preamble is a random access preamble of all first random access preambles.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including:

the request period determining module is used for determining a request period of first system information to be requested; wherein the request period satisfies at least one of: the request period is a multiple of a random access configuration period, the request period is a multiple of a random access association period, or the request period is a multiple of a system information period, or the system information period is a multiple of the request period;

A random access opportunity determining module, configured to determine a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and send a request message of the first system information at the target random access opportunity, where the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in at least one random access opportunity included in a first random access configuration cycle period, a first random access association cycle period, and a first system information cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access configuration cycle period is at least one random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period, the first random access association cycle period is at least one random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period, and the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

In one possible design, the request period determination module is specifically configured to,

In one possible design, the access opportunity determination module is further configured to,

a first system information cycle period is determined.

In one possible design, the access opportunity determination module is specifically configured to,

Or, the access opportunity determining module is specifically configured to,

or, the access opportunity determining module is specifically configured to,

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

Alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

In one possible design, the random access opportunity determining module is further configured to:

In one possible design, the random access timing determining module is specifically configured to:

In one possible design, the random access opportunity determining module is further configured to: receiving first configuration information from a network device; and the first configuration information is used for indicating that the target random access opportunity is determined according to the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble. That is, the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble is considered when determining the target random access occasion.

Optionally, the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble may also be disregarded when determining the target random access occasion.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including:

at least one item of information of a request period of second system information, information of a random access association period, information of a random access configuration period, information of a system information period of each system information, information of a first random access association period, information of the first random access configuration period and information of the first system information period which can be requested by the terminal equipment is sent to the terminal equipment;

and receiving request information which is sent by the terminal equipment and used for requesting the first system information.

The meanings of the nouns referred to in this scheme refer to the explanations in the first and second aspects.

In a fourth aspect, the present application implements a communications device for performing the method of any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application implements a communication device comprising: a processor coupled with a memory;

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for executing a computer program stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes one or more processors and a communication unit. The one or more processors are configured to support the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the network device in the above method. For example, first indication information is generated. The communication unit is used for supporting the device to communicate with other equipment and realizing receiving and/or sending functions. For example, the first indication information is transmitted.

Optionally, the apparatus may also include one or more memories for coupling with the processor, which stores program instructions and/or data necessary for the network device. The one or more memories may be integral with the processor or separate from the processor. The present application is not limited.

The apparatus may be a base station, a gNB, a TRP, or the like, and the communication unit may be a transceiver, or a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the transceiver may also be an input/output circuit or interface.

The device may also be a communication chip. The communication unit may be an input/output circuit or an interface of the communication chip.

In another possible design, the apparatus includes a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The processor is configured to control the transceiver to transceive signals, the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program in the memory, so that the apparatus performs the method performed by the network device in the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes one or more processors and a communication unit. The one or more processors are configured to support the apparatus to perform the corresponding functions of the terminal device in the above method. For example, a second parameter is determined. The communication unit is used for supporting the device to communicate with other equipment and realizing receiving and/or sending functions. For example, first indication information is received.

Optionally, the apparatus may also include one or more memories for coupling with the processor that hold the necessary program instructions and/or data for the apparatus. The one or more memories may be integral with the processor or separate from the processor. The present application is not limited.

The apparatus may be a smart terminal or a wearable device, and the communication unit may be a transceiver or a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the transceiver may also be an input/output circuit or interface.

In another possible design, the apparatus includes a transceiver, a processor, and a memory. The processor is configured to control the transceiver to transceive signals, the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program in the memory, so that the apparatus performs the method performed by the terminal device in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, a system is provided, which includes the terminal device and the network device.

In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the computer program product comprising: computer program code for causing a computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect when the computer program code runs on a computer.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: computer program code for causing a computer to perform the method of any of the above second aspects and possible implementations of the second aspect when said computer program code is run on a computer.

The communication method of the embodiment realizes the determination of the random access time for requesting the system information, and can distribute the random access preamble for requesting the system information on part of the random access time in the request period, thereby reducing the overhead of the random access preamble caused by requesting the system information and further reducing the influence of the requesting system information on other random access processes.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a first signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a request cycle period and a first random access association cycle period according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a signaling interaction diagram ii of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a request cycle period and a first random access configuration cycle period according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a signaling interaction diagram three of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a sixth signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a signaling interaction diagram seven of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is an eighth signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a signaling interaction diagram nine of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a signaling interaction diagram ten of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is an eleventh signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a signaling interaction diagram twelve of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a signaling interaction diagram thirteen of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 600.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, future fifth Generation (5th Generation, 5G) systems, such as new radio access technology (NR), and future communication systems, such as 6G systems.

This application is intended to present various aspects, embodiments or features around a system that may include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc. and/or may not include all of the devices, components, modules etc. discussed in connection with the figures. Furthermore, a combination of these schemes may also be used.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the word "exemplary" is used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the term using examples is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

In the embodiment of the present application, information (information), signal (signal), message (message), channel (channel) may be mixed, and it should be noted that the intended meanings are consistent when the differences are not emphasized. "of", "corresponding", and "corresponding" may sometimes be used in combination, it being noted that the intended meaning is consistent when no distinction is made.

In the embodiment of the present application, sometimes a subscript such as W1 may be mistaken for a non-subscript form such as W1, and its intended meaning is consistent when the distinction is not emphasized.

The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art knows that along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a Time Division Duplex (TDD) scene and can also be applied to a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) scene.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a traditional typical network, and can also be applied to a future UE-centric (UE-centric) network. A UE-centric network introduces a network architecture without a cell (Non-cell), that is, a large number of small stations are deployed in a certain area to form a super cell (super cell), and each small station is a Transmission Point (TP) or a TRP of the super cell and is connected to a centralized controller (controller). When the UE moves in the Hyper cell, the network side equipment selects a new sub-cluster for the UE to serve, thereby avoiding real cell switching and realizing the continuity of UE service. The network side device comprises a wireless network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, different base stations may be base stations with different identities, and may also be base stations with the same identity and deployed in different geographic locations. Since the base station does not know whether the base station relates to the application scenario of the embodiment of the present application before the base station is deployed, the base station or the baseband chip should support the method provided by the embodiment of the present application before the base station is deployed. It is to be understood that the base stations with different identities can be base station identities, cell identities, or other identities.

Some scenarios in the embodiment of the present application are described by taking a scenario of an NR network in a wireless communication network as an example, it should be noted that the scheme in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to other wireless communication networks, and corresponding names may also be replaced by names of corresponding functions in other wireless communication networks.

For the convenience of understanding the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application will be first described in detail by taking the communication system shown in fig. 1 as an example. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for the communication method of the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 includes a network device 102 and a terminal device 106, where the network device 102 may be configured with multiple antennas and the terminal device may also be configured with multiple antennas. Optionally, the communication system may further include the network device 104, and the network device 104 may also be configured with multiple antennas.

It should be understood that network device 102 or network device 104 may also include a number of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, etc.).

The network device is a device with a wireless transceiving function or a chip that can be set in the device, and the device includes but is not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Node B (NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), wireless fidelity (WIFI) system Access Point (AP), wireless relay Node, wireless backhaul Node, transmission point (TRP or transmission point, TP), etc., and may also be 5G, such as NR, a gbb in the system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), a set (including multiple antennas) of a base station in the 5G system, or a panel of a base station (including multiple antennas, or a BBU) in the 5G system, or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a Radio Unit (RU). The CU implements part of the function of the gNB, and the DU implements part of the function of the gNB, for example, the CU implements Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layers, and the DU implements Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, the higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling or PHCP layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the DU + RU under this architecture. It is to be understood that the network device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in the access network RAN, or may be divided into network devices in the core network CN, which is not limited herein.

A terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and the like. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios. The terminal device and the chip that can be installed in the terminal device are collectively referred to as a terminal device in this application.

In the communication system 100, the network device 102 and the network device 104 may each communicate with a plurality of terminal devices (e.g., the terminal device 106 shown in the figure). Network device 102 and network device 104 may communicate with any number of terminal devices similar to terminal device 106. It should be understood that the terminal device communicating with network device 102 and the terminal device communicating with network device 104 may be the same or different. The terminal device 106 shown in fig. 1 may communicate with both the network device 102 and the network device 104, but this only illustrates one possible scenario, and in some scenarios, the terminal device may only communicate with the network device 102 or the network device 104, which is not limited in this application.

It should be understood that fig. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an example for ease of understanding only, and that other network devices or other terminal devices may also be included in the communication system, which are not shown in fig. 1.

Before the explanation of the communication method of the present application, a system information request process is explained.

The process of the system information request may be as follows:

1. the terminal device receives Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI) sent by the network device, where the RMSI carries configuration information of the random access configuration information and the system information. Wherein, the RMSI can be SIB1 or SIB 2.

2. The terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for sending a system information request and/or a random access preamble for requesting system information according to the random access configuration information and the configuration information of the system information, and sends the random access preamble for requesting the system information to the network device according to the determined random access opportunity, wherein the random access preamble related information can be carried in the Msg 1.

3. The terminal device receives the Msg2 in the random access response window, and the Msg2 carries a random access preamble for notifying the terminal device whether the network device receives a request for requesting system information.

4. And after the terminal device receives the Msg2, receiving the system information sent by the network device in a system information window.

In step 2, the terminal device determines the target random access timing from all the random access timings included in the system information request period, that is, all the random access timings included in the system information request period may be selected as the target random access timing, which requires allocating N random access preambles on the random access timings for requesting the system information, where the N random access preambles are a set of random access preambles corresponding to all the system information that can be requested. However, the random access preamble may also be used in the random access processes such as uplink access and beam recovery, and if N random access preambles are allocated on the random access occasion to request system information, the random preambles available for the processes such as uplink access and beam recovery on the random access occasion are reduced, thereby affecting the normal operation of other random access processes.

Based on this problem, the present application proposes a communication method of an embodiment for realizing determination of a random access occasion for requesting system information.

The following describes a communication method and apparatus according to the present application with specific embodiments.

Fig. 2 is a first signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 2, the method of this embodiment may include:

s101, the network equipment determines at least one of a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access association period corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request cycle is a multiple of the random access association cycle, the first random access association cycle time interval is at least one random access association cycle time interval included in the request cycle time interval, the random access association cycle time interval is a period lasting for one random access association cycle, and the request cycle time interval is a period lasting for one request cycle of the second system information;

s102, the network equipment sends at least one item of terminal equipment in related information of a random access association cycle, information of a second system information request cycle and information of a corresponding first random access association cycle time period of the second system information;

S103, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access association cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access association cycle time period; the first system information is system information in a plurality of second system information;

s104, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information;

s105, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

Specifically, the system information includes multiple types, and not all the system information for the terminal device may be acquired based on the request, for example, SI1, SI1 includes SIB 1.

The second system information in this embodiment is system information that can be requested by the terminal device, it may be understood that the number of types of the second system information may be at least one, the first system information in this embodiment is system information that can be requested by the terminal device and system information to be requested, and it may be understood that the at least one type of the second system information that can be requested by the terminal device includes the first system information to be requested. Wherein, one system information includes one or more system information blocks SIB, and if SI3 includes SIB3 and SIB4, the request period and the first random access association period corresponding to SIB3 and SIB4 are the same.

For some second system information, the process of requesting the second system information includes: and transmitting a random access preamble to request the second system information at a random access opportunity included in the request cycle period of the second system information. The random access occasion refers to time and frequency of transmitting a random access preamble once, and thus, a procedure of requesting system information includes determination of the random access occasion and determination of the random access preamble, which is referred to in the present embodiment.

The correlation in this embodiment may also be referred to as mapping, corresponding to the mapping, and the same spatial parameters are used for the correlation.

The meaning of the random access association period is explained below.

The random access association period has the following characteristics: a set of synchronous physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs) associated with each of the plurality of random access occasions includes all SSBs sent by the network device within an SSB sending period, where the SSB sending period is a period lasting for one SSB sending period, where one random access occasion may be associated with one or more SSBs, or one SSB may be associated with one or more random access occasions; and the random access association period is a multiple of the random access configuration period; the SSB includes at least one of a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), a demodulation reference signal of a physical broadcast channel and a physical broadcast channel; specific examples are as follows:

If the network device needs to send 16 SSBs in the SSB sending cycle period, one SSB is associated with one beam, that is, the beam sends one SSB; if one beam corresponds to one random access opportunity, 16 random access opportunities are needed to correspond to 16 beams, or 16 random access opportunities are needed to be associated with the SSB; if the random access configuration cycle is 10ms, the random access configuration cycle period (lasting for a period of time of one random access configuration cycle) includes 10 random access opportunities, at least two random access configuration cycle periods are required to include the random access opportunities, the two random access configuration cycle periods include 20 random access opportunities, and 16 random access opportunities are associated with 16 SSBs one by one; that is, at this time, the random access association cycle is 20ms, the 4 more random access occasions can be regarded as invalid random access occasions, that is, the random access association cycle can be 20ms, the random access association cycle period includes 16 valid random access occasions, the random access association cycle can also be 40ms, and the random access association cycle period includes 32 valid random access occasions.

If the network device needs to send 4 synchronous physical broadcast channel blocks (SS/PBCH blocks, SSBs for short) in the SSB sending period, one SSB is associated with one beam, that is, the beam sends one SSB; if one SSB associates 1 random access opportunity, at least 4 random access opportunities are needed corresponding to 4 beams, or at least 4 random access opportunities are needed to associate with the SSB; if the random access configuration cycle is 10ms, one random access configuration cycle period includes 10 random access opportunities, and since the random access association cycle is a multiple of the random access configuration cycle, the random access association cycle is 10ms at this time, and the 2 extra random access opportunities can be regarded as invalid random access opportunities, that is, the random access association cycle is 10ms, the random access association cycle period includes 8 valid random access opportunities.

For step S101, the network device determines a request cycle of second system information that can be requested by the terminal device, at least one of periods of a first random access association cycle corresponding to the second system information includes the following situations:

(1) the network equipment determines a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment, does not determine a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information, and the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information is agreed by a protocol and can be stored on both the network equipment and the terminal equipment;

(2) the network device determines a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information, and does not determine a request cycle of the second system information, wherein the request cycle of the second system information is agreed by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(3) The network equipment determines a request cycle of second system information capable of being requested by the terminal equipment and a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information.

In addition, the request cycle of the second system information that the terminal device can request and the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information may both be agreed by a protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters. At this time, step S101 does not exist in the present embodiment.

The protocol agreement in this embodiment may be replaced by "agreed between the terminal device and the network device" or "fixed information stored in the network device and the terminal device".

The request cycle of the second system information and the first random access association cycle period are described below.

Request period for each type of second system information: in this embodiment, the request period of the second system information may be a multiple of the random access association request period, such as M times. The value of M may be at least one of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. Since the request period is a multiple of the random access association period, the request period is a multiple of the random access association period. The value of M may be fixed, agreed by a protocol, configured by a network device, or inferred according to some parameters, for example, inferred according to a period of system information.

The "request period" refers to a period of random access opportunity in which the terminal device requests the network device for the second system information, or a period of random access opportunity in which the terminal device requests the network device for the first system information. It is to be understood that the request periods of the plurality of second system information may be all the same, may be partially the same, or may be all different. Such as: the period of the terminal device requesting all the second system information from the network device may be 160 ms; alternatively, the period for the terminal device to request the network device for the second system information 1 may be 80ms, the period for the terminal device to request the network device for the second system information 2 may be 160ms, the period for the terminal device to request the network device for the second system information 3 may be 320ms, and so on.

And for the first random access association cycle period corresponding to each type of second system information, the first random access association cycle period is at least one random access association cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period.

Wherein, the first random access association cycle time period may be a first random access association cycle time period in the second system information request cycle time period, a second random access association cycle time period in the second system information request cycle time period, a last random access association cycle time period in the second system information request cycle time period, two random access association cycle time periods before the second system information request cycle time period, two random access association cycle time periods after the second system information request cycle time period, a first and middle random access association cycle time period in the second system information request cycle time period, a last and middle random access association cycle time period in the second system information request cycle time period, or a last and middle random access association cycle time period in the second system information request cycle time period, or may be the first n random access association cycle periods within the request cycle period of the second system information, or may be the last n random access association cycle periods within the request cycle period of the second system information, where n may have at least one value of 1,2,3,4,8,16,32,64, 128.

For example, if the request period of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the random access association period, the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 random access association period periods, and the 1 st random access association period of the request period of the second system information 1 is the first random access association period within the request period of the second system information 1; the request period of the second system information 2 is 4 times of the random access association period, and the 2 nd random access association period of the request period of the second system information 2 is the first random access association period within the request period of the second system information 2.

Optionally, the first random access association cycle periods within the request cycle period of at least two second system information may be different in all the second system information.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information in all the second system information, and the first random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle periods of the at least two second system information are the same.

At least one item of information of the random access association cycle period, which is sent by the network device in step S102, the second system information request cycle information, and the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period of the second system information, at least one item of terminal device includes the following conditions:

(1) The network equipment sends the related information of the random access association cycle, does not send the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period of the second system information, the second system information request cycle and the corresponding first random access association cycle period of the second system information, and the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period of the second system information is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(2) The network device sends the related information of the random access association cycle and the information of the second system information request cycle, and does not send the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period of the second system information, and the corresponding first random access association cycle period of the second system information is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(3) The network equipment sends the related information of the random access association cycle, the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle time period of the second system information.

(4) The network equipment sends the information of the second system information request period, does not send the related information of the random access association period and the information of the corresponding first random access association period of the second system information, and the random access association period and the corresponding first random access association period of the second system information are specified by a protocol, or are fixed, or are deduced according to some parameters.

(5) The network equipment sends the information of the second system information request period and the information of the corresponding first random access association period of the second system information, and does not send the related information of the random access association period, wherein the random access association period is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(6) The network equipment sends the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle time interval of the second system information, does not send the related information of the random access association cycle, the information of the second system information request cycle, the related information of the random access association cycle, and the information of the second system information request cycle is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(7) The network device sends the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle time interval and the related information of the random access association cycle of the second system information, and does not send the information of the second system information request cycle, wherein the information of the second system information request cycle is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

In addition, the random access association period, the second system information request period, and the corresponding first random access association period of the second system information may all be specified by the protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, step S102 will not be provided in this embodiment.

If the relevant information of the random access association period is sent by the network equipment, the relevant information of the random access association period can be carried in the third system information sent by the network equipment each time; if the "information of the request period of the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device may carry the "information of the request period of the second system information" in the third system information only when the information of the request period of the second system information "is updated, and after the information of the request period of the second system information" is sent to the terminal device, the terminal device stores the "information of the request period of the second system information", and after the "information of the request period of the second system information" is received again, updates the stored "information of the request period of the second system information", and may also carry the "information of the request period of the second system information" in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

If the "information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device may update the information "of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information, the third system information carries the information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information, and after the information is sent to the terminal equipment, the terminal device stores the information "of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information, after receiving the "information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information" again, the stored information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information is updated, and the information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information can also be carried in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

The third system information may be system information broadcast by the network device, such as SI1 or RMSI or SI2, and the third system information may be system information that the terminal device cannot base on the request.

The following describes "information related to a random access association cycle", "information of a request cycle", and "information of a first random access association cycle period", respectively.

First, the "information on the random access association period" will be described.

The related information of the random access association period comprises at least one of a random access configuration period, position information of random access opportunity and the number of SSBs in an SSB sending period, and the network equipment and the terminal equipment can calculate the random access association period according to the related information of the random access association period.

Next, the "information of the request cycle" will be described.

In the embodiment, "a is used to indicate B" means that a is information indicating B or information carrying B in a; the meaning of "A indicates B" is that A is information indicating B or information carrying B in A.

In this embodiment, for the information of the request period of one second system information, the information of the request period may be, but is not limited to, the following two types of information:

the first one is: the information of the request period indicates the multiple relation between the request period and the random access association period, for example, the request period is M times of the random access association period; the value of M may be at least one value of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. The multiple relation of the request period and the random access association period can mean that the request period is multiple of the random access association period.

If the request period is multiple of the random access association period, there are the following situations:

if the request periods of the second system information are the same, the terminal device may store information of a request period with a request period M times the random access association period, or the third system information may carry information of a request period with a request period M times the random access association period.

If there are at least two request periods of the second system information in all the second system information that are different, the terminal device may store information of the request periods of the at least two request periods and multiples of the random access association period, or the third system information may carry information of the request periods of the at least two request periods that are multiples of the random access association period.

Since the random access association period is carried in the third system information, for the first system information to be requested, the terminal device may obtain the request period of the first system information to be requested according to the multiple relationship between the request period and the random access association period.

The second method is as follows: the information of the request period is used to indicate a value of the request period, which needs to be satisfied as a multiple of the random access association period in this embodiment.

If all the information of the request period corresponding to the third system information is used to indicate the value of the request period, the following situations may occur:

if the request period of the second system information is the same, a piece of information indicating the value of the request period may be stored in the terminal device, or a piece of information indicating the value of the request period may be carried in the third system information.

If the request periods of at least two pieces of second system information in all pieces of second system information are different, at least two pieces of information for indicating the values of the request periods may be stored in the terminal device or at least two pieces of value information for indicating the request periods may be carried in the third system information.

For the first system information to be requested, the terminal device may obtain the request period of the first system information to be requested according to the value of the request period indicated by the information of the request period.

It can be understood that, in this embodiment, the content of the information of the request period of different second system information may be different, for example, the network device configures 5 types of second system information that can be requested, and the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 indicates a multiple relationship between the request period and the random access association period; the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 3, the second system information 4, and the second system information 5 indicates a value of the request period. At this time, the information of the request period has at least 2 pieces.

Of course, if the request periods of the 5 types of second system information are the same, in order to save signaling overhead, the information of the request period may be only one, and the information of the one request period is used to indicate the multiple relationship between the request period and the random access association period or the value of the request period. If the information of the request period is used to indicate that the request period is 4 times of the random access association period, and the random access association period carried in the third system information is 20ms, the request periods of the 5 types of second system information are all 80 ms.

Next, description will be made on "information of the first random access association cycle period".

The information of the first random access association cycle period is used for indicating the random access association cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period and used for forming the first random access association cycle period.

Optionally, the information of the first random access association cycle period may be used to indicate that the first random access association cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period constitutes the first random access association cycle period.

Optionally, the information of the first random access association cycle period may be used to indicate that the last random access association cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period constitutes the first random access association cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least two random access association cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period may be used to indicate that the 1 st and 2 nd random access association cycle periods of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first random access association cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least two random access association cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period may be used to indicate that the last and the second last random access association cycle periods of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first random access association cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least 4 random access association cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first random access association cycle period may be used to indicate that any two random access association cycle periods in the middle of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first random access association cycle period

It can be understood that, if the request period of all the second system information is the same and the request period information is one, the first random access association period information may also be one, that is, all the second system information share the same request period information and the first random access association period information.

The forms of the information of the request cycle of the second system information and the information of the first random access association cycle period are explained below by specific examples.

If the terminal device can request the second system information 1, the second system information 2, the second system information 3, and the second system information 4.

A first case example: each type of the second system information corresponds to information of a request cycle and information of a first random access association cycle period, for example, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the random access association cycle, the information of the first random access association cycle period is used to indicate that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the random access association cycle, the information of the first random access association cycle period is used to indicate that the 2 nd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 3 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 3 is 8 times of the random access association cycle, the information of the first random access association cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 4 is used for indicating that the request cycle of the second system information 4 is 4 times of the random access association cycle, and the information of the first random access association cycle period is used for indicating that the 3 rd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access association period are in the form of:

The identifier of the second system information 1 corresponds to an identifier 4 times of a random access association cycle, and an identifier of the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 2 times of a random access association cycle, and an identifier of the 2 nd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier 8 times of a random access association cycle, and an identifier of a 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 4 times the random access association cycle, and an identifier of the 3 rd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period.

Example of the second case: all the second system information share the information of one request cycle and the information of the first random access association cycle period, for example, the information of one request cycle indicates that the request cycle of all the second system information is 4 times of the random access association cycle, and the information of one first random access association cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period of all the second system information. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access association period are in the form of:

An identifier of 4 times of a random access association cycle, and an identifier of a 1 st random access association cycle period. (only one)

Third case example: all the second system information share information of one request cycle and information of one first random access association cycle period, for example, the information of one request cycle indicates that the request cycle of all the second system information is 4 times of the random access association cycle, the information of one first random access association cycle period is used for indicating that for the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, and for the second system information 3 and the second system information 4, the 2 nd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access association period are in the form of:

and the identifier of 4 times of the random access association cycle, the identifiers of the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 correspond to the identifier of the 1 st random access association cycle period, and the identifiers of the second system information 3 and the second system information 4 correspond to the identifier of the 2 nd random access association cycle period. (only one).

The above examples are only illustrative, and there are other examples, which are not described herein again.

For step S103, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of a period of the first system information to be requested, which is a request period of the first system information; and determining a first random access association cycle time period in the request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information.

Such as: the second system information 2 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 indicates that the request period of the second system information 2 is 4 times of the random access association period, and the random access association period is 20ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 2 is 80ms, and the request period of the second system information 2 includes 4 random access association period periods. And the information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information 2 indicates that the 1 st random access association cycle period in the request cycle period constitutes the first random access association cycle period, and then the 1 st random access association cycle period in the request cycle period is determined to be the first random access association cycle period of the second system information 2.

For another example: the second system information 3 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 3 indicates that the request period of the second system information 3 is 4 times of a random access association period, and the random access association period is 20ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 1 is 80ms, and the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 random access association period periods. The information of the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information 3 indicates that the 2 nd random access association cycle period and the 3 rd random access association cycle period in the request cycle period constitute the first random access association cycle period, and then the 2 nd random access association cycle period and the 3 rd random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period are determined to be the first random access association cycle period.

It can be understood that the method for determining the corresponding request period and the first random access association period corresponding to the first system information to be requested is the same.

The number of the random access association cycle periods constituting the first random access association cycle period may be equal to or smaller than the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle period.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a request cycle period and a first random access association cycle period according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 3, a request period of first system information to be requested is 80ms, a random access association period is 40ms, and a request period of the first system information to be requested includes 2 random access association period periods; the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the first system information to be requested is the 1 st random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period of the first system information to be requested.

To sum up, in this embodiment, the determination of the random access occasions for requesting the system information is implemented, and if the request cycle of the first system information is a multiple of the random access association cycle, and the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle period is smaller than the number of the random access association cycles included in the first random access association cycle period, then the random access preambles are not allocated to the first system information on the random access occasions included in the random access association cycle periods not included in the first random access association cycle period in the request cycle period, more random access preambles available for other random access processes on the random access occasions included in the random access association cycle periods not included in the first random access association cycle period in the request cycle period are available, so as to reduce the overhead of the request system information on the random access preambles, thereby reducing the impact of requesting system information on other random access procedures.

For step S104, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, that is, the target random access opportunity is the random access opportunity included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for transmitting the first system information to be requested from a plurality of random access opportunities included in the 1 st random access association cycle period 32.

The network device configures at least one beam for a cell in which the terminal device is located, and the terminal device needs to send uplink information on the at least one beam configured for the cell in which the terminal device is located by the network device, that is, the terminal device needs to send the uplink information on a beam supported by the cell in which the terminal device is located.

Therefore, for a type of first system information, determining a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information specifically includes:

For a first system information to be requested, determining a target random access opportunity of the first system information from random access opportunities associated with a first SSB included in a first random access association cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information; the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal device, that is, a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a combination of first random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first set of random access occasions is random access occasions associated with a first SSB included in the request cycle period of the first system information, and the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal device. The first random access occasion may be agreed by the terminal device and the network device, or may be configured by the network device. The first set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions, and the random access occasions in the first set of random access occasions may be referred to as first random access occasions.

The SSB corresponding to the terminal equipment refers to a beam supported by the terminal equipment; the beams supported by the terminal device are beams that can cover at least part of the cell in which the terminal device is located. Wherein the beams may also be spatial parameters. The association may be a QCL relationship, and may have the same parameters such as gain, spatial domain parameters, etc.

It is to be appreciated that one SSB can be associated with one or more random access occasions, and that one random access occasion can be associated with multiple SSBs.

Such as: the cell where the terminal device is located supports beam 1, the beam 1 is associated with SSB1 (first SSB), the request period of the first system information 2 is 80ms, the random access association period is 40ms, the first random access association period corresponding to the first system information 2 is the 1 st random access association period among the 2 random access association period periods included in the request period of the first system information 2, and the terminal device determines the target access opportunity from the random access opportunities associated with SSB1 included in the 1 st random access association period included in the request period of the first system information 2.

For another example: the cell in which the terminal device is located supports beam 1 and beam 2, beam 1 is associated with SSB1 (first SSB), beam 2 is associated with SSB2 (first SSB), the request period of first system information 2 is 80ms, the random access association period is 40ms, the first random access association period corresponding to first system information 2 is the 1 st random access association period among 2 random access association period included in the request period of first system information 2, and the terminal device determines the target random access opportunity from the random access opportunities associated with SSB1 or associated with SSB2 included in the 1 st random access association period included in the request period of first system information 2. If the terminal device is in the area covered by beam 1, the random access preamble is transmitted in a random access occasion associated with the SSB 1.

The following further describes a target random access occasion for requesting the first system information.

The first improved mode is as follows: when associating all SSBs sent in one cycle multiple times within a first random access association cycle period, a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity in a part of random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, where a set of SSBs associated with the part of random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period includes all SSBs of the network device within one SSB sending cycle; in other words, the portion of the random access occasions may be associated with all SSBs transmitted within one SSB transmission period at least once.

That is, under the condition that all SSBs sent in one cycle are associated multiple times within a first random access association cycle period, the first K random access occasions may be used for requesting a random access occasion of system information, the K random access occasions are associated with all SSBs sent in one cycle at least once, or the last K random access occasions may be used for requesting a random access occasion of system information, the K random access occasions are associated with all SSBs sent in one cycle at least once, or the middle K random access occasions are used for requesting a random access occasion of system information, and the K random access occasions are associated with all SSBs sent in one cycle at least once. Wherein the value of K can be any one or more of 1-256. The value of K may be configurable or agreed upon by the protocol.

Further, when associating all SSBs sent in one cycle multiple times within a first random access association cycle period, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity in random access opportunities associated with the first SSB among part of random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, where the set of SSBs associated with the part of random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period includes all SSBs of the network device within one SSB sending cycle; in other words, the portion of the random access occasions may be associated with all SSBs transmitted within one SSB transmission period at least once.

The second improved mode is as follows: if one SSB is associated with a plurality of random access opportunities, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is the random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in a first random access association cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity set comprises part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same SSB. The second random access occasion may be agreed by the terminal device and the network device, or may be configured by the network device. The second set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions, and the random access occasions in the second set of random access occasions may be referred to as second random access occasions.

The second random access time may be a part of random access times in each random access time unit, for example, the second random access time may include a first random access time in each random access time unit, may also include a last random access time in each random access time unit, may also include two previous random access times in each random access time unit, may also include two last random access times, may also include a first random access time and a middle random access time in each random access time unit, may also include a last random access time and a middle random access time in each random access time unit, may also include n previous random access times in each random access time unit, and may also include n last random access times in each random access time unit, wherein the value of n can be any one or more of 1-256.

For example, one SSB is associated with 4 random access occasions, and for the SSB, the second random access occasion may be the 1 st random access occasion of the 4 random access occasions associated with the SSB, or the second random access occasion may be the 2 nd random access occasion and the 3 rd random access occasion of the 4 random access occasions associated with the SSB.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the plurality of random access occasions of one SSB association can be ordered according to the time domain of the random access occasions or according to the frequency domain of the random access occasions.

Further, the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be a random access occasion in a second random access occasion set included in a first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity set comprises random access opportunities associated with the first SSB in part of random access opportunities in each random access time set included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access time set are associated with the same SSB.

Such as: a cell where the terminal device is located supports a beam 1, the beam 1 is associated with an SSB1 (a first SSB), a request period of first system information 2 is 80ms, a random access association period is 40ms, and a first random access association period corresponding to the first system information 2 is a 1 st random access association period of 2 random access association period periods included in the request period of the first system information 2; the SSB1 is associated with 4 random access occasions, the 2 nd and 3 rd random access occasions belong to a second random access occasion, the 2 nd random access occasion is referred to as a second random access occasion 1, and the 3 rd random access occasion is referred to as a second random access occasion 2; the target random access opportunity of the first system information 2 is the second random access opportunity 1 or the second random access opportunity 2 associated with the SSB1 included in the 1 st random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information 2.

The third improved mode is as follows: if one SSB is associated with a plurality of random access opportunities, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the third set of random access occasions includes random access occasions corresponding to the first system information within a request cycle period of the first system information. The third random access occasion may be agreed by the terminal device and the network device, or may be configured by the network device. The third set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions, and the random access occasions in the second set of random access occasions may be referred to as third random access occasions.

Further, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information; the third random access occasion includes a random access occasion corresponding to the first system information and associated with the first SSB within the request cycle period for the first system information.

Such as: each SSB is associated with a plurality of random access occasions, a first random access occasion of the plurality of random access occasions associated with each SSB corresponds to the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, and a second random access occasion corresponds to the second system information 3, the second system information 4, and the second system information 5.

It can be understood that, in this manner, multiple random access occasions associated with the same SSB in the request period of the first system information may constitute one random access time group, or it may be said that the third random access occasion includes a random access occasion corresponding to the first system information in each random access time group, or the third random access occasion includes a random access occasion corresponding to the first system information and associated with the first SSB in each random access time group.

Such as: a cell in which the terminal device is located supports a beam 1, the beam 1 is associated with an SSB1 (a first SSB), a request cycle of a first system information 2 (here, the first system information 2 is a second system information 2) is 80ms, a random access association cycle is 40ms, and a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the first system information 2 is a 1 st random access association cycle period of 2 random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle period of the first system information 2; the SSB1 associates 4 random access occasions, of which 4 random access occasions, the 1 st random access occasion is a third random access occasion 1, the 2 nd random access occasion is a third random access occasion 2, and the 3 rd random access occasion is a third random access occasion 3, the third random access occasion 1 corresponds to the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, the second random access occasion 2 corresponds to the second system information 3 and the second system information 4, and the third random access occasion 3 corresponds to the second system information 5 and the second system information 6; the target random access opportunity of the first system information 2 is the third random access opportunity 1 associated with the SSB1 included in the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period of the first system information 2.

In the three improved modes, when the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle period of the first system information is greater than the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the first random access association cycle period, because part of the random access occasions within the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period are not used for requesting system information, the part of the random access occasions are not used for allocating random access preambles to the request system information, and the part of the random access occasions are used for allocating random access preambles to other random access processes, that is, the random access preambles used for requesting system information on the random access occasions are further reduced, thereby further reducing the influence of the request system information on other random access processes.

In the three improved modes, when the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle periods of all the second system information is the same as the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the first random access association cycle period, because part of the random access occasions in the request cycle periods are not used for requesting system information, the part of the random access occasions are not used for allocating random access preambles for the request system information, so that more random access preambles are used for other random access processes in the part of the random access occasions, namely, the random access preambles used for requesting system information in the random access occasions are reduced, and therefore, the influence of the request system information on other random access processes is reduced.

For step S105, after determining the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information, the request information for requesting the first system information may be transmitted at the target random access occasion; wherein the request information may be a random access preamble for requesting the first system information.

The determination of the random access preamble for requesting the first system information will be described in the following embodiments.

Fig. 4 is a signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 4, the method of this embodiment may include:

s201, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access configuration cycle corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request cycle is a multiple of the random access configuration cycle, the first random access configuration cycle time interval is at least one random access configuration cycle time interval included in the request cycle time interval, the random access configuration cycle time interval is a period lasting for one random access configuration cycle, and the request cycle time interval is a period lasting for one request cycle of the second system information;

S202, the network equipment sends at least one item of terminal equipment in related information of a random access configuration cycle, information of a second system information request cycle and information of a corresponding first random access configuration cycle time period of the second system information; the related information of the random access configuration period comprises at least one of the configuration period of the random access opportunity, the position information of the random access opportunity and the number of SSBs.

S203, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access configuration cycle time period in the request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access configuration cycle time period; the first system information is system information in a plurality of second system information;

s204, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random access configuration cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information;

s205, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

In this embodiment, the second system information is system information that can be requested by the terminal device, and the first system information in this embodiment is system information that can be requested by the terminal device and is to be requested, and it can be understood that at least one piece of second system information that can be requested by the terminal device includes the first system information to be requested. Wherein, one system information includes one or more system information blocks SIB, and if SI3 includes SIB3 and SIB4, the request period and the first random access configuration period corresponding to SIB3 and SIB4 are the same.

The meaning of the random access configuration period is explained below.

The random access configuration period in the embodiment of the present application is a random access configuration period in the configuration information of the random access opportunity shown in table 1, where table 1 is as follows:

TABLE 1 configuration information of random access occasions

Wherein, x represents a random access configuration period, y represents a frame where random access opportunity is located in the period of the random access configuration period, Subframe Number represents a Subframe where the random access opportunity is located in the period of the random access configuration period, Starting symbol represents a Starting symbol, Number of PRACH slots with a Subframe represents a random access slot Number in the Subframe,

indicating the number of random access occasions within a random access slot,

representing the duration of the time access opportunity.

For step S201, the network device determines a request cycle of second system information that can be requested by the terminal device, at least one of periods of a first random access configuration cycle corresponding to the second system information includes the following situations:

(1) the network device determines a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal device, and does not determine a first random access configuration period corresponding to the second system information, wherein the first random access configuration period corresponding to the second system information is agreed by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(2) The network device determines a first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information, and does not determine a request cycle of the second system information, wherein the request cycle of the second system information is agreed by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(3) The network equipment determines a request cycle of second system information capable of being requested by the terminal equipment and a first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information.

In addition, the request cycle of the second system information that the terminal device can request and the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information may also be both agreed by a protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, step S201 does not exist in this embodiment.

The request cycle of the second system information and the period of the first random access configuration cycle are described below.

Request period for each type of second system information: in this embodiment, the request period of the second system information may be a multiple of the random access association request period, for example, N times. The value of N may be some or all of the values of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. Since the request period may be a multiple of the random access configuration period, the request period is a multiple of the random access configuration period. The value of M may be fixed, agreed by a protocol, configured by a network device, or inferred according to some parameters, for example, inferred according to a period of system information.

The concept of the request cycle in this embodiment is the same as that in the previous embodiment, and is not described herein again.

For each type of the first random access configuration cycle period, the first random access configuration cycle period is at least one random access configuration cycle period comprised by the corresponding request cycle period.

Wherein, the first random access configuration cycle period may be a first random access configuration cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a second random access configuration cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a last random access configuration cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, two previous random access configuration cycle periods in the second system information request cycle period, two last random access configuration cycle periods in the second system information request cycle period, a first and middle random access configuration cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a last and middle random access configuration cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, or a last and middle random access configuration cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, it may also be the first n random access configuration cycle periods within the request cycle period of the second system information, or the last n random access configuration cycle periods within the request cycle period of the second system information, where n may have at least one value of 1,2,3,4,8,16,32,64, 128.

For example, if the request period of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the random access configuration period, the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 random access configuration period periods, and the 1 st random access configuration period of the request period of the second system information 1 is the first random access configuration period within the request period of the second system information 1; the request period of the second system information 2 is 4 times of the random access configuration period, and the 2 nd random access configuration period of the request period of the second system information 2 is the first random access configuration period within the request period of the second system information 2.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information in all the second system information, where the request cycle periods of the at least two second system information include different first random access configuration cycle periods.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information among all the second system information, and the request cycle periods of the at least two second system information may include the same first random access configuration cycle period. .

At least one item of information of the random access configuration cycle period, which is sent by the network device in step S202, the second system information request cycle information, and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information, at least one item of information of the terminal device, includes the following conditions:

(1) The network device sends the related information of the random access configuration cycle, does not send the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information, the second system information request cycle and the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information, and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(2) The network device sends the related information of the random access configuration cycle and the information of the second system information request cycle, and does not send the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information, and the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(3) The network equipment sends the related information of the random access configuration cycle, the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle time period of the second system information.

(4) The network device sends the information of the second system information request period, does not send the related information of the random access configuration period and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration period of the second system information, and the random access configuration period and the corresponding first random access configuration period of the second system information are specified by a protocol, or are fixed, or are deduced according to some parameters.

(5) The network equipment sends the information of the second system information request period and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration period of the second system information, and does not send the related information of the random access configuration period, wherein the random access configuration period is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(6) The network device sends the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle time interval of the second system information, does not send the relevant information of the random access configuration cycle, the information of the second system information request cycle, the relevant information of the random access configuration cycle, and the information of the second system information request cycle is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

(7) The network device sends the information of the period of the first random access configuration cycle and the related information of the random access configuration cycle corresponding to the second system information, and does not send the information of the second system information request cycle, wherein the information of the second system information request cycle is specified by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

In addition, the random access configuration period, the second system information request period, and the corresponding first random access configuration period of the second system information may all be specified by the protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, step S202 will not be provided in this embodiment.

In addition, the related information of the random access configuration cycle, the information of the second system information request cycle, and the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information may all be agreed by the protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, the step S202 will not be provided in this embodiment.

If the "relevant information of the random access configuration period" is sent by the network device, the "relevant information of the random access configuration period" can be carried in the third system information sent by the network device each time; if the "information of the request period of the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device may carry the "information of the request period of the second system information" in the third system information only when the information of the request period of the second system information "is updated, and after the information of the request period of the second system information" is sent to the terminal device, the terminal device stores the "information of the request period of the second system information", and after the "information of the request period of the second system information" is received again, updates the stored "information of the request period of the second system information", and may also carry the "information of the request period of the second system information" in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

If the "information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device may update the information "of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information, the third system information carries the information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information, and after the information is sent to the terminal equipment, the terminal device stores the information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information, after receiving the "information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information" again, the stored information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information is updated, and the information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information may also be carried in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

The third system information may be system information broadcast by the network device, such as RMSI, and the third system information may be system information that the terminal device cannot base on the request.

The following describes "information related to a random access configuration cycle", "information of a request cycle", and "information of a first random access configuration cycle period", respectively.

First, the "information on the random access configuration period" will be described.

Random access configurationThe relevant information of the cycle "includes: a frame where random access opportunity is located in a random access configuration period, a Subframe (Subframe Number) where the random access opportunity is located in the configuration period, a Starting symbol (Starting symbol), a random access time slot Number (Number of PRACH slots with a Subframe) in the Subframe, and the Number of the random access opportunity in the random access time slot

Duration of random access occasions

Next, the "information of the request cycle" will be described.

In this embodiment, for the information of the request period of one second system information, the information of the request period may indicate the following two types of information:

the first one is: the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple relation between the request period and the random access configuration period, for example, the request period is N times of the random access configuration period; the value of N may be some or all of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or 1 to 512, partially or totally. The multiple relation between the request period and the random access configuration period can mean that the request period is multiple of the random access configuration period.

If all the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information is used to indicate the multiple relationship between the request period and the random access configuration period, the following situations are provided:

if the request periods of all the second system information are the same, the terminal device may store information indicating a request period that is N times the random access configuration period, or the third system information may carry information indicating a request period that is N times the random access configuration period.

If at least two request periods of the second system information are different in all the second system information, at least two pieces of information indicating the request periods which are multiples of the random access configuration period may be stored in the terminal device, or at least two pieces of information indicating the request periods which are multiples of the random access configuration period may be carried in the third system information.

Since the random access configuration period is carried in the third system information, for the first system information to be requested, the terminal device may obtain the request period of the first system information to be requested according to the multiple relationship between the request period and the random access configuration period.

The second method is as follows: the information of the request period is used to indicate a value of the request period, which in this embodiment needs to be satisfied as a multiple of the random access configuration period. Specifically, the details of the embodiment are not repeated.

It can be understood that, in this embodiment, the content of the information of the request period of different second system information may be different, for example, the network device configures 5 types of second system information that may be based on the request, and the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 indicates a multiple relationship between the request period and the random access configuration period; the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 3, the second system information 4, and the second system information 5 indicates a value of the request period. At this time, the information of the request period has at least 2 pieces.

Of course, if the request periods of the 5 types of second system information are the same, in order to save signaling overhead, the information of the request period may be only one, and the information of the one request period is used to indicate the multiple relationship between the request period and the random access configuration period or the value of the request period. If the information of the request period is used to indicate that the request period is 4 times of the random access configuration period, and the random access configuration period carried in the second system information is 10ms, the request periods of the 5 types of second system information are all 40 ms.

Next, description will be made on "information of the first random access configuration cycle period".

The information of the first random access configuration cycle period is used to indicate a random access configuration cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period for composing the first random access configuration cycle period.

Optionally, the information of the first random access configuration cycle period may be used to indicate that the first random access configuration cycle period of the corresponding request cycle period constitutes the first random access configuration cycle period.

Optionally, the information of the first random access configuration cycle period may be used to indicate that the last random access configuration cycle period of the corresponding request cycle period constitutes the first random access configuration cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least two random access configuration cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period may be used to indicate that the 1 st and 2 nd random access configuration cycle periods of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first random access configuration cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least two random access configuration cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period may be used to indicate that the last and the second last random access configuration cycle periods of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first random access configuration cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least 4 random access configuration cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first random access configuration cycle period may be used to indicate that any two random access configuration cycle periods in the middle of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first random access configuration cycle period

It can be understood that, if the request period of all the second system information is the same and the request period information is one, the first random access configuration period information may also be one, that is, all the second system information share the same request period information and the same first random access configuration period information.

The forms of the information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access configuration period are explained below by specific examples.

A first case example: each type of the second system information corresponds to information of a request cycle and information of a first random access configuration cycle period, for example, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the random access configuration cycle, the information of the first random access configuration cycle period is used to indicate that a 1 st random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that a request cycle of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the random access configuration cycle, the information of the first random access configuration cycle period is used to indicate that a 2 nd random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period, and the information of the request cycle of the second system information 3 is used to indicate that a request cycle period of the second system information 3 included in the request cycle period is 8 times of the random access configuration cycle The information of the first random access configuration cycle period is used to indicate that the 1 st random access configuration cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 4 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 4 is 4 times of the random access configuration cycle, and the information of the first random access configuration cycle period is used to indicate that the 3 rd random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access configuration period are in the form of:

The identifier of the second system information 1 corresponds to an identifier 4 times of a random access configuration cycle, and an identifier of a 1 st random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 2 times of a random access configuration cycle, and an identifier of a 2 nd random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier 8 times of a random access configuration cycle, and an identifier of a 1 st random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 4 times of a random access configuration cycle, and an identifier of a 3 rd random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period;

example of the second case: all the second system information share the information of one request cycle and the information of the first random access configuration cycle period, for example, the information of one request cycle indicates that the request cycle of all the second system information is 4 times of the random access configuration cycle, and the information of one first random access configuration cycle period is used to indicate that the 1 st random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period of all the second system information. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access configuration period are in the form of:

An identifier of 4 times of a random access configuration cycle, and an identifier of a 1 st random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period.

(only one)

Third case example: all the second system information share information of one request cycle and information of one first random access configuration cycle period, for example, the information of one request cycle indicates that the request cycle of all the second system information is 4 times of the random access configuration cycle, the information of one first random access configuration cycle period is used for indicating that for the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, the 1 st random access configuration cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period, and for the second system information 3 and the second system information 4, the 2 nd random access configuration cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access configuration cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random access configuration period are in the form of:

and the identifier of 4 times of the random access configuration cycle, the identifiers of the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 correspond to the identifier of the 1 st random access configuration cycle period, and the identifiers of the second system information 3 and the second system information 4 correspond to the identifier of the 2 nd random access configuration cycle period. (only one).

For step S203, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; and determining a first random access configuration cycle time period in the request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access configuration cycle time period corresponding to the first system information.

Such as: the second system information 2 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 indicates that the request period of the second system information 2 is 4 times of a random access configuration period, the random access configuration period is 10ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 2 is 40ms, and the request period of the second system information 2 includes 4 random access configuration period periods. The information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information 2 indicates that the 1 st random access configuration cycle period in the request cycle period constitutes the first random access configuration cycle period, and then the 1 st random access configuration cycle period in the request cycle period is determined to be the first random access configuration cycle period of the second system information 2.

For another example: the second system information 3 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 3 indicates that the request period of the second system information 3 is 4 times of a random access configuration period, the random access configuration period is 10ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 3 is 40ms, and the request period of the second system information 3 includes 4 random access configuration period periods. The information of the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the second system information 3 indicates that the 2 nd random access configuration cycle period and the 3 rd random access configuration cycle period in the request cycle period constitute the first random access configuration cycle period, and then the 2 nd random access configuration cycle period and the 3 rd random access configuration cycle period in the request cycle period are determined to be the first random access configuration cycle period.

It can be understood that the method for determining the corresponding request period and the first random access configuration period corresponding to the first system information to be requested is the same.

The number of the random access configuration cycle periods constituting the first random access configuration cycle period may be equal to or smaller than the number of the random access configuration cycle periods included in the request cycle period.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a request cycle period and a first random access configuration cycle period according to an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 5, a request period of first system information to be requested is 40ms, a random access configuration period is 10ms, and a request period of the first system information to be requested includes 4 random access configuration period periods; the first random access configuration cycle period corresponding to the first system information to be requested is the 2 nd random access configuration cycle period of the 4 random access configuration cycle periods included in the request cycle period of the first system information to be requested.

To sum up, if the request period of the first system information is a multiple of the random access configuration period, and the number of the random access configuration cycle periods included in the request cycle period is smaller than the number of the random access configuration cycles included in the first random access configuration cycle period, the random access preamble does not need to be allocated to the first system information on the random access opportunity included in the random access configuration cycle period not included in the first random access configuration cycle period of the request cycle period, and the random access preambles available for other random access processes on the random access opportunity included in the random access configuration cycle period not included in the first random access configuration cycle period of the request cycle period are more, so that the overhead of the request system information on the random access preambles is reduced, and the influence of the request system information on other random access processes is reduced.

For step S204, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access configuration cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, that is, the target random access opportunity is the random access opportunity included in the first random access configuration cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 5, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from a plurality of random access opportunities included in the 2 nd random access configuration cycle period.

For the first system information, the specific implementation of determining the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information in the present embodiment refers to the previous embodiment.

The target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity included in a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information;

the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be: random access opportunities included in a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information and in a first set of random access opportunities; the first random access opportunity is a random access opportunity associated with a first SSB included in a request cycle period of the first system information, and the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal device; the meaning of SSB corresponding to the terminal device is shown in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, or,

When associating all SSBs sent in one cycle multiple times within a first random access configuration cycle period, a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity in a part of random access opportunities included in the first random access configuration cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, where a set of SSBs associated with the part of random access opportunities included in the first random access configuration cycle period includes all SSBs of the network device within one SSB sending cycle; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be a random access occasion associated with the first SSB among a part of random access occasions included in the first random access configuration cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information; the set of SSBs associated with a part of random access occasions included in the first random access configuration cycle period includes all SSBs of the network device in an SSB transmission cycle; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity comprises part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same SSB; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

The target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity comprises a random access opportunity which is associated with the first SSB in part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same SSB; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the third random access opportunity comprises a random access opportunity corresponding to the first system information in a request cycle period of the first system information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first random access configuration cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the third random access occasion includes a random access occasion corresponding to the first system information and associated with the first SSB within the request cycle period for the first system information.

The first random access opportunity and the second random access opportunity. The third random access occasions may be both agreed by the terminal device and the network device, or may be configured by the network device.

For step S205, after determining the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information, the request information for requesting the first system information may be transmitted at the target random access occasion; wherein the request information may be a random access preamble for requesting the first system information.

Fig. 6 is a signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 6, the method of this embodiment may include:

s301, the network equipment determines at least one of a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access association cycle corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the system information period of the second system information is a multiple of the request period of the second system information and is a multiple of the random access association period, the first random access association period is at least one random access association period included in the request period of the second system information, the random access association period is a period lasting for one random access association period, and the request period is a period lasting for one request period of the second system information;

S302, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access association period, information of a second system information request period and information of a corresponding first random association period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s303, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random association cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

s304, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random association cycle time period in the request cycle time period of the first system information;

s305, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

In the embodiment, the second system information terminal device may request system information, it may be understood that the number of types of the second system information may be at least one, the first system information in the embodiment is system information that the terminal device can request and system information to be requested, and it may be understood that the at least one type of the second system information that the terminal device can request includes the first system information to be requested. Wherein, the system information includes one or more system information blocks SIB, and if the SI3 includes SIB3 and SIB4, the request period and the first random association period corresponding to SIB3 and SIB4 are the same.

The meaning of the random access association period refers to the explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and is not described in detail in this embodiment.

For step S301, the network device determines a request cycle of second system information that can be requested by the terminal device, and at least one of periods of a first random access association cycle corresponding to the second system information includes the following situations:

(1) the network device determines a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal device, and does not determine a first random access association period corresponding to the second system information, wherein the first random access association period corresponding to the second system information is agreed by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters.

In addition, the request cycle of the second system information that the terminal device can request and the first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information may both be agreed by a protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, step S301 does not exist in this embodiment.

Request period for each type of second system information: in this embodiment, for each type of the second system information, the system information period of the second system information is a multiple of the request period of the second system information, such as L times, and is a multiple of the random access association period. The value of L may be at least one of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. The value of L may be fixed, agreed by a protocol, configured by a network device, or inferred according to some parameters, for example, inferred according to a period of system information.

For example, if the random access association period is 20ms, the system information period of the second system information 1 is 160ms, the request period of the second system information may be 80ms or 40ms, the system information period of the second system information 2 is 80ms, and the request period of the second system information may be 40 ms; the system information period of the second system information 3 is 320ms, the request period of the second system information may be 160ms or 80ms or 40ms, and so on.

It can be understood that, for each type of second system information, since the request period of the second system is a multiple of the random access association request period, the request period of the second system is a multiple of the random access association period.

The meaning of the "request cycle" in this embodiment refers to the explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and is not described in detail in this embodiment.

For example, the first random access association cycle period may be a first random access association cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a second random access association cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a last random access association cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, two random access association cycle periods before the second system information request cycle period, two random access association cycle periods after the second system information request cycle period, a first and middle random access association cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a last and middle random access association cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, or a last and middle random access association cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, the first n random access association cycle periods in the request cycle period of the second system information, the last n random access association cycle periods in the request cycle period of the second system information, and the middle n random access association cycle periods in the request cycle period of the second system information may be also provided, where n may have at least one value of 1,2,3,4,8,16,32,64, 128.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information in all the second system information, where the request cycle periods of the at least two second system information include different first random access association cycle periods.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information in all the second system information, and the request cycle periods of the at least two second system information may include the same first random access association cycle period.

For example, the system information period of the second system information 1 is 2 times of the request period of the second system information 1, the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 random access association period periods, and the 1 st random access association period of the request period of the second system information 1 is the first random association period corresponding to the second system information 1; the system information period of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the request period of the second system information 1, and the 2 nd random access association period of the request period of the second system information 2 is the first random association period corresponding to the second system information 2.

For the information of the system information cycle of the system information sent by the network device in step S302, the related information of the random access association cycle, at least one item of the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first random association cycle period of the second system information, at least one item of the meaning of the terminal device is: the network device sends 15 cases of any one or any two or any three or all four of the information of the system information period of the system information, the related information of the random access association period, the information of the second system information request period, and the information of the corresponding first random association period of the second system information, which are specifically referred to step S102 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or step S202 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

In each of the 15 cases, the item corresponding to the information that is not sent by the network device (for example, the item corresponding to the information related to the random access association period is the random access association period) may be specified by a protocol, or may be fixed, or may be inferred according to some parameters.

If the system information period of the system information, the random access association period, and the first random association period of the second system information request period corresponding to the second system information are all specified by a protocol, or are fixed, or are inferred according to some parameters, step S302 may not be included in this embodiment.

Wherein, if the information of the system information period of the system information and the related information of the random access association period are sent by the network equipment, both can carry in the third system information sent by the network device each time if the "information of the request period of the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device can carry the information of the request period of the second system information in the third system information when the information of the request period of the second system information is updated, and after the information is sent to the terminal device, the terminal device stores the information of the request period of the second system information, after "the information of the request period of the second system information" is received again, the stored "information of the request period of the second system information" is updated, and "the information of the request period of the second system information" may also be carried in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

The following describes "information of a system information cycle of system information", "information related to a random access association cycle", "information of a request cycle", and "information of a first random association cycle period", respectively.

First, the "information of the system information cycle" will be described.

For each system information, the information of the system information period of the system information in the present embodiment is used to indicate the value of the system information period of the system information. The set of various system information includes system information that can be requested by the terminal device, and also includes system information that cannot be requested by the terminal device, that is, all system information in the current system. Such as: the information of the system information 1 period is used to indicate that the system information 1 has a system information period of 40ms, the information of the system information 2 period is used to indicate that the system information 2 has a system information period of 80ms, the information of the system information 3 period is used to indicate that the system information 1 has a system information period of 160ms, the information of the system information 4 period is used to indicate that the system information 4 has a system information period of 320ms, and so on.

Next, the "information on the random access association period" will be described.

Referring to the explanation of the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the description of the present embodiment is omitted.

Next, the "information of the request cycle" will be described.

In this embodiment, for the information of the request period of the second system information, the information of the request period may indicate the following two types of information:

the first one is: the information of the request period is used to indicate the multiple relationship between the corresponding system information period and the request period, for example, the system information period is L times the request period, and then the information of the request period can be used to indicate that the request period is 1/L of the corresponding system information period. The multiple relationship between the system information period and the request period may refer to that the system information period is a multiple of the request period.

The second method is as follows: the information of the request period is used to indicate a value of the request period, which in this embodiment needs to satisfy 1/L of the corresponding system information period and is a multiple of the random access association period.

It is understood that, in this embodiment, the content of the information of the request period of different second system information may be different, for example, the network device configures 5 types of second system information that may be based on the request, and the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 indicates a multiple relationship between the request period and the corresponding system information period; the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 3, the second system information 4, and the second system information 5 indicates a value of the request period. At this time, the information of the request period has at least 2 pieces.

Finally, the "information of the first random association cycle period" will be explained. The explanation of the "information of the first random association cycle period" refers to the explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, and is not described in detail in this embodiment.

The forms of the information of the request cycle of the second system information and the information of the first random association cycle period are explained below by specific examples.

Such as: if the terminal device can request the second system information 1, the second system information 2, the second system information 3, and the second system information 4.

Each type of second system information corresponds to information of one request cycle and information of a first random association cycle period, for example, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 1 is 1/2 of the system information cycle of the second system information 1, the information of the first random association cycle period is used to indicate that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random association cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 2 is 1/2 of the system information cycle of the second system information 2, the information of the first random association cycle period is used to indicate that the 2 nd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random association cycle period, and the information of the request cycle of the second system information 3 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 3 is 1 of the system information cycle of the second system information 3 And/4, the information of the first random association cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random association cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 4 is used for indicating that the request cycle of the second system information 4 is 1/8 of the system information cycle of the second system information 4, and the information of the first random association cycle period is used for indicating that the 3 rd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random association cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random association period are in the form of:

The identifier of the second system information 1 corresponds to the identifier of 1/2 times of the system information period of the second system information 1, and the identifier of the 1 st random access association period of the request period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 1/2 times of the system information period of the second system information 2, and an identifier of the 2 nd random access association period of the request period;

the identifier of the second system information 3 corresponds to an identifier which is 1/4 times of the system information period of the second system information 3, and an identifier of the 1 st random access association period of the request period;

the identifier of the second system information 4 corresponds to an identifier of 1/8 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 4, and an identifier of the 3 rd random access association cycle period of the request cycle period.

Example of the second case: the information of the request period of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 1 is 1/2 of the system information period of the second system information 1, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 2 is 1/2 of the system information period of the second system information 2, the information of the request period of the second system information 3 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 3 is 1/4 of the system information period of the second system information 3, and the information of the request period of the second system information 4 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 4 is 1/8 of the system information period of the second system information 4; all the second system information shares one piece of information of the first random association cycle period, and the information of the first random association cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period of the second system information is the first random association cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random association period are in the form of:

The identification of the second system information 1 corresponds to the identification of 1/2 of the system information cycle of the second system information 1;

the identification of the second system information 2 corresponds to the identification of 1/2 of the system information cycle of the second system information 2;

the identification of the second system information 3 corresponds to the identification of 1/4 of the system information cycle of the second system information 3;

the identification of the second system information 4 corresponds to the identification of 1/8 of the system information period of the second system information 4.

Identification of 1 st random access association cycle period. (Only one item, the second system information 1, the second system information 2, the identification of the second system information 3, and the second system information 4 are common)

Third case example: all the second system information shares one piece of information of the request period, the information of the request period is used for indicating that the request period of the second system information is 1/2 of the system information period of the corresponding second system information, that is, the information of the request period of the second system information 1 is 1/2 of the system information period of the second system information 2, the request period of the second system information 2 is 1/2 of the system information period of the second system information 2, the request period of the second system information 3 is 1/2 of the system information period of the second system information 3, and the request period of the second system information 4 is 1/2 of the system information period of the second system information 4; all the second system information shares one piece of information of the first random association cycle period, and the information of the first random association cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st random access association cycle period of the request cycle period of the second system information is the first random association cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the first random association period are in the form of:

The identifier of 1/2 of the corresponding system information cycle and the identifier of the 1 st random access association cycle period. (only one item, the second system information 1, the second system information 2, the identification of the second system information 3, and the second system information 4 are common).

For step S303, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; and determining the first random association cycle time period according to the information of the first random association cycle time period.

Such as: the second system information 2 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 indicates that the request period of the second system information 2 is 1/2 of the system information period, and the system information period of the second system information 2 is 80ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 2 is 40 ms; if the random access association cycle is 20ms, determining that the request cycle period of the second system information 2 includes 2 random access association cycle periods;

the information of the first random association cycle period corresponding to the second system information 2 indicates that the 1 st random access association cycle period in the request cycle period of the second system information 2 constitutes the first random association cycle period, and then it is determined that the 1 st random access association cycle period in the request cycle period is the first random association cycle period of the second system information 2.

For another example: the second system information 3 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 3 indicates that the request period of the second system information 3 is 1/2 of the system information period, and the system information period of the second system information 3 is 160ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 3 is 80 ms; if the random access association cycle is 20ms, determining that the request cycle period of the second system information 2 includes 4 random access association cycle periods;

the information of the first random association cycle period corresponding to the second system information 3 indicates that the 2 nd and 3 rd random access association cycle periods in the request cycle period of the second system information 3 constitute the first random association cycle period, and then it is determined that the 2 nd and 3 rd random access association cycle periods in the request cycle period are the first random association cycle period of the second system information 3.

It is understood that the method of determining the corresponding request period and the first random association period is the same for each type of first system information to be requested.

The number of the random access association cycle periods forming the first random association cycle period may be equal to or less than the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle period.

To sum up, if the request period of the first system information is a multiple of the random access association period, and the number of the random access association cycle periods included in the request cycle period is smaller than the number of the system information cycles included in the first random association cycle period, the random access preambles are not allocated to the first system information on the random access occasions included in the random access association cycle periods not included in the first random association cycle period of the request cycle period, and the random access preambles available for other random access processes on the random access occasions included in the random access association cycle periods not included in the first random association cycle period of the request cycle period are more, so that the overhead of the request system information on the random access preambles is reduced, and the influence of the request system information on other random access processes is reduced.

For step S304, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, that is, the target random access opportunity is the random access opportunity included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information.

Specifically, the network device configures at least one beam for the cell in which the terminal device is located, and the terminal device needs to send the uplink information on the at least one beam configured for the cell in which the terminal device is located by the network device, that is, the terminal device needs to send the uplink information on the beam supported by the cell in which the terminal device is located.

for a first system information to be requested, determining a target random access opportunity of the first system information from random access opportunities associated with a first SSB included in a first random access association cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information; the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal device, that is, a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a first random access association cycle period included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first set of random access occasions is random access occasions associated with a first SSB included in the request cycle period of the first system information, and the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal device. The first set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions, and the random access occasions in the first set of random access occasions may be referred to as first random access occasions.

Further, the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be a random access occasion associated with the first SSB among a part of random access occasions included in the first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information.

The second improved mode is as follows: if one SSB is associated with a plurality of random access opportunities, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is the random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in a first random access association cycle period in a request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity set comprises part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same SSB. The second set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions, and the random access occasions in the second set of random access occasions may be referred to as second random access occasions.

Further, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in a first random access association cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity set comprises random access opportunities associated with the first SSB in part of random access opportunities in each random access time set included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access time set are associated with the same SSB.

The third improved mode is as follows: if one SSB is associated with a plurality of random access opportunities, the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the third set of random access occasions includes random access occasions corresponding to the first system information within a request cycle period of the first system information. The third set of random access occasions includes one or more random access occasions, and the random access occasions in the third set of random access occasions may be referred to as three random access occasions.

For step S305, after determining the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information, the request information for requesting the first system information may be transmitted at the target random access occasion; wherein the request information may be a random access preamble for requesting the first system information.

Fig. 7 is a signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 7, the method of this embodiment may include:

s401, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access configuration cycle corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the system information period of the second system information is a multiple of the request period of the second system information and is a multiple of the random access configuration period, the first random access configuration period is at least one random access configuration period included in the request period of the second system information, the random access configuration period is a period lasting for one random access configuration period, and the request period is a period lasting for one request period of the second system information;

S402, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access configuration period, information of a second system information request period, and information of a corresponding first random association period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s403, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random association cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

s404, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random association cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information;

s405, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

Specifically, the difference between this embodiment and the previous embodiment is that the request period of the second system information in this embodiment is a multiple of the random access configuration period, and the remaining specific implementation is similar to the previous embodiment, and is not described herein again.

The communication method of the embodiment can distribute the random access preamble for the request system information on part of the random access opportunity in the request period, and reduce the overhead of the request system information on the random access preamble, thereby reducing the influence of the request system information on other random access processes.

Fig. 8 is a signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 8, the method of this embodiment may include:

s501, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request cycle of the second system information is a multiple of the system information cycle of the second system information, the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the request cycle period of the second system information, the system information cycle period is a period of time lasting for one system information cycle of the second system information, and the request cycle period is a period of time lasting for one request cycle of the second system information;

s502, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information cycle of the system information, information of a second system information request cycle, and information of a first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information to the terminal equipment;

S503, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first system information cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first system information cycle time period of the first system information;

s504, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first system information cycle period in the request cycle period of the first system information;

s505, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

In the embodiment, the second system information terminal device may request system information, it may be understood that the number of types of the second system information may be at least one, the first system information in the embodiment is system information that the terminal device can request and system information to be requested, and it may be understood that the at least one type of the second system information that the terminal device can request includes the first system information to be requested. Wherein, the system information comprises one or more system information blocks SIB, and if the SI3 comprises SIB3 and SIB4, the request period and the first system information period corresponding to SIB3 and SIB4 are the same.

The meaning of the system information period in this implementation refers to the meaning in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and is not described herein again.

For step S501, the network device determines a request cycle of the second system information that can be requested by the terminal device, at least one of periods of the first system information cycle corresponding to the second system information includes the following situations:

(1) the network equipment determines a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment, and does not determine a first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information, wherein the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information is agreed by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters;

(2) The network equipment determines a first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information, and does not determine a request cycle of the second system information, wherein the request cycle of the second system information is agreed by a protocol, or is fixed, or is deduced according to some parameters;

(3) the network equipment determines a request cycle of second system information capable of being requested by the terminal equipment and a first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information.

In addition, the request cycle of the second system information that the terminal device can request and the period of the first system information cycle corresponding to the second system information may also be both agreed by a protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, step S501 does not exist in this embodiment.

The request cycle of the second system information and the period of the first system information cycle are explained below, respectively.

Request period for each type of second system information: in this embodiment, the request period of the second system information may be a multiple of the system information period of the second system information, such as G times. The value of G may be at least one of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. Since the request period is a multiple of the corresponding system information period, the request period is a multiple of the corresponding system information period. The value of G may be fixed, agreed by a protocol, configured by a network device, or inferred according to some parameters, for example, inferred according to a period of system information.

For example, the system information period of the second system information 1 is 160ms, and the request period of the second system information may be 160ms or 320 ms; the system information period of the second system information 2 is 80ms, and the request period of the second system information may be 160 ms; the system information period of the second system information 3 is 40ms, the request period of the second system information may be 80ms or 120ms or 160ms, and so on.

The explanation of the "request period" in this embodiment refers to the explanation in the implementation shown in fig. 2, and is not described in detail in this embodiment.

For the first system information cycle period corresponding to each type of the second system information, the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period. It can be understood that, for different second system information, if the system information periods of the second system information are different, the corresponding system information period periods are different. Such as: the system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 1 is a period lasting for one system information cycle of the second system information 1, the system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 2 is a period lasting for one system information cycle of the second system information 2, the system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 3 is a period lasting for one system information cycle of the second system information 3, and so on.

The first system information cycle period may be a first system information cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a second system information cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a last system information cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a first two system information cycle periods in the second system information request cycle period, a last two system information cycle periods in the second system information request cycle period, a first and middle system information cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a last and middle system information cycle period in the second system information request cycle period, a first n system information cycle periods in the second system information request cycle period, or the last n system information cycle periods within the request cycle period of the second system information, where n may have at least one value of 1,2,3,4,8,16,32,64, 128.

For example, the request period of the second system information 1 is 4 times the system information period, and the system information period of the second system information 1 is 40ms, the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 system information period periods, and the 1 st system information period of the request period is the first system information period.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information in all the second system information, where the request cycle period includes a first system information cycle period that is different from the request cycle period.

Optionally, there may be at least two second system information among all the second system information, and the request cycle periods of the at least two second system information may include the same first system information cycle period.

For the information of the system information cycle of the system information sent by the network device in step S502, the meaning of at least one item of the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first system information cycle period of the second system information, in the information of the first system information cycle period, is: the network device sends 7 cases, that is, any one or any two or all three of information of a system information cycle of the system information, related information of a random access association cycle, information of a second system information request cycle and information of a corresponding first random association cycle period of the second system information, which are shown in step S102 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or step S202 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

The corresponding items of information not sent by the network device in each of these 7 cases (meaning the same as the above embodiment) may be protocol-specified, or fixed, or inferred from some parameters.

In addition, if the system information period of the system information, the second system information request period, and the corresponding first system information period of the second system information are all specified by the protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters. At this time, the present embodiment will not have step S502.

If the "information of the system information period of the system information" is sent by the network device, the "information of the system information period of the system information" may be carried in the third system information sent by the network device each time; if the "information of the request period of the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device may carry the "information of the request period of the second system information" in the third system information only when the information of the request period of the second system information "is updated, and after the information of the request period of the second system information" is sent to the terminal device, the terminal device stores the "information of the request period of the second system information", and after the "information of the request period of the second system information" is received again, updates the stored "information of the request period of the second system information", and may also carry the "information of the request period of the second system information" in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

If the "information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information" is sent by the network device, the network device may update the information "of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information, the third system information carries the information of the first system information period corresponding to the second system information, and after the information is sent to the terminal equipment, the terminal device stores the information "of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information, after receiving the "information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information" again, the stored "information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information" may also be updated, and the "information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information" may also be carried in the third system information sent by the network device each time.

The following describes "information of the system information cycle", "information of the request cycle", and "information of the first system information cycle period", respectively.

First, the "information of the system information cycle" will be described.

The description of "system information period information of system information" refers to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and is not repeated in this embodiment.

Next, the "information of the request cycle" will be described.

the first one is: the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple relation between the request period and the system information period, for example, the request period is G times of the corresponding system information period; g may have a value of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. The multiple relation between the request period and the system information period can mean that the request period is a multiple of the system information period.

The second method is as follows: the information of the request period is used to indicate a value of the request period, which needs to be satisfied as a multiple of the system information period in this embodiment.

Next, description is made on "information of the first system information cycle period".

The information of the first system information cycle period is used to indicate the system information cycle periods included in the corresponding request cycle period to constitute the first system information cycle period.

Optionally, the information of the first system information cycle period may be used to indicate that the first system information cycle period of the corresponding request cycle period constitutes the first system information cycle period.

Alternatively, the information of the first system information cycle period may be used to indicate that the last system information cycle period of the corresponding request cycle period constitutes the first system information cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least two system information cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first system information cycle period may be used to indicate that the 1 st and 2 nd system information cycle periods of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first system information cycle period.

Alternatively, if the request cycle period includes at least two system information cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first system information cycle period may be used to indicate that the last and second to last system information cycle periods of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first system information cycle period.

Optionally, if the request cycle period includes at least 4 system information cycle periods, the information of the corresponding first system information cycle period may be used to indicate that any two system information cycle periods in the middle of the corresponding request cycle period constitute the first system information cycle period.

The forms of the information of the request cycle of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information cycle are explained below by specific examples.

Each of the second system information corresponds to information of one request cycle and information of a first system information cycle period, for example, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 1 is 2 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 1, the information of the first system information cycle period is used to indicate that a 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that a request cycle of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 2, the information of the first system information cycle period is used to indicate that a 2 nd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 3 is 4 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 3, the information of the first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 4 is used for indicating that the request cycle of the second system information 4 is 8 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 4, and the information of the first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 3 rd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information period are in the form of:

The identifier of the second system information 1 corresponds to an identifier of 2 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 1, and the identifier of the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 2 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 2, and the identifier of the 2 nd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 3 corresponds to an identifier of 4 times of the system information cycle of the second system information 3, and the identifier of the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identification of the second system information 4 corresponds to an identification of 8 times the system information cycle of the second system information 4, and the identification of the 3 rd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period.

Example of the second case: the information of the request period of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 1 is 2 times the system information period of the second system information 1, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 2 is 2 times the system information period of the second system information 2, the information of the request period of the second system information 3 is used to indicate that the request period of the second system information 3 is 4 times the system information period of the second system information 3, and the information of the request period of the second system information 4 is 8 times the system information period of the second system information 4; all the second system information shares one piece of information of the first system information cycle period, and the information of the first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st system information cycle period of the request cycle period of the second system information is the first system information cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information period are in the form of:

The identifier of the second system information 1 corresponds to an identifier of 2 times the system information period of the second system information 1;

the identification of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identification of 2 times the system information cycle of the second system information 2;

the identification of the second system information 3 corresponds to an identification of 4 times the system information cycle of the second system information 3;

the identification of the second system information 4 corresponds to an identification of 8 times the system information period of the second system information 4.

Identification of the 1 st system information cycle period. (only one item, the second system information 1, the second system information 2, the identification of the second system information 3, and the second system information 4 are common).

Third case example: all the second system information shares one piece of information of the request period, the information of the request period is used for indicating that the request period of the second system information is 2 times of the system information period of the corresponding second system information, that is, the information of the request period of the second system information 1 is 2 times of the system information period of the second system information 2, the request period of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the system information period of the second system information 2, the request period of the second system information 3 is 2 times of the system information period of the second system information 3, and the request period of the second system information 4 is 2 times of the system information period of the second system information 4; all the second system information shares one piece of information of the first system information cycle period, and the information of the first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st system information cycle period of the request cycle period of the second system information is the first system information cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information period are in the form of:

An identification of 2 times of the corresponding system information cycle, and an identification of the 1 st system information cycle period. (only one item, the second system information 1, the second system information 2, the identification of the second system information 3, and the second system information 4 are common).

For step S503, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first system information cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first system information cycle time period of the first system information;

for example, the second system information 2 is the first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 indicates that the request period of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the system information period, and the system information period of the second system information 2 is 80ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 2 is 160ms, and the request period of the second system information 2 includes 2 system information period periods;

the information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 2 indicates that the 1 st system information cycle period in the request cycle period of the second system information 2 constitutes the first system information cycle period, and then the 1 st system information cycle period in the request cycle period is determined to be the first system information cycle period of the second system information 2.

For another example: the second system information 3 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 3 indicates that the request period of the second system information 3 is 4 times of the system information period, and the system information period of the second system information 3 is 40ms, and then the request period of the second system information 3 is determined to be 160 ms; determining that the request cycle period of the second system information 3 includes 4 system information cycle periods;

the information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 3 indicates that the 2 nd and 3 rd system information cycle periods in the request cycle period of the second system information 3 constitute a first random association cycle period, and then it is determined that the 2 nd and 3 rd following system information cycle periods in the request cycle period are the first system information cycle period of the second system information 3.

It can be understood that the method of determining the corresponding request period and the first system information period corresponding to the first system information to be requested is the same.

The number of the system information cycle periods constituting the first system information cycle period may be equal to or smaller than the number of the system information cycle periods included in the request cycle period.

To sum up, if the request period of the first system information is a multiple of the system information period, and the number of system information cycle periods included in the request period is smaller than the number of system information cycles included in the first system information cycle period, random access preambles do not need to be allocated to the first system information on the random access occasions included in the system information cycle periods not included in the first system information cycle periods of the request period, and more random access preambles available for other random access processes are available on the random access occasions included in the system information cycle periods not included in the first system information cycle periods of the request period, thereby reducing the overhead of requesting the system information on the random access preambles, and reducing the influence of requesting the system information on other random access processes.

For step S504, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first system information cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information;

The target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity included in a first system information cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information;

the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be: random access opportunities included in a first system information cycle period within a request cycle period of first system information and in a first set of random access opportunities; the first random access opportunity comprises a random access opportunity associated with a first SSB in a first system information request period, wherein the first SSB is an SSB corresponding to the terminal equipment; the meaning of the SSB corresponding to the terminal device refers to the embodiment shown in fig. 2; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

when all SSBs sent in one cycle are associated multiple times within a first system information cycle period, a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information may be a random access opportunity in a part of random access opportunities included in the first system information cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, where a set of SSBs associated with the part of random access opportunities included in the first system information cycle period includes all SSBs of the network device within one SSB sending cycle; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

The target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be a random access occasion associated with the first SSB among a part of random access occasions included in the first system information cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information; the set of SSBs associated with a part of random access occasions included in the first system information cycle period includes all SSBs of the network device in an SSB transmission cycle; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a second random access opportunity set included in a first system information cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity comprises part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same SSB; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information may be a random access occasion in a second set of random access occasions included in a first system information cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the second random access opportunity comprises a random access opportunity which is associated with the first SSB in part of random access opportunities in each random access unit included in the request period of the first system information, and a plurality of random access opportunities in one random access unit are associated with the same SSB; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

The target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first system information cycle time period within a request cycle time period of the first system information; the third random access opportunity comprises a random access opportunity corresponding to the first system information in a request cycle period of the first system information; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is a random access opportunity in a third random access opportunity set included in a first system information cycle time period within a request cycle time period of the first system information; the third random access occasion includes a random access occasion corresponding to the first system information and associated with the first SSB within the request cycle period for the first system information.

For step S505, after the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information is determined, request information for requesting the first system information may be transmitted at the target random access occasion; wherein the request information may be a random access preamble for requesting the first system information.

Fig. 9 is a sixth signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 9, the method of this embodiment may include:

s601, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request cycle of the second system information is a multiple of the target system information cycle of the target system information, the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the request cycle period of the second system information, the system information cycle period is a period of time lasting for one target system information cycle of the target system information, and the request cycle period is a period of time lasting for one request cycle of the second system information;

S602, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information cycle of the system information, at least one item of information of a second system information request cycle and information of a corresponding first system information cycle period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s603, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first system information cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first system information cycle time period of the first system information;

s604, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first system information cycle period in the request cycle period of the first system information;

s605, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

For step S601, the network device determines a request cycle of the second system information that can be requested by the terminal device, at least one of periods of the first system information cycle corresponding to the second system information includes the following situations:

In addition, the request cycle of the second system information that the terminal device can request and the period of the first system information cycle corresponding to the second system information may also be both agreed by a protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters, at this time, step S601 does not exist in this embodiment.

Request period for each type of second system information: in this embodiment, the request period of the second system information may be a multiple of the system information period of the target system information, such as H times. The value of H may be at least one of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or any of 1 to 512 in whole or in part. Since the request period is a multiple of the corresponding system information period, the request period is a multiple of the corresponding system information period. The value of H may be fixed, agreed by a protocol, configured by a network device, or inferred according to some parameters, for example, inferred according to a period of system information.

For example, the system information period of the target system information is 40ms, the system information period of the second system information 1 is determined to be 160ms, the system information period of the second system information 2 is determined to be 80ms, the request period of the second system information 3 may be 80ms, the request period of the second system information 4 may be 120ms, and so on.

Since the request period may be a multiple of the target system information period, the request period is a multiple of the system information period.

The target system information period may be any one of the following:

The minimum system information period in the system information periods corresponding to all the second system information;

the minimum system information period in the system information periods corresponding to all the system information;

the system information period corresponding to all the second system information is the largest system information period;

the system information period corresponding to all the system information is the largest system information period;

the largest system information period except the system information period corresponding to the SIB1 in all the system information;

the minimum system information period except the system information period corresponding to the SIB1 in all the system information;

the maximum system information period is the system information period except the system information periods corresponding to SIB1 and SIB 2;

the minimum system information period in all the system information except the system information periods corresponding to SIB1 and SIB 2;

any system information period in the system information periods corresponding to all the second system information.

For the first system information cycle period corresponding to each type of the second system information, the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the corresponding request cycle period. It can be understood that, for different second system information, the corresponding system information cycle periods are the same, and are all a period of time that lasts for a target system information cycle of one target system information.

For example, if the network device determines that the request period of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the target system information period, the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 system information period periods, and the 1 st system information period of the request period is the first system information period.

For the information of the system information cycle of the system information sent by the network device in step S602, the meaning of at least one item of the information of the second system information request cycle and the information of the corresponding first system information cycle period of the second system information, in the terminal device, is: the network device sends 7 cases, that is, any one or any two or all three of information of a system information cycle of the system information, related information of a random access association cycle, information of a second system information request cycle and information of a corresponding first random association cycle period of the second system information, which are shown in step S102 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or step S202 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

In addition, if the system information period of the system information, the second system information request period, and the corresponding first system information period of the second system information are all specified by the protocol, or fixed, or inferred according to some parameters. At this time, the present embodiment will not have step S602.

First, the "information of the system information cycle" will be described.

The description of "system information period information of system information" refers to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and is not repeated in this embodiment. The target system information period is one of the system information periods.

Next, the "information of the request cycle" will be described.

the first one is: the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple relation between the request period and the target system information period, for example, the request period is H times of the target system information period; h may have a value of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512; or 1 to 512, or any of all or part thereof. The multiple relation between the request period and the target system information period can mean that the request period is multiple of the target system information period;

if all the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information is used to indicate the multiple relationship between the request period and the target system information period, the following situations are provided:

If the request period of the second system information is the same, information indicating a request period H times the target system information period may be stored in the terminal device, or the third system information may carry information indicating a request period H times the target system information period.

If at least two request periods of the second system information are different in all the second system information, at least two pieces of information indicating the request periods which are multiples of the target system information period may be stored in the terminal device, or at least two pieces of information indicating the request periods which are multiples of the target system information period may be carried in the third system information.

The second method is as follows: the information of the request period is used to indicate the value of the request period, which needs to be satisfied as a multiple of the target system information period in this embodiment.

If all the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information is used to indicate the value of the request period, the following situations may occur:

If the request periods of at least two pieces of second system information in all pieces of second system information are different, at least two pieces of information for indicating the values of the request periods may be stored in the terminal device, or at least two pieces of value information for indicating the request periods may be carried in the third system information.

It is understood that, in this embodiment, the content of the information of the request period of different second system information may be different, for example, the network device configures 5 types of information that may be based on the requested second system information, and the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 indicates a multiple relationship between the request period and the target system information period; the information of the request period corresponding to the second system information 3, the second system information 4, and the second system information 5 indicates a value of the request period. At this time, the information of the request period has at least 2 pieces.

Of course, if the request periods of the 5 types of second system information are the same, in order to save signaling overhead, the request period may be only one piece of information, and the one piece of information of the request period is used to indicate the multiple relationship between the request period and the target system information period or the value of the request period. If the information of the request period is used to indicate that the request period is 4 times of the target system information period, and the target system information period carried in the second system information is 20ms, the request periods of the 5 types of second system information are all 80 ms.

It can be understood that, if the request periods of the second system information are the same and the request period information is one, the first system information period information may also be one, that is, all the second system information share the same request period information and the same first system information period information.

A first case example: each type of the second system information corresponds to information of one request cycle and information of a first system information cycle period, for example, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 1 is used to indicate that the request cycle of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the target system information cycle, the information of the first system information cycle period is used to indicate that a 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 2 is used to indicate that a request cycle of the second system information 2 is 2 times of the target system information cycle, the information of the first system information cycle period is used to indicate that a 2 nd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 3 is used to indicate that a request cycle of the second system information 3 is 8 times of the target system information cycle, the information of the first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, the information of the request cycle of the second system information 4 is used for indicating that the request cycle of the second system information 4 is 4 times of the target system information cycle, and the information of the first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 3 rd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information period are in the form of:

The identifier of the second system information 1 corresponds to an identifier of 4 times of the target system information cycle, and the identifier of the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier of 2 times of the target system information cycle, and an identifier of the 2 nd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identifier of the second system information 2 corresponds to an identifier 8 times of the target system information cycle, and an identifier of the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

the identification of the second system information 2 corresponds to the identification of 4 times of the target system information cycle, and the identification of the 3 rd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period.

Example of the second case: all the second system information share the information of one request cycle and the information of the first system information cycle period, for example, the information of one request cycle indicates that the request cycle of all the second system information is 4 times of the target system information cycle, and the information of one first system information cycle period is used for indicating that the 1 st system information cycle period is the first system information cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information period are in the form of:

An identification of 4 times of the target system information cycle, and an identification of the 1 st system information cycle period. (only one)

Third case example: all the second system information share information of one request cycle and information of one first system information cycle period, for example, the information of one request cycle indicates that the request cycle of all the second system information is 4 times of the target system information cycle, the information of one first system information cycle period is used for indicating that for the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, the 1 st system information cycle period of the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period, and for the second system information 3 and the second system information 4, the 2 nd system information cycle period of the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period. The information of the request period of the second system information and the information of the period of the first system information period are in the form of:

the identifier of the target system information cycle is 4 times, the identifiers of the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 correspond to the identifier of the 1 st system information cycle period included in the request cycle period, and the identifiers of the second system information 3 and the second system information 4 correspond to the identifier of the 2 nd system information cycle period included in the request cycle period. (only one).

For step S603, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; and determining the first system information cycle period according to the information of the first system information cycle period.

Such as: the second system information 1 is first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 1 indicates that the request period of the second system information 1 is 4 times of the target system information period, and the target system information period is 20ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 1 is 80ms, and the request period of the second system information 1 includes 4 system information period periods. And if the information of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 1 indicates that the 1 st system information cycle period in the request cycle period constitutes the first system information cycle period, determining that the 1 st system information cycle period in the request cycle period is the first system information cycle period of the second system information 2.

For another example: the second system information 2 is the first system information to be requested, the information of the request period of the second system information 2 indicates that the request period of the second system information 2 is 4 times of the target system information period, and the target system information period is 20ms, it is determined that the request period of the second system information 2 is 80ms, and the request period of the second system information 2 includes 4 system information period periods. And if the information indication of the first system information cycle period corresponding to the second system information 2 indicates that the 2 nd system information cycle period and the 3 rd system information cycle period in the request cycle period form the first system information cycle period, determining that the 2 nd system information cycle period and the 3 rd system information cycle period in the request cycle period are the first system information cycle period.

To sum up, if the request period of the first system information is a multiple of the target system information period, and the number of system information cycle periods included in the request cycle period is smaller than the number of system information cycle periods included in the first system information cycle period, random access preambles do not need to be allocated to the first system information on the random access occasions included in the system information cycle periods not included in the first system information cycle period of the request cycle period, and more random access preambles available for other random access processes are available on the random access occasions of the system information cycle periods not included in the first system information cycle period of the request cycle period, thereby reducing the overhead of the request system information on the random access preambles, and reducing the influence of the request system information on other random access processes.

For step S604, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first system information cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information, that is, the target random access opportunity is the random access opportunity included in the first system information cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information.

Specifically, for the first system information, the specific implementation of determining the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information in the present embodiment refers to the embodiment shown in fig. 2;

For step S605, after the target random access occasion for requesting the first system information is determined, request information for requesting the first system information may be transmitted at the target random access occasion; wherein the request information may be a random access preamble for requesting the first system information.

Fig. 10 is a signaling interaction diagram seven of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 10, the method of the present embodiment may include:

s701, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request cycle of the second system information is a multiple of the system information cycle of the second system information and is a multiple of a first random access association cycle, the first random access association cycle period is at least one random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period of the second system information, the random access association cycle period is a period lasting for one random access association cycle, and the request cycle period is a period lasting for one request cycle of the second system information;

S702, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access association period, information of a second system information request period and information of a corresponding first random access association period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s703, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access association cycle time period included in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to information of the first random access association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

s704, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period of the first system information;

s705, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

Specifically, the specific implementation of this embodiment refers to the related embodiments described above, and is not described herein again.

It is understood that S701 and step S702 may not be included in the present embodiment, for the specific reason, refer to the description in any one of fig. 2 to 7.

Fig. 11 is an eighth signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 11, the method of this embodiment may include:

s801, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access configuration cycle corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request period of the second system information is a multiple of the system information period of the second system information and is a multiple of the first random access configuration period, the first random access configuration period is at least one random access configuration period included in the request period of the second system information, the random access configuration period is a period lasting for one random access configuration period, and the request period is a period lasting for one request period of the second system information;

S802, the network equipment sends information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access configuration period, information of a second system information request period and information of a corresponding first random access configuration period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s803, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access configuration cycle time period included in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to information of the first random access configuration cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

s804, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period of the first system information;

s805, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

It is understood that S801 and step S802 may not be included in the present embodiment, for the specific reason, refer to the description in any one of fig. 2 to 7.

Fig. 12 is a signaling interaction diagram nine of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 12, the method of this embodiment may include:

s901, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the target system information period of the target system information is a multiple of the request period of the second system information and is a multiple of the first random access association period, the first random access association period is at least one random access association period included in the request period of the second system information, the random access association period is a period lasting for one random access association period, and the request period is a period lasting for one request period of the second system information;

S902, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access association period, information of a second system information request period, and information of a corresponding first random access association period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s903, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access association cycle time period included in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to information of the first random access association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

s904, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period of the first system information;

s905, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

It is understood that S901 and step S902 may not be included in the present embodiment, for the specific reason, refer to the description in any one of fig. 2 to 7.

Fig. 13 is a signaling interaction diagram ten of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 13, the method of this embodiment may include:

s1001, the network equipment determines at least one of a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access association cycle corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the target system information period of the target system information is a multiple of the request period of the second system information and is a multiple of the first random access association period, the first random access association period is at least one random access association period included in the request period of the second system information, the random access association period is a period lasting for one random access association period, and the request period is a period lasting for one request period of the second system information;

S1002, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access association period, information of a second system information request period, and information of a corresponding first random access association period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s1003, the terminal equipment determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access association cycle time period included in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to information of the first random access association cycle time period corresponding to the first system information;

s1004, the terminal equipment determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period included in a request cycle period of the first system information;

s1005, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access time.

It is understood that S1001 and step S1002 may not be included in the present embodiment, for the specific reason, refer to the description in any one of fig. 2 to 7.

Fig. 14 is an eleventh signaling interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 14, the method of this embodiment may include:

s1101, the network equipment determines at least one of a request cycle of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information; for the second system information, the request cycle of the second system information is a multiple of the target system information cycle of the target system information and is a multiple of a first random access association cycle, the first random access association cycle period is at least one random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period of the second system information, the random access association cycle period is a period lasting for one random access association cycle, and the request cycle period is a period lasting for one request cycle of the second system information;

S1102, the network equipment sends at least one item of system information period information of the system information, related information of a random access association period, second system information request period information and information of a corresponding first random access association period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s1103, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access association cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access association cycle time period of the first system information;

s1104, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information;

s1105, the terminal device sends the request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access time.

Fig. 15 is a signaling interaction diagram twelve of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 15, the method of this embodiment may include:

s1201, the network equipment determines at least one of a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment and a period of a first random access configuration period corresponding to the second system information; for each type of second system information, the request period of the second system information is a multiple of a target system information period of the target system information and is a multiple of a first random access configuration period, the first random access configuration period is at least one random access configuration period included in the request period of the second system information, the random access configuration period is a period lasting for one random access configuration period, and the request period is a period lasting for one request period of the second system information;

S1202, the network equipment sends at least one item of information of a system information period of the system information, related information of a random access configuration period, information of a second system information request period and information of a corresponding first random access configuration period of the second system information to the terminal equipment;

s1203, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access configuration cycle time period in a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access configuration cycle time period of the first system information;

s1204, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the random access opportunities included in the first random access configuration cycle period within the request cycle period of the first system information;

s1205, the terminal device sends a request message of the first system information to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

The request message of the first system information mentioned in the above embodiments may be carried in message 1(msg1) or may be carried in message 3(msg 3); if the system information is carried in msg1, the system information request needs to be performed by using the random access preamble, and if the system information is carried in msg3, the system information request does not need to be performed by using the random access preamble.

In addition, the random access opportunity mentioned in the above embodiments may be a random access opportunity based on contention or a random access opportunity based on separate configuration, and if the network device supports both cases, the indication information may be used to perform the request indicating whether the terminal device uses the random access opportunity configured by the network device or the random access opportunity of the random access procedure to perform the system information, for example, using 1-bit data to perform the indication.

A complete process for requesting system information is described below on the basis of the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 16 is a signaling interaction diagram thirteen of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 16, the method of the embodiment includes:

s1301, the network equipment determines at least one of a request period of second system information which can be requested by the terminal equipment, a first random access association period corresponding to the second system information, grouping information of all the second system information and random access preambles corresponding to each group of system information groups; the request cycle is a multiple of a random access association cycle, the first random access association cycle time interval is at least one random access association cycle time interval included in the request cycle time interval, the random access association cycle time interval is a period of time lasting for one random access association cycle, the request cycle time interval is a period of time lasting for one system information request cycle, all system information groups have groups including at least two system information, and the system information groups do not include the same second system information;

s1302, the network device sends information of a random access association cycle, a second system information request cycle, information of a first random access association cycle period corresponding to the second system information, grouping information of all the second system information, and at least one item of random access preambles corresponding to each group of system information groups to the terminal device;

S1303, the terminal device determines a request period of the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information to be requested; determining a first random access association cycle time period of a request cycle time period of the first system information according to the information of the first random access association cycle time period;

s1304, the terminal device determines a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period of a request cycle period of the first system information;

s1305, the terminal equipment determines a target random access preamble capable of being used for requesting the first system information according to the group where the first system information is located and the random access preamble corresponding to the group where the first system information is located;

s1306, the terminal device sends the target random access preamble to the network device at the target random access opportunity.

Specifically, reference is made to the description in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 for the meaning of step 1301 and step 1302.

It is understood that S1301 and step S1302 may not be included in the present embodiment, for the specific reason, refer to the description in any one of fig. 2 to fig. 7.

The number of system information included in one system information group may be N1 ═ ceil (M1/K1), N1 ═ Floor (M1/K1), or N1 ═ M1/K1, where M1 is the number of second system information, K1 is the number of random access preambles that can be used to request system information, Floor may indicate rounding down, and ceil indicates rounding up.

The network device may directly indicate the index of the system information group in which each piece of system information is located, may directly indicate the number of system information groups, and may indicate the value of K1. The network device may also derive other values from variants of the above formula, for example M1 from N1 and K1 or K1 from M1 and N1, one way of derivation being K1 ═ floor (M1/N1) or K1 ═ ceil (M1/N1) or K1 ═ M1/N1.

For example, 6 pieces of second system information are provided, and the 6 pieces of second system information may be divided into 3 groups of two pieces of second system information; the 6 second system information may be further divided into 4 groups, the first group including two second system information, the second group including two second system information, the third group including one second system information, and the fourth group including one second system information. As long as there are groups including at least two system information in all the system information groups and the same second system information is not included in the system information groups after grouping, the overhead of the random access preamble for the system information request can be reduced.

The number of random access preambles corresponding to one system information group may be any one of N2 (Floor (K1/M2), N2 (ceil (K1/M2), and N2 (K1/M2), where M2 is the number of system information groups, K1 is the number of random access preambles that can be used to request system information, Floor may indicate rounding-down, and ceil may indicate rounding-up.

The network device may directly indicate the index of the group corresponding to each random access preamble, directly indicate the number of total system information groups, and also indicate the value of K1. The network device may also derive other values from variants of the above formula, for example M1 from N1 and K1 or K1 from M1 and N1, one way of derivation being M2 ═ floor (K1/N2), M2 ═ ceil (K1/N2) and M1 ═ K1/N2.

The random access preamble corresponding to a system information group has the following two embodiments:

one implementation that can be achieved is: one system information group corresponds to one random access preamble.

Such as: the 6 second system information are divided into 3 groups, and the first system information group includes: second system information 1, second system information 2, the first system information group corresponds to the random access preamble 1, the second system information group includes: second system information 3, second system information 4, the second system information group corresponds to the random access preamble 2, the second system information group includes: second system information 5, second system information 6, the second system information group corresponding to the random access preamble 3.

If the terminal device needs to request the second system information 1, that is, the second system information 1 is the first system information to be requested, the random access preamble 1 is sent at the determined target random access opportunity for requesting the second system information 1.

Another implementation is: the number of random access preambles corresponding to each group of system information groups is 2^h-1, n is the number of system information comprised by the corresponding system information group, and the value of h can be any one of 1, 2, 3; at this time, determining the target random access preamble capable of being used for requesting the first system information according to the group in which the first system information is located and the random access preamble corresponding to the group in which the first system information is located may include:

for a first system information group in which first system information is located, the terminal equipment establishes each system information combination and 2 in the first system information groupⁿ-a correspondence of random access preambles of the 1 random access preambles; the system information combination at least comprises one type of system information;

according to the correspondence, a target random access preamble that can be used to request the first system information is determined from the random access preambles corresponding to the system information combinations in which the first system information is located.

Such as: the 6 second system information are divided into 3 groups, and the first system information group includes: second system information 1, second system information 2, the first system information group corresponds to random access leading 1, random access leading 2, random access leading 3, the second system information group includes: second system information 3, second system information 4, the second system information group corresponds to random access preamble 4, random access preamble 5, random access preamble 6, the second system information group includes: second system information 5, second system information 6, the second system information group corresponding to the random access preamble 3, the random access preamble 7, the random access preamble 8, the random access preamble 9.

At this time, the second correspondence relationship established by the terminal device is: the second system information 1 may correspond to the random access preamble 1, the second system information 2 may correspond to the random access preamble 2, and a combination of the second system information 1 and the second system information 2 may correspond to the random access preamble 3; the second system information 3 may correspond to the random access preamble 4, the second system information 3 may correspond to the random access preamble 5, and the second system information 3 and the second system information 4 may correspond to the random access preamble 6; the second system information 5 may correspond to the random access preamble 7, the second system information 6 may correspond to the random access preamble 8, and the second system information 5 and the second system information 6 may correspond to the random access preamble 9.

Exemplarily, the random access preamble 1 and the random access preamble 3 are both random access preambles capable of being used for requesting the second system information 1, and specifically, which random access preamble is used for requesting the second system information 1 is determined according to a specific situation, for example, if the terminal device does not need to request the second system information 2, a target random access preamble corresponding to the second system information 1 is the random access preamble 1, and for example, if the terminal device needs to request the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, the target random access preamble corresponding to the second system information 1 is the random access preamble 3.

If the terminal equipment needs to request the second system information 1, namely the second system information 1 is the first system information to be requested, sending a random access preamble 1 at the determined target random access opportunity for requesting the second system information 1; if the terminal device needs to request the second system information 2, that is, the second system information 2 is the first system information to be requested, the random access preamble 2 is sent at the determined target random access opportunity for requesting the second system information 2; if the terminal device needs to request the second system information 1 and the second system information 2, that is, the second system information 1 and 2 are both the first system information to be requested, the random access preamble 3 is sent at the determined first target random access occasion for requesting the second system information 1, or the random access preamble 3 is sent at the determined second target random access occasion for requesting the second system information 2, wherein the first target random access occasion and the second target random access occasion may be the same or different; and so on.

The network device may adopt any one of the two embodiments, when the network device supports the two embodiments simultaneously, the indication information is required to indicate which of the two embodiments the terminal device adopts, the number of random access preambles based on the message 1 request system information may be used for indicating, the number of random access preambles based on the message 1 request system information and the number of random access preambles based on the message 1 request system information may be used for indicating simultaneously, or a separate field, for example, 1-bit data may be used for indicating. It is also possible to use both the number of random access preambles and the number of system information for indication, when the number of random access preambles allocated to the system information request is less than the number of system information requested based on the message 1, the above-described first embodiment, i.e., one random access preamble is allocated to each group, and when the number of random access preambles allocated to the system information request is greater than the number of system information requested based on the message 1, the above-described second embodiment, i.e., one group is allocated to a plurality of random access preambles.

In the actual system information request process, there are the following cases: if a random access opportunity associates multiple SSBs, that is, a random access opportunity associates multiple beams, and if a cell in which the terminal device is located also supports multiple beams, the network device cannot determine from which beam a random access preamble capable of being used to request the first system information is transmitted, and may reply acknowledgement information on multiple beams, which increases signaling overhead.

In order to reduce the signaling overhead caused by the foregoing situation, the first random access preamble may correspond to at least two second SSBs, where the first random access preamble is a random access preamble in all random access preambles corresponding to all system information groups (it can be understood that a target random access preamble for requesting the first system information is also a random access preamble in all random access preambles corresponding to all system information groups), and the second SSBs are SSBs in the first SSBs associated with beams supported by a cell in which the terminal device is located. The terminal equipment determines a fourth random access opportunity associated with a second SSB corresponding to a target random access preamble of the first system information from random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period of a request cycle period of the first system information; and determining a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information from the fourth random access opportunity. Namely, the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in a fourth random access opportunity included in at least one of a first random access configuration cycle period, a first random access association cycle period and a first system information cycle period in the request cycle period of the first system information; wherein the fourth random access occasion comprises a random access occasion associated with a second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble.

Such as: the cell where the terminal device is located supports SSBs 1, SSBs 3, and SSBs 5, the determined target random access preamble capable of being used for requesting the first system information is random access preamble 1, the random access preamble 1 is associated with SSBs 1, and if a random access opportunity associated with SSBs 1 in the first random access association cycle period of the request cycle period of the first system information is a fifth random access opportunity, the target random access opportunity is determined from the fifth random access opportunity, where the target random access opportunity is associated with SSBs 1, SSBs 2, and SSBs 3. The terminal sets up to transmit the target random access amble 1 on the target random access occasion through the beam associated with the SSB 1.

Such that the network device need only send an acknowledgement message via the beam associated with SSB 1.

For another example: the cell where the terminal device is located supports SSB1, SSB4, and SSB7, the determined target random access preamble that can be used for requesting the first system information is random access preamble 1, and the random access preamble 1 is associated with SSB1 and SSB4, so that the random access opportunity associated with SSB1 and the random access opportunity associated with SSB4 in the first random access association period of the request cycle period of the first system information are both the fifth random access opportunity, and the target random access opportunity is determined from the fifth random access opportunity. Wherein the target random access opportunity is associated with SSB4 and SSB3 in addition to SSB 1. The terminal sets the random access preamble 1 to be transmitted on the target random access occasion through the beam associated with the SSB1, or the terminal sets the target random access preamble 1 to be transmitted on the target random access occasion through the beam associated with the SSB 4.

Such that the network device need only send acknowledgement messages over the beam associated with SSB1 and the beam associated with SSB 4.

Further, when determining the target random access opportunity, the terminal device determines whether to consider the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble according to the configuration information sent by the network device, and if the network device sends the first configuration information to the terminal device; the first configuration information is used for indicating that when the target random access opportunity is determined, the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble is determined according to the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble, and then the terminal equipment considers the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble when determining the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information; if the network equipment sends the second configuration information to the terminal equipment; the second configuration information is used to indicate that when the target random access opportunity is determined, the second configuration information is determined according to the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble, and when the target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information is determined, the terminal device does not consider the second SSB corresponding to the target random access preamble.

Specifically, when the number of SSBs associated with one random access opportunity is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold or the number of system information requested based on message 1(MSG1) is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold, the network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, and when the number of SSBs associated with one random access opportunity is less than the preset threshold or the number of system information requested based on message 1(MSG1) is less than the second preset threshold, the network device sends second configuration information to the terminal device.

The manner in which the network device indicates the above configuration information may be explicitly indicated by using a separate field, may use a 1-bit data indication, may be multiplexed with other fields, for example, the number of random access preambles, or the number of fields requesting system information using message 1, or implicitly indicated by using both fields.

The first preset threshold value can be any one of 4, 8, 16 or 4-16, and the second preset threshold value can be any one of 4, 8, 16 or 4-16.

In addition, if the number of SSBs associated with one random access preamble is K2, when the number of SSBs associated with one random access opportunity is 16, K2 may be at least one of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16, or a part or all of 1 to 16, and if the number of SSBs associated with one random access opportunity is 8, K2 may be at least one of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16, or a part or all of 1 to 16.

The communication method of the embodiment can distribute the random access preamble for the request system information on part of the random access opportunity in the request period, and reduce the overhead of the request system information on the random access preamble, thereby reducing the influence of the request system information on other random access processes. The communication method of the embodiment can reduce signaling overhead.

A complete process for requesting system information according to the embodiments shown in fig. 3 and fig. 5 to 13 is described with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 16, which is not repeated in this application.

It is to be understood that, in the above-described method embodiments, the operations performed by the terminal device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available for the terminal, and the operations performed by the network device may also be implemented by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) available for the network device.

The present application may perform the division of the functional modules on the random access resource configuration apparatus according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic, and is only one division of logic functions, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 17, the device according to the embodiment may include: a request period determining module 21 and a random access opportunity determining module 22;

A request period determining module 21, configured to determine a request period of first system information to be requested; wherein the request period satisfies at least one of: the request period is a multiple of a random access configuration period, the request period is a multiple of a random access association period, or the request period is a multiple of a system information period, or the system information period is a multiple of the request period;

a random access opportunity determining module 22, configured to determine a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and send a request message of the first system information at the target random access opportunity, where the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in at least one random access opportunity included in a first random access configuration cycle period, a first random access association cycle period, and a first system information cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access configuration cycle period is at least one random access configuration cycle period included in the request cycle period, the first random access association cycle period is at least one random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period, and the first system information cycle period is at least one system information cycle period included in the request cycle period;

The apparatus of this embodiment may be configured to execute the technical solution of the method embodiment shown in fig. 2 or fig. 3, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, where the implementation operation of each module may further refer to the relevant description of the method embodiment, and is not described herein again. The modules herein may also be replaced with components or circuits.

a first system information cycle period is determined.

or, the access opportunity determining module is specifically configured to,

Or, the access opportunity determining module is specifically configured to,

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

Fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device can be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. For convenience of explanation, fig. 18 shows only main components of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 4, the terminal device 40 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input-output means. The processor is mainly configured to process the communication protocol and the communication data, control the entire terminal device, execute a software program, and process data of the software program, for example, to support the terminal device to perform the actions described in the above method embodiments, such as determining a request period of the first system information to be requested, and the like. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data, for example, storing the corresponding relationship between the indication information and the combination information described in the above embodiments. The control circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The control circuit and the antenna together, which may also be called a transceiver, are mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user.

When the terminal device is turned on, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, interpret and execute the instruction of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit after performing baseband processing on the data to be sent, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and sends the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fig. 18 shows only one memory and one processor for ease of illustration. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

As an alternative implementation manner, the processor may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit, where the baseband processor is mainly used to process a communication protocol and communication data, and the central processing unit is mainly used to control the whole terminal device, execute a software program, and process data of the software program. The processor in fig. 4 may integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit, and those skilled in the art will understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may also be independent processors, and are interconnected through a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal device may include a plurality of baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, the terminal device may include a plurality of central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device may be connected by various buses. The baseband processor can also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit can also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

In the embodiment of the present application, an antenna and a control circuit having a transceiving function may be regarded as the transceiving unit 401 of the terminal device 40, for example, for supporting the terminal device to perform a receiving function and a transmitting function as described in part of fig. 2. The processor with processing functionality is considered to be the processing unit 402 of the terminal device 40. As shown in fig. 4, the terminal device 40 includes a transceiving unit 401 and a processing unit 402. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Optionally, a device for implementing a receiving function in the transceiver 401 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a sending function in the transceiver 401 may be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the transceiver 401 includes a receiving unit and a sending unit, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, and the like, and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a sending circuit, and the like.

The processor 402 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to control the transceiver unit 401 to receive and/or transmit signals, so as to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above-described method embodiments. As an implementation manner, the function of the transceiving unit 401 may be considered to be implemented by a transceiving circuit or a dedicated chip for transceiving.

Fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application, for example, a schematic structural diagram of a base station. As shown in fig. 5, the base station can be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment. The base station 50 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 501 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (also referred to as digital units, DUs) 502. The RRU501, which may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, etc., may include at least one antenna 5011 and a radio frequency unit 5012. The RRU501 is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and converting the radio frequency signals and baseband signals, for example, for sending signaling messages described in the above embodiments to a terminal device. The BBU 502 is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU501 and the BBU 502 may be physically disposed together, or may be physically disposed separately, that is, distributed base stations.

The BBU 502 is a control center of a base station, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly used for performing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, and spreading. For example, the BBU (processing unit) 502 can be used to control the base station to execute the operation flow related to the network device in the above method embodiment.

In an example, the BBU 502 may be formed by one or more boards, and the boards may jointly support a radio access network (e.g., an LTE network) with a single access indication, or may respectively support radio access networks (e.g., LTE networks, 5G networks, or other networks) with different access schemes. The BBU 502 also includes a memory 5021 and a processor 5022, the memory 5021 being used to store necessary instructions and data. For example, the memory 5021 stores the correspondence between the codebook index and the precoding matrix in the above embodiment. The processor 5022 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedures of the above method embodiments with respect to the network device. The memory 5021 and the processor 5022 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits

Fig. 20 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 600. The apparatus 600 may be used to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments, and reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments. The communication apparatus 600 may be a chip, a network device (e.g., a base station), a terminal device or other network devices.

The communication device 600 includes one or more processors 601. The processor 601 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, etc. For example, a baseband processor, or a central processor. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control a communication device (e.g., a base station, a terminal, or a chip), execute a software program, and process data of the software program. The communication device may include a transceiving unit to enable input (reception) and output (transmission) of signals. For example, the communication device may be a chip, and the transceiving unit may be an input and/or output circuit of the chip, or a communication interface. The chip can be used for a terminal or a base station or other network equipment. As another example, the communication device may be a terminal or a base station or other network equipment, and the transceiver unit may be a transceiver, a radio frequency chip, or the like.

The communication apparatus 600 includes one or more processors 601, and the one or more processors 601 may implement the method of the network device or the terminal device in the above illustrated method embodiments.

Optionally, the processor 601 may also implement other functions besides the method of the network device or the terminal device in the above-described illustrated method embodiment.

Optionally, in one design, the processor 601 may also include instructions 603, which may be executed on the processor, so that the communication device 600 performs the method described in the above method embodiment.

In yet another possible design, the communication apparatus 600 may also include a circuit, which may implement the functions of the network device or the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments.

In yet another possible design, the communication device 600 may include one or more memories 602 having instructions 604 stored thereon, which are executable on the processor to cause the communication device 600 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory may further store data therein. Instructions and/or data may also be stored in the optional processor. For example, the one or more memories 602 may store the corresponding relations described in the above embodiments, or the related parameters or tables referred to in the above embodiments, and the like. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated together.

In yet another possible design, the communication device 600 may further include a transceiver 605 and an antenna 606. The processor 601 may be referred to as a processing unit and controls a communication device (terminal or base station). The transceiver 605 may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving circuit, a transceiver, or the like, and is used for implementing transceiving functions of the communication device through the antenna 606.

The present application also provides a communication system comprising one or more of the aforementioned network devices, and one or more of the terminal devices.

It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general purpose processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will also be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of Random Access Memory (RAM) are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct bus RAM (DR RAM).

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware (e.g., circuitry), firmware, or any combination thereof. 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. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are wholly or partially generated when the computer instructions or the computer program are loaded or executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on 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, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains one or more collections of available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state disk.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, the "/" in this document generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship, but may also indicate an "and/or" relationship, which may be understood with particular reference to the former and latter text.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed 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 can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

It should be understood that the terminal device 500 shown in fig. 5 is capable of implementing various processes involving the terminal device in the method embodiment of fig. 2. The operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the terminal device 500 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the method embodiment of fig. 2. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 410 or the processor 510 may be implemented by a processing unit or a chip, alternatively, the transceiver 420 or the transceiver 520 may be formed by a transmitter or a receiver, or by a transceiver unit, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be noted that the processor (e.g., the processor 410 in fig. 4 or the processor 510 in fig. 5) in the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The Processor may be a general purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, discrete Gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

It will be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the subject application (e.g., memory 430 in FIG. 4 or memory 530 in FIG. 5) can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile Memory may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. Volatile Memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache Memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchronous link SDRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The present application further provides a computer-readable medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a computer, implements the method for measuring carrier frequency according to any of the above method embodiments.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, and when executed by a computer, the computer program product implements the method for measuring carrier frequency according to any of the above method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device, which comprises a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to perform the method for measuring a carrier frequency according to any of the above method embodiments.

It should be understood that the processing device may be a chip, the processor may be implemented by hardware or software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory, which may be integrated in the processor, located external to the processor, or stand-alone.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B can be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may be determined from a and/or other information.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both, and that the components and steps of the examples have been described in a functional general in the foregoing description for the purpose of illustrating clearly the interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, a division of a unit is merely a logical division, and an actual implementation may have another division, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may also be an electric, mechanical or other form of connection.

Units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed 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 can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the present application can be implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions described above may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limiting: computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage 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. Furthermore, the method is simple. Any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, a server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, a fiber optic cable, a twisted pair, a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or a wireless technology such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, the fiber optic cable, the twisted pair, the DSL, or the wireless technology such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the fixation of the medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy Disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

In short, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

determining a request period of first system information to be requested; wherein, the request period is a multiple of a random access association period;

determining a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and sending a request message of the first system information at the target random access opportunity, wherein the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access association cycle period is a random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period;

wherein, the random access association cycle time interval is a period lasting for one random access association cycle; the request cycle period is a period of time lasting for one request cycle of system information; the random access association cycle time period comprises a plurality of random access opportunities, the set of the synchronous physical broadcast channel blocks SSB associated with each of the plurality of random access opportunities comprises all SSBs sent by the network equipment in the SSB sending cycle time period, and the SSB sending cycle time period is a period of time lasting for one SSB sending cycle, wherein one random access opportunity is associated with one or more SSBs, or one SSB is associated with one or more random access opportunities; and the random access association period is a multiple of the random access configuration period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a request period for the first system information to be requested comprises:

wherein the information of the request period is used for indicating the multiple of the request period and the random access association period.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information of a first random access association cycle period, wherein the information of the first random access association cycle period indicates that the Xth random access association cycle period of a request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, and X is an integer not less than 0.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the request period of the first system information is M times the random access association period, and M has a value of 1,2,4,8, or 16.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising:

and receiving the information of the request period of the first system information.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

sending information of a request period of first system information to terminal equipment, wherein the information of the request period of the first system information indicates a period of request information for requesting the first system information, and the period of the request information for requesting the first system information is a multiple of a random access association period;

Receiving request information for requesting the first system information from a terminal device, wherein the request information for requesting the first system information has a period indicated by information of a request period of the first system information;

the set of the synchronous physical broadcast channel blocks SSBs associated with each of the plurality of random access occasions includes all SSBs sent by the network device within an SSB sending period, and the SSB sending period is a period lasting for one SSB sending period, where one random access occasion is associated with one or more SSBs, or one SSB is associated with one or more random access occasions; and the random access association period is a multiple of the random access configuration period.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the request information for requesting the first system information corresponds to a random access occasion, and the random access occasion is a random access occasion in random access occasions included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access association cycle period is a random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period;

The period of the random access association cycle is a period lasting for one random access association cycle, and the period of the request cycle is a period lasting for one request cycle of the system information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and sending information of a first random access association cycle period, wherein the information of the first random access association cycle period indicates that the Xth random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, and X is an integer not less than 0.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6-8, further comprising:

and sending the related information of the random access association period to the terminal equipment, wherein the related information of the random access association period is used for indicating the random access association period.

10. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8,

the request period of the first system information is M times the random access association period, and the value of M is 1,2,4,8, or 16.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving information of a request period of first system information, wherein the information of the request period of the first system information indicates a period of a request message for requesting the first system information, and the period of the request message for requesting the first system information is a multiple of a random access association period;

Sending a request message for requesting the first system information according to the information of the request period of the first system information;

12. The method of claim 11, wherein sending a request message for requesting the first system information comprises:

determining a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and sending the request message for requesting the first system information at the target random access opportunity, wherein the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access association cycle period is a random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period;

Wherein, the random access association cycle time interval is a period lasting for one random access association cycle; the request cycle period is a period of time lasting one request cycle of system information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

14. The method according to any of claims 11-13, wherein the request period of the first system information is M times the random access association period, and wherein M has a value of 1,2,4,8, or 16.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11-13, further comprising:

and receiving related information of a random access association period, wherein the related information of the random access association period is used for indicating the random access association period.

16. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor coupled with a memory;

a memory for storing a computer program;

A processor for executing a computer program stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 15.

17. A readable storage medium comprising a program which, when executed by a processor, causes an apparatus comprising the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 15.

18. A communications apparatus, comprising:

means for determining a request period of first system information to be requested; wherein, the request period is a multiple of a random access association period;

a module configured to determine a target random access opportunity for requesting the first system information and send a request message of the first system information at the target random access opportunity, where the target random access opportunity is a random access opportunity in random access opportunities included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access association cycle period is a random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period;

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the means for determining a request period for the first system information to be requested is specifically configured to:

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

the information of the first random access association cycle period indicates that the Xth random access association cycle period of the request cycle period is the first random access association cycle period, and X is an integer not less than 0.

21. The apparatus of any of claims 18-20, wherein the request period of the first system information is M times the random access association period, and wherein M has a value of 1,2,4,8, or 16.

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 18-20, further comprising:

means for receiving information of a request period of the first system information.

23. A communications apparatus, comprising:

A module configured to send information of a request period of first system information to a terminal device, where the information of the request period of the first system information indicates a period of request information for requesting the first system information, and the period of request information for requesting the first system information is a multiple of a random access association period; and

means for receiving request information for requesting the first system information from a terminal device, wherein the request information for requesting the first system information has a period indicated by information of a request period of the first system information;

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the request information for requesting the first system information corresponds to a random access occasion, and the random access occasion is a random access occasion of random access occasions included in a first random access association cycle period within a request cycle period of the first system information; the first random access association cycle period is a random access association cycle period included in the request cycle period;

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

26. The apparatus of any one of claims 23-25, further comprising:

27. The apparatus of any one of claims 23-25,

28. A communications apparatus, comprising:

receiving information of a request period of first system information, the information of the request period of the first system information indicating a period of a request message for requesting the first system information, the period of the request message for requesting the first system information being a multiple of a random access association period; and

a module for transmitting a request message for requesting the first system information according to information of a request period of the first system information;

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein sending the request message for requesting the first system information comprises:

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

31. The apparatus of any of claims 28-30, wherein the request period of the first system information is M times the random access association period, and wherein M has a value of 1,2,4,8, or 16.

32. The apparatus of any one of claims 28-30, further comprising:

the apparatus includes means for receiving information related to a random access association period, the information related to the random access association period indicating the random access association period.