CN111867127A

CN111867127A - Antenna panel information configuration method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111867127A
Application number: CN201910361434.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 樊波
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-30
Filing date: 2019-04-30
Publication date: 2020-10-30
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-30
Also published as: CN111867127B; WO2020221030A1

Abstract

The application provides an indication method of antenna panel information, which comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends indication information to terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open one or more antenna panels; the network equipment receives random access request messages respectively sent by the terminal equipment by adopting one or more opened antenna panels; the network device sends one or more random access response messages to the terminal device, each random access response message including a value of a Time Advance (TA), the value of each TA being associated with a transmitting antenna panel of a random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message. The method realizes the configuration of TA of the antenna panel level and ensures data transmission.

Description

Antenna panel information configuration method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for configuring antenna panel information.

Background

In the fifth generation mobile communication system (5th generation, 5G), before uplink data transmission, a terminal device needs to acquire information of uplink Timing Advance (TA), that is, how much earlier an uplink timeslot/frame/subframe with the same number is than a downlink timeslot/frame/subframe. The TA is related to the signal propagation distance between the terminal device and the network device, and the farther the propagation distance, the greater the TA value. In theory, TA is equal to the signal propagation distance between the terminal equipment and the network equipment divided by the wireless signal propagation speed. This is to ensure that the start time of the uplink signal received by the network device is aligned with the start time of the downlink timeslot of the network device. On the other hand, each terminal device needs to send an uplink signal according to its respective TA, so that it can be ensured that signals of multiple terminal devices reach the network device at the same time, and the network device can successfully receive the signal of each terminal device.

The uplink data is transmitted through an antenna of the terminal device. The terminal device may have one or more antennas. The antennas may be placed individually or in panels, i.e. multiple antennas are placed on one antenna panel. The terminal device may be equipped with one or more antenna panels, each of which may be oriented in the same or different directions. The terminal equipment can always only adopt a single antenna panel to carry out data transmission, can also adopt different antenna panels to carry out data transmission at different times, and can also adopt a plurality of antenna panels to carry out data transmission simultaneously. When the terminal device has multiple antenna panels, and the orientations of the multiple antenna panels are different, the signals transmitted by the multiple antenna panels may reach the network device along different propagation paths, so that the TAs corresponding to different antenna panels may be different, and then different antenna panels should use different TAs for data transmission. However, in the prior art, the terminal device supports the use of a unified TA. The TA is not necessarily applicable to all antenna panels, so that some antenna panels cannot perform normal uplink data transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides an indication method and device of antenna panel information, which are convenient for configuring TA of an antenna panel level for terminal equipment and ensuring transmission of uplink data.

In one aspect, a method for indicating antenna panel information is provided:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends indication information to terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open one or more antenna panels; the network equipment receives random access request messages respectively sent by the terminal equipment by adopting one or more opened antenna panels; the network device sends one or more random access response messages to the terminal device, each random access response message including a value of a Time Advance (TA), the value of each TA being associated with a transmitting antenna panel of a random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives indication information sent by the network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open one or more antenna panels; the terminal equipment opens the one or more antenna panels according to the indication information and respectively sends a random access request message to the network equipment by adopting the opened one or more antenna panels; the terminal equipment receives one or more random access response messages sent by the network equipment, each random access response message comprises a value of TA (timing advance), and the value of each TA is used as the TA of the antenna panel for sending the random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message; further, the terminal device may start a timer corresponding to the TA.

It should be understood that the opening and closing of the antenna panel may also be described as the activation and deactivation of the antenna panel.

With reference to the foregoing solution, wherein the random access request message includes a preamble of a content-free, and each antenna panel of the one or more opened antenna panels is associated with a preamble of a content-free.

With reference to the foregoing solution, wherein the indication information further includes information of a preamble of one or more content-free; for example, the identifier of the preamble may be an index of the preamble; after receiving the indication information, the terminal device may associate each antenna panel with a preamble according to the preamble index.

With reference to the foregoing, wherein the indication information is further used to indicate that the one or more antenna panels are associated with preambles of one or more content-free;

in combination with the above scheme, the one or more antenna panels are associated with preambles of one or more content-free, and the association relationship may be indicated to the terminal device by a default protocol or by the network device.

The indication information can be transmitted to the terminal equipment through one or more of RRC, MAC-CE and DCI.

In another embodiment, the indication information may be used to indicate one or more antenna panels for uplink timing by the terminal device; at this time, the default terminal device panel is opened, so after the terminal device receives the indication information, the terminal device does not need to open the antenna panel again, and the antenna panels performing uplink timing respectively send random access request messages to the network device.

In another embodiment, the indication information may be used to indicate one or more antenna panels that the terminal device turns on and/or performs uplink timing; for example: the indication information indicates the starting and uplink timing of one or more antenna panels, and if the indicated antenna panel is started, the terminal equipment adopts the antenna panel to perform uplink timing; if the indicated antenna panel is closed, the terminal device opens the antenna panel, and after the antenna panel is opened, the terminal device can also use the antenna panel to perform uplink timing. The specific steps of the uplink timing are similar to the above scheme, and the antenna panels that perform uplink timing are adopted to respectively send random access request messages to the network device, which is not described in detail.

In addition, the indication information indicates that one or more antenna panels are turned on or uplink timing is performed, the terminal device may also use the default processing method, and if the indicated antenna panel is turned on, the terminal device uses the antenna panel to perform uplink timing; if the indicated antenna panel is closed, the terminal device opens the antenna panel, and after the antenna panel is opened, the terminal device can also use the antenna panel to perform uplink timing.

On the other hand, an indication method of antenna panel information is disclosed:

the terminal equipment adopts an antenna panel to send a random access request message to the network equipment;

and the terminal equipment receives a random access response message sent by the network equipment, wherein the response message comprises a TA value corresponding to the antenna panel, and the TA value is used for updating the TA corresponding to the antenna panel.

With reference to the foregoing solution, in which the random access request message includes a preamble of content-based;

with the above scheme in mind, the method further comprises: the terminal equipment takes the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel sending the random access request message, and starts a TA timer corresponding to the TA; further, the method also comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment sends a random access message 3 to the network equipment, receives a random access message 4 sent by the network equipment, judges whether the conflict resolution is successful or not according to the received random access message 4, and stops a timer corresponding to the TA if the conflict resolution is unsuccessful.

With the above scheme in mind, the method further comprises: the terminal device takes the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel which sends the random access request message; the terminal equipment sends a random access message 3 to the network equipment; the terminal equipment receives a random access message 4 sent by the network equipment, judges whether conflict resolution is successful or not according to the received random access message 4, and starts a TA timer corresponding to the TA if the conflict resolution is successful; or

Further comprising: the terminal equipment sends a random access message 3 to the network equipment; and the terminal equipment receives the random access message 4 sent by the network equipment, judges whether the conflict resolution is successful or not according to the received random access message 4, if so, takes the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel sending the random access request message, and starts a TA timer corresponding to the TA.

With the above scheme, the random access message 3 includes the identifier of the terminal device. Random access message 3 may also include an identification of the antenna panel that sent the random access request message; further, the random access message 3 may also include other information, such as: an identification of the newly opened antenna panel, an antenna panel open/close condition of the terminal device, i.e. which antenna panels are open, and/or which antenna panels are closed. The above may include one or more items.

With reference to the above aspects, the method further includes: the network device configures one or more TAGs for the terminal device, that is, the network device issues configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information includes one or more TAGs, where: each TAG comprises one or more sub-units, each sub-unit comprising a TA timer, and each sub-unit being associated with one or more antenna panels of the terminal device; or each TAG comprises one or more TA timers, each TA timer being associated with one or more antenna panels or one or more groups of antenna panels of said terminal device. The configuration method may be a stand-alone scheme.

By the method, the configuration of TA of the antenna panel level is realized, and the terminal equipment can respectively maintain one TA for each antenna panel, so that the performance of data transmission based on the multi-antenna panel is ensured. The above scheme can be used for 4-step random access procedures.

On the other hand, the network device receives preambles respectively sent by the terminal device by adopting one or more antenna panels; the network equipment sends one or more response messages to the terminal equipment, each random access response message comprises a value of TA (time advance), and the value of each TA is associated with a sending antenna panel of preamble corresponding to the corresponding response message.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment respectively sends preambles to the network equipment by adopting one or more opened antenna panels; the terminal equipment receives one or more response messages sent by the network equipment, each random access response message comprises a value of TA (timing advance), and the value of each TA is used as the TA of the sending antenna panel of preamble corresponding to the corresponding response message.

With reference to the foregoing solution, each antenna panel or preamble is associated with one PUSCH or PUSCH resource, respectively, and the method further includes: and each antenna panel of the terminal equipment sends uplink data or uplink information through the PUSCH associated with the corresponding preamble.

The PUSCH may also carry one or more of the following information: the identifier of the terminal device or the identifier generated according to the identifier of the terminal device, the index of the antenna panel for sending preamble, the identifier of the antenna panel newly opened, the opening condition of the antenna panel of the terminal device, and the like.

The scheme can realize the configuration of TA of the antenna panel level in the random access process of 2-step, and ensure the performance of data transmission based on the multi-antenna panel.

Based on the method of each scheme, the corresponding communication device is also disclosed:

the communication device may be a terminal device or a network device in the above methods, or may be a chip or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device. The device has the function of realizing the terminal equipment or the network equipment in the methods. The function can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In one possible design, the apparatus includes: the transceiver module, or called a communication module, may include a transmitting module and/or a receiving module; the receiving and transmitting function of the signal is realized; optionally, the apparatus further comprises a processing module for implementing processing functions other than signal transmission; the transceiver module may be at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, and a transmitter, for example, and the transceiver module may include a radio frequency circuit or an antenna. The processing module may be a processor. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a storage module, which may be a memory, for example. When included, the memory module is used to store computer programs or instructions. The processing module is connected to the storage module, and the processing module can execute the programs or instructions stored in the storage module or can be derived from other programs or instructions to enable the device to execute the method of any one of the aspects.

The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs of the communication methods in the above aspects.

In another aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, in which a computer program is stored, which, when executed by a computer or a processor, implements the method of the above aspects.

In another aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

In another aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the above network device and terminal device.

In another aspect, a processor is provided for coupling with a memory for performing the methods of the above aspects.

In another aspect, a chip is provided, the chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is used for communicating with an external device or an internal device, and the processor is used for implementing the method of the above aspects.

Optionally, the chip may further include a memory having instructions stored therein, and the processor may be configured to execute programs or instructions stored in the memory, or derived from other programs or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed, the processor is configured to implement the methods of the various aspects described above.

Alternatively, the chip may be integrated on a terminal device or a network device.

In the present specification, the processor may be one or more, the memory may be located in the processor, or both may be separately provided.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2A shows a flowchart of an antenna panel indication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2B is a flowchart illustrating an antenna panel indication method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an antenna panel indication method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of still another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiment of the application is suitable for a multi-carrier communication system based on wave beams, for example: a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, a LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a future fifth generation (5G) or New Radio (NR) system, and the like.

It should also be understood that the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to various communication systems based on non-orthogonal multiple access technologies, such as Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) systems, and certainly SCMA may also be referred to as other names in the communication field; further, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a multi-carrier transmission system using a non-orthogonal multiple access technology, for example, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system using a non-orthogonal multiple access technology, a filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), a General Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM) system, a filtered orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (F-OFDM) system, and the like.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 suitable for use with embodiments of the present application. As shown, the communication system 100 may include at least one network device, such as the network device 110 shown in fig. 1; the communication system 100 may also include at least one terminal device, such as the terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1. Network device 110 and terminal device 120 may communicate via a wireless link.

Each communication device, such as network device 110 or terminal device 120 in fig. 1, may be configured with multiple antennas. The plurality of antennas may include at least one transmit antenna for transmitting signals and at least one receive antenna for receiving signals. Each communication device additionally includes a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can comprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, antennas, etc.), as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. Therefore, the network equipment and the terminal equipment can communicate through the multi-antenna technology.

It should be understood that the network device in the wireless communication system may be any device having a wireless transceiving function. Such devices include, but are 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), Access Point (AP) in wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay Node, wireless backhaul Node, Transmission Point (TP), or transmission and reception Point (TRP, TP), etc., and may also be 5G, e.g., NR, nodeb (gbb, Base Station) in the system, or transmission Point (TRP or TP), where one or a group of Base stations in the 5G system may include multiple antennas, or may also be a network panel or a network panel, such as a baseband unit (BBU), 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). A CU implements part of the function of a gNB, and a DU implements part of the function of the gNB, for example, the CU implements the function of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, and the DU implements the function of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer and a Physical (PHY) layer. 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 the RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or the DU + CU 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 a Radio Access Network (RAN), or may be divided into network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

It should also be understood that terminal equipment in the wireless communication system may also be referred to as 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 vehicle-mounted terminal, a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in 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 network device may configure the terminal device with one or more Timing Advance Groups (TAGs). One TAG represents a group of cells having the same TA. That is, the network device may configure the terminal device with a plurality of cells, the cells having the same TA being divided into one TAG. For each TAG, the terminal device maintains a TA. That is, when a terminal equipment transmits an uplink signal in a cell, it uses the TA corresponding to the TAG to which the cell belongs.

For each terminal device, the network device may configure it with one or more TAGs. One TAG represents a group of cells having the same TA. That is, the network device may configure the terminal device with a plurality of cells, the cells having the same TA being divided into one TAG. For example, if the network device configures 4 cells {1,2,3,4} for the terminal device, where cells {1,3} have the same TA and cells {2,4} have the same TA, then the terminal device has two TAGs, {1,3} and {2,4} respectively. For each TAG, the terminal device maintains a TA value. For example: in the R15 protocol, the TAG is configured as follows:

each TAG has its own index (TAG-Id) and a TA timer (timeAlignmentTimer) for timing the current TA of the TAG, i.e. recording how long the current TA value has been in effect. Every time the TA is updated, the timer will clear 0 and restart timing.

According to the above protocol, when the terminal equipment performs uplink transmission in a certain cell included in a certain TAG, no matter how many antenna panels the terminal equipment has, the terminal equipment can only perform uplink transmission by using the value of the TA corresponding to the TAG. That is, for each TAG, the terminal device only adopts one TA value, which is adopted by all antenna panels of the terminal device. However, when the orientations are different, the TA values for different antenna panels may be different. This may result in portions of the antenna panel failing to transmit data correctly.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method and an apparatus for configuring antenna panel information, which are convenient for configuring a TA at an antenna panel level for a terminal device, and ensure transmission of uplink data, and with reference to fig. 2A, the method includes:

s101: the network device configures one or more TAGs for the terminal device.

In one example, each TAG comprises one or more sub-units, each sub-unit being associated with one or more antenna panels of the terminal device or, or one or more antenna panel groups (each antenna panel group comprising one or more antenna panels), for indicating a relevant parameter of the TA of the corresponding antenna panel. Each subunit may include one or more of the following parameters: an index of the sub-unit, one or more TA timers, an index of one or more antenna panels, an index of one or more antenna panel groups, an index of one or more SRS resources or an index of a set of SRS resources associated with an antenna panel or antenna panel group.

For example: the terminal device has two antenna panels and the network device configures the terminal device with one or more TAGs, each TAG comprising two sub-units, each sub-unit being associated with one antenna panel. Each subunit includes a TA timer for timing a TA corresponding to the antenna panel associated with the subunit. In some cases, a subunit may also be associated with multiple antenna panels.

In another example, each TAG includes one or more TA timers, each TA timer associated with one or more antenna panels or one or more groups of antenna panels (each group of antenna panels including one or more antenna panels) for timing the TA corresponding to the one or more antenna panels or groups of antenna panels; or one TA is associated with each TA timer, each TA being associated with one or more antenna panels or groups of antenna panels.

For example: the terminal equipment is provided with two antenna panels, the network equipment configures two TA timers for the terminal equipment, and each TA timer is associated with one antenna panel; or, each TA timer is used for timing a TA corresponding to one antenna panel. In some cases, one TA timer may be associated with multiple antenna panels.

The configured content of the network equipment is issued to the terminal equipment through the configuration information.

The index of the antenna panel may refer to an index value specially used for identifying one antenna panel, or may be an index of another object uniquely associated with one antenna panel, for example, an index of SRS (sounding reference signal) resource, an index of SRS resource set, or the like.

S102: the network equipment sends indication information or notification messages to the terminal equipment, and the indication information or the notification messages are used for indicating the activation and/or the deactivation of the antenna panel.

The indication information or the notification message may be sent to the terminal device through one or more of RRC (radio resource Control), MAC-CE (Media Access Control element), and DCI (downlink Control information).

The content of the indication information or the notification message may include one or more of the following, and the following may be sent separately or together:

an index of one or more antenna panels to be turned on;

an index of one or more antenna panels to be turned off;

the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open all unopened antenna panels;

An indication message for indicating the terminal device to close all the opened antenna panels;

the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open all the antenna panels except for one or a plurality of antenna panels or all unopened antenna panels except for one or a plurality of antenna panels;

an indication message, for indicating the terminal equipment to close all antenna panels except some antenna panel or some antenna panels, or all opened antenna panels except some antenna panel or some antenna panels;

and a bitmap for indicating whether the antenna panel is turned on or off. The Bitmap comprises a plurality of bits, each bit corresponds to one antenna panel, the value of bit is 1 to open the antenna panel, and the value of bit is 0 to close the panel. Or bit with value 1 indicates turning off the antenna panel and bit with value 1 indicates turning on the panel.

The turning on and off of the antenna panel corresponds to the activation and deactivation, respectively, described above. Since the terminal device includes multiple antenna panels, the network device may instruct the terminal device to turn on one or more, may instruct the terminal device to turn off one or more, may instruct the terminal device to turn on one or more, and turn off one or more. Therefore, the message sent by the network device to the terminal device may be used to activate one or more antenna panels, deactivate one or more antenna panels, activate one or more antenna panels, and deactivate one or more antenna panels.

In another example, the network device may also send the following to the terminal device, including:

an indication message for indicating one or more antenna panels to be uplink timed; here, when the antenna panel is already turned on, the network device may directly indicate the antenna panel to be uplink-timed without indicating the terminal device to activate the antenna panel; the indication mode is similar to the mode of activating the antenna panel, and the number, index number or identification of the antenna panel for uplink timing can be sent; the antenna panel to be uplink-timed may also be indicated in a Bitmap manner. For example, each bit of the Bitmap corresponds to one antenna panel, the value of bit is 1 to indicate that uplink timing is to be performed, and 0 to indicate that uplink timing is not to be performed; alternatively, a bit value of 1 indicates that uplink timing is not to be performed, and 0 indicates that uplink timing is to be performed.

an indication information for indicating simultaneously an uplink timing to be performed and one or more antenna panels to be activated; that is to say, the indication message may indicate one or more antenna panels to perform uplink timing and activation, and after the terminal device receives the indication message, if the indicated antenna panel is turned on, the terminal device needs to perform uplink timing by using the antenna panel; if the indicated antenna panel is closed, the terminal device needs to turn on the antenna panel, and may further perform uplink timing by using the antenna panel.

In addition, in another example, the indication information may also indicate one or more antenna panels to be uplink-timed or activated, and after receiving, the terminal device may also use the similar rule processing, and if the indicated antenna panel is turned on, the terminal device needs to use the antenna panel to perform uplink timing; if the indicated antenna panel is closed, the terminal device needs to turn on the antenna panel, and may further perform uplink timing by using the antenna panel.

According to the content of the indication information or the notification message sent by the network device, if the terminal device is instructed to turn on one or more antenna panels, or one or more antenna panels to perform uplink timing is instructed, further, the network device may also send an indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information includes:

information of the preamble of one or more content-free, such as an index of the preamble.

The terminal device may associate each antenna panel to be turned on or antenna panel to be uplink-timed with each preamble one by one according to the received information of the preamble of the content-free. Specifically, any one of the following association modes may be adopted:

And the antenna panels are associated with the preambles in an increasing or decreasing index manner according to the increasing order of the indexes.

And associating each antenna panel with each preamble in a mode of increasing or decreasing indexes one by one according to the sequence of the indication information or the notification message in the antenna panel.

Of course, besides the above-mentioned association method, other association methods may be adopted, and in short, each antenna panel to be turned on or to be subjected to uplink timing is associated with each preamble one by one.

In another example, the network device may also send the association relationship between each antenna panel and each preamble to the terminal device.

The contents of the plurality of indication information may be carried in the same message and sent to the terminal device, or may be carried in different messages and sent to the terminal device.

S103: the terminal equipment sends a random access request message to the network equipment.

The random access request message is also referred to as a random access procedure message 1 or RACH msg1, and includes a preamble of a content-free, which can also be directly regarded as a random access request message. The preamble can only be used by the terminal device, and competition cannot exist.

If the network device only instructs the terminal device to turn on and/or turn off a specific antenna panel in S102, the terminal device turns on and/or turns off the instructed antenna panel; the terminal device does not send the preamble of the content-free any more.

If the network device indicates one or more antenna panels to be opened by the terminal device in S102, and also indicates information of one or more content-free preambles, or indicates that each antenna panel to be opened is associated with each preamble one by one, the terminal device uses each opened antenna panel to send a random access request message (i.e., a content-free preamble) to the network device after opening each antenna panel. In other words, the terminal device uses each antenna panel to send the preamble of the content-free associated with the antenna panel to the network device to initiate the random access procedure.

If the network device indicates one or more antenna panels to be uplink-timed by the terminal device, and also indicates information of one or more content-free preambles, or indicates that each antenna panel to be uplink-timed is associated with each preamble one by one, the terminal device uses each antenna panel to be uplink-timed to send a random access request message (i.e., a content-free preamble) to the network device. In other words, the terminal device uses each antenna panel to send the preamble of the content-free associated with the antenna panel to the network device to initiate the random access procedure.

S104: and the network equipment sends a random access response message to the terminal equipment.

The random access response message is also referred to as random access procedure message 2 or RACH msg 2.

After receiving one or more preambles sent by the terminal device, the network device measures or calculates the TA value corresponding to each preamble, and then the network device sends one or more random access response messages to the terminal device, wherein each random access response message corresponds to one preamble, and each random access response message comprises a TA value.

S105: the terminal device updates the value of TA corresponding to the antenna panel.

And the terminal equipment receives the one or more random access response messages. For each random access response message, the terminal device obtains the TA carried by the random access response message, and uses the TA as the TA of the antenna panel associated with the preamble corresponding to the random access response message, that is, uses the TA carried by one random access response message as the TA of the antenna panel for sending the random access request message corresponding to the random access response message. For example: the terminal device adopts the antenna panel 1 to send preamble 1 of content-free to the network device, the network device sends a random access response message 1 to the terminal device, wherein TA1 is carried, and after the terminal device receives the random access response message, the value of TA1 is taken as the TA of the antenna panel 1.

Or, for each random access response message, the terminal device obtains the TA carried by the random access response message, determines the antenna panel associated with the preamble corresponding to the response message, determines the TAG to which the cell corresponding to the response message belongs, and uses the TA as the TA corresponding to the antenna panel in the TAG. For example: in a cell 1 of the TAG1, the terminal device sends preamble 1 of content-free to the network device by using an antenna panel 1, the network device sends a random access response message 1 to the terminal device, wherein the random access response message carries TA1, and after the terminal device receives the random access response message, the value of TA1 is taken as the TA corresponding to the antenna panel 1 in the TAG 1.

Further, the terminal device starts or restarts the timer corresponding to the TA.

Optionally, the terminal device sends multiple preambles through multiple antenna panels, and waits for receiving a response message of a previous preamble, and then sends a next preamble; it is also possible to send the latter preamble without waiting for the response message of the former preamble.

Optionally, the terminal device may also report a capability indication, which is used to indicate a time required by the terminal device to turn on an antenna panel or turn off the antenna panel; reporting may be performed via a UE capability reporting message (e.g., UECapabilityInformation).

Optionally, in S102, when the network device indicates the preamble information of the content-free for the terminal device, the network device may further indicate the time or time-frequency resource information sent by the preamble.

Optionally, in S102, an interval time between the time of sending each preamble indicated by the network device and the time of sending the antenna panel activation/deactivation message is greater than a specific limit. The threshold value may be reported to the network device by the terminal device, or may be determined by the network device according to the information reported by the terminal device. For example, the threshold may be a time required for the antenna panel to open reported to the network device by the terminal device, or a numerical value determined by the network device according to the time required for the antenna panel to open; the threshold value may also be a value configured by the network device to the terminal device, or may also be a fixed value default to the protocol. Through the threshold value, the terminal equipment can be ensured to open the antenna panel before preamble sending time.

Optionally, in S102 and S103, if an interval time between a time of sending a preamble corresponding to a certain antenna panel and a time of sending a message for indicating activation/deactivation of the antenna panel is greater than a specific time interval, the terminal device performs random access by using the preamble of content-free configured to the terminal device by the network device. If the interval time is less than a specific time interval (the transmission time of the content-free is too early, and the antenna panel is not opened yet at this time), the terminal device ignores the preamble of the content-free associated with the antenna panel, and selects a content-based preamble to perform the random access process after the antenna panel is opened.

In the above embodiment, the network device indicates the antenna panel to be activated and the corresponding preamble information to the terminal device, so that activation and uplink timing of the antenna panel controlled by the network device are realized.

In the following embodiments, the terminal device may activate the autonomously controlled antenna panel and perform uplink timing, with reference to fig. 2B, the method includes:

s201: the network device configures one or more TAGs for the terminal device.

The process is similar to S101 and will not be described in detail.

S202: the terminal equipment sends a random access request message to the network equipment.

The random access request message is also referred to as a random access procedure message 1 or RACH msg1, and includes a preamble of the content-based, which can also be directly regarded as a random access request message. The preamble of the context-based is common to all terminal devices, and there may be a case where multiple terminal devices send the same preamble to the network device on the same time-frequency resource.

The terminal equipment adopts an antenna panel to send a random access request message to the network equipment, namely, a content-based preamble is sent; the preamble may be a preamble associated with the antenna panel. Or a preamble that is not associated with the antenna panel.

S203: the network equipment sends a random access response message to the terminal equipment.

After receiving the preamble, the network device measures or calculates a value of a TA corresponding to the preamble, and sends a corresponding random access response message to the terminal device, where the random access response message includes the value of the corresponding TA.

S204: the terminal device sends a random access message 3 to the network device.

Random access message 3 is also referred to as random access procedure message 3 or RACH msg 3.

And after receiving the random access response message, the terminal equipment acquires the TA carried in the random access response message, and takes the TA as the TA of the antenna panel for sending the preamble.

For example: the terminal device adopts the antenna panel 1 to send preamble 1 to the network device, the network device sends a random access response message 1 to the terminal device, wherein TA1 is carried, and after the terminal device receives the random access response message, the value of TA1 is used as the TA of the antenna panel 1.

Or further, the terminal device obtains the TA in the random access response message, determines the TAG to which the cell corresponding to the random access response message belongs, determines the antenna panel sending the preamble, and uses the TA as the TA corresponding to the antenna panel in the TAG.

For example: in cell 1 of TAG1, the terminal device sends preamble 1 to the network device by using antenna panel 1, the network device sends random access response message 1 to the terminal device, which carries TA1, and after the terminal device receives the random access response message, the value of TA1 is taken as the TA corresponding to antenna panel 1 in TAG 1.

Further, the terminal device may start or restart a timer corresponding to the TA.

The terminal device sends a random access procedure message 3 to the network device, where the message includes an identifier of the terminal device, and further includes an index of an antenna panel that sends a preamble.

Further, the random access message 3 may also include other information, such as: an identification of the newly opened antenna panel, or an antenna panel open/close situation of the terminal device, i.e. which antenna panels are open, and/or which antenna panels are closed. The above may include one or more of them.

S205: the network device sends a random access message 4 to the terminal device.

Random access message 4 is also referred to as random access procedure message 4 or RACH msg 4.

The network device receives the random access message 3, determines the terminal device sending the preamble according to the terminal device identifier in the random access message 3, and further determines the antenna panel sending the preamble according to the index of the antenna panel in the random access message 3. The network device then sends a random access message 4 to the terminal device. The terminal equipment judges whether the conflict Resolution (content Resolution) is successful or not according to the received random access message 4. If the conflict resolution is unsuccessful, the TA timer started or restarted in S104 is stopped, indicating that the TA update was unsuccessful in S204. If the conflict resolution is successful, the TA timer in S104 does not need to be stopped, indicating that the TA update is successful in S204.

Optionally, in another embodiment, in S204, when the terminal device receives the random access response message, the TA of the antenna panel that sends the preamble may not be updated by using the TA value therein, but after the collision resolution is determined to be successful in S205, the TA value in the random access response message is updated or used as the TA of the antenna panel, and then the timer corresponding to the TA is started or restarted.

Optionally, in another embodiment, in S204, when the terminal device receives the random access response message, the TA value in the response message is used to update or serve as the TA of the antenna panel that sends the preamble, but the TA timer corresponding to the TA is not started or restarted. In S205, it is determined whether the conflict resolution is successful, and if so, a TA timer corresponding to the TA is started or restarted; if not, the timer is not started or restarted.

Optionally, the terminal device may send the random access request to the network device through the multiple antenna panels, respectively; the random access processes corresponding to the multiple antenna panels may be ordered, that is, after the previous random access process is completed, the next random access process is started. Or may be crossed, that is, the former random access process is not completed and the latter one is started; each antenna panel may perform the similar operations described above.

Multiple antenna panels of a terminal device may correspond to the same TA. A plurality of antenna panels may constitute an antenna panel group. For example, antenna panels having the same TA may constitute one antenna panel group. One antenna panel set may correspond to one TA timer, i.e. only one TA is maintained. Or each antenna panel in the antenna panel group corresponds to one TA timer, and each antenna panel maintains one TA, and at this time, the TA corresponding to each antenna panel is the same.

The terminal device may update the TA corresponding to the antenna panel group or the TA corresponding to each antenna panel in the antenna panel group through a random access procedure.

Optionally, the terminal device may send a random access request message to the network device through an antenna panel, and after receiving a random access response message sent by the network device, the terminal device uses the TA in the response message as the TA of the antenna panel, or as the TA of the antenna panel group in which the antenna panel is located, or as the TA of each antenna panel in the antenna panel group in which the antenna panel is located.

Optionally, the terminal device may send the same random access request message (which may be the same preamble) to the network device through multiple antenna panels at the same time. For example, the same random access request message is sent to the network device by multiple antenna panels in one antenna panel group at the same time. After receiving the random access response message sent by the network device, the terminal device uses the TAs in the response message as the TAs of the multiple antenna panels, or as the TAs of the antenna panel groups corresponding to the multiple antenna panels, or as the TAs of each antenna panel in the antenna panel groups corresponding to the multiple antenna panels.

Optionally, the terminal device may send different random access request messages to the network device through multiple antenna panels at the same time, the network device may calculate values of TAs according to different preambles, and take an average value, a maximum value, or a minimum value thereof, or take one of the values that meets a preset condition, and send a random access response message to the terminal device, where the terminal device uses the TA in the response message as the TA of the multiple antenna panels, or as the TA of an antenna panel group corresponding to the multiple antenna panels, or as the TA of each antenna panel in the antenna panel group corresponding to the multiple antenna panels.

In the above embodiment, the terminal device automatically initiates the random access process, so as to implement uplink timing of the specific antenna panel, and further implement information reporting of the specific antenna panel, for example, reporting an index of a newly turned-on antenna panel.

In the above embodiments, the uplink timing of the antenna panel is implemented in a four-step RACH (random access channel) procedure (or referred to as a 4-step random access procedure), and in the following embodiments, the terminal device implements the uplink timing through a two-step RACH procedure (or referred to as a 2-step random access procedure), and with reference to fig. 3, the method includes:

S301: the network device configures an association relationship between a preamble and a PUSCH (physical uplink shared channel) for the terminal device.

If the terminal device has multiple antenna panels, each antenna panel may be associated with each preamble, PUSCH, for example: antenna panel 1 is associated with preamble1, PUSCH1, and antenna panel 2 is associated with preamble2, PUSCH 2.

S302: the terminal equipment sends a preamble to the network equipment, and sends information (or uplink data) to the network equipment through a PUSCH associated with the preamble.

Preamble may be referred to as MSG a; the PUSCH may also carry one or more of the following information: the identifier of the terminal device or the identifier generated according to the identifier of the terminal device sends the index of the antenna panel of preamble, the identifier of the antenna panel to be newly opened, and the opening condition of the antenna panel of the terminal device, i.e. which antenna panels are opened and/or which antenna panels are closed.

For example: the terminal device may send a preamble to the network device through one antenna panel, and send information to the network device through a PUSCH associated with the preamble, where the information includes an index of the antenna panel that sends the preamble. In addition, the preamble may be sent to the network device through a plurality of antenna panels, respectively, for example:

The antenna panel 1 transmits preamble1 and transmits uplink data or information through PUSCH1 associated with preamble 1; the antenna panel 2 transmits preamble2 and transmits uplink data or information through PUSCH2 associated with preamble 2.

S303: and the network equipment receives the preamble and the PUSCH and sends a response message to the terminal equipment.

The network device may determine the value of TA according to the received preamble, and reply to a response message, where the response message may include one or more of the following information: the TA value, information for conflict resolution, such as the identifier of the terminal device or an identifier generated from the identifier of the terminal device, or an index of the antenna panel that sent the preamble. This response message may also be referred to as MSG B.

And the terminal equipment receives the response message, acquires the value of the TA carried in the response message, and updates the TA according to the value of the TA. For example, the terminal device sets the value of TA as the TA of the antenna panel that transmits the preamble.

For example: the terminal device adopts the antenna panel 1 to send preamble1 to the network device, the network device sends a random access response message 1 to the terminal device, wherein TA1 is carried, and after the terminal device receives the random access response message, the value of TA1 is used as the TA of the antenna panel 1. The terminal device sends preamble2 to the network device by using antenna panel 2, the network device sends random access response message 2 to the terminal device, which carries TA2, and the terminal device takes the value of TA2 as the TA of antenna panel 2 after receiving the random access response message.

Further, the terminal device may start or restart a TA timer corresponding to the TA.

Further, the terminal device may determine whether the conflict is successfully resolved according to the received response message, and if the conflict is successfully resolved, the TA in the response message is used to update the corresponding TA. For example, the value of TA in the response message is used to update the TA of the antenna panel that sent the preamble if it is determined that the collision resolution is successful. Or, it is determined that the conflict resolution is successful, the TA in the response message is used to update the corresponding TA of the TAG to which the cell corresponding to the response message belongs of the antenna panel sending the preamble.

In addition, other features may be referred to the description of the first 2 embodiments and may be equally applicable to this embodiment and will not be described in detail here.

In the above embodiment, the terminal device automatically initiates the two-step random access process, so that uplink timing of the specific antenna panel is realized, and further, information reporting of the specific antenna panel, for example, reporting of an index of a newly turned-on antenna panel, can be realized.

Based on the above embodiments of the method, the communication apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in the present application, where the communication device 600 includes: a communication unit 610 and a processing unit 620.

A communication unit 610, configured to perform transceiving operations of signals in the foregoing method embodiments, that is, implement a communication function.

The processing unit 620 is configured to perform other operations besides signal transceiving in the above method embodiments, such as starting a TA timer.

Optionally, the communication unit 610 is also referred to as a transceiver unit (or module), and may include a receiving unit (module) and/or a transmitting unit (module), which are respectively configured to perform the steps of receiving and transmitting by the terminal device in the foregoing respective method embodiments. Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include a storage unit for storing instructions executed by the communication unit 610 and the processing unit 620.

For example: the communication apparatus 600 may be the terminal device in the first embodiment, and may also be a chip or a functional module of the terminal device, including:

a receiving module: the terminal equipment is used for receiving indication information sent by network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open one or more antenna panels;

a processing module: the antenna panel is used for starting the one or more antenna panels according to the indication information;

a sending module: the network equipment is used for respectively sending random access request messages to the network equipment by adopting the opened antenna panel or the opened antenna panels;

the receiving module is further configured to receive one or more random access response messages sent by the network device, where each random access response message includes a value of a time advance TA, and the value of each TA is used as a TA of a transmitting antenna panel of a random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message.

For example: the communication device 600 may be the terminal device in the second embodiment, and may also be a chip or a functional module of the terminal device, including:

a sending module: the antenna panel is used for sending a random access request message to the network equipment;

a receiving module: and the ue is configured to receive a random access response message sent by the network device, where the response message includes a TA value corresponding to the antenna panel, and the TA value is used to update the TA corresponding to the antenna panel.

Further, the method also comprises the following steps: a processing module: and the TA timer is used for starting the TA timer corresponding to the TA by taking the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel which sends the random access request message.

Wherein:

the sending module is also used for sending a random access message 3 to the network equipment;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a random access message 4 sent by the network device;

the processing module is further configured to determine whether the conflict resolution is successful according to the received random access message 4, and if the conflict resolution is unsuccessful, stop the timer corresponding to the TA.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises: a processing module, configured to use the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel that sends the random access request message;

the processing module is further configured to determine whether the conflict resolution is successful according to the received random access message 4, and if so, start a TA timer corresponding to the TA.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises: the processing module, the said sending module is also used for sending the random access message 3 to the network equipment;

the processing module is further configured to determine whether the conflict resolution is successful according to the received random access message 4, and if the conflict resolution is successful, use a value of the TA as a TA of the antenna panel that sends the random access request message, and start a TA timer corresponding to the TA.

The above reference method embodiment lists some functions of each module of the terminal device, and other functions may refer to the description related to the method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

The communication device 600 is a terminal device, and may also be a chip or a functional module in the terminal device. When the communication device is a terminal equipment, the processing unit may be a processor and the communication unit may be a transceiver. The communication device may further comprise a storage unit, which may be a memory. The storage unit is used for storing instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored by the storage unit so as to enable the communication equipment to execute the method. When the communication device is a chip within a terminal equipment, the processing unit may be a processor, and the communication unit may be an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like; the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage unit (e.g., register, cache memory, etc.), or the storage unit (e.g., read-only memory, random access memory, etc.) in the terminal device, which is located outside the chip, to make the communication device perform the operations performed by the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments

It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, when the steps performed by the communication apparatus 600 and the corresponding beneficial effects can refer to the related description of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, for brevity, no further description is provided herein.

It is to be understood that the communication unit 610 may be implemented by a transceiver and the processing unit 620 may be implemented by a processor. The storage unit may be implemented by a memory. As shown in fig. 5, the communication device 700 may include a processor 710, a memory 720, and a transceiver 730.

The communication apparatus 600 shown in fig. 4 or the communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 5 can implement the steps performed by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, and similar descriptions can refer to the descriptions in the foregoing corresponding methods. To avoid repetition, further description is omitted here.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800 provided in the present application, where the communication device 800 includes a processing unit 810 and a communication unit 820.

The processing unit 810 is configured to perform transceiving operations of signals in the foregoing method embodiments, that is, implement a communication function.

A communication unit 820, configured to perform other operations besides signal transceiving in the above method embodiments, such as configuring TAG, calculating TA, and the like.

Optionally, the communication unit 820 may be referred to as a transceiver unit (or module), and includes a receiving unit (module) and/or a transmitting unit (module), which are respectively configured to perform the steps of receiving and transmitting by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments. Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a storage unit for storing instructions executed by the communication unit 820 and the processing unit 810.

The apparatus 800 is a network device in the method embodiment, and may also be a chip within the network device. When the apparatus is a network device, the processing unit may be a processor and the communication unit may be a transceiver. The apparatus may further comprise a storage unit, which may be a memory. The storage unit is used for storing instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored by the storage unit so as to enable the communication equipment to execute the method. When the apparatus is a chip within a network device, the processing unit may be a processor, the communication unit may be an input/output interface, a pin or a circuit, etc.; the processing unit executes instructions stored in a storage unit (e.g., a register, a cache, etc.) inside the chip or a storage unit (e.g., a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) outside the chip, so as to cause the communication device to perform the operations performed by the network device in the above method embodiments.

For example: the communication apparatus 800 may be the network device in the first embodiment, or may be a chip or a functional module of the network device, and includes:

A sending module: the antenna panel starting method comprises the steps of sending indication information to a terminal device, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal device to start one or more antenna panels;

a receiving module: the terminal equipment is used for receiving random access request messages respectively sent by one or more opened antenna panels;

the sending module is further configured to send one or more random access response messages to the terminal device, where each random access response message includes a value of a time advance TA, and the value of each TA is associated with a sending antenna panel of a random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message.

The sending module is further configured to: issuing configuration information to a terminal device, the configuration information comprising one or more time advance groups TAGs, wherein:

each TAG comprises one or more sub-units, each sub-unit comprising a TA timer, and each sub-unit being associated with one or more antenna panels, or one or more groups of antenna panels, of the terminal device; or

Each TAG comprises one or more TA timers, each TA timer being associated with one or more antenna panels, or one or more groups of antenna panels, of the terminal device.

The communication apparatus 800 may be a network device in the second embodiment, or may also be a chip or a functional module of the network device, and the corresponding module implements the functions in the corresponding method embodiment, which may specifically refer to the method embodiment and is not described in detail.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, when the steps performed by the apparatus 800 and the corresponding advantages are described in the foregoing description of the network device in the method embodiment, for brevity, no further description is provided herein.

It is to be understood that the communication unit 820 may be implemented by a transceiver and the processing unit 810 may be implemented by a processor. The storage unit may be implemented by a memory. As shown in fig. 7, the communication device 900 may include a processor 910, a memory 920, and a transceiver 930.

The communication apparatus 800 shown in fig. 6 or the communication apparatus 900 shown in fig. 7 can implement the steps performed by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments, and similar descriptions can refer to the descriptions in the foregoing corresponding methods. To avoid repetition, further description is omitted here.

The network device in each of the above device embodiments corresponds to the terminal device or the terminal device in the terminal device and method embodiments, and the corresponding module or unit executes the corresponding steps. For example, the method of the communication unit (or transceiver unit, transceiver) performs the steps of transmitting and/or receiving in the method embodiment (or performed by the transmitting unit, the receiving unit, respectively), and the steps other than transmitting and receiving may be performed by the processing unit (processor). The functions of the specific elements may be referred to in the respective method embodiments. The sending unit and the receiving unit can form a transceiving unit, and the transmitter and the receiver can form a transceiver, so that transceiving functions in the method embodiment are realized together; the processor may be one or more.

It should be understood that the above division of the units is only a functional division, and other division methods may be possible in actual implementation.

The communication apparatus in each of the above embodiments may also be a chip or a functional unit in a terminal device or a network device, and the processing unit may be implemented by hardware or software. When implemented in hardware, the processing unit may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. When implemented in software, the processing unit may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory unit, which may be integrated in the processor or may be located separately from the processor.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 1000 according to the present application. For convenience of explanation, fig. 8 shows only main components of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal apparatus 1000 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The terminal device 1000 can be applied to a system as shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment.

The processor is mainly configured to process the communication protocol and the communication data, control the entire terminal device, execute a software program, process data of the software program, and control the terminal device to perform the actions described in the above method embodiments. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. 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. 8 shows only one memory and processor for ease of illustration. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and 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 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. 8 integrates 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 may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may 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.

For example, in the embodiment of fig. 8, the antenna and the control circuit with transceiving functions can be regarded as the transceiving unit 1001 of the terminal device 1000, and the processor with processing functions can be regarded as the processing unit 1002 of the terminal device 1000. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal device 1000 includes a transceiving unit 1001 and a processing unit 1002. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Alternatively, a device for implementing a receiving function in the transceiving unit 1001 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a transmitting function in the transceiving unit 1001 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiving unit 1001 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc.

The terminal device 1000 shown in fig. 8 can implement various processes involving the terminal device in the method embodiment. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the terminal device 1000 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above method embodiments. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application, which may be a schematic structural diagram of a network device. As shown in fig. 9, the network device 1100 may be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments.

The network can be applied to a communication system as shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment. The network device 1100 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 1110 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (which may also be referred to as Digital Units (DUs)) 1120.

The RRU 1110 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 1111 and a radio frequency unit 1112. The RRU 1110 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals and converting the radio frequency signals and baseband signals, for example, for sending indication information in the above method embodiments. The RRU 1110 and the BBU1120 may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, i.e., distributed base stations.

The BBU1120 is a control center of the 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, spreading, and the like. For example, the BBU (processing unit) 1120 can be used to control a network device to execute the operation flow of the above method embodiment with respect to the network device.

In an embodiment, the BBU 1120 may be formed by one or more boards, and a plurality of boards may jointly support a radio access network (e.g., an NR network) with a single access indication, or may respectively support radio access networks with different access schemes (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The BBU 1120 also includes a memory 1121 and a processor 1122, the memory 1121 being used to store the necessary instructions and data. The processor 1122 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the network device to execute the operation procedure related to the network device in the above-described method embodiment. The memory 1121 and processor 1122 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.

The network device is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be in another embodiment: for example: the antenna comprises a BBU (baseband unit) and an Adaptive Radio Unit (ARU), or the BBU and an Active Antenna Unit (AAU); the CPE may be a Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) or another type, and the present application is not limited thereto.

It should be appreciated that the network device 1100 shown in fig. 9 is capable of implementing various processes involving network devices in method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the network device 1100 are respectively configured to implement the corresponding flows in the above-described method embodiments. 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 noted that the communication unit in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as a transceiver unit or a transceiver module.

It should be understood that the processing means may be a chip. For example, the processing Device may be 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), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or other integrated chips.

In implementation, the steps of the method provided by this embodiment may be implemented by hardware integrated logic circuits in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor.

It should be noted that the processor 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 processor in the embodiments of the present application may implement or perform the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will be appreciated that the memory or storage units in the embodiments of the application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may 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 RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, Synchronous Link DRAM (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 embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes a sending end device and a receiving end device. For example, the sending end device is the network device in the above embodiment, and the receiving end device is the terminal device in the above embodiment; or, the sending end device is the terminal device in the above embodiment, and the receiving end device is the network device in the above embodiment.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable medium, on which a computer program is stored, and the computer program, when executed by a computer or a processor, implements the method in any of the above embodiments.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which when executed by a computer or a processor implements the method in any of the above embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a system chip, where the system chip includes: a processing unit and a communication unit. The processing unit may be, for example, a processor. The communication unit may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin or a circuit, etc. The processing unit can execute computer instructions to cause a chip in the communication device to execute any one of the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the computer instructions are stored in a storage unit.

It should also be understood that references to "storing" in embodiments of the present application may refer to storing in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be provided separately or integrated in the encoder or decoder, the processor, or the communication device. The one or more memories may also be provided separately, with a portion of the one or more memories being integrated into the decoder, the processor, or the communication device. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium and is not intended to be limiting of the present application.

It should also be understood that the "protocol" in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, and may include, for example, an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and a related protocol applied in a future communication system, which is not limited in the present application.

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 according to 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 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 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 includes one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "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 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.

Claims

1. An indication method of antenna panel information, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends indication information to terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open one or more antenna panels;

the network equipment receives random access request messages respectively sent by the terminal equipment by adopting one or more opened antenna panels;

the network device sends one or more random access response messages to the terminal device, each random access response message including a value of a Time Advance (TA), the value of each TA being associated with a transmitting antenna panel of a random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to the method:

the network equipment issues configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information comprises one or more time advance group TAGs, and the method comprises the following steps:

each TAG comprises one or more sub-units, each sub-unit comprising a TA timer, and each sub-unit being associated with one or more antenna panels of the terminal device, or with one or more groups of antenna panels; or

Each TAG comprises one or more TA timers, each TA timer being associated with one or more antenna panels of the terminal device, or with one or more groups of antenna panels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the indication information further includes information of preambles of one or more content-free.

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein:

the random access request message includes preambles of the content-free, and each of the one or more antenna panels that are turned on is associated with a preamble of the content-free.

5. An indication method of antenna panel information comprises the following steps:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives indication information sent by network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to open one or more antenna panels;

the terminal equipment opens the one or more antenna panels according to the indication information and respectively sends a random access request message to the network equipment by adopting the opened one or more antenna panels;

the terminal equipment receives one or more random access response messages sent by the network equipment, each random access response message comprises a value of TA (timing advance), and the value of each TA is used as the TA of the antenna panel for sending the random access request message corresponding to the corresponding random access response message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

7. An indication method of antenna panel information, comprising:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the random access request message includes a preamble of a content-based.

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment takes the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel sending the random access request message, and starts a TA timer corresponding to the TA.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the terminal equipment sends a random access message 3 to the network equipment;

and the terminal equipment receives the random access message 4 sent by the network equipment, judges whether the conflict resolution is successful or not according to the received random access message 4, and stops the timer corresponding to the TA if the conflict resolution is unsuccessful.

11. The method of claim 7 or 8, further comprising:

the terminal device takes the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel which sends the random access request message;

and the terminal equipment receives the random access message 4 sent by the network equipment, judges whether the conflict resolution is successful or not according to the received random access message 4, and starts a TA timer corresponding to the TA if the conflict resolution is successful.

12. The method of claim 7 or 8, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment receives the random access message 4 sent by the network equipment, judges whether the conflict resolution is successful or not according to the received random access message 4, if so, takes the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel sending the random access request message, and starts a TA timer corresponding to the TA.

13. A communication device, comprising:

14. The communications apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

15. A communication device, comprising:

16. A communication device, comprising:

17. The communications apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

a processing module: and the TA timer is used for starting the TA timer corresponding to the TA by taking the value of the TA as the TA of the antenna panel which sends the random access request message.

18. The communications apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

19. A communications apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for invoking and executing a computer program stored in the memory to cause the communication device to implement the method of any of claims 1-12.

20. A computer storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.