CN114760680A

CN114760680A - Communication method, communication device, equipment, chip, storage medium and system

Info

Publication number: CN114760680A
Application number: CN202210417704.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 苏怀文
Original assignee: Zeku Technology Beijing Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Zeku Technology Beijing Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2022-04-20
Filing date: 2022-04-20
Publication date: 2022-07-15

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method, a communication device, equipment, a chip, a storage medium and a system, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment sends a first media access control element (MAC CE); the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

Description

Communication method, communication device, equipment, chip, storage medium and system

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present application relate to, but not limited to, the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, a communication apparatus, a device, a chip, a storage medium, and a system.

Background

The Power Headroom Report (PHR) is a Report that a terminal device reports a difference between a maximum transmission Power of the terminal device and an estimated uplink transmission Power to a network device, and the network device performs Power control and/or uplink scheduling adjustment and the like according to the PHR content.

How a terminal device transmits a Media Access Control Element (MAC CE) including a power headroom report to a network device is a problem that has been always focused in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a communication device, equipment, a chip, a storage medium and a system.

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

the terminal equipment sends a first media access control element (MAC CE); the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

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

the network equipment receives a first media access control element (MAC CE); the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

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

a transmitting unit configured to: transmitting a first media access control element, MAC CE; the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

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

a receiving unit configured to: receiving a first media access control element, MAC CE; the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, including: a memory and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to,

the memory stores a computer program operable on the processor,

the steps of the method of the first aspect are implemented when the computer program is executed by the processor.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including: a memory and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to,

the memory stores a computer program operable on the processor,

the processor, when executing the computer program, performs the steps of the method of the second aspect of the claims.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, including: a processor for retrieving from the memory and executing the computer program for performing the method according to the first aspect or for performing the method according to the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer storage medium storing one or more programs, which are executable by one or more processors to implement the steps of the method of the first aspect or to implement the steps of the method of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including the terminal device according to the fifth aspect and the network device according to the sixth aspect.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment sends a first media access control element MAC CE; the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE. In this way, the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, so that the network device can determine whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE based on the PHR indication information when receiving the first MAC CE, thereby avoiding the situation that the network device needs to read and analyze the PHR when the PHR is invalid, and saving the computing resources of the network device; in addition, the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, so that it can be avoided that the terminal device sends an inaccurate PHR to the network device, and the network device performs power control and/or adjusts uplink scheduling based on the inaccurate PHR, which results in inaccurate power control and/or uplink scheduling adjustment of the network device.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and not to limit the application.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC PDU format with a PHR according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for packing a PHR according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic time line diagram of transmitting a PHR MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of bit positions carried by PHR indication information in the fixed-size MAC CE in fig. 2;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating bit positions carried by PHR indication information in the variable-size MAC CE in fig. 2;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a hardware entity diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip of an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present application will be specifically described below by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following several specific embodiments may be combined with each other, and details of the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments.

It should be noted that: in the present examples, "first", "second", etc. are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order.

The technical means described in the embodiments of the present application may be arbitrarily combined without conflict. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 1, a communication system 100 may include a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. Network device 120 may communicate with terminal device 110 over the air. Multi-service transport is supported between terminal device 110 and network device 120.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application is illustrated as the communication system 100, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. That is to say, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: long Term Evolution (LTE) System, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT) System, narrowband Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) System, enhanced Machine-Type communication (eMTC) System, 5G communication System (also called New Radio, NR) communication System), or future communication System (e.g. 6G, 7G communication System), etc.

Network device 120 in embodiments of the present application may include access network device 121 and/or core network device 122. An access network device may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may communicate with terminal devices 110 (e.g., UEs) located within the coverage area.

A Terminal device in this application may be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), 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 may comprise one or a combination of at least two of: personal Digital Assistant (PDA), handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, server, mobile phone (mobile phone), tablet computer (Pad), computer with wireless transceiving function, palmtop computer, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant, portable media player, wearable device such as smart speaker, navigation device, smart watch, smart glasses, smart necklace, pedometer, Digital TV, Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), wireless terminal in self driving (driving), wireless terminal in remote surgery (remote medical supply), wireless terminal in smart grid (smart), wireless terminal in transportation security (security), wireless terminal in transportation security), The smart home management system comprises a wireless terminal in a smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), a vehicle-mounted device, a vehicle-mounted module, a wireless modem (modem), a handheld device (hand-held device), a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and a smart home appliance in a vehicle networking system.

The access network equipment 121 may include one or a combination of at least two of: an evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG RAN) device, a base station (gNB) in an NR system, a small station, a micro station, a Wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN), an Access point of a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a relay station, an Access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a hub, a switch, a bridge, a router, a Network device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future Evolution, and the like.

In NR, the Core network device 122 may be a 5G Core network (5G Core, 5GC) device.

Communication between the functional units in the communication system 100 may also be implemented by establishing a connection through a next generation Network (NG) interface.

Fig. 1 exemplarily shows one base station, one core network device, and two terminal devices, and optionally, the wireless communication system 100 may include a plurality of base station devices and may include other numbers of terminal devices within the coverage area of each base station, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that fig. 1 illustrates, by way of example only, a system to which the present application is applied, and of course, the method shown in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to other systems. Further, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship. It should also be understood that "indication" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a direct indication, an indirect indication, or an indication of an association relationship. For example, a indicates B, which may mean that a directly indicates B, e.g., B may be obtained by a; it may also mean that a indicates B indirectly, for example, a indicates C, and B may be obtained by C; it can also mean that there is an association between a and B. It should also be understood that "correspond" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may mean that there is a direct or indirect correspondence between the two, and may also mean that there is an association relationship between the two, and may also be a relationship of indicating and being indicated, configuring and being configured, and the like. It should also be understood that "predefining", "agreement", "predetermining", or "predefined rule" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by saving corresponding codes, tables, or other manners that can be used to indicate related information in advance in the devices (for example, including the terminal device and the network device), and the present application is not limited to the specific implementation manner thereof. Such as predefined, may refer to what is defined in the protocol. It should also be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the "protocol" may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, 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 this application.

The PHR may indicate how much transmission power is available for the terminal device in addition to transmission power used for current Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission, and since the calculation of the PHR requires the transmission power of the PUSCH, the power headroom may be calculated in a transmission subframe of the PUSCH.

In the case where the terminal device transmits a power headroom report to an active serving cell, the terminal device may determine that the power headroom report is based on actual transmission or transmission in some reference format. Wherein, the power headroom report is based on actual transmission and can be understood as follows: a power headroom report calculated based on actual transmission; the power headroom report is transmitted based on a certain reference format and can be understood as: the resulting power headroom report is calculated based on the reference format.

In some embodiments, when the PHR is transmitted on the non-DCI triggered PUSCH, the terminal device may determine the actual transmission or the transmission in a certain Reference format according to higher layer signaling, which may be related to configuration grant (configuration grant) and transmission of periodic or semi-static Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

In other embodiments, the terminal device may determine the actual transmission or the transmission in a reference format according to Downlink Control Information (DCI) received by the terminal device up to a time of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), where the PDCCH time has the following characteristics: the terminal device detects DCI format 0_0 or DCI format 0_1 initially transmitted from the first scheduled Transport Block (TB) from which the PHR is triggered, and the PHR is also being transmitted on the DCI-triggered PUSCH.

In some scenarios, the terminal device may determine downlink control information received up to a time point defined as the time of the first uplink symbol transmitted by the terminal device on the configured PUSCH minus TProc,2, TProc,2 in turn being closely related to the PUSCH preparation time N2, and N2 may represent the capability of the terminal device to complete uplink transmission preparation in how short time.

Table 1 shows a correspondence relationship between configuration information μ of a subcarrier interval and PUSCH preparation time N2, where the unit of N2 is symbols.

TABLE 1

μ	PUSCH preparation time N2[ symbols [ ]]
		0	5
1	5.5
		2	11

It should be noted that table 1 provides an example of a correspondence relationship between μ and N2, and in other embodiments, or in other protocols, the correspondence relationship between μ and N2 may be other, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

No matter the PUSCH transmission is configured or the DCI indicates the PUSCH transmission, the terminal device starts to calculate the PHR after the uplink grant padding parameter, and the time for calculating the PHR varies according to different scenarios such as the transmission frame structure. Taking table 1 as an example, although N2 is shortest to be a time of 5 symbols, in an actual scenario, the terminal device calculates that the PHR may be less than 5 symbols from the TX time, for example, in some cases, the terminal device calculates that the PHR may be one symbol from the TX time.

PHR (also referred to as PHR content or PHR value) may be transmitted in the form of a MAC CE, which may also be referred to as PHR MAC CE, and in an NR system, the PHR MAC CE is generally arranged after a MAC Service Data Unit (SDU) in a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU).

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC PDU format with a PHR according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where as shown in fig. 2, a MAC PDU may include a plurality of MAC sub-PDUs (MAC sub-PDUs). The plurality of MAC subpdus can include the following: one or more MAC sub-pdus including MAC SDUs, and one or more MAC sub-pdus including MAC CEs. Optionally, the plurality of MAC sub pdus may further include the following: one or more MAC sub-pdus including padding (padding). Alternatively, one or more MAC sub-pdus including the MAC CE may follow the one or more MAC sub-pdus including the MAC SDU, and a MAC sub-pdu including padding (padding) may follow the one or more MAC sub-pdus including the MAC CE. For example, in fig. 2, the MAC PDU may include: at least two MAC sub-pdus including MAC SDUs, a MAC sub-pdu including MAC CE1, a MAC sub-pdu including MAC CE2, and a MAC sub-pdu including padding.

For any MAC sub PDU including MAC SDUs in the MAC PDU, the MAC sub PDU including MAC SDUs may contain: a first subheader and a MAC SDU. The first subheader may include fields for at least one of: r: reserving bits; f: indicating the length of the L field; LCID: a logical channel identification; l: and the length of the corresponding MAC SDU and the MAC control unit is indicated, and the length is in bytes.

Take the MAC sub pdu including the MAC CE1 in fig. 2 as an example: the MAC subppdu including the MAC CE1 may contain: a second subheader and a Fixed-sized MAC CE (Fixed-sized MAC CE). The second subheader may include fields for at least one of: r: reserving bits; LCID: a logical channel identification. The fixed-size MAC CE may be referred to as a single-entry PHR MAC CE.

Take the MAC sub pdu including the MAC CE2 in fig. 2 as an example: the MAC subppdu including the MAC CE2 may contain: a third subheader and a Variable-sized MAC CE. The third subheader may include fields for at least one of: r: reserving bits; f: indicating the length of the L field; LCID: a logical channel identification; l: and the length of the corresponding MAC SDU and the MAC control unit is indicated, and the length is in bytes. The variable-size MAC CE may be referred to as a multi-entry PHR MAC CE.

It should be noted that fig. 2 is only for explaining a format of a MAC sub PDU including a MAC CE, and is not used to limit the MAC sub PDU of the MAC CE included in the MAC PDU. Illustratively, one MAC PDU may contain one MAC sub PDU of one included MAC CE. Further illustratively, one MAC PDU may contain MAC sub-PDUs of a plurality of included MAC CEs. For example, in some embodiments, one or more of the MAC PDUs including a MAC CE may each be a MAC sub PDU including MAC CE 1. For another example, in some embodiments, one or more of the MAC PDUs including a MAC CE may each be a MAC sub PDU including MAC CE 2. For another example, in some embodiments, one or more of the MAC PDUs include MAC sub-PDUs of MAC CEs, both MAC sub-PDUs including MAC CE1 and MAC sub-PDUs including MAC CE 2.

In the fixed-size MAC CE and the variable-size MAC CE of FIG. 2, C_xThe field may be used to indicate whether a Secondary Cell (SCell) with an index number x reports a Power Headroom (PH); r field is reserved bit; the P domain is used to indicate whether to apply power backoff; the value of V field may be 0 or 1; and when V is 1, it is used to indicate that the corresponding PH is a PH calculated based on the reference format, and when V is 0, it is used to indicate that the corresponding PH is a PH calculated based on the actual transmission. P is_CMAX,f,c、P _CMAX,f,c1、P _CMAX,f,c2、P _CMAX,f,c3、P_CMAX,f,cThe m-field is used to represent the maximum transmit power of the corresponding cell.

A PH (Type)1, Primary Cell (PCell)) field, which indicates a PH of PCell under Type 1.

A PH (Type 2, SpCell of other MAC entity) field for indicating the PH of SpCell of other MAC entity under Type 2. Wherein, the SpCell is PCell + Primary and Secondary cells (PSCell).

A PH (Type X, serving Cell)1 field, configured to indicate a PH of the serving Cell 1 under Type X, where X may take a value of 1 or 3.

A PH (Type X, serving Cell n) field, configured to indicate a PH of the serving Cell n under Type X, where a value of X may be 1 or 3, and n is an integer greater than 1 and is an index number of the serving Cell.

Optionally, there may be other PH fields in the fixed-size MAC CE or the variable-size MAC CE, for example, the other PH fields may include at least one of the following: a PH (Type 2, PCell) field for representing a PH of PCell under Type (Type) 2; a PH (Type 2, PUCCH SCell) field to indicate a PH of the SCell configured with PUCCH in Type 2; a PH (Type 2, PSCell) field, which is used to indicate a PH of a PSCell at Type 2, and so on, and is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

In some embodiments, Type (Type)1 may refer to a PH when only a PUSCH is currently transmitted in a cell. Type (Type)2 may refer to a PH when a PUCCH and a PUSCH are currently transmitted simultaneously in a cell. Type (Type)3 may refer to a PH when the SRS is currently transmitted in the cell.

It should be noted that, although fig. 2 shows schematic format diagrams of two MAC CEs, the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto, and any format of a MAC CE should be within the protection scope of the present application, for example, in other embodiments, a MAC CE may have other formats, for example, a MAC CE may include one byte, or a MAC CE may include multiple bytes and C is a byte_xWherein x is in the range of 1 to 31.

In other embodiments, the MAC PDU may contain a MAC sub PDU including a MAC SDU, but not a MAC sub PDU including a MAC CE.

The uplink Transport Block (TB) including the MAC PDU may be generated by packing a Logical Channel Priority (LCP) process in a Data Plane (DP) protocol of layer 2, and the PHR content may be given by a physical layer, so that the transmission of the PHR is a process in which the PHY and the DP cooperate. Alternatively, layer 2DP may also be referred to as layer 2 or DP in other embodiments.

When the PHY decodes the PDCCH to obtain DCI and obtains uplink GRANT (uplink GRANT), the PHY sends an uplink GRANT indication (UL _ GRANT _ IND) message to trigger a layer 2 data plane DP uplink logical channel priority LCP process to package MAC PDUs. The UL GRANT IND message may carry: the data size (grant size) of the uplink grant and/or the size (PHR size) of the PHR message, where the size of the PHR message is not 0 represents that the physical layer is to transmit the PHR message to the network device as a MAC CE. Since the PHR MAC CE is at the end of the MAC PDU message, when the DP starts the LCP procedure, it needs to reserve a PHR space first, the LCP procedure will fill uplink SDU data with the size obtained by subtracting the PHR size from the grant size to the MAC PDU first, when the end of the LCP procedure is close to the terminal device expiration time (dueTime) (i.e. the first time), the PHY sends a PHR (PAYLOAD indication PHR _ PAYLOAD _ IND) to the DP, and the DP copies the PHR content to the MAC PDU, so that a complete MAC PDU is packed, and the physical layer starts to send the MAC PDU with the PHR content at the dueTime. PHR _ PAYLOAD _ IND can be understood the same as UL _ PAYLOAD _ IND. The PHR _ PAYLOAD _ IND may include PHR content therein.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for packing a PHR according to an embodiment of the present application, where as shown in fig. 3, the method for packing a PHR by an LCP process may include:

first, the physical layer may transmit UL _ GRANT _ IND, which may include PHR size, to the DP.

Second, DP may perform LCP procedures; in the LCP procedure, the PHR space may be reserved in the MAC PDU.

Again, the physical layer may transmit an uplink PAYLOAD indication (UL _ PAYLOAD _ IND) to the DP, and the UL _ PAYLOAD _ IND may include PHR content (PHR content).

Finally, the DP may pad PHR content into the MAC PDU.

After S307, the DP may transmit (TransmitX, TX) MAC PDU.

Fig. 4 is a time line schematic diagram of transmitting a PHR MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 4, one slot may have 14 symbols, and on a Downlink (DL) time line, a network device transmits DCI to a terminal device at a slot n (slot n), where the DCI may include an uplink GRANT indication (UL _ GRANT _ IND), and the UL _ GRANT _ IND may indicate a PHR size. On the uplink dp (ul dp) time line, layer 2 of the terminal device starts to enter the LCP procedure at time t1, i.e. layer 2 of the terminal device starts to listen whether there is a PHR transmitted by the physical layer at time t1, for example, layer 2 of the terminal device may listen for a PHR transmitted by the physical layer at intervals. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, in the UL LCP procedure, if the DP does not listen to the PHR transmitted by the physical layer at the last listening time before t2, so that the PHR of the layer 2 of the terminal device is not ready, that is, no PHR _ PAYLOAD _ IND (the same understanding as UL _ PAYLOAD _ IND) is transmitted to the DP, an exception occurs in the LCP procedure. The exception to the LCP process may include the following: for example, layer 2 does not send MAC PDUs to the network device; for another example, layer 2 sends a MAC PDU including an inaccurate PHR to the network device.

At an expiration time (dueTime) after t2 and/or a time after dueTime, the DP of the terminal device may transmit uplink information including the MAC PDU (corresponding to TX in fig. 4). Optionally, the dueTime may be the start time of slot n +1, or may be a time after the start time of slot n +1, depending on the configuration.

However, the LCP process is a time-consuming process, in some cases, when the CPU clock is 500MH, the time from software packing each SDU/MAC CE to MAC sub pdu is about 0.5-1 us, generally, in some scenarios, the uplink MAC sub pdu is dozens to hundreds, in fig. 4, LCP starts at time point t1 and is far before end time point t2, LCP packing and PHR calculation may be performed in parallel, LCP needs to reserve PHR space in advance, and before time point t2, PHY needs to send the content of this PHR MAC CE (for example, PHR content) to DP, otherwise, the LCP process may be abnormal.

The time for the physical layer to calculate the PHR content is uncertain, for example, the time for calculating the PHR content may vary according to a change of a scene such as a transmission frame structure, and/or according to a change of a clock frequency of the CPU, and/or according to a change of the PHR size, so that there may be a case that the physical layer PHY does not transmit the PHR message to the DP in time before the time point of t2, resulting in an exception of the LCP process.

In this embodiment of the present application, the DP may construct PHR padding (padding) data according to the PHR size in the uplink grant, and provide a new PHR MAC CE code according to this embodiment, so that the terminal device and the network device may provide a fault-tolerant scheme for a case where the LCP process may be abnormal.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 5, the method is applied to a terminal device or a layer 2 entity of the terminal device or a layer 2 of the terminal device, and the method includes:

s501, the terminal equipment sends a first media access control element (MAC CE); the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

Optionally, S501 may include: the terminal device transmits the first MAC CE to the network device. Optionally, the first MAC CE may include a first PHR MAC CE. Alternatively, the first MAC CE may be one MAC CE or a plurality of MAC CEs. For example, the first MAC CE may be one MAC CE, and the PHR and PHR indication information may be included in the one MAC CE. For another example, one MAC CE may be multiple MAC CEs, and each of the multiple MAC CEs may include PHR and PHR indication information, or a part of the multiple MAC CEs may include PHR and PHR indication information, and another part of the multiple MAC CEs may not include PHR and PHR indication information. Illustratively, the first MAC CE includes MAC CE1, MAC CE2, and MAC CE 3, each of MAC CE1, MAC CE2, and MAC CE 3 may include PHR and PHR indication information, or MAC CE1 includes PHR and PHR indication information, and neither MAC CE2 nor MAC CE 3 includes PHR and PHR indication information, or MAC CE1 includes PHR and PHR indication information, and MAC CE 3 includes PHR and PHR indication information, and MAC CE2 does not include PHR and PHR indication information.

Illustratively, in a case where the MAC CE1 includes the PHR and the PHR indication information, and the MAC CE2 includes the PHR and the PHR indication information, the MAC CE1 including the PHR indication information may indicate that the PHR in the MAC CE1 is ignored, and the MAC CE2 including the PHR indication information may indicate that the PHR in the MAC CE2 is not ignored. Thus, the network device will ignore the PHR in MAC CE1, and not MAC CE 2.

Optionally, in one MAC CE, indication information of the PHR and the PHR may exist at the same time, and whether to ignore the PHR in the one MAC CE is indicated by the indication information of the PHR.

Optionally, in a case where a PHR is included in one MAC CE, the PHR included in the one MAC CE may include one or more power headroom PHs.

Optionally, ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE may include: ignoring the transmitted first MAC CE, or ignoring a MAC sub pdu including the first MAC CE.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may transmit the first MAC CE if the trigger condition is satisfied. Optionally, the trigger condition may include at least one of:

(1) and when the prohibit Timer (prohibit Timer) is overtime and the difference value between the path loss (pathloss) measured when the terminal equipment reports the PHR last time and the path loss measured currently is larger than a threshold value.

(2) The arrival of a period of a periodic Timer (periodic Timer).

(3) In a Dual Connectivity (DC) scenario, when one PSCell is added.

(4) When one SCell is activated in DC or Carrier Aggregation (CA) scenarios.

(5) When the terminal device performs PHR reconfiguration, for example, when the period of the periodic timer and the length of the prohibited timer are reconfigured.

(6) A inhibit PHR Timer (which may be understood in the same way as the inhibit Timer) times out, and a Media Access Control (MAC) entity has uplink resources available for transmission, and in a current Transmission Time Interval (TTI), the following conditions are satisfied for any activated SCell configured with a MAC entity: the cell has allocated uplink resources or PUCCH resources, and a change in a required power backoff value is greater than a change in a path loss of the uplink resources for transmitting the PUCCH measured last time when the MAC entity configured in the cell reports the PHR.

It should be noted that the trigger conditions listed here are exemplary, and the trigger conditions may also be other in an evolved protocol generated as the protocol evolves or in other protocols, and the content included in the trigger conditions is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine that the PHR needs to be reported when the trigger condition is met, so that one first MAC CE or multiple first MAC CEs that are the same or different may be sent. Alternatively, the same or different plurality of first MAC CEs may be carried in one MAC PDU, or the same or different plurality of first MAC CEs may be carried in a plurality of MAC PDUs. For example, one MAC PDU may carry one or more first MAC CEs.

In some embodiments, different first MAC CEs may include different PHR and/or different formats of the different first MAC CEs (e.g., different formats of fixed-size MAC CEs and variable-size MAC CEs).

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information may be indicated by one or more bits, for example, whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE may be indicated by different values of the one or more bits. Illustratively, the PHR in the first MAC CE is indicated to be ignored if the value of the one or more bits is a first value, and/or the PHR in the first MAC CE is not indicated to be ignored if the value of the one or more bits is a second value.

In other embodiments, the PHR indication information may be indicated by text indication information, for example, the text indication information may include information that ignores the PHR or information that does not ignore the PHR.

In some embodiments, unlike S501, the PHR indication information may be included in the MAC PDU, and the PHR indication information may be included in a subheader of the MAC PDU. Illustratively, as shown in fig. 2, the PHR indication information may be a subheader in the MAC sub pdu including the MAC CE1, or the PHR indication information may be a subheader in the MAC sub pdu including the MAC CE 2. In some cases, the PHR indication information may be indicated by one or more bits, which may be: bits in a subheader in a MAC sub pdu including the MAC CE. For example, the one or more bits may be bits in field R of a subheader in a MAC sub pdu including the MAC CE.

Alternatively, if one MAC CE includes a PHR, the PHR may include information corresponding to at least a part of bits of the MAC CE except for the R bit. Wherein, the R bit is also called Reserved (Reserved) bit. In some embodiments, the PHR may include information corresponding to all bits except the R bit in the MAC CE. In other embodiments, the PHR may include information corresponding to the PH field in the MAC CE. In still other embodiments, the PHR may include P_CMAX,f,cInformation corresponding to domain, C_xAt least one of information corresponding to a field, information corresponding to a P field, information corresponding to a V field, and information corresponding to a PH field. In still other embodiments, the PHR may include other information than the PHR indication information.

In some embodiments, in case that the PHR indication information is included in a subheader of the MAC PDU, the PHR may include these listed above, or may also include all information included in the MAC CE. For example, all information in a fixed-size MAC CE may be included, or all information in a variable-size MAC CE may be included. Alternatively, the subheader of the MAC PDU including the PHR indication information, and the MAC CE including the PHR may be in one MAC sub PDU.

Optionally, ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE may be understood as not responding to the PHR in the first MAC CE, or not reading the PHR in the first MAC CE, or not decoding the PHR in the first MAC CE, and the like.

In some scenarios, considering that the terminal device does not acquire the PHR before the time point when the MAC PDU needs to be acquired, if some information is filled in the position corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE, the filled information is inaccurate, and the network device may determine the information in the position corresponding to the PHR as the PHR sent by the terminal device, and perform operations such as power control and/or uplink scheduling adjustment according to the PHR. However, since the information is filled into the position corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE, the PHR is not actually detected, that is, the information is not accurate, which may cause inaccuracy in power control and/or uplink scheduling adjustment of the network device. In the scenario of the embodiment of the present application, if the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the network device ignores the PHR in the first MAC CE, so that the network device may not perform power control and/or adjust uplink scheduling, or perform power control and/or adjust uplink scheduling according to the preconfigured information, but not according to an inaccurate PHR, thereby avoiding the network device performing inaccurate power control and/or adjust uplink scheduling.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment sends a first media access control element (MAC CE); the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE. In this way, the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, so that the network device can determine whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE based on the PHR indication information when receiving the first MAC CE, thereby avoiding the situation that the network device needs to read and analyze the PHR when the PHR is invalid, and saving the computing resources of the network device; in addition, the PHR in the first MAC CE is ignored by the PHR indication information indication, so that it can be avoided that the terminal device sends an inaccurate PHR to the network device, and the network device performs power control and/or adjusts uplink scheduling based on the inaccurate PHR, resulting in inaccurate power control and/or uplink scheduling adjustment of the network device.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in one or more bits of the first MAC CE.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in one bit in the first MAC CE. The value of the one bit is used to indicate whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE. For example, in the case that the one bit value is 1, the one bit value being 1 indicates ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE, and/or in the case that the one bit value is 0, the one bit value being 0 indicates not ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE. For another example, if the one bit value is 0, the one bit value is 0 indicating to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, and/or if the one bit value is 1, the one bit value is 1 indicating not to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE.

In other embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in a plurality of bits in the first MAC CE. A value of the plurality of bits is used to indicate whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE. For example, in a case where the plurality of bit values is a first value (e.g., a value of at least one bit is not 0), the plurality of bit values is a first value indicating that the PHR in the first MAC CE is ignored, and/or in a case where the plurality of bit values is a second value (e.g., all 0), the plurality of bit values is a second value indicating that the PHR in the first MAC CE is not ignored. For another example, if the plurality of bit values are a second value (e.g., all 0 s), the plurality of bit values being the second value indicates ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE, and/or if the plurality of bit values are a first value (e.g., the value of at least one bit is not 0), the plurality of bit values being the first value indicates not ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE.

In other implementations, where the PHR indication information is included in a subheader of a MAC PDU, the PHR indication information may be carried in one or more bits in the subheader of the MAC PDU. Optionally, for the description of one or more bits in the subheader of the MAC PDU, reference may be made to the description of one or more bits in the first MAC CE, which is not described herein again.

Alternatively, in the case that the PHR indication information is carried in multiple bits, the multiple bits may be consecutive bits, or may be non-consecutive bits, or may be partially consecutive bits.

The PHR indication information is carried in one or more bits of the first MAC CE, so that whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE can be indicated through the one or more bits of the first MAC CE, and the PHR indication information can occupy less resources.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more bits of the reserved bits.

In this way, the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more reserved bits, so that the reserved bits in the MAC CE can be used to ensure the compatibility of the forward protocol version.

In other embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more bits specified by a protocol.

In some cases, as the protocol evolves, a new protocol may specify a new bit or bits to carry PHR indication information. Illustratively, the new protocol may specify the new bit or bits as S (skip) bits. Alternatively, the S bits may correspond to one or more of the reserved bits in the previous protocol. It should be noted that the S bit is an example, and does not limit the name of the new one or more bits, and any one or more bits in the reserved bits in the previous protocol, corresponding to the name of the bits in the new protocol, should be within the scope of protection of the present application. For example, the bit name corresponding to the new protocol may be a bit, B bit, or an indicator bit, etc.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more bits determined based on the first pre-configuration information.

In some embodiments, the first pre-configuration information may be configuration information pre-stored in the terminal device. For example, the first pre-configuration information may be MAC layer or layer 2 configuration information pre-stored in the terminal device. In other embodiments, the first provisioning information may be configured by the network device to the terminal device. In still other embodiments, the first preconfigured information may be protocol agreed preconfigured information.

Optionally, the preconfiguration information may comprise indication information of one or more bit positions, or may be used to determine indication information of one or more bit positions, such that one or more bits may be determined based on the indication information of one or more bit positions.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in the lowest order bit of the reserved bits of the first byte.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in one bit, which is the lowest order bit of the reserved bits of the first byte. In other embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in a plurality of bits, and the plurality of bits are the least significant bits of the reserved bits of the first byte.

In some embodiments, the first byte in the first MAC CE is a byte corresponding to the first row of bits of the first MAC CE. In some embodiments, in the case where the reserved bits in the first byte include one bit, the one bit is determined as the least significant bit of the reserved bits. In other embodiments, where the reserved bits in the first byte comprise a plurality of bits, the least significant bit of the plurality of bits is determined to be the least significant bit of the reserved bits.

In other embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in the lowest order bit of the reserved bits of a byte after the first byte. For example, a certain byte after the first byte may be the second byte or the third byte, and so on.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in one or more bits that can be read first among the reserved bits of the first MAC CE.

The PHR indication information is carried in the lowest bit of the reserved bits of the first byte, so that the network device can read the PHR indication information at the fastest speed, and whether the PHR in the first MAC CE is ignored or not is determined at the fastest speed based on whether the PHR in the first MAC CE is ignored or not indicated by the PHR indication information, thereby avoiding the situation that invalid information is read or the invalid information is read too much.

In each byte of the MAC CE, the rightmost bit is the least significant bit and the leftmost bit is the most significant bit. As shown in the fixed-size MAC CE in fig. 2, the bit carried by the PHR indication information may be a second R bit (for example, may be referred to as a first target bit) from left to right in the first row, so that the network device determines whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE if the R bit is read, and if the R bit is read, the remaining content in the MAC CE is not read. As shown in the variable-size MAC CE in fig. 2, the bit carried by the PHR indication information may be the rightmost R bit (for example, may be referred to as a second target bit) in the first row, so that the network device determines whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE if the R bit is read, and if the PHR is ignored, does not read the rest of the contents in the MAC CE.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of bit positions carried by PHR indication information in the MAC CE with a fixed size in fig. 2, where, as shown in fig. 6, the bit positions carried by the PHR indication information are positions where are shaded, bits carried by the PHR indication information are denoted by S, and S bits are second R bits from left to right in the first row. The fixed-size MAC CE may also be referred to as a single-entry PHR MAC CE. In fig. 6, if the S bit indicates to ignore the PHR, the values of the bits other than the S bit may be all values of the R bit (e.g., 0), or the bits other than the S bit are the R bit.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of bit positions carried by PHR indication information in the variable-size MAC CE in fig. 2, where, as shown in fig. 7, the bit positions carried by PHR indication information are positions where the shading is located, bits carried by PHR indication information are represented by S, and S bits are R bits at the rightmost side of the first row. The variable-size MAC CE may also be referred to as a multi-entry PHR MAC CE. In fig. 7, if the S bit indicates to ignore the PHR, the values of the bits other than the S bit may be all values of the R bit (e.g., 0), or the bits other than the S bit are the R bit.

In some embodiments, in a case where the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the PHR in the first MAC CE is determined based on second provisioning information of the terminal device.

Alternatively, the second pre-configuration information of the terminal device may be stored in the terminal device in advance. Alternatively, the second pre-configuration information may include how to determine the PHR in case of ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE. Alternatively, the PHR transmitted with ignoring the PHR in the first MAC CE is an inaccurate PHR.

In some embodiments, in the case that the terminal device meets the trigger condition, and in the case that the calculated PHR is not acquired before the first time, the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, and the PHR in the first MAC CE is determined based on the second preconfigured information of the terminal device. The first time may be a time before the sending time of the MAC PDU, a time length before the first time and the sending time of the MAC PDU, or a preparation time length of the MAC PDU. The preparation time length of the MAC PDU can be a time length fixed by a protocol, or a time length smaller than the time length specified by the protocol, or a time length determined according to the capability information of the terminal equipment.

In some embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 0.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementation scenarios, the second R bit from left to right in the first row in the fixed-size MAC CE has a value of 1, except that the values of the other bits may all be 0. In other implementations, the rightmost R bit value of the first row in the variable-size MAC CE is 1, except that the values of the other bits may all be 0.

In other embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 1.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementation scenarios, the second R bit value from left to right in the first row in the fixed-size MAC CE is 1, and other bit values may be all 1. In other implementations, the rightmost R bit value in the first row of the variable-size MAC CE is 1, and all other bit values may be 1.

For another example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementation scenarios, the second R bit (e.g., may be referred to as a first target bit) from left to right in the first row in the fixed-size MAC CE has a value of 1, the values of the bits other than the first target bit in the reserved bits of the fixed-size MAC CE are all 0, and the values of the bits other than the reserved bits in the fixed-size MAC CE may all be 1. In other implementation scenarios, the rightmost R bit (e.g., may be referred to as a second target bit) in the first row of the variable-size MAC CE has a value of 1, the reserved bits of the variable-size MAC CE except the second target bit have values of 0, and the reserved bits of the variable-size MAC CE have values of 1.

In still other embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the bit value corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE is a randomly generated bit value.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementation scenarios, the second R bit value from left to right in the first row in the fixed-size MAC CE is 1, and the values of the other bits may be randomly generated bit values. In other implementations, the rightmost R bit value in the first row of the variable-size MAC CE is 1, and the values of the other bits in addition to this may be randomly generated bit values.

For another example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementation scenarios, a second R bit (e.g., may be referred to as a first target bit) from left to right in the first row of the fixed-size MAC CE has a value of 1, the reserved bits of the fixed-size MAC CE except the first target bit have values of 0, and the reserved bits of the fixed-size MAC CE except the reserved bits may have values of randomly generated bit values. In other implementations, the rightmost R bit (e.g., which may be referred to as a second target bit) in the first row of the variable-size MAC CE has a value of 1, the reserved bits of the variable-size MAC CE except the second target bit have values of 0, and the reserved bits of the variable-size MAC CE have values of randomly generated bit values.

In still other embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore a PHR in the first MAC CE, the PHR in the first MAC CE is a PHR transmitted by the terminal device before transmitting the first MAC CE.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementations, the second R bit value from left to right in the first row of the fixed-size MAC CE is 1, except that the other bit value is the same as the value at the corresponding position of the other bit value in the second MAC CE. In other implementations, the rightmost R bit value in the first row of the variable-size MAC CE is 1, and the other bit values are the same as the values at the corresponding positions in the second MAC CE. Wherein the second MAC CE is transmitted before the first MAC CE. For example, the second MAC CE and the first MAC CE may be two transmissions that are adjacent or two transmissions that are not adjacent.

For another example, as shown in fig. 2, in some implementation scenarios, a second R bit (e.g., may be referred to as a first target bit) from left to right of the first row in the fixed-size MAC CE has a value of 1, bits other than the first target bit in the reserved bits of the fixed-size MAC CE are all 0, and bits other than the reserved bits in the fixed-size MAC CE (corresponding to the PHR) may be a PHR in the second MAC CE. In other implementation scenarios, the rightmost R bit (e.g., may be referred to as a second target bit) in the first row of the variable-size MAC CE has a value of 1, the remaining bits of the reserved bits of the variable-size MAC CE except for the second target bit are all 0, and the remaining bits of the reserved bits in the variable-size MAC CE (corresponding to the PHR) may be the PHR in the second MAC CE.

In this way, a determination manner of a bit value corresponding to the PHR field in the first MAC CE is provided in a case where the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, so that the bit value corresponding to the PHR field in the first MAC CE is easily determined.

In this way, the network device may ignore other bits than the bit in the fixed-size MAC CE based on the second R bit from left to right in the first row in the fixed-size MAC CE being 1; the network device may ignore bits other than the first row in the variable-size MAC CE based on the rightmost R bit in the variable-size MAC CE being 1.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR when the layer 2 does not receive the PHR sent by the physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed.

Optionally, layer 2 may include an SDAP layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAC layer. Alternatively, layer 2 in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a MAC layer, or may refer to a SDAP layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAC layer, or may refer to a MAC layer and an RLC layer, or may refer to a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer.

In some embodiments, the time when the process of generating the first MAC CE is completed may be a first time, where the first time may be a time before the transmission time of the MAC PDU, a time length between the first time and the transmission time of the MAC PDU, or a preparation time length of the MAC PDU.

In some embodiments, the time when the process of generating the first MAC CE is completed may be determined based on a preparation duration of the MAC PDU and a transmission time of the MAC PDU.

In some embodiments, before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, if the layer 2 does not receive the PHR sent by the physical layer, a first value (e.g., 1) is filled in a first space for carrying PHR indication information in a reserved space (corresponding to a PHR size) with unfilled bits, 0 is filled in a second space except the first space in the space corresponding to the reserved bits, and first information is filled in other spaces except the space corresponding to the reserved bits, so as to obtain the first MAC CE. In this case, the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR.

Alternatively, the first information may be 0, 1, a randomly generated bit value, or a PHR transmitted before the first MAC CE is transmitted.

In some embodiments, in the case that the layer 2 receives a PHR transmitted by a physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, the PHR indication information indicates not to ignore the PHR.

In some embodiments, before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, when the layer 2 receives a PHR transmitted by a physical layer, a second value (for example, 0) is filled in a first space for carrying PHR indication information in a reserved space (corresponding to a PHR size) with unfilled bits, 0 is filled in a second space except the first space in the space corresponding to the reserved bits, and the PHR transmitted by the physical layer is filled in other spaces except the space corresponding to the reserved bits, so as to obtain the first MAC CE. In this case, the PHR indication information indicates that the PHR is not to be ignored.

In some embodiments, the terminal device transmitting the first MAC CE may include: layer 2 of the terminal device transmits the first MAC CE. Alternatively, layer 2 of the terminal device may transmit the first MAC CE to layer 3, such that layer 3 transmits the first MAC CE to the network device.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of another communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 8, the method is applied to a terminal device or a layer 2 entity of the terminal device or a layer 2 of the terminal device, and the method includes:

s801, before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal equipment is completed, the terminal equipment transmits a first media access control element (MAC CE) under the condition that the layer 2 does not receive a PHR transmitted by a physical layer; wherein the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information indicates that PHR in the first MAC CE is ignored.

S803, after the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, if the layer 2 receives the PHR sent by the physical layer, discarding the PHR sent by the physical layer.

In this way, after the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, if the layer 2 receives the PHR sent by the physical layer, a processing idea of processing the received PHR sent by the physical layer is provided, so that processing resources for processing the PHR sent overtime can be saved to the greatest extent.

In some embodiments, in a case where the layer 2 receives the PHR transmitted by the physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, the terminal device transmits a first medium access control element MAC CE; wherein the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information indicates that PHR in the first MAC CE is not ignored; wherein the PHR in the first MAC CE is a PHR transmitted by the physical layer.

In other embodiments, after the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, if the layer 2 receives the PHR sent by the physical layer, the PHR may be stored, so that when the next PHR is triggered to be sent, if the layer 2 does not receive the PHR sent by the physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, the stored PHR is filled into the reserved space without the filled bits, and the PHR indication information indicates not to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE.

For example, if the PHR indication information in the MAC CE sent twice consecutively indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the network device may not obtain the PHR determined by the terminal device, and thus cannot perform power control, and in the case that the PHR is not received in the current round, the network device may obtain the PHR obtained by the terminal device for the last round by filling the unfilled space with the PHR obtained by the previous round in an overdue manner, and the PHR indication information in the MAC CE sent in the current round indicates not to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, so that the network device can obtain the PHR obtained by the terminal device for the last time in the case that the timing sequence is guaranteed.

Optionally, when next PHR is triggered to be transmitted, deleting the stored PHR when the layer 2 receives the PHR transmitted by the physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed.

The following describes a communication method in the embodiment of the present application, taking a network device as an example:

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 9, the method is applied to a network device or a layer 2 entity of the network device or a layer 2 of the network device, and the method includes:

s901, the network equipment receives a first media access control element (MAC CE); the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

In some embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the network device does not read and/or parse the PHR in the first MAC CE.

In some embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE, the network device may not perform power control and/or adjust uplink scheduling, and the like. In other embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the network device may perform power control and/or adjust uplink scheduling based on preconfigured information.

In some embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates not to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the network device may perform power control and/or adjust uplink scheduling based on the PHR in the first MAC CE, and the like.

In some embodiments, the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more bits of the reserved bits, or the one or more bits specified by the protocol, or the one or more bits determined based on the first preconfiguration information.

In some embodiments, in a case where the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the PHR in the first MAC CE is determined based on second preconfiguration information of a terminal device.

In some embodiments, in a case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE:

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 0, or,

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 1, or,

the bit value corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE is a randomly generated bit value, or,

and the PHR in the first MAC CE is the PHR sent by the terminal equipment before the first MAC CE is sent.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 10, the method includes:

s1001, the terminal equipment sends a first media access control element (MAC CE) to the network equipment; the network equipment receives the first MAC CE transmitted by the terminal equipment.

The first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

In the MAC CE format in the embodiment of the present application, one R (reserve) bit in the MAC CE format in the relevant protocol may be utilized, and the one R bit is assigned with a new meaning s (skip) bit.

The S bit may be a PHR content valid indicator bit, the value of the S bit may be the PHR indication information, when the terminal device sets the value of the S bit to 1, the terminal device requests the network device to ignore the PHR content, otherwise, the value of the S bit is set to 0; in the case that the value of the S bit is 0, the PHR MAC CE format in the embodiment of the present application may be a PHR MAC CE format in the related art.

When the terminal device sets the value of the S bit to 1, the position corresponding to the PHR in the PHR MAC CE may be padded with any value because the value of the position corresponding to the PHR is meaningless.

By the communication method in the embodiment of the application, at least one of the following can be realized: the strict dependence on the time sequence of DP LCP and PHR calculation of the physical layer is removed; solving the problem that uplink packet data cutoff is caused by the fact that a physical layer does not transmit PHR to DP in time; and the compatibility of the forward protocol version is ensured by utilizing the R bit of the original PDU.

In the embodiment of the application, the physical layer starts to calculate the PHR after receiving the uplink grant, and since the calculation time of the PHR is prolonged, when the grant is short from the transmission time, there may be a problem that the contents of the PHR cannot be timely grouped into the MAC PDU by the layer 2 data plane. To solve this problem, the embodiment of the present application provides a new PHR MAC CE format, and when the PHR content is not received in time by the LCP process of the DP, it fills the PHR content according to the PHR size indicated before the PHY, and gives a new meaning S using the original R bit to indicate whether the network device ignores the PHR content.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the apparatus includes units and modules included in the units, and may be implemented by a processor in a terminal device; but may of course also be implemented by means of specific logic circuits.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 11, a communication device 1100 includes:

a sending unit 1101, configured to: transmitting a first media access control element, MAC CE; the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

In some embodiments, the communications apparatus 1100 further comprises: a generating unit configured to generate a first MAC CE.

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 0, or,

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 1, or,

In some embodiments, in a case that the layer 2 does not receive the PHR sent by the physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR.

In some embodiments, the communications apparatus 1100 further comprises: a discarding unit, configured to discard the PHR sent by the physical layer when the layer 2 receives the PHR sent by the physical layer after a process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 12, a communication device 1200 includes:

a receiving unit 1201, configured to: receiving a first media access control element, MAC CE; the first MAC CE comprises Power Headroom Report (PHR) indication information, and the PHR indication information is used for indicating whether to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE.

In some embodiments, the communications apparatus 1200 further comprises: a determining unit configured to determine whether to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE.

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 0, or,

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 1, or,

The above description of the apparatus embodiments, similar to the above description of the method embodiments, has similar beneficial effects as the method embodiments. For technical details not disclosed in the embodiments of the apparatus of the present application, reference is made to the description of the embodiments of the method of the present application for understanding.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, if the communication method is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as a standalone product, it may also be stored in a computer storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a terminal device to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. Thus, embodiments of the present application are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

Fig. 13 is a hardware entity diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 13, a communication device 1300 may include a processor 1310 and a memory 1320, where the memory 1320 stores a computer program that is executable on the processor 1310, and the processor 1310 executes the computer program to implement a communication method in any of the embodiments.

Alternatively, the memory 1320 may be a separate device from the processor 1310, or may be integrated into the processor 1310.

Optionally, the communication device 1300 may further include a transceiver 1330, and the processor 1310 may control the transceiver 1330 to communicate with other devices, and specifically may transmit information or data to other devices or receive information or data transmitted by other devices.

Optionally, the transceiver 1330 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 1330 can further include one or more antennas.

In some embodiments, the communication device 1300 may specifically be a network device according to the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 1300 may implement a corresponding procedure implemented by the network device in each method according to the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein again for brevity.

In some embodiments, the communication device 1300 may specifically be a terminal device in the embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 1300 may implement a corresponding process implemented by the terminal device in each method in the embodiment of the present application, which is not described herein again for brevity.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip of an embodiment of the present application. The chip 1400 shown in fig. 14 includes a processor 1410, and the processor 1410 is configured to call and run a computer program from a memory to execute the method in the embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 14, chip 1400 may also include memory 1420. From memory 1420, processor 1410 may invoke and execute a computer program to implement the methods of the embodiments of the present application.

The memory 1420 may be a separate device from the processor 1410, or may be integrated into the processor 1410.

In some embodiments, the chip 1400 may also include an input interface 1430. The processor 1410 can control the input interface 1430 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, can obtain information or data transmitted by other devices or chips.

In some embodiments, the chip 1400 may also include an output interface 1440. The processor 1410 can control the output interface 1440 to communicate with other devices or chips, and in particular, can output information or data to other devices or chips.

In some embodiments, the chip may be applied to the network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the chip may implement a corresponding process implemented by the network device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, and for brevity, details are not described here again.

In some embodiments, the chip may be applied to the terminal device in the embodiments of the present application, and the chip may implement the corresponding process implemented by the terminal device in each method in the embodiments of the present application, and for brevity, no further description is given here.

It should be understood that the chips mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a system-on-chip, a system-on-chip or a system-on-chip.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer storage medium storing one or more programs, which are executable by one or more processors to implement a communication method in any embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be applied to the terminal device or the network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program enables the computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the terminal device or the network device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein again for brevity.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 15, the communication system 1500 includes: the terminal device 1510 in the above embodiment and the network device 1520 in the above embodiment. Alternatively, the description of the terminal device 1510 and the network device 1520 may be understood with reference to the description of any of the embodiments above.

Here, it should be noted that: the above description of the embodiments of the communication device, chip, computer storage medium and communication system is similar to the description of the above method embodiments with similar advantageous effects as the method embodiments. For technical details not disclosed in the embodiments of the communication device, the chip, the computer storage medium and the communication system of the present application, reference is made to the description of the embodiments of the method of the present application for understanding.

Embodiments of the present application may also provide a computer program product comprising a computer storage medium storing a computer program comprising instructions executable by at least one processor, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, implementing a communication method according to any of the embodiments of the present application.

In some embodiments, the computer program product may be applied to the terminal device or the network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the computer program instructions enable the computer to execute corresponding processes implemented by the terminal device or the network device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which are not described herein again for brevity.

Alternatively, the computer program product in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a software product in other embodiments.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program, where the computer program enables a computer to execute the communication method in any embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the computer program may be applied to the terminal device or the network device in the embodiments of the present application, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute corresponding processes implemented by the network device in the methods in the embodiments of the present application, which is not described herein again for brevity.

The communication device, chip or processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. 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 communication device, chip or processor may comprise an integration of any one or more of the following: general purpose processors, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Central Processing Units (CPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), embedded neural Network Processors (NPUs), controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, Programmable Logic devices, discrete Gate or transistor Logic devices, discrete hardware components. It is understood that the electronic device implementing the above-mentioned processor function may be other electronic devices, and the embodiments of the present application are not particularly limited. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in ram, flash, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

The computer storage media/memory described above may include memory that may be volatile or nonvolatile, 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 PROM (EEPROM), or a flash Memory. Volatile Memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache Memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchronous link SDRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be understood that the above memories are exemplary but not limiting illustrations, for example, the memories in the embodiments of the present application may also be Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM), and the like. That is, the memory in the embodiments of the present application is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment of the present application" or "a previous embodiment" or "some implementations" or "some embodiments" 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" or "an embodiment of the present application" or "the preceding embodiments" or "some embodiments" 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. The above-mentioned serial numbers of the embodiments of the present application are merely for description and do not represent the merits of the embodiments.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the unit is only a logical functional division, and there may be other division ways in actual implementation, such as: multiple units or components may be combined, or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling or communication connection between the components shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection between the devices or units may be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units; can be located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units; some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, all functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may be separately regarded as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit; the integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

The methods disclosed in the several method embodiments provided in the present application may be combined arbitrarily without conflict to obtain new method embodiments.

Features disclosed in several of the product embodiments provided in the present application may be combined in any combination to yield new product embodiments without conflict.

The features disclosed in the several method or apparatus embodiments provided in the present application may be combined arbitrarily, without conflict, to arrive at new method embodiments or apparatus embodiments.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for realizing the method embodiments can be completed by hardware related to program instructions, the program can be stored in a computer storage medium, and the program executes the steps comprising the method embodiments when executed; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a removable Memory device, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Alternatively, the integrated units described above in this application may be stored in a computer storage medium if they are implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as separate products. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application or portions thereof that contribute to the related art may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, a ROM, a magnetic or optical disk, or other various media that can store program code.

In the embodiments of the present application, the descriptions of the same steps and the same contents in different embodiments may be mutually referred to. In the embodiment of the present application, the term "and" does not affect the order of the steps, for example, the terminal device executes a and executes B, where the terminal device may execute a first and then execute B, or the terminal device executes B first and then executes a, or the terminal device executes B while executing a.

As used in the examples of this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein is merely one type of association that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments related to the present application, all the steps may be executed or some of the steps may be executed, as long as a complete technical solution can be formed.

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

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PHR indication information is carried in one or more bits of the first MAC CE.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more bits of reserved bits, or the one or more bits specified by a protocol, or the one or more bits determined based on first pre-configuration information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the PHR indication information is carried in a lowest order bit of reserved bits of the first byte.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein in case the PHR indication information indicates to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE, the PHR in the first MAC CE is determined based on second pre-configuration information of the terminal device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein in case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE:

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 0, or,

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 1, or,

the PHR in the first MAC CE is the PHR sent by the terminal equipment before the first MAC CE is sent.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein in a case that layer 2 of the terminal device does not receive a PHR transmitted by a physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by layer 2 is completed, the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein in case that the layer 2 receives a PHR transmitted by a physical layer before the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal device is completed, the PHR indication information indicates not to ignore the PHR.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and after the process of generating the first MAC CE by the layer 2 of the terminal equipment is completed, discarding the PHR transmitted by the physical layer when the layer 2 receives the PHR transmitted by the physical layer.

10. A method of communication, comprising:

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the PHR indication information is carried in one or more bits of the first MAC CE.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the PHR indication information is carried in the one or more bits of reserved bits, or the one or more bits specified by a protocol, or the one or more bits determined based on first pre-configuration information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the PHR indication information is carried in a lowest order bit of reserved bits of the first byte.

14. The method according to any of claims 10 to 13, wherein in case the PHR indication information indicates to ignore the PHR in the first MAC CE, the PHR in the first MAC CE is determined based on second provisioning information of a terminal device.

15. The method according to any of claims 10 to 13, wherein in case that the PHR indication information indicates to ignore PHR in the first MAC CE:

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 0, or,

the bit values corresponding to the PHR in the first MAC CE are all 1, or,

16. A communications apparatus, comprising:

17. A communications apparatus, comprising:

18. A terminal device, comprising: a memory and a processor, wherein the processor is capable of,

the memory stores a computer program operable on the processor,

the processor, when executing the computer program, implements the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

19. A network device, comprising: a memory and a processor, wherein the processor is capable of,

the memory stores a computer program operable on the processor,

the processor, when executing the computer program, implements the steps of the method of any one of claims 10 to 15.

20. A chip, comprising: a processor for invoking and running a computer program from a memory to perform the method of any of claims 1-9 or to perform the method of any of claims 10-15.

21. A computer storage medium storing one or more programs executable by one or more processors to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 9 or to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 10 to 15.

22. A communication system comprising a terminal device according to claim 18 and a network device according to claim 19.