CN116170753A

CN116170753A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116170753A
Application number: CN202111397639.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许斌; 李秉肇
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-11-23
Filing date: 2021-11-23
Publication date: 2023-05-26
Also published as: WO2023093364A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment determines first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of the terminal equipment, the first status report is used for indicating whether first data is successfully received or not, and the first data is sent to the terminal equipment through a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode; the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device in a point-to-point PTP transmission mode. According to the method, the terminal equipment can feed back the receiving state of the first data transmitted through the PTM, so that the network equipment can determine whether to retransmit the first data according to the first state report, and the reliability of data transmission is improved.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of communication, and more particularly relates to a communication method and device.

Background

Multicast broadcast service (multicast and broadcast service, MBS) is a service that is simultaneously directed to multiple terminals, and multicast or broadcast transmission is adopted to simultaneously provide MBS services, such as live broadcast service, public security service, batch software update service, etc., for a large number of users through fewer resources. The data of MBS business comes from a data server, is sent to access network equipment through core network equipment, and is then sent to at least one terminal equipment for receiving MBS data by the access network equipment.

In some multicast application scenarios, there are services with higher requirements on the reliability of data, for example, services in industrial scenarios or batch of terminal device software update services, and loss of data packets can cause failure of software update, so that re-update is required, and the reliability of service transmission is seriously affected.

Therefore, how to improve the transmission reliability of multicast data is a concern.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a communication device, wherein a terminal device can feed back the receiving state of multicast data, and is beneficial to improving the reliability of data transmission.

In a first aspect, a method of communication is provided, which may be performed by a network device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) configured in the network device, which is not limited in this application.

The method comprises the following steps: determining first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of the terminal equipment, the first status report is used for indicating whether first data is successfully received, and the first data is data sent to the terminal equipment through a point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmission mode; the first indication information is sent to the terminal device through a point-to-point (PTP) transmission mode.

The first indication information may also be referred to as first request information or polling (polling) information, which is used for requesting the first status report from the terminal device, or, in other words, for polling or querying the first status report of the terminal device, or for triggering the first status report of the terminal device, or for instructing the terminal device to send the first status report, or for enabling the terminal device to report the first status report, etc.

The first status report is used for indicating whether the first data is successfully received, that is, the first status report may be used for indicating a receiving status of the first data, where the receiving status includes successful receiving and unsuccessful receiving (or receiving fails), a certain data packet "successful receiving" may be understood as feedback content (ACK) information corresponding to a sequence number of the data packet in the first status report, and a certain data packet "unsuccessful receiving" may be understood as feedback content (negative acknowledgement, NACK) information corresponding to a sequence number of the data packet in the first status report.

In the scheme of the application, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device through a PTP transmission mode, the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of the terminal device, the first status report is used for indicating whether the first data transmitted through the PTM is successfully received, and the terminal device can feed back the receiving status of the first data according to the first indication information. Optionally, if the first status report indicates that the receiving status of the first data is failed, the network device may perform retransmission, which helps to improve reliability of data transmission.

On the other hand, the first indication information is sent by a PTP transmission mode, and can support to request the first status report to all or part of the terminal devices receiving the MBS service, for example, for the terminal devices considered by the network device to be the terminal devices not needing feedback, the receiving status of the first data may not be requested to the terminal devices, which is helpful to reduce unnecessary signaling overhead and improve the regulation flexibility of the network device.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first indication information is carried by at least one of: radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling, packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) control protocol data units (protocol data unit, PDUs), radio link control (radio link control, RLC) control PDUs, medium access control elements (media access control control element, MAC CE), or downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI).

The first indication information may be dedicated control information, for example, carried by a field or bit in RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI, in other words, the first indication information may be sent through a plurality of different messages, which has greater flexibility.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the foregoing sending, by a PTP transmission manner, first indication information to a terminal device includes: and sending second data to the terminal equipment in a PTP transmission mode, wherein the second data carries the first indication information.

When the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device configures a PTP transmission mode and a PTM transmission mode, the network device may carry the first indication information by using a data packet sent by the PTP transmission path.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the second data is RLC unacknowledged mode data (unacknowledged mode data, UMD) PDU, and a header of the second data includes the first indication information; or the second data is RLC acknowledged mode data (acknowledged mode data, AMD) PDU, the header of the second data includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received; or the second data is RLC AMD PDU, the header of the second data includes third indication information, the third indication information is used for indicating that the header of the second data has an extended field, the extended field includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received.

In the method, the signaling overhead of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be reduced by carrying the first indication information through the second data in the PTP transmission path.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving a first status report; and/or determining whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

If the first status report indicates that the receiving status of the first data is failed, the network device may perform retransmission, which is helpful for improving the reliability of data transmission.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: and transmitting sixth indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating the data packet format of the second data.

The network device may indicate a packet format of the second data for the terminal device to parse the second data.

In a second aspect, a method of communication is provided, which may be performed by a terminal device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the terminal device, which is not limited.

The method comprises the following steps: receiving first indication information by a PTP transmission mode, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of the terminal equipment, the first status report is used for indicating whether first data is successfully received or not, and the first data is data from network equipment received by the PTM transmission mode; and sending the first status report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

Alternatively, reference may be made to the above first aspect for a specific description of the first indication information, the first status report.

In the scheme of the application, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device through the PTP transmission mode, the first indication information is used for requesting the first status report of the terminal device, the first status report is used for indicating whether the first data transmitted through the PTM is successfully received, the terminal device can feed back the receiving status of the first data according to the first indication information, optionally, if the receiving status of the first data indicated by the first status report is failure, the network device can retransmit, which is helpful for improving the reliability of data transmission.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first indication information is carried on at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the receiving, by PTP transmission, the first indication information includes: and receiving second data from the network equipment in a PTP transmission mode, wherein the second data carries the first indication information.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second data is an RLC UMD PDU, and a packet header of the second data includes the first indication information; or the second data is RLC AMD PDU, the packet header of the second data includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received; or the second data is RLC AMD PDU, the header of the second data includes third indication information, the third indication information is used for indicating that the header of the second data has an extended field, the extended field includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and receiving sixth indication information, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating the data packet format of the second data.

In a third aspect, a method of communication is provided, which may be performed by a network device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the network device, which is not limited.

The method comprises the following steps: determining first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of the terminal equipment, and the first status report is used for indicating whether the first data is successfully received; and sending the first data to the terminal equipment in a PTM transmission mode, wherein the first data carries the first indication information.

In the solution of the present application, the network device sends first data to the terminal device through a PTM transmission mode, where the first data carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, where the first status report is used to indicate whether the first data is successfully received, and the terminal device may further determine whether the first status report needs to be sent to the network device. Optionally, the network device may obtain the first status report, and if the first status report indicates that the receiving status of the first data is failed, the network device may perform retransmission, which is helpful for improving reliability of data transmission.

On the other hand, the first indication information is carried in the first data and is sent to the terminal equipment together with the first data, so that signaling overhead and resource waste can be reduced.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the terminal device includes a first terminal device, and the method further includes: transmitting fourth indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the first terminal equipment does not respond to the first indication information; or sending fifth indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating the first terminal device to respond to the first indication information.

It should be understood that "not responding" may be understood as ignoring or stopping the response, "not responding to the first indication information" may be understood as ignoring a polling (P) field in a header of the first data or not transmitting the first status report, "responding to the first indication information" may be understood as parsing a P field in a header of the first data or determining to transmit the first status report according to the first indication information.

Alternatively, the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be two different indication information, or may be different values of the same indication information, for example, the fourth indication information is represented when the value is 1, and the fifth indication information is represented when the value is 0.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the fourth indication information or the fifth indication information is carried by at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control protocol data unit PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI.

The fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be dedicated control information, for example, carried by a field or bit in RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE, or DCI, in other words, the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be transmitted through a plurality of different messages, with greater flexibility.

It should be understood that the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be carried in the same message or may be carried in different messages, which is not limited in this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the network device sends the first data and the first indication information to the terminal device through the PTM transmission manner, the network device may further send fourth indication information or fifth indication information to the first terminal device therein, to indicate that the first terminal device responds or does not respond to the first indication information. In this way, all or part of terminal devices in all terminal devices receiving MBS service can feedback the receiving state of the first data, and for the terminal devices which are considered by the network device and do not need feedback, the terminal devices can not feedback the receiving state of the first data, thereby being beneficial to reducing unnecessary signaling overhead and improving the flexibility of the regulation and control of the network device.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: receiving the first status report; and/or determining whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

Through the first status report, the network device can retransmit under the condition of knowing that the first data reception fails, which is helpful for improving the reliability of data transmission.

In a fourth aspect, a method of communication is provided, which may be performed by a terminal device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the terminal device, which is not limited thereto.

The method comprises the following steps: receiving first data in a PTM transmission mode, wherein the first data carries first indication information, the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of terminal equipment, and the first status report is used for indicating whether the first data is successfully received; it is determined whether to send the first status report to the network device.

On the other hand, the first indication information is carried in the first data and is sent to the terminal equipment together with the first data, so that signaling overhead and resource waste of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be reduced.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the foregoing determining whether to send the first status report to the network device includes: and determining whether to send the first status report to the network equipment according to the first indication information and whether to configure a first Radio Link Control (RLC) entity, wherein the first RLC entity corresponds to a PTP transmission mode.

In the application, the terminal equipment can decide whether to feed back the first status report through the configuration condition of the terminal equipment, so that the communication overhead and resource waste of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be reduced.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, determining whether to send the first status report to the network device according to the first indication information and whether to configure the first RLC entity includes: when the first RLC entity is configured, not transmitting the first status report to the network device; and when the first RLC entity is not configured, sending the first status report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

The scheme of the method and the device enables the terminal equipment to know whether the state report of the first data needs to be fed back to the network equipment or not, and has higher flexibility.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the foregoing determining whether to send the first status report to the network device includes: determining not to send the first status report to the network device according to fourth indication information from the network device, the fourth indication information being used for indicating not to respond to the first indication information; or determining to send the first status report to the network device according to the first indication information and fifth indication information from the network device, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating to respond to the first indication information.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the network device sends the first data and the first indication information to the terminal device through the PTM transmission manner, the network device may further send fourth indication information or fifth indication information to the first terminal device therein, to indicate that the first terminal device responds or does not respond to the first indication information. In this way, all or part of terminal devices in all terminal devices receiving the MBS service can feedback the receiving state of the first data, for example, for the terminal devices which are considered by the network device and do not need feedback, the terminal devices can not feedback the receiving state of the first data, thus being beneficial to reducing unnecessary signaling overhead and improving the regulation flexibility of the network device.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the fourth indication information or the fifth indication information is carried by at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control protocol data unit PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI.

Alternatively, reference may be made to the third aspect above for specific description of the fourth indication information, the fifth indication information.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, which is configured to perform the method provided in the first aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and/or a communication unit, for performing the method of the first aspect or any of the above-mentioned implementations of the first aspect.

In one implementation, the communication apparatus is a network device. When the communication apparatus is a network device, the communication unit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface; the processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In another implementation, the communication device is a chip, a system-on-chip, or a circuit in a network device. When the communication device is a chip, a system-on-chip or a circuit in the network device, the communication unit may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip, the system-on-chip or the circuit, etc.; the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit or logic circuit, etc.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, which is configured to perform the method provided in the second aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and/or a communication unit, for performing the method provided by the second aspect or any of the implementations of the second aspect.

In one implementation, the communication device is a terminal device. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication unit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface; the processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In another implementation, the communication device is a chip, a system-on-chip or a circuit in the terminal device. When the communication device is a chip, a chip system or a circuit in the terminal device, the communication unit may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip, the chip system or the circuit, etc.; the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit or logic circuit, etc.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which is configured to perform the method provided in the third aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and/or a communication unit, for performing the method provided by the third aspect or any of the implementations of the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a communication device for performing the method provided in the fourth aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and/or a communication unit, for performing the method provided by the fourth aspect or any of the above-mentioned implementations of the fourth aspect.

A ninth aspect provides a communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one memory to store a computer program or instructions, the at least one processor to invoke and run the computer program or instructions from the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a network device.

In another implementation, the communication device is a chip, a system-on-chip, or a circuit in a network device.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one memory to store a computer program or instructions, the at least one processor to invoke and run the computer program or instructions from the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device.

In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip, or a circuit in a terminal device.

An eleventh aspect provides a communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one memory to store a computer program or instructions, the at least one processor to invoke and run the computer program or instructions from the at least one memory, to cause the communication device to perform the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a network device.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one memory to store a computer program or instructions, the at least one processor to invoke and execute the computer program or instructions from the at least one memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a processor configured to perform the method provided in the above aspects.

The operations such as transmitting and acquiring/receiving, etc. related to the processor may be understood as operations such as outputting and receiving, inputting, etc. by the processor, or may be understood as operations such as transmitting and receiving by the radio frequency circuit and the antenna, if not specifically stated, or if not contradicted by actual function or inherent logic in the related description, which is not limited in this application.

A fourteenth aspect provides a computer readable storage medium storing program code for execution by a device, the program code comprising instructions for performing the method provided by the above-described first aspect or any of the above-described implementations of the first aspect, the second aspect or any of the above-described implementations of the second aspect, the third aspect or any of the above-described implementations of the fourth aspect.

A fifteenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method provided by any one of the above-described implementations of the first aspect or the first aspect, any one of the above-described implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect, any one of the above-described implementations of the third aspect or any one of the above-described implementations of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

A sixteenth aspect provides a chip comprising a processor and a communication interface, the processor reading instructions stored on a memory via the communication interface, performing the method provided by any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the first aspect, any one of the implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect, any one of the implementations of the third aspect or the third aspect, or any one of the implementations of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

Optionally, as an implementation manner, the chip further includes a memory, where the memory stores a computer program or an instruction, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program or the instruction stored on the memory, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed, the processor is configured to execute the method provided by any one implementation manner of the first aspect or the first aspect, any one implementation manner of the second aspect or the second aspect, any one implementation manner of the third aspect or the third aspect, or any one implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

A seventeenth aspect provides a communication system comprising the communication apparatus of the fifth and sixth aspects or comprising the communication apparatus of the seventh and eighth aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture suitable for use in the methods provided in embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transmission process of data at each layer of a protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack architecture according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a format of some downstream UMD PDUs provided by an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the format of some downstream AMD PDUs provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 8 is a further schematic diagram of the format of some downstream AMD PDUs provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the format of some upstream AMD PDUs provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a further schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided herein.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

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

The technical solution of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (Global System of Mobile communication, GSM), code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5th Generation,5G) mobile communication system, or new air interface (NR). The 5G mobile communication system may be a non-independent Networking (NSA) or independent networking (SA).

The technical solutions provided herein may also be applied to machine-type communication (machine type communication, MTC), inter-machine communication long term evolution technology (long term evolution-machine, LTE-M), device-to-device (D2D) networks, machine-to-machine (machine to machine, M2M) networks, internet of things (internet of things, ioT) networks, or other networks. The IoT network may include, for example, an internet of vehicles. The communication modes in the internet of vehicles system are generally called as vehicle to other devices (V2X, X may represent anything), for example, the V2X may include: vehicle-to-vehicle (vehicle to vehicle, V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (vehicle to infrastructure, V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian communication (vehicle to pedestrian, V2P) or vehicle-to-network (vehicle to network, V2N) communication, etc.

The technical scheme provided by the application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as a sixth generation (6th Generation,6G) mobile communication system and the like. The present application is not limited in this regard.

To facilitate an understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system suitable for use in the embodiments of the present application will first be briefly described in conjunction with fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the mobile communication system 100 may include at least one network device 110 and at least one terminal device (e.g.,

terminal devices

120, 130, 140, 150, 160 shown in fig. 1). The terminal device is connected to the network device in a wireless manner, and at least one terminal device may send uplink data or information to the network device, and the network device 110 may also send downlink data or information to at least one terminal device. Also, a plurality of terminal apparatuses may constitute one communication system, for example, the

terminal apparatuses

140, 150, 160 may constitute one communication system, the terminal apparatus 140 may transmit downlink data or information to the

terminal apparatuses

150 and 160, and the

terminal apparatuses

150 and 160 may transmit uplink data or information to the terminal apparatus 140. Uplink and downlink data, control information, etc. can be transmitted between the terminal device and the network device.

In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment.

The terminal device may be a device providing voice/data connectivity to a user, e.g., a handheld device with wireless connectivity, an in-vehicle device, etc. Currently, some examples of terminals may be: a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet (pad), a computer with wireless transceiving function (such as a notebook computer, a palm computer, etc.), a mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal in an industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in an unmanned (self driving) device, a wireless terminal in a telemedicine (remote medical), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in a transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home) such as a home appliance such as a television, a smart box, a game machine, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device or an evolution device connected to a wireless modem, a land-based device, a mobile terminal in a future mobile network (35G) or a mobile terminal in a future mobile network (PLMN) or the like.

The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wearing and developing wearable devices by applying a wearable technology, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on certain kinds of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, for example, various kinds of smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

Furthermore, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an internet of things (Internet of things, ioT) system. IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect an item with a network through a communication technology, so as to implement man-machine interconnection and an intelligent network for object interconnection. IoT technology may enable massive connectivity, deep coverage, and terminal power saving through, for example, narrowband (NB) technology.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a vehicle or a whole vehicle, and communication may be implemented through the internet of vehicles, or may also be a component located in the vehicle (for example, placed in the vehicle or installed in the vehicle), that is, an on-board terminal device, an on-board module, or an on-board unit (OBU).

In addition, the terminal device may further include sensors such as an intelligent printer, a train detector, and a gas station, and the main functions include collecting data (part of the terminal device), receiving control information and downlink data of the network device, and transmitting electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to the network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network device may be any device having a wireless transceiver function. The apparatus includes, but is not limited to: an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home base station (home evolved NodeB, or a home Node B, HNB, for example), a Base Band Unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi) system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), etc., may also be 5G, such as NR, a gNB in a system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of base stations in a 5G system, or may also be a network Node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), or a base station in a next generation communication 6G system, etc. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the wireless access network equipment.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 1, the network device may be a radio access network device (radio access network, RAN).

It should be understood that the network architecture that can be applied to the embodiment of the present application shown in fig. 1 is merely an example, and the network architecture to which the embodiment of the present application is applied is not limited to this, and any network architecture that can implement the functions of the respective network elements is applicable to the embodiment of the present application. Optionally, other network devices and/or terminal devices may also be included in the communication system 100, which is not limited in this application.

Multicast broadcast service (multicast and broadcast service, MBS) is a service that is simultaneously directed to multiple terminals, and multicast or broadcast transmission is adopted to simultaneously provide MBS services, such as live broadcast service, public security service, batch software update service, etc., for a large number of users with the same requirements through fewer resources.

The MBS data come from the data server, are sent to the access network equipment through the core network equipment, and are then sent to at least one terminal equipment for receiving the MBS data by the access network equipment. When the access network equipment sends to the terminal equipment, the data packet is transmitted through the MBS radio bearer. One MBS radio bearer may include a point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmission mode and/or a point-to-point (PTP) transmission mode. The PTM transmission mode refers to that the network device sends the same data to multiple terminal devices at the same time, and when the PTM transmission mode is adopted, multiple terminal devices receive the same data in the same mode in the process of sending the same data by the network device (for example, a base station). The PTP transmission mode is that a pointer transmits certain data independently to different terminal devices by one network device.

Taking the transmission of multicast broadcast services in the system architecture shown in fig. 2 as an example, data of the multicast broadcast services may be sent from the 5G CN to UE1, UE2, UE3 and UE4. Wherein the transmission path from the 5G CN to the 5G RAN may be a multicast broadcast session tunnel. For example, the 5G CN transmits data of a multicast broadcast service to UE1 and UE2, and multicast broadcast session tunnels of UE1 and UE2 are shared. On the air interface, the RAN may send the multicast broadcast data to UE1 and UE2 in a point-to-multipoint PTM manner, that is, send a copy of the data, and both UEs may receive the data. The RAN may also send the multicast broadcast data to UE1 and UE2, respectively, by PTP. Multicast broadcast data sent by the 5G CN may also be sent to the UE through a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session corresponding to each UE, i.e. in the form of a unicast session tunnel. For example, the 5G CN transmits data of a multicast broadcast service to UE3 and UE4, and different PDU sessions have different PDU session tunnels. On the air interface, the RAN may send traffic data to UE3 and UE4, respectively, in unicast. In the architecture shown in fig. 2, the multicast broadcast session of the 5G CN to 5G RAN may also be referred to as a shared transport PDU session or MBS session (session), including the multicast session and the broadcast session, and the transmission channel may be referred to as a shared tunnel.

The network devices and the terminal devices (e.g., 110 and any of the terminal devices in fig. 1, 5G RAN and any of the UEs in fig. 2) that communicate with each other have a certain protocol layer structure. Such as the protocol layer architecture shown in fig. 3. The protocol layer structure may include protocol layers such as a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer, a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, a medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. Wherein the physical layer is located at the lowest layer (layer one), the MAC layer, RLC and PDCP belong to the second layer (layer two), and the RRC belongs to the third layer (layer three). In one implementation, a traffic data adaptation (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) layer may also be included above the PDCP layer.

The functions of these protocol layers may be implemented by one node, or may be implemented by a plurality of nodes; for example, in an evolution structure, a radio access network device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU), and a plurality of DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. The CU and the DU may be divided according to protocol layers of the wireless network, for example, functions of a PDCP layer and above are set at the CU, a protocol layer below PDCP, functions of an RLC layer and MAC layer, etc. are set at the DU, etc.

It should be understood that this division of protocol layers is only an example, and that it may be divided at other protocol layers, for example, at RLC layers, where functions of the RLC layer and above are set at CU, and functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set at DU; alternatively, the protocol layer may be divided, for example, by setting a part of functions of the RLC layer and functions of protocol layers above the RLC layer to CU, and setting the remaining functions of the RLC layer and functions of protocol layers below the RLC layer to DU. In addition, the functions that require processing time to meet the latency requirement may be set in the DU and the functions that do not require processing time to meet the latency requirement may be set in the CU in other manners, such as time-lapse partitioning.

When the network device and the terminal device transmit data, the data need to pass through each layer on the network device and the terminal device in turn and process corresponding processing on each layer. Taking data transmission of MBS service as an example, as shown in fig. 3, data is firstly transmitted to an SDAP layer of a network device, is processed by a PDCP layer, and then is transmitted to an RLC layer and an MAC layer, and after being processed by the MAC layer, is sent out through a physical layer and is transmitted to a terminal device through an air interface. When the terminal equipment receives data, the data packets are correspondingly processed sequentially through the physical layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, the PDCP layer and the SDAP layer. The processing of data packets by the layers of the network device and the terminal device may be referred to collectively as radio bearers, and for each data in each radio bearer, the processing by the layers is required. Each layer has a corresponding functional entity to perform a corresponding function, e.g., PDCP layer corresponds to PDCP entity, RLC layer corresponds to RLC entity, MAC layer corresponds to MAC entity, etc. Wherein each radio bearer comprises one PDCP entity and one or more RLC entities, each RLC entity corresponding to one logical channel.

In the current protocol stack architecture, packet PDCP entities of a network device and a terminal device may be associated with two radio link RLC entities, which are used for a PTP transmission mode and a PTM transmission mode, respectively. As shown in fig. 4, taking downlink data transmission as an example, the PTP transmission mode refers to that after the downlink data is processed by the PDCP layer of the gNB, the downlink data is transmitted to the RLC entity #1 in the RLC layer, and further transmitted to the MAC layer through the RLC entity #1, and after the MAC layer packets, the data is delivered to the physical layer, and is scrambled by the cell radio network temporary identifier (cell-radio network temporary identity, C-RNTI) #1 in the physical layer and sent to the UE #1. The UE#1 receives the allocated or predefined C-RNTI#1, submits the received data of the PTP transmission mode to an RLC entity#2 of an RLC layer thereof through a MAC layer, and further processes the data through layers such as PDCP, wherein the RLC entity#1 and the RLC entity#2 correspond to the PTP transmission mode. The PTP transmission between the gNB and ue#2 is similar. The PTM transmission mode is that the downlink data is transmitted to RLC entity #3 in RLC layer after being processed by PDCP layer of the gNB, and further transmitted to MAC layer via RLC entity #3, and the data is delivered to physical layer after MAC layer packet, and is scrambled and transmitted with group-radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) #1 in physical layer. After receiving the data of the PTM transmission mode, the ue#1 submits the data to the RLC entity#4 of the RLC layer through the MAC layer, then further processes the data through the PDCP layer, and the like, and the ue#2 submits the data to the RLC entity#5 of the RLC layer through the MAC layer, and then further processes the data through the PDCP layer, wherein the RLC entity#3, the RLC entity#4, and the RLC entity#5 all correspond to the PTM transmission mode. It should be understood that fig. 4 is only described with respect to downstream data, and that the situation is similar when upstream data is introduced, for example, in an upstream multicast broadcast mechanism.

For any RLC of fig. 4, its operation modes include Transparent Mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (unacknowledged mode, UM), and acknowledged mode (acknowledged mode, AM). TM corresponds to TM RLC entity (TM entity for short), which may be considered as empty RLC, i.e. providing a pass through (pass through) function of data. UM corresponds to UM RLC entity (UM entity for short), which provides all RLC functions except retransmission and re-segmentation, i.e. provides an unreliable transport service. The AM corresponds to an AM RLC entity (AM entity for short), and the mode can provide a reliable transmission service for service transmission through an error detection and retransmission mechanism. Note that the AM provides all RLC functions including automatic retransmission request (automatic repeat request, ARQ) functions. The so-called ARQ function, i.e. by detecting the SN field of the received AM data PDU (AM data PDU), the receiving end can know which PDUs or fragments thereof were lost and tell the transmitting end, via a status PDU, which AMD PDUs it successfully received, i.e. acknowledgement or Acknowledgement (ACK), and which AMD PDUs or fragments have not been successfully received, i.e. negative acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement (negative acknowledgement, NACK). If an AMD PDU loses a partial segment, the lost part is required to be retransmitted. The status PDU may also be referred to as status report. For a sender of RLC configured as AM, it may actively request the receiver to send a status report, so that the sender determines whether it needs to perform packet retransmission, which is called a polling (polling) mechanism. After receiving the status report, the transmitting end may perform corresponding retransmission according to the lost packet.

Therefore, how to improve the transmission reliability of multicast data is a concern. ARQ functionality in the PTP transmission path may be supported in the current protocol, but how the data in the PTM transmission path implements ARQ is not explicitly described.

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, wherein a terminal device can feed back the receiving state of multicast data, and the reliability of data transmission is improved.

In the following, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail by taking the interaction between the network device and the terminal device as an example without losing generality.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 200 shown in fig. 5 may be performed by the network device and the terminal device shown in fig. 1 to 4.

S210, the network device determines first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, where the first status report is used to indicate whether the first data is successfully received, and the first data is data sent to the terminal device by a PTM transmission mode.

The first status report is used for indicating whether the first data is successfully received, that is, the first status report may be used for indicating a receiving status of the first data, where the receiving status includes successful receiving and unsuccessful receiving (or receiving fails), a certain data packet "successful receiving" may be understood that feedback content corresponding to a sequence number of the data packet in the first status report is ACK information, and a certain data packet "unsuccessful receiving" may be understood that feedback content corresponding to a sequence number of the data packet in the first status report is NACK information.

The first data may be at least one AMD PDU or a segment corresponding to the at least one AMD PDU, and the first data is data sent to the terminal device by a PTM transmission mode. Alternatively, the first data is data sent by a third RLC entity of the network device, where the third RLC entity corresponds to a PTM transmission mode, and for example, RLC entity #3 in fig. 4 may be regarded as an example of the third RLC entity. The first data may be understood by the terminal device as data received by the second RLC entity, which corresponds to the PTM transmission mode, and RLC entity #4 or RLC entity #5 in fig. 4 may be considered as an example of the second RLC entity. It is noted that the first data may be all data sent to the terminal device by the PTM transmission method, or some data in all data sent to the terminal device by the PTM transmission method.

Optionally, the first data is MBS data.

Optionally, the first indication information may further include identification information of the first data, which may be a Sequence Number (SN) of the data packet and/or indication information of the data packet segmentation, i.e. segmentation information (segmentation information, SI), or referred to as segmentation information, by which the terminal device may determine which data packets or data packet segments the first data specifically refers to.

Alternatively, the first status report and the first data are both for the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device. The first MBS radio bearer is one or more of the MBS radio bearers configured by the network device for the terminal device.

Alternatively, the first indication information and the first status report are transmitted over the first MBS radio bearer.

S220, the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment through a PTP transmission mode, or the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment through a fourth RLC entity, and the fourth RLC entity corresponds to the PTP transmission mode. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first indication information through a PTP transmission mode, or the terminal equipment receives the first indication information through a first RLC entity, and the first RLC entity corresponds to the PTP transmission mode. The PDCP entity of the terminal device associates a first RLC entity and a second RLC entity, and the PDCP entity of the network device associates a third RLC entity and a fourth RLC entity. RLC entity #1 or RLC entity #6 in fig. 4 may be regarded as an example of the fourth RLC entity, and RLC entity #2 or RLC entity #7 may be regarded as an example of the first RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device receives the first indication information through PTP transmission, when the first indication information reaches the first RLC entity, the first RLC entity determines that the first indication information is a status report for requesting the first data transmitted through the PTM, so the first indication information may be notified to the second RLC entity, or notified to the second RLC entity through the PDCP entity, where the manner of notifying the second RLC entity may be sending the first indication information to the second RLC entity or notifying the presence of the first indication information through other indication information.

In the application, the first data is sent and received by a PTM transmission mode, but the first indication information is transmitted by a PTP transmission mode, by this mode, it can support to request the first status report to all or part of the terminal devices receiving MBS service, for example, for the terminal device considered by the network device and not needing feedback, the receiving status of the first data may not be requested to the terminal device, which is helpful to reduce unnecessary signaling overhead and resource waste.

And S230, the terminal equipment sends a first status report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

According to the first indication information, the terminal device may determine that the network device needs to acquire the receiving state of the first data, or needs to feed back the first status report to the network device, so that the terminal device may detect the first data, determine whether the first data is successfully received, then trigger the first status report, and further may generate the first status report. Or the terminal device may detect after receiving the first data, and then trigger the first status report to further generate the first status report when receiving the first indication information.

Alternatively, triggering the first status report may or may not be equivalent to generating the first status report, e.g. the terminal device triggers the first status report first, and when there is an uplink resource available, generates the first status report, e.g. assembles a status report packet for transmission.

Alternatively, the detection of the first data reception status and the generation of the first status report may be implemented by the second RLC entity of the terminal device. The specific detection method of the receiving state can refer to a technical scheme known or newly developed by a person skilled in the art, and the application is not limited.

Optionally, the first status report may further include identification information of the first data, such as SN and SI, through which the network device may learn feedback of which data packets the first status report is for the reception status.

Further, the terminal device sends the first status report to the network device.

It should be understood that the first data is data sent to the terminal device by the PTM transmission mode, or the first data is data received from the network device by the PTM transmission mode, which may also be understood as data in the PTM transmission path. Similarly, the first indication information may also be understood as information on the PTP transmission path.

It should be further understood that, in the present application, the receiving state of the first data transmitted through the PTM may be requested and fed back, so that the RLC corresponding to the PTM transmission mode in the network device and the terminal device may implement an ARQ function, that is, support an AM working mode, which is helpful for improving the performance of the device.

In an implementation manner, the first indication information may further indicate that the terminal device is not required to feed back the first status report, for example, the first indication information is 1 bit, and two values corresponding to the 1 bit respectively indicate whether the terminal device is required to feed back the first status report.

In one implementation, the first indication information is carried on at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, medium access control element (media access control control element, MAC CE) or downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI).

The first indication information may be dedicated control information, for example, in the case that the network device sends RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI to the terminal device, the first indication information is carried by a field or a bit in these information, in other words, the first indication information may be sent through a plurality of different messages, which has greater flexibility.

In one implementation, the first indication information is carried in second data, where the second data is sent by the network device to the terminal device through PTP transmission mode. That is, when the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device configures the PTP transmission mode and the PTM transmission mode, the network device may carry the first indication information by using a data packet sent by the PTP transmission path. The first MBS radio bearer comprises a first RLC entity and a second RLC entity, wherein the first RLC entity corresponds to a PTP transmission mode, and the second RLC entity corresponds to the PTM transmission mode.

At this time, S220, the network device sends, through PTP transmission mode, first indication information to the terminal device, including: and the network equipment sends the second data to the terminal equipment in a PTP transmission mode.

The following describes in detail how the second data carries the first indication information.

Mode one:

the second data is RLC unacknowledged mode data (unacknowledged mode data, UMD) PDU, and a header of the second data includes first indication information.

Specifically, when the first RLC entity is configured as UM and the second RLC entity is configured as AM, the second data is RLC UMD PDU, and at this time, the first indication information may be carried through a bit field of a header of the second data.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a format of some downlink UMD PDUs provided in an embodiment of the present application, wherein:

fig. 6 (a) is a UMD PDU including a complete RLC service data unit (service data unit, SDU), which includes an SI field having a length of 2 bits, a reserved (R) field having a length of 6 bits, and a data field, as shown in fig. 6 (a).

Fig. 6 (b) is a UMD PDU including a Sequence Number (SN) field of 6 bits, and as shown in fig. 6 (b), the UMD PDU includes an SI field having a length of 2 bits, an SN field having a length of 6 bits, and a data field.

Fig. 6 (c) is a UMD PDU including an SN field of 12 bits, and as shown in fig. 6 (c), the UMD PDU includes an SI field of 2 bits in length, an R field of 2 bits in length, an SN field of 6 bits in length, and a data field.

In fig. 6, the SI field is used to indicate whether the PDU contains a complete SDU or a segmented SDU, and if it is a segmented SDU, further the first segment or the last segment, or an intermediate segment, the SN is used to indicate the number of the data packet. The data field is the payload (payload) portion of the second data. In fig. 6 to 8, N represents a byte number, and N is a positive integer for byte N.

In one implementation, the first indication information is located after the SI field in the header of the second data. That is, any one R domain after the SI domain is designed as a polling (P) domain, and the first indication information is represented by the P domain. Optionally, when the packet header of the second data includes an SN field, the first indication information is located between the SI field and the SN field.

In one implementation, the first indication information is located in an extension field in a header of the second data. That is, one byte is extended in the header of the second data, and then one bit field in the extended byte is used as the P field.

As an example, fig. 6 (d) to 6 (f) are three schematic diagrams of the position of the first indication information provided in the embodiment of the present application. Wherein the P field represents the first indication information.

Fig. 6 (d) shows the first instruction information by the original R field based on the UMD PDU format shown in fig. 6 (a). In fig. 6 (d), the first indication information is located after the SI domain.

Fig. 6 (e) is a diagram showing a first instruction information by adding an extension byte to the header of the UMD PDU format shown in fig. 6 (b) and indicating the first instruction information by the P field in the extension byte. In fig. 6 (e), the first indication information is located in an extension field of the packet header. In this way, the network device may indicate whether the packet format currently used by the terminal device is the UMD PDU format shown in fig. 6 (e) or fig. 6 (b) through other indication information, for example, RRC signaling, so that the terminal device may parse the received packet in a correct manner.

Fig. 6 (f) shows the first instruction information by the original R field based on the UMD PDU format shown in fig. 6 (c). In fig. 6 (f), the first indication information is located between the SI domain and the SN domain.

It should be understood that in (d), (e) and (f) of fig. 6, the newly designed P field may be referred to as a first polling bit field, i.e., the first indication information is a first polling bit of a header of the second data. As an example, in (d), (e) and (f) of fig. 6, the specific indication manner of the first indication information may be: when the value of the P domain is 1, the terminal equipment is required to feed back the first status report, and when the value of the P domain is 0, the terminal equipment is not required to feed back the first status report. This manner of indication is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting.

It should also be understood that the positions of the P fields in (d), (e) and (f) of fig. 6 are merely examples, and do not constitute limitation of the present application, as long as the first indication information can be carried. For example, in the UMD PDU format shown in fig. 6 (a) and (c), an extension byte may be added to the packet header, and one R field in the extension byte may be designed as a P field, and the P field may represent the first instruction information.

It should also be appreciated that when the second data is a UMD PDU, since UM does not support the ARQ function, when the terminal device receives the first indication information, it may be determined that the reception state of the first data needs to be fed back instead of the reception state of the second data.

As an example, the protocol may specify that the first indication information needs to be carried in a UMD PDU including a complete RLC SDU, i.e., carried by the UMD PDU shown in (a) of fig. 6, at this time, any R-field in the UMD PDU shown in (a) of fig. 6 may be designed as a P-field. In this way, the format of UMD PDUs of other formats may not be altered.

Alternatively, the protocol may also specify that the first indication information needs to be carried in a UMD PDU including an SN field of 12 bits, that is, carried by a UMD PDU shown in (c) of fig. 6, where any R field in the UMD PDU shown in (c) of fig. 6 may be designed as a P field. In this way, the format of UMD PDUs of other formats may not be altered.

Mode two:

the second data is RLC acknowledged mode data (acknowledged mode data, AMD) PDU, the header of the second data includes first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received.

Specifically, when both the first RLC entity and the second RLC entity are configured as AM, the second data is an RLC AMD PDU, and at this time, the bit field of the header of the second data includes first indication information in addition to second indication information, the second indication information being a reception state for requesting the second data from the terminal device, and the first indication information being a reception state for requesting the first data in the PTM transmission path from the terminal device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a format of some downstream AMD PDUs provided in an embodiment of the present application, wherein:

fig. 7 (a) is an RLC AMD PDU including an SN field of 12 bits, and as shown in fig. 7 (a), the AMD PDU includes a data/control (D/C) field, a P field, an SI field, an SN field, and a data field, wherein the D/C field has a length of 1 bit, the P field has a length of 1 bit, the SI field has a length of 2 bits, and the SN field has a length of 12 bits.

Fig. 7 (b) is an RLC AMD PDU including an SN field of 18 bits. As shown in fig. 7 (b), the AMD PDU includes a D/C field, a P field, an SI field, an R field, an SN field, and a data field, wherein the D/C field has a length of 1 bit, the P field has a length of 1 bit, the SI field has a length of 2 bits, the R field has a length of 2 bits, and the SN field has a length of 18 bits.

In fig. 7, the D/C field is used to indicate whether the PDU is a data PDU or a control PDU. The P-field indicates second indication information, i.e., a reception state for requesting the second data from the terminal device, and indication functions of the SI-field, the SN-field, the R-field, and the data field are the same as in fig. 6.

In one implementation, the first indication information is located in a D/C field in a header of the second data, i.e., a D/C field in a header of the existing data packet format is reused. It should be noted that, the control PDU is fed back from the receiving end to the transmitting end, and for the multicast service, the corresponding PDU must be a data PDU, so the D/C field is not required to be used to indicate whether the downlink data packet is a data PDU or a control PDU, and the D/C field can be reused as the P2 field.

In one implementation, the first indication information is located after the SI field in the header of the second data. That is, any one R domain after the SI domain is designed as a P2 domain, and the first indication information is represented by the P2 domain. Optionally, when the packet header of the second data includes an SN field, the first indication information is located between the SI field and the SN field.

In one implementation, the first indication information is located in an extension field in a header of the second data. That is, one byte is extended in the header of the second data, and then one bit field in the extended byte is used as the P2 field.

As an example, fig. 7 (c) to 7 (e) are three schematic diagrams of the position of the first indication information provided in the embodiment of the present application. Wherein the P2 field represents the first indication information.

Fig. 7 (C) shows the first instruction information in the original D/C field based on the AMD PDU format shown in fig. 7 (a). In fig. 7 (C), the first indication information is located in the original D/C field.

Fig. 7 (d) shows the first instruction information by the original R field based on the AMD PDU format shown in fig. 7 (b). In fig. 7 (d), the first indication information is located between the SI domain and the SN domain.

Fig. 7 (e) shows the first indication information by the P2 field in the extension byte of the packet header based on the AMD PDU format shown in fig. 7 (a). In fig. 7 (e), the first indication information is located in the extension domain. In this way, the network device may indicate whether the data packet format currently used by the terminal device is the AMD PDU format shown in fig. 7 (e) or fig. 7 (a) through other indication information, such as RRC signaling, so that the terminal device may parse the received data packet in a correct manner.

In fig. 7 (c), (d) and (e), the newly designed P2 field may be referred to as a second polling bit field, and the existing P field may be referred to as a third polling bit, that is, the first indication information is a second polling bit of a packet header of second data, and the second indication information is a third polling bit of a packet header of second data, where the second polling bit and the third polling bit are different. As an example, in (c), (d) and (e) of fig. 7, the specific indication manner of the first indication information may be: when the P2 field is 1, it indicates that the terminal device needs to feed back the first status report, and when the P2 field is 0, it indicates that the first status report does not need to be fed back. The specific indication mode of the second indication information may be: when the P-field value is 1, it indicates that the terminal device needs to feed back the second status report, and when the P-field value is 0, it indicates that the second status report does not need to be fed back, where the second status report is used to indicate the receiving status of the second data. This manner of indication is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting.

It should also be understood that the positions of the P2 domains in fig. 7 (c), (d) and (e) are merely examples and are not limiting of the present application.

Mode three:

the second data is an RLC AMD PDU, and the packet header of the second data includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether there is an extension byte in the packet header of the second data, and the extension byte includes the first indication information and second indication information, where the second indication information is used to request a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used to indicate whether the second data is successfully received.

Specifically, when the first RLC entity and the second RLC entity are both configured as AM, the second data is an RLC AMD PDU, where the bit field of the header of the second data includes a P field, and the P field of the existing packet format may be reused as third indication information to indicate whether an extension byte exists in the header of the second data, and when the extension byte exists, the first indication information and the second indication information are respectively indicated by the bit fields in the extension byte.

In one implementation, the first indication information and the second indication information are indicated by different bits, respectively. That is, the extension field in the extension byte includes a P1 field and a P2 field, the P1 field representing first indication information, the P2 field representing second indication information, the first indication information requesting a reception state of the first data in the PTM transmission path from the terminal device, the second indication information requesting the reception state of the second data from the terminal device.

In one implementation, the first indication information and the second indication information are two values of the same bit respectively. That is, the extension field in the extension byte includes P1, and two values of the P1 field represent first indication information for requesting the reception state of the first data in the PTM transmission path to the terminal device and second indication information for requesting the reception state of the second data to the terminal device, respectively.

Fig. 8 is a further schematic diagram of the format of some downlink AMD PDUs provided by the embodiments of the present application, and fig. 8 (a) and 8 (b) are two schematic diagrams of the location of the first indication information provided by the embodiments of the present application, as an example.

In fig. 8, the indication of D/C field, SI field, SN field, R field, and data field functions the same as in fig. 7. In the current standard, the P field represents the second indication information, and as an example, the third indication information in the present application may be located in the P field, that is, the P field in the header of the reused existing packet format.

Fig. 8 (a) shows the third instruction information by the original P field based on the AMD PDU format shown in fig. 7 (a), and shows that there is an extension byte when the P field is 1 and that there is no extension byte when the P field is 0. Further, when there is an extension byte, an extension field in the extension byte includes a P1 field and a P2 field, the P1 field representing the first indication information, and the P2 field representing the second indication information. When the value of the P1 domain is 1, the terminal equipment is required to feed back the first status report, and when the value of the P1 domain is 0, the terminal equipment is not required to feed back the first status report. When the P2 field is 1, it indicates that the terminal device needs to feed back the first status report, and when the P2 field is 0, it indicates that the first status report does not need to be fed back. When no extension byte is present, it means that neither the terminal device nor the second status report needs to be fed back. This manner of indication is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting.

Fig. 8 (b) shows the third instruction information by the original P field based on the AMD PDU format shown in fig. 7 (a), and shows that there is an extension byte when the P field is 1 and that there is no extension byte when the P field is 0. Further, when there is an extension byte, an extension field in the extension byte includes a P1 field, and the P1 field represents the first indication information and the second indication information. When the value of the P1 domain is 1, the terminal equipment is required to feed back the first status report, and when the value of the P1 domain is 0, the terminal equipment is required to feed back the second status report. When no extension byte is present, it means that neither the terminal device nor the second status report needs to be fed back. This manner of indication is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting.

It should be appreciated that the extension byte may be located at any one of the bytes before the data field, for example, the extension byte may be located at byte 3 as shown in (b) of fig. 8. Alternatively, the extension byte may be located in byte 1 or byte 2, and the location thereof is not limited in this application.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the network device sends sixth indication information to the terminal device, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate a packet format of the second data. I.e. the header format of the data packet indicating the PTP transmission path.

For example, in the third mode, after introducing a new header format for the AMD PDU, the network device may instruct the terminal device of the header format of the data packet of the second data. Continuing with the example of an AMD PDU with the SN field of 12 bits (as shown in fig. 7 (a)), the network device may indicate, through the sixth indication information, that the header format of the data packet of the second data is as shown in fig. 7 (a), or that the newly designed header format is as shown in fig. 8. The sixth indication information may be carried in RRC control signaling or RCL control PDU, and if indicated through the RRC control signaling, may be carried when transmitting configuration information of the first RLC entity to the terminal apparatus. Alternatively, the network device may also implicitly indicate, for example, that after the network device configures the second RLC entity of the terminal device to be AM, the packet of the second data is in a newly designed packet header format, or for the first MBS radio bearer, the data in the PTP transmission path all use the newly designed packet header format. Alternatively, for the packet format of the first data, i.e. the data of the PTM transmission path, the following may be used:

(1) The protocol may define that the data of the PTM transmission path all use the header format as shown in fig. 7 (a);

(2) The protocol may define that the packet format of the PTM transmission path is consistent with that of the PTP transmission path;

(3) The network device indicates the format of the packet of the first data by the seventh indication information, in which way the formats of the packet headers of the packets of the first data and the second data may be the same or different. Similarly, the seventh indication information may be carried in RRC control signaling or RCL control PDU, and if indicated by the RRC control signaling, the seventh indication information may be carried when transmitting configuration information of the second RLC entity to the terminal apparatus.

Alternatively, in the above first and second modes, when a new packet format (for example, the UMD PDU shown in fig. 6 (e) and/or the AMD PDU shown in fig. 7 (e)) is introduced, the packet format of the second data may also be indicated by the sixth indication information.

It should be understood that, in the third embodiment, the AMD PDU format with the SN field of 12 bits is taken as an example, if the second data is in the form of an AMD PDU with the SN field of 18 bits, the method in the third embodiment may be used, and the P field of the existing packet format is reused as the third indication information. Optionally, the packet format of the first data and the second data may be further indicated. In this way, after the terminal device receives the first data or the second data, the header of the data packet can be parsed according to the known header format.

It should also be understood that the location of the P2 domain in fig. 8 (a) and (b) is merely an example and is not limiting of the present application.

It should also be appreciated that, as a possible implementation, the second status report may also be used to indicate a reception status of third data, which is sent by the network device to the terminal device via PTP transmission, and which is different from the second data. For example, the third data is data received by the first RLC entity before the second data. That is, the second status report may be used to indicate whether the second data and the third data were successfully received.

In the scheme of the application, the first indication information is carried by the second data in the PTP transmission path, so that the second RLC entity of the network equipment and the terminal equipment can support an AM working mode, and signaling overhead of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be reduced.

Optionally, the method 200 further comprises: s240, the network device sends the first data to the terminal device through PTM transmission mode.

It should be understood that the first data may be sent before the first indication information, or may be sent simultaneously with the first indication information, which is not limited in this application.

For example, the network device sends the first indication information through RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI, and then sends the first data through the first MBS radio bearer.

For another example, the network device sends first data and second data through the first MBS radio bearer, where the second data carries the first indication information.

Optionally, in S230, the terminal device sends the first status report to the network device, which may be implemented by:

mode a:

and the terminal equipment sends a first status report to the network equipment through an uplink path corresponding to the PTM transmission path.

For example, the network device may configure an uplink feedback path corresponding to the PTM transmission path for each terminal device for the terminal device to send the first status report, which may be formatted in accordance with the format of the second status report, i.e. in accordance with the specifications in the existing standard.

Alternatively, the uplink feedback path corresponding to the PTM transmission path may share a set of RLC entities with the PTM downlink transmission path, i.e., the same RLC entity may both transmit data and receive data, and may perform bidirectional communication.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of two formats of a first status report provided herein.

Fig. 9 (a) is a format of a status report specified in the current standard. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9 (a),

the status report may include a D/C field, a Control PDU Type (CPT) field, an acknowledgement sequence number (acknowledgement sequence number, ack_sn) field, a non-acknowledgement sequence number (negative acknowledgement sequence number, nack_sn) field, a segment offset (segmentation offset, SO) start (SO start) field, a segment offset end (SO end) field, a non-acknowledgement range (NACK range) field, and at least one extension (extension) field (e.g., E1, E2, or E3). Wherein the length of the D/C domain is 1 bit, the length of the CPT domain is 3 bits, and the D/C domain and the CPT domain are the packet heads of the status report. In the payload part of the status report, the length of ack_sn is 12 bits, the length of each E1 field is 1 bit, the length of each nack_sn is 12 bits, the length of each E2 field is 1 bit, the length of each E3 field is 1 bit, the length of each SO start field is 16 bits, and the length of each SO end field is 16 bits. The length of the NACK range is 8 bits.

In fig. 9, the D/C field is used to indicate whether the PDU is a data PDU or a control PDU. The CPT field is used to indicate the type of control PDU, and the status report is one type of control PDU, only one type of control PDU being currently used. The ack_sn field is used to indicate the SN of a data packet that is not yet received but is not considered lost by the receiving end, i.e. the SN that is the largest SN currently received by the receiving end, i.e. the range of data fed back by the status report. For example, if the maximum SN of the packet currently received by the receiving end is 99, the value indicated by the acknowledgement sequence number field is 100. The E1 field is used to indicate whether the field is followed by a set (set) of corresponding nack_sn, E1, E2, E3 fields. The nack_sn field is used to indicate the SN number of the missing SDU or SDU fragment, i.e. the SN number of the missing data packet of the currently received data packet. The E2 field is used to indicate whether the field is followed by a set of corresponding SO start and SO end fields, the SO start field is used to indicate where one SDU segment starts in the original SDU, and the SO end field is used to indicate where one SDU segment ends in the original SDU. The E3 field is used to indicate whether there is a NACK range field after the field, and the NACK range is used to indicate the number of SDUs that are consecutively lost from the nack_sn.

As can be appreciated from the above, the status report includes a status PDU payload (payload) and an RLC control PDU header; wherein the RLC control PDU header comprises a D/C field and a CPT field, the status PDU payload starting from bit 1 following the RLC control PDU header, the status PDU payload comprising an ack_sn, an E1 field, 0 or more sets of nack_sn, E1, E2 fields, and, for each set of nack_sn, E1, E2 fields, a pair of SO start and SO end fields, and/or a NACK range field comprising each nack_sn, may be included thereafter.

The first status report in the present application may be in the same format as the status report specified in the current standard. I.e. the first status report is in the format shown in fig. 9 (a).

Mode B:

and the terminal equipment sends a first status report through an uplink path corresponding to the transmission path of the PTP.

Specifically, the second RLC entity of the terminal device sends the first status report to the first RLC entity, or forwards the first status report to the first RLC entity through the PDCP entity, and sends the first status report to the network device through the first RLC entity, or the second RLC entity of the terminal device sends status report generation indication information and a receiving status detection result of the first data to the first RLC entity, and instructs the first RLC entity to generate the first status report according to the receiving status detection result of the first data and sends the first status report to the network device. Wherein, the sending to the network device may refer to sending to a third RLC entity of the network device, where the third RLC entity informs the fourth RLC entity, or informing the fourth RLC entity through a PDCP entity of the network device. It should be noted that when the second data is an AMD PDU, the first RLC may send a second status report, and the following method may be used to distinguish the first status report from the second status report sent by the first RLC entity. The information for distinguishing the first status report from the second status report may be referred to as status report indication information, identification information or distinguishing information, or the first status report and the second status report may be combined into one status report or assembled into the same PDU for transmission, and the content of the first status report and the content of the second status report are distinguished by the carried status report indication information.

In one implementation, the header of the first status report includes status report indication information for indicating that the status report is the first status report.

In one implementation, the status report indication information is located in a CPT field in a header of the first status report, that is, the CPT field in a header of the existing packet format is reused, and it should be noted that the CPT field occupies 3 bits, and the current value is used to indicate that the control PDU is the status report. In this application, it may be defaulted that when the first value of the CPT field indicates that the control PDU is a status report, the first value is further used to indicate that the status report is a second status report, and when the second value of the CPT field indicates that the control PDU is a second status report, the second value is different from the first value. For example, the first value is 000 and the second value is 001. In the existing protocol, the value of 000 in the CPT field represents that other values are reserved values besides the status report, so that at least one of values reserved in the CPT field, for example, 001 to 111, can be used as status report indication information in the present application. For example, table 1 shows a description of the correspondence of the value of the CPT field of 3 bits, and as can be seen from table 1, the status report indication information is two different values of the CPT field, when the value of the CPT field is 000, the control PDU is a second status report for indicating the receiving status of the second data, and when the value of the CPT field is 001, the control PDU is a first status report for indicating the receiving status of the first data. It is noted that the contents in table 1 are directed to a new version UE, or a UE supporting MBS characteristics, and for an old version UE, or a UE not supporting MBS characteristics, for example, a UE before release 17, it parses the CPT domain as described in the table in the existing protocol. It should be noted that, the new version UE may be a UE supporting a new version (high protocol version), the old version UE may be a UE supporting an old version (low protocol version), and the new version UE and the old version UE are exemplary names, which are not limited in this application.

TABLE 1 meaning for CPT field values

Value taking	Description of the invention
		000	The control PDU is a STATUS PDU and the STATUS report is a second STATUS report
001	First status report
		010-111	Reservation (Reserved) the receiving entity discards the PDU with this encoding

In one implementation, the status report indication information is located in an extended field in a header of the first status report. That is, one byte is extended in the header of the first status report, and then one bit field in the extended byte is used as the status report indication information field.

Similarly, the second status report includes status report indicating information for indicating that the status report is the second status report. The status report indication information may be located in a CPT field or an extended field in a header of the second status report.

Alternatively, the location of the status report indication information in the first status report and the second status report may be the same, i.e. the first status report or the second status report is represented by two values of the status report indication information, respectively.

As an example, fig. 9 (b) is a schematic diagram of a location of status report indicating information provided in an embodiment of the present application. Wherein the T field represents status report indication information.

Fig. 9 (b) shows status report instruction information by adding one extension byte to the packet header and designing one R field of the extension byte as a T field, based on the format of the status report shown in fig. 9 (a). As an example, in (b) of fig. 9, a specific indication manner of the status report indication information may be: when the D/C domain value is 0, the CPT domain value is 0, and the T domain value is further 1, the status report is a first status report, and when the D/C domain value is 0, the CPT domain value is 0, and the T domain value is further 0, the status report is a second status report. This manner of indication is by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting.

It should be understood that (b) of fig. 9 introduces a T field into the packet header of the status report, and indicates the status report indication information by the T field, which is only an example, and the present application does not limit that the status report indication information cannot be indicated by other fields, nor does it limit that the domain name of the status report indication information cannot be other names.

It should be understood that the T field may be located at the 1 st bit of the newly added extension byte from the left, or may be located at the 1 st bit of the newly added extension byte from the right, or may be any bit position in the newly added extension byte, which is not limited in the position of the T field in this application.

Optionally, the method 200 further comprises: s250, the network device determines whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

When the feedback content corresponding to the serial number of a certain data packet in the first status report is NACK information, the network equipment confirms that the data packet is not successfully received, so that the data packet is retransmitted. When the feedback content corresponding to the serial number of a certain data packet in the first status report is ACK information, the network device confirms that the data packet is successfully received, so that the data packet will not be retransmitted.

Retransmission may be understood as retransmission. For example, the network device may retransmit the data packet corresponding to the NACK sequence number or the NACK range that is fed back.

Through the first status report, the network device can retransmit when knowing that the first data reception fails, which is helpful for improving the reliability of data transmission.

Optionally, the method further comprises: s201, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to indicate that the second RLC entity is in the acknowledged mode.

The network device may carry configuration information in the RRC signaling, configure the second RLC of the terminal device to an acknowledged mode, so that the terminal device can further detect and/or parse the first indication information.

In the scheme of the application, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device in a PTP transmission mode, the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of the terminal device, the first status report is used for indicating whether the first data transmitted through the PTM is successfully received, and the terminal device can detect and feed back the receiving status of the first data according to the first indication information. Optionally, if the first status report indicates that the receiving status of the first data is failed, the network device may perform retransmission, which helps to improve reliability of data transmission.

Fig. 10 is a further schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 300 shown in fig. 10 may be performed by the network device and the terminal device shown in fig. 1 to 4.

S310, the network device determines first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, and the first status report is used to indicate whether the first data is successfully received.

For specific description of the first indication information, the first status report, and the first data, reference may be made to S210 above, and details thereof are not repeated here.

S320, the network device sends the first data to the terminal device through the PTM transmission mode, or the network device sends the first data to the terminal device through a third RLC entity, where the first data carries the first indication information, and the third RLC entity corresponds to the PTM transmission mode. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first data through the PTM transmission mode, or the terminal device receives the first data through a second RLC entity, where the first data carries the first indication information, and the second RLC entity corresponds to the PTM transmission mode.

That is, the network device may directly carry the first indication information in the first data in the PTM transmission path, and request the terminal device to feed back the receiving state of the first data.

As an example, the first data may be AMD PDUs, the packet format of which is consistent with the specifications in the existing standard. For example, an AMD PDU with an SN field of 12 bits as shown in fig. 7 (a) or an AMD PDU with an SN field of 18 bits as shown in fig. 7 (b). The first indication information may be represented by a P field of a packet header of the first data.

In the application, the first indication information is carried in the first data and is sent to the terminal equipment together with the first data, so that the signaling overhead of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be reduced.

S330, the terminal device determines whether to send a first status report to the network device.

When the terminal device receives the first indication information through the PTM transmission mode, since the first indication information is used for requesting the first status report of the terminal device, the terminal device determines that the network device needs to acquire the receiving status of the first data, or needs to feed back the first status report to the network device, and the terminal device may further determine whether to send the first status report to the network device, or needs to further determine whether to respond to the first indication information.

When it is determined that the first status report needs to be transmitted, it may perform at least one of: the first data is detected, whether the first data is successfully received is determined, a first status report is triggered, or a first status report is generated. Alternatively, triggering the first status report may or may not be equivalent to generating the first status report, e.g. the terminal device triggers the first status report first, and when there is an uplink resource available, generates the first status report, e.g. assembles a status report packet for transmission.

When it is determined that the first status report does not need to be sent, the terminal device will not detect the receiving status of the first data, and will not trigger, generate and feed back the first status report, or the terminal device may detect the receiving status of the first data, trigger, generate the first status report, but will not feed back the first status report.

Alternatively, the detection of the reception status of the first data and the generation of the first status report may be implemented by the second RLC entity of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first status report may further include identification information of the first data, such as SN and SI, through which the network device may learn feedback of which data packets the first status report is for the reception status. Further, the terminal device sends the first status report to the network device.

It should be understood that in the method 300, the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device may not configure a PTP transmission path, i.e. the first MBS radio bearer includes the second RLC entity, does not include the first RLC entity, or may configure a PTM transmission path and a PTP transmission path, i.e. the first MBS radio bearer includes the first RLC entity and the second RLC entity, where the first RLC entity corresponds to a PTP transmission mode and the second RLC entity corresponds to a PTM transmission mode. In other words, the present application does not limit the configuration of other radio bearers different from the first MBS radio bearer as long as the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal equipment configures the PTM transmission path.

In one implementation, the first indication information may further indicate that the terminal device is not required to feed back the first status report for the first MBS radio bearer, alternatively, the first indication information may include at least 1 bit to indicate which MBS radio bearer the indication information is for, or may include 1 bit, where two values of the first indication information are respectively used to indicate whether the terminal device is required to feed back the first status report for the first MBS radio bearer. Wherein, the first MBS radio bearer can be one or more of MBS radio bearers configured by the network equipment for the terminal equipment.

In one implementation, the method 300 further includes: s340, the network equipment sends fourth indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the first terminal equipment does not respond to the first indication information; or sending fifth indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating the first terminal device to respond to the first indication information. The terminal device in the method 300 includes a first terminal device, that is, the first terminal device is at least one of all terminal devices receiving MBS services. Wherein, the fourth indication information or the fifth indication information may be carried by RRC signaling.

It should be understood that "not responding" may be understood as ignoring or stopping the response, and "not responding to the first indication information" may be understood as ignoring the P field in the header of the first data or not sending the first status report. Specifically, the terminal device does not send the first status report whether the content indicated by the first indication information is feedback of the first status report or feedback of the first status report is not required. "responding to the first indication information" may be understood as parsing the P field in the header of the first data or determining whether to send the first status report according to the indication content of the first indication information. Specifically, when the first indication information indicates that the first status report needs to be fed back, the terminal device sends the first status report according to the first indication information, and when the first indication information indicates that the first status report does not need to be fed back, the terminal device does not send the first status report.

Correspondingly, a first terminal device of the terminal devices in the PTM transmission path may receive the fourth indication information; or receive fifth indication information. At this time, S330, the terminal device determines whether to send a first status report to the network device, including: determining not to send the first status report to the network equipment according to the fourth indication information; or determining whether to send the first status report to the network device according to the first indication information and the fifth indication information.

It should be understood that the network device may choose to send one of the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information, e.g. the network device sends the fourth indication information to each of the group of terminal devices #a not requiring to respond to the first indication information, so that for the terminal device receiving the fourth indication information it will ignore the first indication information and not send the first status report; for a terminal device that does not receive the fourth indication information, it may default to respond to the first indication information, i.e. determine whether to feed back the first status report according to the first indication information. Or, the network device transmits the fifth indication information to each of the terminal device groups #b which need to respond to the first indication information, so that for the terminal device which receives the fifth indication information, it determines whether to transmit the first status report according to the indication content of the first indication information; for a terminal device that does not receive the fifth indication information, it may default to not respond to the first indication information, i.e. not feed back the first status report. Wherein, the terminal device group #A includes at least one terminal device, and the terminal device group #B includes at least one terminal device. Any one of the terminal equipment group #a and the terminal equipment group #b may be regarded as an example of the first terminal equipment, and all the terminal equipment receiving the MBS service include the terminal equipment of the terminal equipment group #a and the terminal equipment group #b.

Alternatively, the network device may also transmit fourth instruction information to each of the terminal device groups #a which do not need to respond to the first instruction information, and transmit fifth instruction information to each of the terminal device groups #b which do need to respond to the first instruction information.

In one implementation, the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be different values of the same indication information, for example, the fourth indication information is represented when the value is 1, and the fifth indication information is represented when the value is 0.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the network device sends the first data and the first indication information to the terminal device through the PTM transmission manner, the network device may further send fourth indication information or fifth indication information to the first terminal device therein, to indicate that the first terminal device responds or does not respond to the first indication information. In this way, all or part of terminal devices in all terminal devices receiving the MBS service can feedback the receiving state of the first data, for example, for the terminal devices which are considered by the network device and do not need to be fed back, the terminal devices can not feed back the receiving state of the first data, which is helpful for reducing unnecessary signaling overhead and improving the regulation and control flexibility of the network device.

Alternatively, the fourth indication information or the fifth indication information may be carried on at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI.

In one implementation, S330, the terminal device determines whether to send a first status report of the first MBS radio bearer to the network device, including: the terminal equipment determines whether to send a first status report to the network equipment according to whether a first RLC entity is configured by a first MBS radio bearer, wherein the first RLC entity corresponds to a point-to-point PTP transmission mode.

Specifically, each of the terminal devices receiving the PTM transmission may determine whether to send the first status report according to the RLC configuration condition in the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device, and when the first RLC entity is configured by the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device, the terminal device does not respond to the first indication information, or does not send the first status report to the network device, and when the first RLC entity is not configured by the first MBS radio bearer of the terminal device, the terminal device responds to the first indication information, or determines whether to send the first status report of the first MBS radio bearer to the network device according to the indication content of the first indication information.

For convenience of explanation, any terminal device in which the first MBS radio bearer is configured with the first RLC entity may be referred to as a first class of terminal devices, any terminal device in which the first MBS radio bearer is not configured with the first RLC entity may be referred to as a second class of terminal devices, and the first class of terminal devices determines that the first MBS radio bearer itself is configured with the first RLC entity, that is, the first class of terminal devices may also receive and transmit data through the PTP transmission path, and thus, the first class of terminal devices may not transmit the first status report of the first MBS radio bearer to the network device. In this case, if the network device needs the first type terminal device to feed back the first status report, this may be accomplished through the PTP transmission path of the first MBS radio bearer, for example, the network device and the first type terminal device perform the procedure in the method 200 to obtain the first status report. At this point, method 300 and method 200 may be used in conjunction, method 300 including the flow of method 200. The second class of terminal device determines that the first RLC entity is not configured by the first MBS radio bearer, that is, for the information in the first MBS radio bearer, the second class of terminal device cannot communicate with the network device through the PTP transmission path, and therefore, the second class of terminal device may determine whether to send the first status report of the first MBS radio bearer to the network device according to the indication content of the first indication information. Here, the terminal device determines whether the first RLC entity is configured or not by itself, with respect to the same radio bearer as the second RLC entity, i.e., the configuration in the first MBS radio bearer, and does not include determining whether the first RLC entity is configured by other radio bearers.

It should be understood that the manner of description when … … is interchangeable with if … …, in the case of … …, in the case of … …, etc.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can know whether the status report of the first data needs to be fed back or not by means of the network equipment indication or the self-determination of the terminal equipment, so that the method and the device have higher flexibility.

Optionally, when the terminal device determines to send the first status report to the network device, the method further comprises: s350, the terminal equipment sends a first status report to the network equipment. Specifically, the method may be implemented in the manner a or the manner B in the method 200, where the manner a may be used for a terminal device not configured with the first RLC entity, and the manner B may be used for a terminal device configured with the first RLC entity and the second RLC entity.

Optionally, the method 300 further includes: s360, the network device determines whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

Optionally, the method 300 further includes: s301, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to indicate that the second RLC entity is in an acknowledged mode.

The communication method provided by the application is described in detail above, and the communication device provided by the application is described below.

Fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 400 provided herein. The apparatus 400 includes a transmitting unit 410, a processing unit 420, and a receiving unit 430. The transmitting unit 410 and the receiving unit 430 may implement corresponding communication functions, and the processing unit 420 is configured to perform data processing. The transmitting unit 410 and the receiving unit 430 may also be referred to as communication interfaces or communication units.

Optionally, the apparatus 400 may further include a storage unit, where the storage unit may be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing unit 420 may read the instructions and/or data in the storage unit, so that the apparatus implements the foregoing method embodiments.

The apparatus 400 may be configured to perform actions performed by devices (e.g., the network device, the terminal device, etc.) in the above method embodiments, where the apparatus 400 may be a device or may be configured with a component of a device, and the sending unit 410 and the receiving unit 430 are configured to perform operations related to transceiving of the device in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 420 is configured to perform operations related to processing of the device in the above method embodiments.

As a design, the apparatus 400 is configured to perform the actions performed by the network device in the above method 200 embodiment.

A processing unit 420, configured to determine first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, where the first status report is used to indicate whether first data is successfully received, and the first data is data sent to the terminal device through a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode;

a sending unit 410, configured to send the first indication information to the terminal device through a point-to-point PTP transmission mode.

Optionally, the first indication information is carried on at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI.

Optionally, the sending unit 410 is specifically configured to: and sending second data to the terminal equipment in a PTP transmission mode, wherein the second data carries the first indication information.

Optionally, the second data is RLC unacknowledged mode data UMD PDU, and a packet header of the second data includes the first indication information; or the second data is RLC acknowledged mode data AMD PDU, the packet header of the second data includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received; or the second data is RLC acknowledged mode data AMD PDU, the packet header of the second data includes third indication information, the third indication information is used for indicating that the packet header has an extended domain, the extended domain includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received.

Optionally, the receiving unit 430 is configured to receive the first status report.

Optionally, the processing unit 420 is further configured to: and determining whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

The apparatus 400 may implement steps or flows corresponding to those performed by the network device in the method embodiments according to the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus 400 may include means for performing the method 200 performed by the network device in the method embodiments. And, each unit in the apparatus 400 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the network device in the method embodiment.

Wherein, when the apparatus 400 is used to perform the method in fig. 5, the transmitting unit 410 may be used to perform steps of transmitting information in the method, as in steps S201, S220, and S2240; the receiving unit 430 may be used to perform the step of receiving information in the method, as shown in step S230; the processing unit 420 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method, as in steps S210 and S250.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

As another design, the apparatus 400 is configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above method 200 embodiment.

A receiving unit 430, configured to receive first indication information through a point-to-point PTP transmission mode, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, where the first status report is used to indicate whether first data is successfully received, and the first data is data from a network device that is received through the point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode;

the processing unit 420 is configured to send a first status report to the network device according to the first indication information.

Optionally, the receiving unit 430 is specifically configured to: and receiving second data from the network equipment in a PTP transmission mode, wherein the second data carries the first indication information.

The apparatus 400 may implement steps or processes corresponding to those performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment according to the present application, and the apparatus 400 may include units for performing the method 200 performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment. And, each unit in the apparatus 400 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the terminal device in the method embodiment.

Wherein, when the apparatus 400 is used to perform the method in fig. 5, the transmitting unit 410 may be used to perform the step of transmitting information in the method, as shown in step S230; the receiving unit 430 may be used to perform steps of receiving information in the method as in steps S201, S220, and S240; the processing unit 420 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method, as in step S230.

As another design, the apparatus 400 is configured to perform the actions performed by the network device in the above method 300 embodiment.

A processing unit 420, configured to determine first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, and the first status report is used to indicate whether the first data is successfully received;

A sending unit 410, configured to send the first data to the terminal device through a PTM transmission mode, where the first data carries first indication information.

Optionally, the terminal device includes a first terminal device, and the sending unit 410 is further configured to: transmitting fourth indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the first terminal equipment does not respond to the first indication information; or sending fifth indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating the first terminal device to respond to the first indication information.

Optionally, the fourth indication information or the fifth indication information is carried by at least one of: RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, RLC control PDU, MAC CE or DCI.

The apparatus 400 may implement steps or flows corresponding to those performed by the network device in the method embodiments according to the embodiments of the present application, and the apparatus 400 may include means for performing the method 300 performed by the network device in the method embodiments. And, each unit in the apparatus 400 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the network device in the method embodiment.

Wherein, when the apparatus 400 is used to perform the method in fig. 10, the transmitting unit 410 may be used to perform steps of transmitting information in the method, such as steps S301, S320 and S3240; the receiving unit 430 may be used to perform the step of receiving information in the method, as shown in step S350; the processing unit 420 may be used to perform the processing steps in the method, as in steps S310 and S360.

As another design, the apparatus 400 is configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above method 300 embodiment.

A receiving unit 430, configured to receive first data in a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission manner, where the first data carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of the terminal device, and the first status report is used to indicate whether the first data is successfully received;

a processing unit 420 is configured to determine whether to send the first status report to the network device.

Optionally, the processing unit 420 is specifically configured to: and determining whether to send a first status report to the network equipment according to whether to configure a first Radio Link Control (RLC) entity, wherein the first RLC entity corresponds to a point-to-point (PTP) transmission mode.

Optionally, the processing unit 420 is specifically configured to: when the first RLC entity is configured, not sending a first status report to the network device; when the first RLC entity is not configured, a first status report is sent to the network device.

Optionally, the processing unit 420 is specifically configured to: determining not to send the first status report to the network device according to fourth indication information from the network device, the fourth indication information being used for indicating not to respond to the first indication information; or determining to send the first status report to the network device according to fifth indication information from the network device, the fifth indication information being used for indicating that the first indication information is responded.

The apparatus 400 may implement steps or processes corresponding to those performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment according to the present application, and the apparatus 400 may include units for performing the method 300 performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment. And, each unit in the apparatus 400 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow of the method embodiment in the terminal device in the method embodiment.

Fig. 12 illustrates a communication apparatus 500 provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus 500 may be a network device or a terminal device described in the method 200 or the method 300, and the apparatus 500 may employ a hardware architecture as shown in fig. 12. The apparatus may include a processor 510, a transceiver 520, and a memory 530, the processor 510, the transceiver 520, and the memory 530 communicating with each other through an internal connection path. The related functions performed by the processing unit 420 of fig. 11 may be performed by the processor 510, and the related functions performed by the receiving unit 430 and the transmitting unit 410 of fig. 11 may be performed by the processor 510 controlling the transceiver 520.

The processor 510 may include one or more processors, including for example one or more CPUs, which in the case of a single CPU may be a single core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The transceiver 520 is used to transmit and receive data and/or information, as well as to receive data and/or information. The transceiver may include a transmitter to transmit data and/or information and a receiver to receive data and/or information.

The memory 530 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM), the memory 530 for storing related instructions and data.

Memory 530 is used to store program codes and data for the apparatus, either as a separate device or integrated in processor 510.

Specifically, the processor 510 is configured to control the transceiver to perform information transmission with the terminal device. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the method embodiments, and no further description is given here.

It will be appreciated that figure 12 shows only a simplified design of the device. In practical applications, the apparatus may further include other necessary elements, including but not limited to any number of transceivers, processors, controllers, memories, etc., and all apparatuses capable of implementing the present application are within the scope of protection of the present application.

In one possible design, device 500 may be replaced with a chip device, such as a communication chip usable in a device, for implementing the functions associated with processor 510 in the device. The chip device can be a field programmable gate array, an application specific integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit, a microcontroller which can realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. In the chip, one or more memories may optionally be included for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to perform the corresponding functions.

It should be appreciated that when the above-described apparatus 400 or apparatus 500 is a chip or a system of chips, the transceiver or the transceiver unit thereof may be an input/output interface, wherein the receiver or the receiving unit may be understood as an input interface, and the transmitter or the transmitting unit may be understood as an output interface.

The present application also provides a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, performs the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a system comprising one or more terminal devices and one or more network devices in the aforementioned method 200 or method 300.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary," "for example," and the like are used to indicate by way of example, illustration, or description. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the term use of an example is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, various embodiments are not necessarily referring to the same embodiments throughout the specification. 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 various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The names of all nodes and messages in the present application are merely names set for convenience of description of the present application, and names in actual networks may be different, and it should not be understood that the present application defines the names of various nodes and messages, but any names having the same or similar functions as those of the nodes or messages used in the present application are regarded as methods or equivalent alternatives of the present application, and are within the scope of protection of the present application.

It should also be understood that, in this application, "when …," "if," and "if" all refer to that the UE or the base station will make a corresponding process under some objective condition, and are not limited in time, nor do they require that the UE or the base station must have a judgment action when it is implemented, nor are they meant to have other limitations.

In this embodiment of the present application, the "preset", "preconfiguration", etc. may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other manners that may be used to indicate relevant information in a device (e.g., a terminal device), and the present application is not limited to a specific implementation manner thereof, for example, a preset rule, a preset constant, etc. in the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone.

The term "at least one of … …" or "at least one of … …" herein means all or any combination of the listed items, e.g., "at least one of A, B and C," may mean: there are six cases where A alone, B alone, C alone, both A and B, both B and C, and both A, B and C. The term "at least one" as used herein means one or more. "plurality" means two or more.

It should be understood that in embodiments of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B may be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may also determine B from a and/or other information. The terms "comprising," "including," "having," and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to," unless expressly specified otherwise.

It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the first, second and various numerical numbers are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, different information is distinguished, etc.

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

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

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

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

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

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, etc.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to 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:

determining first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of a terminal device, the first status report is used for indicating whether first data is successfully received or not, and the first data is data sent to the terminal device through a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode;

and sending the first indication information to the terminal equipment in a point-to-point PTP transmission mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sending the first indication information to the terminal device by PTP transmission includes:

and sending second data to the terminal equipment in a PTP transmission mode, wherein the second data carries the first indication information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of,

the second data is RLC unacknowledged mode data UMD PDU, and the packet header of the second data comprises the first indication information; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The second data is RLC acknowledged mode data AMD PDU, the packet header of the second data includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the second data is RLC acknowledged mode data AMD PDU, the packet header of the second data includes third indication information, the third indication information is used for indicating that the packet header has an extended field, the extended field includes the first indication information and second indication information, the second indication information is used for requesting a second status report of the terminal device, and the second status report is used for indicating whether the second data is successfully received.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

receiving the first status report; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

and determining whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving first indication information through a point-to-point PTP transmission mode, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of terminal equipment, the first status report is used for indicating whether first data is successfully received or not, and the first data is data from network equipment received through the point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode;

And sending the first status report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving the first indication information via PTP transmission includes:

and receiving second data from the network equipment in a PTP transmission mode, wherein the second data carries the first indication information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of determining the position of the first electrode is performed,

10. A method of communication, comprising:

determining first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of terminal equipment, and the first status report is used for indicating whether first data is successfully received;

and sending the first data to the terminal equipment in a PTM transmission mode, wherein the first data bear the first indication information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the terminal device comprises a first terminal device, the method further comprising:

sending fourth indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the first terminal equipment does not respond to the first indication information; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

And sending fifth indication information to the first terminal equipment, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating the first terminal equipment to respond to the first indication information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the fourth or fifth indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, further comprising:

receiving the first status report; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

14. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving first data in a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode, wherein the first data carries first indication information, the first indication information is used for requesting a first status report of terminal equipment, and the first status report is used for indicating whether the first data is successfully received;

determining whether to send the first status report to a network device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining whether to send the first status report to a network device comprises:

and determining whether to send the first status report to the network equipment according to whether to configure a first Radio Link Control (RLC) entity, wherein the first RLC entity corresponds to a point-to-point (PTP) transmission mode.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining whether to send the first status report to the network device based on whether to configure a first RLC entity comprises:

when the first RLC entity is configured, not sending the first status report to the network device;

and when the first RLC entity is not configured, sending the first status report to the network device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining whether to send the first status report to a network device comprises:

determining not to send the first status report to the network device according to fourth indication information from the network device, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating not to respond to the first indication information; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

determining to send the first status report to the network device according to fifth indication information from the network device, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating to respond to the first indication information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the fourth or fifth indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

19. A communication device, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to determine first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of a terminal device, where the first status report is used to indicate whether first data is successfully received, where the first data is data sent to the terminal device by using a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode;

and the sending unit is used for sending the first indication information to the terminal equipment through a point-to-point PTP transmission mode.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

21. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the transmitting unit is specifically configured to:

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

23. The apparatus according to any one of claims 19 to 22, further comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive the first status report; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the processing unit is further configured to: and determining whether to retransmit the first data according to the first status report.

24. A communication device, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first indication information through a point-to-point PTP transmission mode, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of a terminal device, where the first status report is used to indicate whether first data is successfully received, and the first data is data from a network device that is received through the point-to-multipoint PTM transmission mode;

and the processing unit is used for sending the first status report to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the first indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the receiving unit is specifically configured to:

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

28. A communication device, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to determine first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of a terminal device, and the first status report is used to indicate whether first data is successfully received;

and the sending unit is used for sending the first data to the terminal equipment in a PTM transmission mode, wherein the first data carries the first indication information.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the terminal device comprises a first terminal device, and wherein the transmitting unit is further configured to:

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the fourth or fifth indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

31. The apparatus according to any one of claims 28 to 30, further comprising:

32. A communication device, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first data in a point-to-multipoint PTM transmission manner, where the first data carries first indication information, where the first indication information is used to request a first status report of a terminal device, and the first status report is used to indicate whether the first data is successfully received;

and the processing unit is used for determining whether to send the first status report to the network equipment.

33. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

35. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the fourth or fifth indication information is carried on at least one of: radio resource control, RRC, signaling, packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, control protocol data units, PDUs, radio link control, RLC, control PDUs, medium access control elements, MAC CEs, or downlink control information, DCI.

37. A communications apparatus comprising at least one processor coupled with at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the at least one memory to cause the communications apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1-18.

38. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer instructions which, when run on a computer, perform the method of any of claims 1 to 18.

39. A computer program product comprising computer program code means for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 18 when said computer program code means is run on a computer.