CN111684844A

CN111684844A - Method for acquiring system message and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN111684844A
Application number: CN201880088628.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱小松; 吴毅凌
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-02-07
Filing date: 2018-02-07
Publication date: 2020-09-18
Anticipated expiration: 2038-02-07
Also published as: CN111684844B; WO2019153144A1

Abstract

The application discloses a method for acquiring system messages and a communication device. In the method, a terminal device receives downlink control information from a network device, wherein the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated; and then the terminal equipment acquires the updated system message. In this way, the terminal device in the connected state can know that the system message is updated or is about to be updated, and can further acquire the updated system message.

Description

Method for acquiring system message and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a communications apparatus for acquiring a system message.

Background

The narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) system is constructed in a cellular network, can occupy only about 180KHz bandwidth at least, and can be directly deployed in a global system for mobile communication (GSM) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, so as to reduce the deployment cost and achieve smooth upgrade.

Currently, in an NB-IoT system, after a system message is updated, a network device notifies a terminal device, and if the system message is updated, the terminal device may read a new system message again. However, in the current NB-IoT system, the network device considers that the terminal device is in the idle state for a long time, and during this time, the possibility of updating the system message is high, so after the system message is updated, the network device may notify the terminal device in the idle state, for example, the network device indicates that the system message is updated through a paging (paging) message. However, the network device considers that the time that the terminal device is in the connected (connected) state is relatively short, and considers that the possibility of the system message being updated is low in the short time, so that the network device does not notify the terminal device in the connected state that the system message is updated after the system message is updated. However, in the current NB-IoT system, the terminal device in the connected state cannot know that the system message is updated.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a communication device for acquiring a system message, and by the method, a terminal device in a connected state can know that the system message is updated.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for acquiring a system message, where the method may be executed by a terminal device. In the method, a terminal device receives downlink control information from a network device, wherein the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated; and then the terminal equipment acquires the updated system message.

In this way, the terminal device obtains the updated or to-be-updated system message through the received downlink control information, and generally, the terminal device in the connected state can receive the downlink control information.

In a possible design, the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 0, where the downlink control information is further used to indicate allocated uplink transmission resources, and before receiving the downlink control information from the network device, the terminal device may send a request message to the network device, where the request message is used to request allocation of the uplink transmission resources.

In this way, after receiving the request information for requesting allocation of the uplink transmission resource from the terminal device, the network device may determine that the terminal device has uplink scheduling, so the network device may generate downlink control information in a format of downlink control information format 0, where the downlink control information is used to indicate the allocated uplink transmission resource, and the downlink control information also carries first indication information used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated, so that the terminal device in a connected state knows that the system message is updated or is to be updated through the received downlink control information, and may further obtain the updated system message.

In a possible design, a format of the downlink control information is a downlink control information format 0, where the downlink control information further includes second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated uplink transmission resource, the second indication information includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid.

In this way, the network device may generate downlink control information in a format of downlink control information format 0, where the downlink control information carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated, and the downlink control information also includes second indication information, where a first value in the second indication information is used to indicate that an allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid. In this way, the terminal device in the connected state learns that the system message is updated or is about to be updated through the received downlink control information, and can further acquire the updated system message.

In one possible design, the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 1; wherein, the downlink control information is also used for indicating the allocation of downlink transmission resources; or, the downlink control information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated downlink transmission resource, and the second indication information further includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.

In this way, the network device may generate downlink control information in a format of downlink control information format 1, where the downlink control information carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated, and the downlink control information also includes second indication information, where a first value in the second indication information is used to indicate that an allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid. In this way, the terminal device in the connected state learns that the system message is updated or is about to be updated through the received downlink control information, and can further acquire the updated system message.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for acquiring a system message, where the method may be performed by a terminal device. In the method, a terminal device receives an MAC PDU from a network device, wherein the MAC PDU carries third indication information which is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated; and then the terminal equipment acquires the updated system message.

In one possible design, the MAC PDU includes at least one MAC subheader, the at least one MAC subheader includes a plurality of indexes, and the third indication information includes at least one index of the plurality of indexes, and the at least one index is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.

In this way, when the MAC subheader is included in the MAC PDU, the third indication information includes at least one index in the MAC subheader, where the at least one index is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.

In a possible design, the system message includes N message blocks, and the third indication information includes at least one MAC control element, where each MAC control element in the at least one MAC control element is configured to indicate a tag value of each message block in M message blocks that are updated or are to be updated in the system message; wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is less than or equal to N; when the terminal device obtains the updated system message, the terminal device may compare the stored N message blocks with the tag values of the message blocks with the same identifier in the M message blocks, respectively; when the tag values of a first message block in the M message blocks are different from the tag values of a first message block in the N message blocks, acquiring the updated first message block; the first message block is all the message blocks of which the tag values are changed.

In this way, the terminal device in the connected state can determine the updated or to-be-updated message block in the system message and then receive the updated message block.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for notifying system message update, where the method may be performed by a network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment generates downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated; and then the network equipment sends the downlink control information.

In one possible design, the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 0, where the downlink control information is further used to indicate allocated uplink transmission resources, and before generating the downlink control information, the network device may receive a request message from the terminal device, where the request message is used to request allocation of the uplink transmission resources.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for notifying system message update, where the method is executable by a network device. The method comprises the following steps: network equipment generates an MAC PDU, wherein the MAC PDU carries third indication information which is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated; then, the network device transmits the MAC PDU.

In one possible design, at least one MAC subheader is included in the MAC PDU, the at least one MAC subheader includes a plurality of indexes, and the third indication information includes at least one index of the plurality of indexes, where the at least one index is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.

In one possible design, the system message includes N message blocks, and the third indication information includes at least one MAC control element, where each MAC control element in the at least one MAC control element is configured to indicate a tag value of each message block in the M message blocks that are updated or are to be updated in the system message.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the terminal equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the specific structure of the communication device may include a receiving unit and an acquiring unit. These units may perform the respective functions in the method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the terminal equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the specific structure of the communication device may include a receiving unit and an acquiring unit. These units may perform the respective functions in the method provided by the second aspect or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device. The communication device has the function of realizing the network equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the specific structure of the communication device may include a processing unit and a transmitting unit. These units may perform the respective functions in the method provided by the third aspect or any one of the possible designs of the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the network equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In one possible design, the specific structure of the communication device may include a processing unit and a transmitting unit. These units may perform the respective functions in the method provided by the fourth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the terminal equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a processor coupled with the memory. Wherein the program code stored in the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method performed by the terminal device of the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the terminal equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a processor coupled with the memory. Wherein the program code stored in the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to carry out the method performed by the terminal device according to the second aspect described above or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the network equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a processor coupled with the memory. Wherein the program code stored by the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method performed by the network device of the third aspect or any one of the possible designs of the third aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication device has the function of realizing the network equipment in the method design. These functions may be implemented by hardware. The communication device includes: a memory for storing computer executable program code; a processor coupled with the memory. Wherein the program code stored by the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method performed by the network device of the fourth aspect described above or any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method for acquiring a system message according to the first aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method for acquiring a system message according to the second aspect.

In a fifteenth aspect, the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for notifying system message update described in the third aspect.

In a sixteenth aspect, the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for notifying system message update of the fourth aspect.

In a seventeenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method for acquiring system messages according to the first aspect.

In an eighteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method for acquiring a system message according to the second aspect.

In a nineteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for notifying system message update described in the third aspect.

In a twentieth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for notifying a system message update according to the fourth aspect.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device obtains the updated or to-be-updated system message through the received downlink control information, and generally, the terminal device in the connected state can receive the downlink control information.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a MAC PDU in the prior art;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for acquiring a system message according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device receiving a system message according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of another method for acquiring a system message according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a MAC PDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7-10 are schematic structural diagrams of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11A-11B are schematic structural diagrams of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) Network equipment, including, for example, access network equipment such as base stations (e.g., access points), may refer to equipment in an access network that communicates over the air-interface, through one or more sectors, with wireless terminal equipment. The base station may be configured to interconvert the received air frame with an Internet Protocol (IP) packet, and serve as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, where the rest of the access network may include an IP network. The base station may also coordinate management of attributes for the air interface. For example, the base station may include an evolved Node B (NodeB, eNB, or e-NodeB) in an LTE system or an evolved LTE system (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation Node B (gNB) in a 5G system, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present disclosure.

(2) Terminal equipment, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user, may include, for example, handheld devices having wireless connection capabilities or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal device may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber station), a mobile station (mobile), a remote station (remote station), an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal device (remote terminal), an access terminal device (access terminal), a user terminal device (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), a user equipment (user device), or the like. For example, mobile phones (or so-called "cellular" phones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, smart wearable devices, and the like may be included. For example, a Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a smart watch, a smart helmet, smart glasses, a smart bracelet, and the like. But also limited devices such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited storage capacity, or devices with limited computing capacity, etc. Such as information sensing devices including bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), laser scanners, and the like.

(3) The system message is sent by the network device and is used for notifying the terminal device of system-related information, for example, including at least one of the following: channel bandwidth, System Frame Number (SFN), information of a common channel, cell access information, cell selection information, and the like, which are related to the system. The system message includes a Master Information Block (MIB) and a System Information Block (SIB). The MIB includes relatively important and commonly used transmission parameters, such as SFN, and the SIB includes information such as cell access information and cell selection information.

During random access, the terminal device first performs downlink synchronization, acquires the MIB from a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), and acquires the SIB from a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), thereby completing random access.

(4) The downlink control information, such as Downlink Control Information (DCI), may further include other downlink control information, and the downlink control information is mainly DCI as an example herein. The network device transmits the DCI through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The DCI is used to indicate a downlink transmission resource or an uplink transmission resource. The DCI has different formats, such as DCI0 format, DCI1 format, DCI1A format, DCI1B format, and the like, and the different formats of DCI have different contents. Taking DCI0 format and DCI1 format as examples, the DCI of DCI0 includes a frequency hopping indication bit (frequency hopping flag), allocated uplink transmission resource information, and the like. The DCI of the DCI1 includes allocated downlink transmission resource information, coding scheme (MCS), and the like.

The present disclosure mainly relates to DCI in DCI0 format and DCI in DCI1 format, where DCI0 format may also be referred to as DCI format 0 or 0 th format, and similarly, DCI1 format may also be referred to as DCI format 1 or 1 st format. The DCI format name is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

(5) In an idle state, after the terminal device accesses the network device through an initial random access process, the network device may store the device parameter of the terminal device, and if the terminal device does not communicate with the network device for a long time, the network device deletes the stored device parameter of the terminal device, and the state of the terminal device is the idle state. If the terminal equipment in the idle state needs to communicate with the network equipment, the random access needs to be initiated again.

(6) And in the connection state, after the terminal equipment is accessed into the network equipment through an initial random access process, the network equipment can store the equipment parameters of the terminal equipment, and during the period, the terminal equipment can communicate with the network equipment, and the state of the terminal equipment is the connection state. Generally, the time that the terminal device is in the connected state is short, and after the network device detects that the terminal device is not in communication with the network device within a period of time, the network device deletes the device parameter of the terminal device stored in the network device, that is, the terminal device is changed from the connected state to the idle state.

(7) In the persistent online mode, for some terminal devices with high delay requirements, after the terminal devices are accessed to the network devices through an initial random access process, the network devices can store parameters of the terminal devices, and even if the terminal devices do not communicate with the network devices for a long time, the network devices cannot delete the parameters of the terminal devices, so that the terminal devices can communicate with the network devices at any time without initiating random access again, the state of the terminal devices is called as the persistent online mode, and the persistent online mode can be understood as that the terminal devices are permanently in a connected state.

(8) The 230MHz IoT system is an important branch in the NB-IoT field, and the 230MHz IoT system is a system that mainly supports network communication in 223MHz to 235MHz frequency band (total 12MHz bandwidth), and is commonly used in various industries, such as the electric power industry, the military industry, or the water conservancy industry. In the 230MHz IoT system, part of the terminal devices are in the always-on mode in the 230MHz IoT system due to the high requirement for latency.

(9) A medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU), when a network device sends downlink data to a terminal device, needs to pass through a higher layer, such as a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer and an MAC layer, and then pass through a lower layer, such as a physical layer, and finally reach the terminal device. When the downlink data reaches the MAC layer, the downlink data may be encapsulated, and may be encapsulated into different MAC PDU formats, and the downlink data encapsulated according to the MAC PDU format is called as an MAC PDU data packet or directly called as an MAC PDU, and finally reaches the terminal device through the physical layer. And the terminal equipment decapsulates the MAC PDU to obtain downlink data.

Generally, a MAC PDU includes at least one MAC subheader (header) and a MAC payload, wherein the MAC payload may include 0 or at least one MAC Control Element (CE); in general, the MAC subheader corresponds to the MAC CE one-to-one, or the data of the MAC subheader is greater than or equal to the number of the MAC CE. Fig. 1 shows a structure of a MAC PDU, where the MAC PDU in fig. 1 includes one MAC subheader and the MAC payload includes 1 MAC CE.

The MAC subheader includes a Logical Channel Identification (LCID) field, where values of the LCID field are represented by an index (index), and different values of the index are used to indicate different contents, such as a buffer status report, a power headroom, and a bit rate. Table 1 lists the contents indicated by the different indexes, respectively. When the MAC PDU reaches the MAC layer, the MAC layer may parse the MAC subheader in a manner of reading an index in the MAC subheader and then determining the content indicated by the index according to table 1. For example, if the value of index in one MAC subheader is 00000, it can be known from table 1 that 00000 is used to indicate a Common Control Channel (CCCH). Then, the MAC CE corresponding to the MAC subheader contains related data of CCCH. The MAC layer transmits the MAC PDU through the CCCH. When the MAC PDU reaches the physical layer, the physical layer may determine through which transport channel the MAC PDU is transmitted in the physical layer according to a mapping relationship between the logical channel and the transport channel. And then, the MAC PDU bearer is sent to the terminal equipment on the determined transmission channel.

TABLE 1

LCID field (index)	LCID field value
00000	CCCH (common control channel)
00001	Logical channel identification (identity of the local channel)
10110	Bit rate (random bit rate)
11010	Continuous receiving command (Long DRX command)
11110	Discontinuous reception command (DRX command))
11101	Timing Advance Command

(10) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. The "plurality" means two or more, and in view of this, the "plurality" may also be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present application. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, and means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship, unless otherwise specified.

The technical background of the embodiments of the present application is described below.

The NB-IoT system is constructed in a cellular network, can only occupy the bandwidth of about 180KHz at least, and can be directly deployed in a GSM system, a UMTS or an LTE system so as to reduce the deployment cost and realize smooth upgrading.

In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for acquiring a system message, by which a terminal device in a connected state can know that a system message is updated.

Please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic view of an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application. Fig. 2 includes a terminal device, a network device, and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The terminal device communicates with the network device through a Uu interface, and the network device is connected with the EPC through an S1 interface. The technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application mainly relates to the terminal device and the network device in fig. 2.

Next, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described with reference to the drawings.

Please refer to fig. 3, which is a flowchart illustrating a first method for obtaining system messages according to an embodiment of the present application. In the following description, the method is applied to the application scenario shown in fig. 1 as an example. The process of the method is described as follows:

s31, the network device determines that the system message has been updated or is about to be updated.

In this embodiment, the network device may update the system message according to a certain system message modification period T. The system message modification period T is a period for updating the system message by the network device, and may be specified by a protocol or configured by the network device. The network device may update the system message at a certain time within each system message modification period, such as at the beginning or end of each system message modification period.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a network device updating system message. For example, the network device updates the system message at the start time (time t 1) of the first system message modification period in fig. 4, and in the system message modification period, the network device broadcasts the updated system message according to the broadcast period t. The broadcast period t is a period for the network device to broadcast the system message, and the broadcast period may be specified by a protocol or configured by the network device. Although the broadcast period T of the system message is smaller than the system message modification period T in fig. 4, in the embodiment of the present application, the size relationship between the two periods is not limited.

Taking fig. 4 as an example, if the network device updates the system message at the start time t1, the network device broadcasts the updated system message in the system message modification period, and if S31 occurs after the start time t1, the network device may determine that the system message is updated. If the network device determines that the system message is to be updated at the end time t3 of the system message modification period, the network device broadcasts the system message before the update in the system message modification period, and if S31 occurs before the end time t3, the network device determines that the system message is to be updated.

It should be noted that in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, S31 is an optional step, i.e., a step that is not necessarily performed.

S32, the network device generates downlink control information, the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that the system information is updated or is about to be updated.

As described above, the downlink control information may be DCI, and may also be other downlink control information, and the downlink control information is DCI in this description.

As mentioned above, the DCI may have different formats, such as DCI0 format, DCI1 format, DCI1A format, DCI1B format, and the like. In the embodiment of the present application, a network device may generate DCI in any format, and the DCI0 format and the DCI1 format are mainly described as examples below.

In this embodiment, before generating DCI, a network device may determine whether uplink scheduling or downlink scheduling exists in a terminal device, and then generate DCI of a corresponding format.

For example, if the network device receives a request message from the terminal device, the request message requesting allocation of uplink transmission resources, before S32, the network device may determine that uplink scheduling exists for the terminal device. Or, the network device may determine whether the terminal device has uplink scheduling according to a Buffer Status Report (BSR), where the BSR is configured to indicate how much uplink data needs to be sent in an uplink buffer of the terminal device, and if it is determined that the terminal device has uplink data to be sent according to the BSR, the network device determines that the terminal device has uplink scheduling. If the network device does not receive the request message from the terminal device before S32, and the network device determines that the terminal device has no uplink data to transmit according to the BSR, the network device may determine that there is no uplink scheduling for the terminal device.

In addition, if the network device needs to send downlink data to the terminal device, the network device may determine that downlink scheduling exists in the terminal device.

The network device may generate DCI with different formats according to whether uplink scheduling/downlink scheduling exists in the terminal device, which is described below.

Firstly, the network device determines that the terminal device has uplink scheduling, and then the network device generates the DCI with the format of DCI 0.

Generally, DCI in the DCI0 format is used to indicate uplink transmission resources allocated by a network device to a terminal device. Therefore, if the network device determines that there is uplink scheduling in the terminal device, the network device may generate DCI in the format of DCI0, so as to allocate uplink transmission resources to the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the DCI in the DCI0 format generated by the network device carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated. In addition, since the terminal device has uplink scheduling, the DCI is also used to indicate an uplink transmission resource allocated to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can transmit uplink data on the uplink transmission resource.

By this way, when determining that the terminal device has uplink scheduling, the network device issues DCI in DCI0 format to the terminal device, where the DCI may indicate uplink transmission resources allocated to the terminal device, and the DCI may also carry first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated. In this way, the network device does not need to additionally generate DCI to carry the first indication information, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

And secondly, the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment has downlink scheduling, and the network equipment generates DCI in a DCI1 format.

Generally, DCI in the DCI1 format is used to indicate downlink transmission resources allocated by a network device to a terminal device. Therefore, if the network device determines that downlink scheduling exists in the terminal device, the network device may generate DCI in the DCI1 format, so as to allocate a downlink transmission resource for the terminal device, so that the terminal device may receive downlink data on the downlink transmission resource.

In this embodiment of the present application, the DCI in the DCI1 format generated by the network device carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated. Moreover, since the network device needs to send downlink data to the terminal device, the DCI is also used to indicate a downlink transmission resource, that is, the terminal device can receive the downlink data on the downlink transmission resource.

By this way, when determining that the terminal device has downlink scheduling, the network device issues DCI in DCI1 format to the terminal device, where the DCI may indicate downlink transmission resources allocated to the terminal device, and the DCI may also carry first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated. In this way, the network device does not need to additionally generate DCI to carry the first indication information, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

And thirdly, the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment has neither uplink scheduling nor downlink scheduling, and then the network equipment generates DCI in a DCI0 format or DCI in a DCI1 format.

In this case, the network device may randomly select the format of the DCI. Alternatively, the network device may select a corresponding DCI format according to the specification of a protocol or the pre-configuration of the network device, for example, the protocol specification selects DCI0, and then the network device generates DCI in DCI0 format. Or, the network device may determine the DCI format according to the information to be carried in the DCI, for example, the network device may select the DCI format whose bit quantity is greater than or equal to the information to be carried in the DCI and whose bit quantity difference with the information to be carried in the DCI is the smallest, so as to save transmission resources as much as possible. The information to be carried in the DCI comprises first indication information.

Of course, as mentioned above, the network device may also have other ways to select the format of the DCI in practical applications, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited in particular.

In the third case, if the network device generates DCI in DCI0 format, the network device may not allocate uplink transmission resources to the terminal device since there is no uplink scheduling for the terminal device. Therefore, when the network device generates the DCI, it may fill any uplink transmission resource information in a field for indicating the allocated uplink transmission resource in the DCI, and add a first value in the field, where the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink resource is invalid. That is to say, the DCI may carry first indication information and second indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated, the second indication information is used to indicate allocated uplink transmission resources, and the second indication information further includes a first value, where the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resources are invalid. Of course, the first value may not be included in the second indication information, that is, not included in a field used for indicating the allocated uplink transmission resource in the DCI, but included in an independent field in the DCI, and the first value is used for indicating that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid.

In this case, since the network device has made it clear that the terminal device does not have uplink scheduling, the network device may add a first value to the second indication information for indicating the allocated uplink transmission resource in the DCI, where the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid, so as to avoid resource waste. Meanwhile, the DCI carries first indication information for indicating that the system message is updated or is to be updated.

If the network device generates DCI in DCI1 format, the network device may not allocate downlink transmission resources to the terminal device because the terminal device does not have downlink scheduling, that is, the terminal device does not have a need to receive downlink data transmitted by the network device. Therefore, when the network device generates the DCI, it may fill any downlink transmission resource information in a field for indicating the allocated downlink transmission resource in the DCI, and add a first value in the field, where the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink resource is invalid. That is to say, the DCI may carry first indication information and second indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated, the second indication information is used to indicate allocated downlink transmission resources, and the second indication information includes a first value, where the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink transmission resources are invalid. Of course, the first value may not be included in the second indication information, that is, not included in a field used for indicating the allocated downlink transmission resource in the DCI, but included in an independent field in the DCI, where the first value is used for indicating that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.

In this case, since the network device has made it clear that there is no downlink scheduling for the terminal device, the network device may not allocate downlink transmission resources to the terminal device. In order to avoid resource waste, the network device may add a first value to second indication information used for indicating the allocated downlink transmission resource in the DCI, where the first value is used for indicating that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.

In this embodiment, the DCI generated by the network device may further include other information, such as an update time. Continuing with fig. 4 as an example, as can be seen from the foregoing, if the network device determines that the system message is to be updated at the time t3 at the end of the system message modification period, the network device may also include the update time, i.e., at the time t3, in the DCI generated by the network device, and the use of the update time will be described below.

Of course, if the network device determines that the system message is updated, the generated DCI may also include an update time, where the update time may be a time when the system message is updated last time, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited in this embodiment.

S33, the network device sends the downlink control information, and the terminal device receives the downlink control information from the network device accordingly.

In this embodiment, the network device may send the DCI according to a certain DCI sending period M. The DCI sending-down period is a period for the network device to send DCI, and may be specified by a protocol or configured by the network device.

With continued reference to fig. 4, the network device transmits DCI at DCI delivery period M. In the first system message modification period shown in fig. 4, if the network device updates the system message at time t1, when DCI is transmitted at time t2, the DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the system message is updated. If the network device determines that the system message is to be updated at time t3, when the DCI is transmitted at time t2, the DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the system message is to be updated, and optionally, the first indication information may further include an update time, that is, time t 3.

Although in fig. 4, the broadcast period T of the system message is smaller than the system message modification period T, and the DCI issuing period M is smaller than the broadcast period T, in the embodiment of the present application, the size relationship between these three periods is not limited.

And S34, the terminal equipment acquires the updated system message.

For example, the terminal device receives the updated system message through a Broadcast Channel (BCH).

Alternatively, the terminal device may obtain the system message at a fixed location, that is, the location where the terminal device can obtain the system message may be fixed. For example, the network device notifies the terminal device that the system message is updated through the DCI, and after the terminal device receives the DCI, the terminal device may acquire the system message at a first position for acquiring the system message after the position for receiving the DCI. Or, the network device notifies the system message to be updated through the DCI, and the DCI carries the update time, and after receiving the DCI, the terminal device acquires the system message at a first position after the update time, where the first position is used for acquiring the system message. That is to say, if the DCI is used to notify that the system message is to be updated, the DCI carries the update time, which is helpful for the terminal device to acquire the updated system message in time.

Continuing with fig. 4 as an example, if the terminal device receives DCI at time t2, where the DCI includes first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate that the system message is to be updated, and the first indication information includes an update time, such as time t3, and time t5 is a first location after time t3 for obtaining the system message, the terminal device may obtain the system update message at time t 5. If the terminal device receives DCI at time t2, where the DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the system message is updated, and time t4 is a first location after time t2 for acquiring the system message, the terminal device may acquire the updated system message at time t 4.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the network device sends downlink control information to the terminal device, where the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated. Although the time in the connected state is short, the system message may be updated in a short time for the terminal device in the connected state. By the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment in the connected state can obtain the updated system message.

Especially for the terminal device in the persistent online mode in the 230MHz IoT system, if the terminal device in the persistent online mode cannot obtain the updated system message all the time in the prior art, the terminal device in the persistent online mode can obtain the updated system message in time by using the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the network device notifies the terminal device that the system message is updated or is about to be updated through the downlink control information. Another embodiment is described below in which the network device notifies the end device via a MAC PDU that the system message has been updated or is about to be updated.

Referring to fig. 5, an embodiment of the present application provides a flowchart of a second method for acquiring a system message, where the flow of the method is described as follows.

S51, the network device determines that the system message has been updated or is about to be updated.

The implementation process of S51 can be referred to the description of S31 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and for brevity of the description, it is not repeated herein.

S52, the network device generates a MAC PDU, wherein the MAC PDU includes third indication information, and the third indication information is used for indicating that the system message is updated or will be updated.

As mentioned above, a MAC PDU may contain at least one MAC subheader, and 0 or at least one MAC CE. Therefore, when the network device generates the MAC PDU, the following two ways are included, but not limited to:

the first and third indication information may be implemented by one or more indexes of all indexes included in the MAC subheader, and is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.

In this case, the MAC PDU may contain only the MAC subheader, and the MAC CE content is empty.

In general, a system message may contain multiple message blocks, such as five message blocks of MIB, SIB1, SIB2, SIB3, SIB4, etc. When the third indication information includes one index in the MAC subheader, that is, the index may indicate that all message blocks in the system message are updated or are to be updated, or indicate that a certain message block in the system message is updated or is to be updated. When the third indication information includes at least two indices in all the indices in the MAC subheader, each of the at least two indices may be used to indicate one message block that is updated or is to be updated in the system message, for example, the third indication information includes index1 and index2, where index1 is used to indicate that the MIB in the system message is updated or is to be updated, and index2 is used to indicate that SIB1 in the system message is updated or is to be updated.

By the first mode, the network equipment only needs to generate the MAC PDU containing the MAC subheader, and the third indication information contains one or more indexes in the MAC subheader, so that the load of the network equipment is reduced, and the efficiency is improved.

In the second mode, the third indication information may be implemented by at least one index of all indexes included in the at least one MAC subheader and at least one MAC CE, and is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.

In this case, the MAC PDU includes at least one MAC subheader and at least one MAC CE, wherein the number of MAC CEs used to implement the third indication information is less than or equal to the number of MAC CEs included in the MAC PDU. For example, if the number of MAC CEs used to implement the third indication information is P, and the number of MAC CEs included in the MAC PDU is K, K and P are both positive integers, and P is less than or equal to K. The same is true for the number of MAC subheaders.

For example, the third indication information includes at least one index of all indexes in at least one MAC subheader, where one index of the at least one index is used to indicate that one message block in the system message is updated or is to be updated, and the third indication information further includes a label (value) value of the system message that is updated or is to be updated in the system message, and the label value of the system message that is updated or is to be updated is included in the P MAC CEs.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a MAC PDU provided in an embodiment of the present application, in fig. 6, the MAC PDU includes a MAC subheader 1 and a MAC subheader 2, where the MAC subheader 1 includes an index1, and the MAC subheader 2 includes an index2, where the index1 and the index2 are respectively used to indicate that MIB and SIB1 in a system message are updated or are to be updated, the MAC subheader 1 corresponds to MAC CE1, and the MAC subheader 2 corresponds to MAC CE2, where the MAC CE1 is used to indicate a tag value of the MIB, and the MAC CE2 is used to indicate a tag value of the SIB.

By the second mode, the network device can jointly decide which message blocks in the system message are updated or are about to be updated through the MAC subheader and the MAC CE, so that the accuracy of determination is improved. For example, the terminal device determines that the MIB in the system message is updated through the MAC subheader, but the terminal device determines that the MIB is not updated through the tag value of the MIB indicated by the MAC CE1, at this time, the network device may be based on the result determined according to the MAC CE1 or the network device may be based on the result determined according to the MAC subheader 1, specifically which result is based on, and may be configured by the network device or specified in the protocol, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. In short, the result of the determination can be more accurate by the second method.

The following describes a procedure in which the terminal device determines whether a message block is updated or to be updated by the tag value of the message block indicated by the MAC CE.

Generally, when the content of a message block in a system message changes, the tag value of the message block also changes. Therefore, after receiving the MAC PDU, the terminal device may compare whether the tag value of the stored message block is the same as the tag value of the message block indicated by the MAC CE, and if the tag value of the stored message block is the same as the tag value of the message block indicated by the MAC CE, the terminal device may indicate that the message block is not updated, and if the tag value of the stored message block is different from the tag value of the message block indicated by the MAC CE, the.

For example, the terminal device stores the tag value of MIB and the tag value of SIB1, while MAC CE1 is used to indicate the tag value of MIB, and MAC CE2 is used to indicate the tag value of SIB1, the terminal device may compare whether the stored tag value of MIB and the tag value of SIB1 indicated by MAC CE1 are consistent, and compare whether the stored tag value of SIB1 and the tag value of SIB1 indicated by MAC CE2 are consistent, for example, the stored tag value of MIB is different from the tag value of MIB indicated by MAC CE1, which indicates that MIB is updated or is about to be updated, and the terminal device may receive the updated MIB, which is the same for 1.

Of course, in the second mode, when some message blocks in the system message are updated or are to be updated, the MAC CE may include the tag value of each message block in all message blocks in the system message, or may only include the tag value of the message block that is updated or is to be updated in the system message. For example, if the network device determines that the MIB and SIB1 in the system message are updated or are to be updated, the MAC CE may include the tag value of each message block in all message blocks in the system message, or may only include the tag values of the MIB and SIB 1.

As an example, if the tag value of each of all message blocks in the system message is contained in the MAC CE, the terminal device may compare whether the stored tag value of each message block is the same as the tag value of each message block contained in the MAC CE to determine which message blocks are updated or about to be updated, wherein if the stored tag value of a message block is different from the tag value of the message block contained in the MAC CE, it is determined that the message block is updated or about to be updated. If the MAC CE only contains the tag value of the message block that has been updated or is to be updated in the system message, the terminal device can determine which message blocks have been updated or are to be updated according to the tag value carried by the MAC CE, so that the terminal device does not need to compare whether the stored tag value of the corresponding message block is the same as the tag value of the message block contained in the MAC CE.

Of course, if the MAC CE only contains the tag value of the message block that has been updated or is to be updated in the system message, the terminal device may also perform the comparison, for example, the terminal device may compare whether the stored tag value of the corresponding message block is the same as the tag value of the message block contained in the MAC CE. If it is determined that the stored tag value of one message block is the same as the tag value of the message block included in the MAC CE, it indicates that the tag value of the message block included in the MAC CE may be incorrect, and indicates that the system message is updated or will be updated, the terminal device may still obtain the update of the message block, or the terminal device may not obtain the update of the message block. Alternatively, if it is determined that the tag value of one stored message block is the same as the tag value of the message block contained in the MAC CE, the terminal device may determine whether to acquire an update of the message block at all according to a protocol. For example, the protocol specifies that, if the MAC CE only includes a tag value of an updated or to-be-updated message block in the system message, and if the tag value of one message block stored in the terminal device is the same as the tag value of the message block included in the MAC CE, the terminal device does not acquire the updated system message, or the protocol specifies that, if the MAC CE only includes a tag value of an updated or to-be-updated message block in the system message, and if the tag value of one message block stored in the terminal device is the same as the tag value of the message block included in the MAC CE, the terminal device needs to acquire the updated system message, the terminal device acquires the updated system message, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

S53, the network device sends the MAC PDU, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the MAC PDU from the network device.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the MAC PDU through a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

And S54, the terminal equipment acquires the updated system message.

As mentioned above, the S42 may be in two manners, i.e. a manner one and a manner two, and for the manner one, since the MAC PDU only includes the MAC subheader, after the terminal device receives the MAC PDU, the third indication information in the MAC subheader, for example, the third indication information is 10100. The terminal device may determine that the system message is updated or is about to be updated and then receive the updated system message.

For the second mode, since the MAC PDU includes the MAC subheader and at least one MAC CE, the terminal device determines which message blocks in the system message are updated or are to be updated, so the terminal device may receive only the updated or to-be-updated message blocks, and of course, the terminal device may also receive all message blocks, i.e., receive the entire system message.

It should be noted that in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, S51 is an optional step, i.e., a step that is not necessarily performed.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the network device sends a MAC PDU to the terminal device, where the MAC PDU carries third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated. Although the time in the connected state is short, the system message may be updated in a short time for the terminal device in the connected state. By the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment in the connected state can obtain the updated system message. Especially for the terminal device in the persistent online mode in the 230MHz IoT system, if the terminal device in the persistent online mode cannot obtain the updated system message all the time in the prior art, the terminal device in the persistent online mode can obtain the updated system message in time by using the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application.

The following describes the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus 700. The communication apparatus 700 may implement the functions of the terminal device referred to above. The communication apparatus 700 may include a receiving unit 701 and an acquiring unit 702. Receiving unit 701 may be configured to perform S33 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The acquisition unit 702 may be used to perform S34 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800. The communication apparatus 800 may implement the functions of the terminal device referred to above. The communication apparatus 800 may include a receiving unit 801 and an acquiring unit 802. Where receiving unit 801 may be used to perform S53 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. Acquisition unit 802 may be used to perform S54 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 900. The communication apparatus 900 may implement the functions of the terminal device referred to above. The communication device 900 may comprise a processing unit 901 and a transmitting unit 902. Processing unit 901 may be used, among other things, to perform S32 in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. Sending unit 902 may be used to perform S33 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus 1000. The communication apparatus 1000 can implement the functions of the terminal device mentioned above. The communication device 1000 may include a processing unit 1001 and a transmitting unit 1002. Among other things, processing unit 1001 may be used to perform S52 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. Sending unit 1002 may be used to perform S53 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the communication device is shown in the form of a functional unit. As used herein, without limitation, the term "unit" may refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the

communication device

700 and 1000 can also be implemented by the structure of the communication device 1100 as shown in fig. 11A. The communication apparatus 1100 may implement the functions of the network device or the terminal device referred to above. The communication device 1100 may include a processor 1101. Where the communications apparatus 1100 is used to implement the functionality of a network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the processor 1101 may be configured to execute S31 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. When the communications apparatus 1100 is used to implement the functionality of a network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the processor 1101 may be used to execute S51 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

The communication apparatus 1100 may be implemented by a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit (DSP), a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), or a programmable controller (PLD) or other integrated chips, and the communication apparatus 1100 may be disposed in the network device or the network apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application, so that the network device or the network apparatus implements the method for acquiring the system message according to the embodiment of the present application.

In an alternative implementation, the communication device 1100 may further include a memory 1102, see fig. 11B. Wherein the memory 1102 is configured to store computer programs or instructions and the processor 1101 is configured to decode and execute the computer programs or instructions. It will be appreciated that these computer programs or instructions may comprise the functional programs of the network devices or terminal devices described above. When the functional program of the network device is decoded and executed by the processor 1101, the network device may be enabled to implement the functions of the network device in the method for acquiring system messages provided in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or the embodiment shown in fig. 5 in this application. When the functional program of the terminal device is decoded and executed by the processor 1101, the terminal device may be enabled to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method for acquiring system messages provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or the embodiment shown in fig. 3 of the embodiment of the present application.

In another alternative implementation, the functional programs of these network devices or terminal devices are stored in a memory external to the communication apparatus 1100. When the functional program of the network device is decoded and executed by the processor 1101, part or all of the content of the functional program of the network device is temporarily stored in the memory 1102. When the terminal device function program is decoded and executed by the processor 1101, part or all of the contents of the terminal device function program are temporarily stored in the memory 1102.

In an alternative implementation, the functional programs of these network devices or terminal devices are provided in a memory 1102 stored inside the communication apparatus 1100. When the memory 1102 inside the communication apparatus 1100 stores a function program of a network device, the communication apparatus 1100 may be provided in the network device of the embodiment of the present application. When the memory 1102 inside the communication apparatus 1100 stores a function program of the terminal device, the communication apparatus 1100 may be provided in the terminal device of the embodiment of the present application.

In yet another alternative implementation, some of the contents of the functional programs of these network devices are stored in a memory external to the communication apparatus 1100, and other parts of the contents of the functional programs of these network devices are stored in a memory 1102 internal to the communication apparatus 1100. Alternatively, part of the contents of the function programs of these terminal devices are stored in a memory external to communication apparatus 1100, and the other part of the contents of the function programs of these terminal devices are stored in memory 1102 internal to communication apparatus 1100.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 700-1200 may be presented in a form of dividing each function module corresponding to each function, or may be presented in a form of dividing each function module in an integrated manner. As used herein, a "module" may refer to an ASIC, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other components that provide the described functionality.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for acquiring a system message and a communication device. In the method, terminal equipment receives downlink control information from network equipment, wherein the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated; and then the terminal equipment acquires the updated system message. In this way, the terminal device obtains the updated or to-be-updated system message through the received downlink control information, and generally, the terminal device in the connected state can receive the downlink control information.

In the above-described embodiments of the invention, may be implemented in whole or in part 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 in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. 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., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The above embodiments are only used to describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application in detail, but the above embodiments are only used to help understanding the method and the core idea of the embodiments of the present application, and should not be construed as limiting the present application. Those skilled in the art can easily conceive of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the embodiments disclosed in the present application, and all such changes or substitutions are intended to be included within the scope of the embodiments disclosed in the present application.

Claims

A method for obtaining system messages, comprising:

receiving downlink control information from network equipment, wherein the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated;

and acquiring the updated system message.
The method of claim 1, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 0, wherein the downlink control information is further used for indicating the allocated uplink transmission resource, and before receiving the downlink control information from the network device, the method further comprises:

and sending a request message to the network equipment, wherein the request message is used for requesting to allocate uplink transmission resources.
The method according to claim 1, wherein a format of the downlink control information is a downlink control information format 0, wherein the downlink control information further carries second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated uplink transmission resource, the second indication information includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid.
The method of claim 1, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 1; wherein,

the downlink control information is also used for indicating the allocation of downlink transmission resources; or,

the downlink control information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated downlink transmission resource, and the second indication information further includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.
A method for obtaining system messages, comprising:

receiving an MAC PDU from a network device, wherein the MAC PDU carries third indication information which is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated;

and acquiring the updated system message.
The method of claim 5, wherein the MAC PDU comprises at least one MAC subheader, wherein the at least one MAC subheader comprises a plurality of indexes, and wherein the third indication information comprises at least one index of the plurality of indexes, and wherein the at least one index is used for indicating that the system message is updated or is to be updated.
The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the system message includes N message blocks, and the third indication information includes at least one MAC control element, where each MAC control element in the at least one MAC control element is configured to indicate a tag value of each message block in the M message blocks that are updated or are to be updated in the system message; wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is less than or equal to N;

acquiring the updated system message, including:

respectively comparing the stored N message blocks with the label values of the message blocks with the same identification in the M message blocks;

when the tag values of a first message block in the M message blocks are different from the tag values of a first message block in the N message blocks, acquiring the updated first message block; the first message block is all the message blocks of which the tag values are changed.
A method for notifying system message updates, comprising:

generating downlink control information, wherein the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated;

and sending the downlink control information.
The method of claim 8, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 0, and wherein the downlink control information is further used for indicating the allocated uplink transmission resource, and before generating the downlink control information, the method further comprises:

and receiving a request message from the terminal equipment, wherein the request message is used for requesting the allocation of the uplink transmission resources.
The method of claim 8, wherein a format of the downlink control information is a downlink control information format 0, and wherein the downlink control information further includes second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated uplink transmission resource, the second indication information includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid.
The method of claim 8, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 1; wherein,

the downlink control information is also used for indicating the allocation of downlink transmission resources; or,

the downlink control information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated downlink transmission resource, and the second indication information further includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.
A method for notifying system message updates, comprising:

generating an MAC PDU, wherein the MAC PDU carries third indication information which is used for indicating that a system message is updated or is about to be updated;

and transmitting the MAC PDU.
The method of claim 12, wherein the MAC PDU comprises at least one MAC subheader, wherein the at least one MAC subheader comprises a plurality of indexes, and wherein the third indication information comprises at least one index of the plurality of indexes, and wherein the at least one index is used for indicating that the system message is updated or is to be updated.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the system message includes N message blocks, and the third indication information includes at least one MAC control element, and each MAC control element in the at least one MAC control element is configured to indicate a tag value of each message block in the M message blocks that are updated or are to be updated in the system message.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive downlink control information from a network device, where the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated;

and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the updated system message.
The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 0, wherein the downlink control information is further used for indicating the allocated uplink transmission resource, and the communication apparatus further comprises a sending unit, before the receiving unit receives the downlink control information from the network device, the sending unit is used for sending a request message to the network device, and the request message is used for requesting allocation of the uplink transmission resource.
The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a format of the downlink control information is a downlink control information format 0, wherein the downlink control information further carries second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated uplink transmission resource, the second indication information includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid.
The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 1; wherein,

the downlink control information is also used for indicating the allocation of downlink transmission resources; or,

the downlink control information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated downlink transmission resource, and the second indication information further includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a MAC PDU from a network device, where the MAC PDU carries third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated;

and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the updated system message.
The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MAC PDU comprises a MAC subheader, wherein the MAC subheader comprises a plurality of indexes, and wherein the third indication information comprises at least one index of the plurality of indexes, and wherein the at least one index is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.
The apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the system message includes N message blocks, and the third indication information includes at least one MAC control element, where each MAC control element in the at least one MAC control element is configured to indicate a tag value of each message block in M message blocks that are updated or are to be updated in the system message; wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is less than or equal to N; the obtaining unit, when obtaining the updated system message, is specifically configured to:

respectively comparing the stored N message blocks with the label values of the message blocks with the same identification in the M message blocks;

when the tag values of a first message block in the M message blocks are different from the tag values of a first message block in the N message blocks, acquiring the updated first message block; the first message block is all the message blocks of which the tag values are changed.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to generate downlink control information, where the downlink control information carries first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated;

a sending unit, configured to send the downlink control information.
The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 0, wherein the downlink control information is further used for indicating allocated uplink transmission resources, and the communications apparatus further comprises a receiving unit, before the processing unit generates the downlink control information, the receiving unit is configured to: and receiving a request message from the terminal equipment, wherein the request message is used for requesting the allocation of the uplink transmission resources.
The apparatus of claim 22, wherein a format of the downlink control information is a downlink control information format 0, and wherein the downlink control information further includes second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated uplink transmission resource, and the second indication information includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated uplink transmission resource is invalid.
The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the format of the downlink control information is downlink control information format 1; wherein,

the downlink control information is also used for indicating the allocation of downlink transmission resources; or,

the downlink control information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the allocated downlink transmission resource, and the second indication information further includes a first value, and the first value is used to indicate that the allocated downlink transmission resource is invalid.
A communications apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to generate a MAC PDU, where the MAC PDU carries third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate that a system message is updated or is to be updated;

a sending unit, configured to send the MAC PDU.
The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the MAC PDU comprises a MAC subheader, wherein the MAC subheader comprises a plurality of indexes, and wherein the third indication information comprises at least one index of the plurality of indexes, and wherein the at least one index is used to indicate that the system message is updated or is to be updated.
The apparatus according to claim 26 or 27, wherein the system message includes N message blocks, and the third indication information includes at least one MAC control element, and each MAC control element in the at least one MAC control element is configured to indicate a tag value of each message block in the M message blocks that are updated or are to be updated in the system message.
A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory;

the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-14.
A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-14.