CN116250324A

CN116250324A - Communication method, device and computer readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116250324A
Application number: CN202080105493.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 骆喆; 周国华; 彭金磷
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-30
Publication date: 2023-06-09
Also published as: WO2022067796A1; CN116250324A8

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium, comprising the following steps: the first communication device establishes n+1 links, one service link and N backup links exist in the n+1 links, and when the service link fails, the service link can be switched to one backup link in the N backup links so as to communicate through the backup links, so that communication interruption caused by the failure of the service link can be avoided, and the reliability of service transmission can be improved.

Description

Communication method, device and computer readable storage medium

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method, an apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

Various hardware and various software are generally installed in devices such as terminals and access network devices. When hardware in a device and/or hardware fails, the device may not be able to communicate with other devices, such that the traffic is interrupted. It can be seen that failure of hardware and/or software does not guarantee reliability of traffic transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium, which are used for improving the reliability of service transmission.

The first aspect discloses a communication method that can be applied to a first communication apparatus. In one case, the first communication device may be a terminal, or may be a module in the terminal. In another case, the first communication apparatus may be an access network device, or may be a module in the access network device. The communication method may include: the method comprises the steps that a first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links, wherein the first link is a service link, and N is a positive integer; when the first link fails, the first communication device sends indication information through the second link, the indication information indicates that the service link is updated to a third link, and the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first communication device establishes a plurality of links, where one link is a service link, and the remaining links are backup links, and when the service link fails, the service link may be switched to the backup link, so that communication may be continued through the backup link, thereby solving the technical problem in the prior art that the service transmission reliability is low due to hardware and/or software failure. Since the first communication apparatus can switch to the backup link after the service link fails, the influence of the service link failure on the service transmission can be avoided, and thus the reliability of the service transmission can be improved.

As a possible implementation, the indication information may include an identification of the third link, or the resource location of the indication information may be associated with the identification of the third link.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first communication device may send indication information to the second communication device, where the indication information may include or be associated with an identifier of the third link, so that the second communication device may learn that the service link is invalid, and the first communication device tends to select a backup link, so that the service is quickly and accurately switched to the third link for transmission, thereby improving reliability of service transmission.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: when the signal quality of the first signal is less than or equal to a first threshold, the first communication device determines that the first link fails, the first signal is associated with an identification of the first link, the first signal may be a reference signal or a physical random access channel (physical random access channel, PRACH), and the first signal is from the second communication device or the third communication device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first communication device may use signal quality to determine whether the link is invalid, and has low complexity, so that the determination speed may be increased, and thus, the link may be rapidly switched, so that the reliability of service transmission may be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: when the first signal fails to be received, the first communication device determines that the first link fails, the first signal is associated with the identification of the first link, the first signal is control information, physical layer data or higher layer data, and the first signal is from the second communication device or the third communication device.

In the embodiment of the application, the first communication device can determine the link failure by using the signal receiving failure, so that the reliability is higher, and not only can the hardware error be accurately detected, but also the software error can be detected.

As a possible implementation, the identification of the first link and the identification of the third link may be a transmission configuration indication (transmission configuration indicator, TCI), a carrier component (component carrier, CC) identification, a cell identification, an identification of a core network context, an identification of an access network device, an identification of a core network device, or an identification of a terminal.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: the first communication device determines the backup link with the best signal quality among the N backup links as a third link.

In the embodiment of the application, when the service link fails, the first communication device can be switched to the backup link with the best signal quality, so that the reliability of communication can be ensured, and the reliability of service transmission can be further improved.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: the first communication device determines a backup link with the smallest transmission delay among the N backup links as a second link.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device may send the indication information to the second communication device through the backup link with the smallest transmission delay, so that the transmission time of the indication information may be reduced, and further, the link switching time may be reduced, and the link switching efficiency may be improved, so that the influence of the link failure on the service may be reduced, and thus, the reliability of service transmission may be further improved.

The second aspect discloses a communication method that can be applied to a second communication apparatus. In one case, the second communication device may be an access network device, or may be a module in the access network device. In another case, the second communication device may be a terminal, or may be a module in the terminal. In yet another case, the second communication apparatus may be a wireless system, or may be an access network device in the wireless system, or may be a module in the access network device in the wireless system. The communication method may include: the second communication device receives indication information from the first communication device through a second link, the indication information indicates that a service link is updated to a third link, the first communication device is established with a first link and N backup links, the first link is the service link, the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links, and N is a positive integer; the second communication device determines that the third link is a service link of the first communication device according to the indication information.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the indication information for updating the service link from the first communication device, the second communication device may switch the service link of the first communication device according to the indication information, so that the first communication device may communicate with the second communication device through the backup link, thereby solving the technical problem in the prior art that the service transmission reliability is low due to hardware and/or software failure. Since the first communication apparatus can switch to the backup link after the service link fails, the influence on the service transmission can be avoided, and thus the reliability of the service transmission can be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, before the second communication device receives the indication information from the first communication device through the second link, the communication method may further include: the second communication device sends a first signal to the first communication device through the first link, the first signal is related to the identification of the first link, the first signal is used for determining whether the first link fails, and the first signal is a reference signal, PRACH, control information, physical layer data or higher layer data.

As a possible implementation manner, the identifier of the first link and the identifier of the third link may be a TCI, a CC, a cell identifier, an identifier of a core network context, an identifier of an access network device, an identifier of a core network device, or an identifier of a terminal.

In the embodiment of the application, different links are configured with different identifications, so that backups of different levels can be realized, and the reliability of information can be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: the second communication device receives the first information from the first communication device through a third link; the second communication device transmits the first information to the fourth communication device.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: the second communication device receives second information from the fourth communication device; the second communication device transmits second information to the first communication device over a third link.

As a possible implementation manner, the second information carries a first timestamp, and the sending, by the second communication device, the second information to the first communication device through the third link may include: the second communication device transmits second information to the first communication device through a third link according to the first timestamp and the current time.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the second communication device may determine whether the information has timeliness according to the timestamp, and when determining that the information has timeliness, the second communication device may not transmit the information, and when determining that the information has timeliness, the second communication device may transmit the information, so as to ensure timeliness of the information, so as to avoid repeated transmission of the information.

As a possible implementation manner, the communication method may further include: the second communication device receives third information from the first communication device through the first link, and the third information corresponds to the first identifier; the second communication device receives fourth information from the first communication device through a third link, and the fourth information corresponds to the second identifier; when the first identifier is the same as the second identifier, the second communication device discards the third information or the fourth information, or combines the third information and the fourth information.

A third aspect discloses a communication device, which in one case may be a terminal or a module in a terminal. In another case, the communication device may be an access network device, or may be a module in the access network device. The communication device may include:

the processing unit is used for establishing a first link and N backup links, wherein the first link is a service link, and N is a positive integer;

And the receiving and transmitting unit is used for transmitting indication information to the second communication device through the second link when the first link fails, wherein the indication information indicates that the service link is updated to a third link, and the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links.

As a possible implementation manner, the indication information includes an identification of the third link; or, the resource position of the indication information is associated with the identification of the third link.

As a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to determine that the first link fails when a signal quality of a first signal is less than or equal to a first threshold, where the first signal is associated with an identifier of the first link, and the first signal is a reference signal or a PRACH, and the first signal is from the second communication device or a third communication device.

As a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to determine that the first link fails when receiving a first signal, where the first signal is associated with an identifier of the first link, and the first signal is control information, physical layer data, or higher layer data, and the first signal is from the second communication device or the third communication device.

As a possible implementation manner, the identifier of the first link and the identifier of the third link are TCI, CC, cell identifier, identifier of a core network context, identifier of an access network device, identifier of a core network device or identifier of a terminal.

As a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to determine, as the third link, a backup link with the best signal quality among the N backup links.

As a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to determine, as the second link, a backup link with a smallest transmission delay among the N backup links.

A fourth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, which in one case may be an access network device, or may be a module in an access network device. In another case, the communication device may be a terminal, or may be a module in the terminal. In yet another case, the communication device may be a wireless system, an access network device in the wireless system, or a module in the access network device in the wireless system. The communication device may include:

the receiving and transmitting unit is used for receiving indication information from the first communication device through a second link, wherein the indication information indicates that a service link is updated to a third link, the first communication device is provided with a first link and N backup links, the first link is the service link, the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links, and N is a positive integer;

And the processing unit is used for determining that the third link is a service link of the first communication device according to the indication information.

As a possible implementation manner, the indication information includes an identification of the third link; or the resource location of the indication information is associated with the identity of the third link.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to send, to the first communication device, a first signal through the first link before receiving the indication information from the first communication device through the second link, where the first signal is associated with an identifier of the first link, where the first signal is used to determine whether the first link fails, and the first signal is a reference signal, PRACH, control information, physical layer data, or higher layer data.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive, through the third link, first information from the first communication device;

The transceiver unit is further configured to send the first information to a fourth communication device.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive second information from a fourth communication device;

the transceiver unit is further configured to send the second information to the first communication device through the third link.

As a possible implementation manner, the second information carries a first timestamp, and the sending and receiving unit sending the second information to the first communication device through the third link includes:

and transmitting the second information to the first communication device through the third link according to the first timestamp and the current time.

As a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive third information from the first communication device through the first link, where the third information corresponds to a first identifier;

the transceiver unit is further configured to receive fourth information from the first communication device through the third link, where the fourth information corresponds to a second identifier;

the processing unit is further configured to discard the third information or the fourth information, or combine the third information and the fourth information when the first identifier is the same as the second identifier.

A fifth aspect discloses a communication device which may comprise a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from or transmitting signals from a further communication device other than the communication device to the processor for implementing the communication method as disclosed in the first aspect or any of the embodiments of the first aspect by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.

A sixth aspect discloses a communication device which may comprise a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from or transmitting signals from a further communication device other than the communication device to the processor, the processor being operable to implement the communication method as disclosed in the second aspect or any embodiment of the second aspect by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.

A seventh aspect discloses a communication system comprising the communication apparatus of the fifth aspect and the communication apparatus of the sixth aspect.

An eighth aspect discloses a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program or computer instructions which, when run, implement the communication method as disclosed in the above aspects.

A ninth aspect discloses a computer program which, when executed by a communication device, implements the communication method as disclosed in the above aspects.

A tenth aspect discloses a chip comprising a processor for executing a program stored in a memory, which when executed causes the chip to perform the above method.

As a possible implementation, the memory is located off-chip.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of yet another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of yet another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of yet another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of yet another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of yet another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of yet another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of yet another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, the technical problems to be solved by the embodiments of the present application are described below. In 5G New Radio (NR), high reliability low-latency communication (URLLC) services are supported in addition to enhanced mobile broadband (enhanced mobile broadband, eMBB) services with high transmission rates. The requirement of the URLLC service on transmission delay and reliability is extremely high. For example, URLLC traffic needs to guarantee a transmission reliability of greater than 99.9999% within a 1ms delay. The URLLC service can be applied to industrial automation including motion control, inter-controller communication, wireless replacement of industrial wired networks, closed-loop control of process automation, and the like. In industrial automation, the URLLC service needs to guarantee 99.9999% reliability for 10 years.

In NR, in order to ensure high reliability of the URLLC service, various air interface technologies are introduced, such as hybrid automatic repeat request (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) -Acknowledgement (ACK) enhancement, multiple blind retransmissions, multiple TCI blind retransmissions, and the like. The existing air interface technology for guaranteeing high reliability of URLLC service mainly aims at the problem of unstable wireless links, and the problem of air interface reliability caused by software and hardware faults cannot be solved. In a practical industrial deployment, the probability of transmission failure due to a hardware-software failure of a device is not negligible. For example, reliability of transmission point (TRP) devices, baseband devices, and the like all require a transmission failure rate of less than 99.9999% for 10 years. In addition, unlike transmission failure caused by unstable wireless links, transmission failure caused by software and hardware failure of the device has a feature of continuity, that is, interruption of the URLLC service may be caused, so that reliability of 99.9999% in 10 years required for industrial automation cannot be ensured.

Software and hardware failures of devices are a constant problem. Currently, device polling and self-checking modes can be adopted for fault discovery and recovery. However, the time delay for fault discovery and recovery is long, and the device cannot provide service until recovering from the fault. For the eMBB service, a temporary service interruption does not lead to serious consequences, whereas for the industry automation oriented URLLC service, a service interruption leads to a huge economic loss. Therefore, how to ensure the reliability of the URLLC service transmission has become a technical problem to be solved.

In order to better understand a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, a network architecture used in the embodiments of the present application is described below. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the network architecture may include at least one core network device (e.g., 110 and 111 in fig. 1), at least one access network device (e.g., 120, 121, and 122 in fig. 1), and at least one terminal (e.g., 130 and 131 in fig. 1). As shown in fig. 1, an access network device may include at least one transceiving device, such as access network device 120 in fig. 1, may include transceiving devices 1200 and 1201.

The terminal can be connected with the access network device in a wireless mode, namely, the terminal can be connected with the transceiver device in the access network device in a wireless mode. The access network device may be connected to the core network device in a wireless manner or in a wired manner. The access network device and the core network device may be separate physical devices. The access network device and the core network device may be integrated on the same physical device, which may be understood that the function of the access network device and the function of the core network device are integrated on the same physical device, or may be understood that one physical device has both the function of the access network device and the function of the core network device. The access network device and the core network device may also be partially integrated on the same physical device, and the remaining part of the functions are set on separate physical devices, which may be understood as that the part of the functions of the access network device and the core network device are integrated on one physical device, the remaining part of the functions of the access network device is on another physical device, and the remaining part of the functions of the core network device is on yet another physical device. The location of the terminal may be fixed or mobile.

It should be understood that fig. 1 is merely a schematic illustration of a network architecture and is not limiting of the network architecture. The network architecture may also include other devices such as relay devices, backhaul devices, hub devices, and the like.

It should be understood that the number of terminals, access network devices and core network devices included in the network architecture may be any integer greater than or equal to 1, and the specific number is not limited herein.

The terminal and access network devices may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted. May also be deployed on the surface of the water. But also on aerial planes, balloons and satellites. The deployment scenario of the terminal and the access network equipment is not limited in the embodiment of the application.

The embodiments of the present application may be applicable to downlink signal transmission, may also be applicable to uplink signal transmission, and may also be applicable to device-to-device (D2D) signal transmission. For downlink signal transmission, the sending device is an access network device, and the corresponding receiving device is a terminal. For uplink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a terminal, and the corresponding receiving device is an access network device. For D2D signal transmission, the transmitting device is a terminal and the corresponding receiving device is a terminal. The transmission direction of the signal is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Communication between the terminal and the access network device and between the terminal and the terminal can be performed through a licensed spectrum (licensed spectrum), communication can be performed through an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed spectrum), and communication can be performed through both the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum. Communication between the terminal and the access network device and between the terminal and the terminal can be performed through a frequency spectrum of 6G or less, communication can be performed through a frequency spectrum of 6G or more, and communication can be performed by using the frequency spectrum of 6G or less and the frequency spectrum of 6G or more simultaneously. The spectrum resources used by the access network equipment and the terminal are not limited in the embodiment of the application.

A terminal, which may also be referred to as a terminal device, user Equipment (UE), mobile Station (MS), mobile terminal, etc., is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user. The terminal may be a handheld terminal, a notebook computer, a subscriber unit, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant, a computer, a tablet, a wireless modem, a handheld device, a laptop, a cordless telephone or a wireless local loop station, a machine type communication (machine type communication, MTC) terminal, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch, a smartband, a pedometer, etc.), an in-vehicle device (e.g., an automobile, a bicycle, an electric car, an airplane, a boat, a train, a high-speed rail, etc.), a virtual reality device, an augmented reality device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a smart home device (e.g., a refrigerator, a television, an air conditioner, an electricity meter, etc.), a smart robot, a workshop device, a wireless terminal in a drone, a wireless terminal in a teleoperation, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation security, a wireless terminal in a smart city, or other device that has access to a network in a smart home, a flying device (e.g., a smart robot, a hot balloon, an unmanned aerial vehicle, an airplane, etc.). In this application, the terms terminal and terminal device are interchangeable.

The access network device is a device for providing wireless access for the terminal, and is mainly responsible for the functions of radio resource management, quality of service (quality of service, qoS) flow management, data compression, encryption and the like on the air interface side. The access network device may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, evolved nodebs (enodebs), next generation nodebs (gNB) in 5G mobile communication systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, access points, etc. The access network device may also include a WiFi access node (AP). The access network device may also be a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMax) Base Station (BS). The access network device may also be a module or unit that performs part of the function of the base station, for example, may be a Central Unit (CU) or may be a Distributed Unit (DU). The specific technology and specific device configuration adopted by the access network device in the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The core network device may be a Core Network (CN) device corresponding to different devices in different systems. For example, a serving support node (servingGPRSsupport node, SGSN) for general packet radio service technology (general packet radio service, GPRS) and/or a gateway support node (gateway GPRS support node, GGSN) for GPRS may correspond in 3G. In 4G may correspond to a mobility management entity (mobility management entity, MME) and/or a serving gateway (S-GW). One or more of the access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network elements, session management function (session management function, SMF) network elements, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements, etc. may be corresponded in 5G.

In order to better understand a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, users and concepts used in the embodiments of the present application are described below.

1. Link

A link may be understood as an air interface link. The air interface link is a link that the terminal can perform air interface communication with the access network device. The establishment of the air interface link requires to maintain time-frequency synchronization between the terminal and the access network device, and to perform uplink and downlink channel measurement, timing Advance (TA), and other operations.

2. Cell

A cell is a generic name, which is described by a higher layer from the point of view of resource management or mobility management. For a terminal, the cell that serves it may be referred to as a serving cell. The cell referred to in this application is a serving cell. The coverage area of each access network device may be divided into one or more cells. One cell may be configured with one downlink carrier. In addition, at least one uplink carrier may be configured. A bandwidth part (BWP) is a part of the bandwidth on a certain carrier of a cell.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the access network device may include at least two transceiving devices (e.g.,

transceiving devices

1 and 2 in fig. 2). The terminal may establish a plurality of links with the access network device, where one of the links is a service link of the terminal, and other links other than the service link of the plurality of links are backup links of the terminal.

Based on the network architecture and the application scenario shown in fig. 2, fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. The functions performed by the terminal in the present application may also be performed by a module in the terminal, the functions performed by the access network device in the present application may also be performed by a module in the access network device, and the functions performed by the core network device in the present application may also be performed by a module in the core network device. The modules in the device described in the present application may be, in particular, chips in the device. As shown in fig. 3, the communication method may include the following steps.

301. The terminal establishes a first link and N backup links with the access network equipment.

The terminal may establish n+1 links with the access network device, i.e. may establish a first link and N backup links with the access network device. These n+1 links may correspond to n+1 TCIs, respectively, i.e., one link corresponds to one TCI. The first link is a service link of the terminal, which may be understood as a current communication link of the terminal, or may be understood as a link that the terminal currently communicates with the access network device.

The terminal may first establish a communication connection with the access network device. At this time, only one link, i.e., the first link, exists between the terminal and the access network device. The manner in which the terminal establishes communication connection with the access network device is the same as that in which the existing NR establishes communication connection, and details are not repeated here.

After the access network device establishes a communication connection with the terminal, configuration information may be sent to the terminal through the first link. Optionally, the access network device sends configuration information to the terminal when the first condition is satisfied. In one case, the first condition may be that indication information for establishing a backup link is received from the core network device. In another case, the access network device may be provided with a function for establishing a backup link, and the first condition may be that trigger information such as a start instruction, a message, signaling, etc. for starting the function is detected. The trigger information may be sent by the core network device, may be input by a user, or may be generated by the access network device, which is not limited herein.

The configuration information may include TCI corresponding to each link, and may further include information of a signal corresponding to each link. The TCI corresponding to each link is used to identify the corresponding link, which may also be understood as the identification of the corresponding link. The signal corresponding to each link is used to measure whether the link is active. When the TCIs have been previously configured for the first link, the TCIs corresponding to each link may include only TCIs corresponding to N backup links. When the TCIs are not configured for the first link before, the TCIs corresponding to each link may include the TCIs corresponding to the first link and the TCIs corresponding to the N backup links, that is, the links are in one-to-one correspondence with the TCIs. The number N of backup links may be configured by a higher layer, or may be determined by the access network device according to the channel condition of the terminal. One TCI may correspond to one transceiver or a plurality of transceivers. When a TCI corresponds to multiple transceiving devices, the access network device may communicate using the multiple transceiving devices based on different precoding.

After receiving the configuration information from the access network device, the terminal may establish N backup links with the access network device according to the configuration information. N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. The terminal may determine, according to the configuration information, a TCI and a signal corresponding to each of the N backup links.

The terminal can perform time-frequency synchronization, channel measurement, TA and other processes based on the N+1 signals corresponding to the N+1 links, so that the terminal can use any TCI to send a physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH)/a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink share channel, PUSCH) or receive a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH)/a physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink share channel, PDSCH) at any time, i.e. the terminal can establish an air interface link with the access network equipment through each link. Receiving the PDCCH/PDSCH using the TCI means downlink reception by obtaining time-frequency synchronization, downlink channel state information, and the like using a signal corresponding to the TCI. The downlink channel state information may include information such as signal quality, doppler, beam direction, beam identification, etc. The transmission of the corresponding PUCCH/PUSCH using TCI means uplink transmission using time-frequency synchronization obtained based on a signal corresponding to the TCI, uplink channel information corresponding to a downlink channel corresponding to the TCI, and the like. The uplink channel information may include information such as doppler, beam direction, beam identification, etc. The signal quality may be any information that may identify signal quality as good or bad, such as reference signal received quality (reference signal receiving quality, RSRQ), reference signal received power (reference signal receiving power, RSRP), received signal strength indication (received signal strength indication, RSSI), etc.

Note that PUCCH, PUSCH, PDCCH and PDSCH are merely examples of uplink control channel, uplink data channel, downlink control channel, and downlink data channel of the physical layer, and these channels may have different names in different systems, which is not limited in this application.

302. The terminal determines whether the first link is failed and when the first link is failed, performs step 303.

After the terminal establishes the first link and the N backup links with the access network device, it may be understood that after the access network device receives a confirmation message from the terminal that the N backup links are returned to be established, the access network device may periodically send a first signal to the terminal through the first link. The first signal is associated with the identifier of the first link, which may be understood as the identifier of the first signal corresponding to the first link, or may be understood as the TCI corresponding to the first link corresponding to the first signal.

Accordingly, the terminal may periodically receive a first signal from the access network device over the first link and determine whether the first link is failed.

In one implementation, the first signal may be a channel state information reference signal (channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS) or a demodulation reference signal (demodulation reference signal, DMRS). The first signal may be associated with an identification of the first link. The terminal may determine whether the first link fails according to the signal quality of the first signal. When the signal quality of the first signal is determined to be greater than or equal to the first threshold, the terminal may determine that the first link is valid, and may continue to communicate with the access network device through the first link, that is, the terminal may send PUCCH/PUSCH using TCI corresponding to the first link or receive PDCCH/PDSCH from the access network device. When it is determined that the signal quality of the first signal is less than or equal to the first threshold, the terminal may determine that the first link fails, and then step 303 may be performed.

The signal quality of the first signal may be the signal quality of the first signal received last time, or may be a signal quality determined according to the signal quality of the first signal received last time. For example, an average value of signal qualities of the first signal received a plurality of times recently may be determined as the signal quality of the first signal, or a value obtained by filtering the signal quality of the first signal received a plurality of times recently by the layer (layer) 3 may be determined as the signal quality of the first signal. The number of the first signals received a plurality of times recently may be fixed or may be variable. For example, a first signal received over a last period of time may be determined to be the last multiple received first signal. The first signal may be associated with an identification of the first link, which may be understood as the first signal is transmitted over the first link.

In another implementation, the first signal may be downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) or physical layer data. The terminal may receive the first signal during a transmission period of the first signal, may determine that the first link fails when the terminal fails to receive the first signal, and may then perform step 303. The failure of the terminal to receive the first signal may be understood as not receiving the first signal, or may be understood as receiving the first signal but failing to decode. When the terminal receives the first signal successfully, the first link can be determined to be valid, and the first link can be used for communication with the access network device continuously. The terminal receives the first signal successfully, which can be understood as that the terminal receives the first signal and decodes the first signal successfully.

When the first signal is DCI, the first signal may be carried on the PDCCH. When the first signal is physical layer data, the first signal may be carried on the PDSCH.

303. And the terminal sends the indication information to the access network equipment through the second link.

When the terminal determines that the first link fails, the terminal can send indication information to the access network equipment through the second link. The indication information may indicate that the service link is updated to a third link, and the second link and the third link are backup links of the N backup links. The second link and the third link may be the same backup link or different backup links.

Accordingly, the access network device may receive the indication information from the terminal through the second link.

When the terminal determines that the first link fails, if N is 1, the terminal may directly determine the backup link as the second link and the third link, that is, the second link and the third link are the same backup link. If N is greater than 1, the terminal may first select a third link from the N backup links. The terminal may first determine whether each of the N backup links is a valid link. In one implementation, after the terminal establishes the first link and the N backup links with the access network device, the access network device may periodically send a corresponding signal to the terminal through each backup link of the N backup links, so that the terminal may determine whether the backup link is valid according to the signal corresponding to each backup link. In the above manner, since each backup link in the access network device periodically transmits a signal, the terminal can quickly determine whether the backup link is valid, thereby improving the link switching efficiency and further ensuring the reliability of service transmission. In another implementation, when the terminal determines that the first link fails, the terminal may send a measurement signal to the access network device through each backup link, may determine that the backup link is valid when a response signal to the measurement signal is received within a preset time, and may determine that the backup link fails when the response signal to the measurement signal is not received within the preset time. The method can reduce the quantity of the transmitted information and save transmission resources because the measurement signal is transmitted only when needed to measure the validity of the backup link.

When the terminal judges that only one backup link in the N backup links is effective, the backup link can be directly determined to be a second link and a third link, namely the second link and the third link are the same link. When the terminal judges that a plurality of backup links in the N backup links are effective, a third link can be selected from the plurality of backup links. The terminal may determine a backup link with the best signal quality among the plurality of backup links as a third link, or may select one backup link from the plurality of backup links as the third link, or may determine a backup link with the smallest data transmission delay among the plurality of backup links as the third link. The terminal can also set a default backup link, when the default backup link is effective, the default backup link can be determined to be a third link, and the link switching time can be shortened, so that the controllability of service transmission can be improved. When the default backup link is invalid, the terminal may be selected from the remaining backup link list, may be selected sequentially, may be selected randomly, may be selected according to signal quality, may be selected according to data transmission delay, and may be selected according to other modes, which is not limited herein. The signal quality and the data transmission delay of the backup link may be measured when determining whether the backup link is valid, or may be measured when establishing the backup link, or may be measured at other times, which is not limited herein.

When the terminal selects the second link from the N backup links, in order to reduce the link switching delay and improve the reliability of service transmission, the backup link with the minimum transmission delay may be selected as the second link. The backup link with the smallest transmission delay can be understood as the backup link with the smallest transmission delay of the indication information, the backup link with the shortest time required for transmitting the indication information, and the backup link capable of sending the indication information to the access network device at the earliest.

In one implementation, the indication information may include an identification of the third link, i.e., the TCI corresponding to the third link. For example, one bit or more bits in the indication information indicate the TCI corresponding to the third link, or indicate an index of the TCI corresponding to the third link. In another implementation, the resource location of the indication information may be associated with the identity of the third link, which may be understood as the resource location of the indication information corresponds to the identity of the third link. For example, different resource positions may be allocated in advance for different backup links, and when the indication information is transmitted at the resource position corresponding to the third link, it may be determined that the indication information is associated with the identifier of the third link. The indication information may be carried on PUCCH or PRACH.

304. And the access network equipment determines the third link as a service link of the terminal according to the indication information.

After the access network device receives the indication information from the terminal through the second link, the third link may be determined to be a service link of the terminal according to the indication information. The access network device may then communicate with the terminal over a third link.

In uplink transmission, the terminal may send the first information to the access network device through the first link or the third link. After receiving the first information from the terminal, the access network device may forward the first information to the core network device, or may process the first information and then forward the processed first information to the core network device.

In the downlink transmission, the core network device may send the second information to the access network device. After receiving the second information from the core network device, the access network device may directly forward the second information to the terminal, or may process the second information and then forward the processed second information to the terminal.

The content related to steps 301 to 304 may refer to each other, and is not limited to the corresponding steps.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the terminal may establish multiple links with the access network device through different carrier components (component carrier, CC), where one of the multiple links is a service link of the terminal, and other links except the service link of the multiple links are backup links of the terminal. The CCs used by different links are different.

Based on the network architecture and the application scenario shown in fig. 4, fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the communication method may include the following steps.

501. The terminal establishes a first link and N backup links with the access network equipment.

502. The terminal determines whether the first link is failed and when the first link is failed, step 503 is performed.

503. And the terminal sends the indication information to the access network equipment through the second link.

504. And the access network equipment determines the third link as a service link of the terminal according to the indication information.

Steps 501 to 504 are similar to steps 301 to 304, and reference is made to steps 301 to 304 for detailed description.

The method shown in fig. 5 differs from the method shown in fig. 3 in that: the information for identifying the link in fig. 3 is TCI, and the information for identifying the link in fig. 5 is CC, specifically may be CC identification, that is, the CC corresponds to the link one by one. In addition, one CC may correspond to one frequency bin.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of yet another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the terminal may establish links with at least two access network devices (such as

access network devices

1 and 2 in fig. 1), and each access network device may correspond to one or more links, where one of the links is a service link of the terminal, and other links except the service link are backup links of the terminal.

Based on the above network architecture and the application scenario shown in fig. 6, fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 7, the communication method may include the following steps.

701. The terminal establishes a first link and N backup links with K+1 access network devices.

The terminal can establish n+1 links with k+1 access network devices, i.e., can establish a first link and N backup links with k+1 access network devices. The first link is a service link of the terminal, which may be understood as a current communication link of the terminal, or may be understood as a link that the terminal currently communicates with the access network device. K is a positive integer less than or equal to N. One link corresponds to one access network device. One access network device may correspond to one link or may correspond to multiple links.

The terminal may first establish a communication connection with a first access network device of the k+1 access network devices, where a link between the terminal and the first access network device is a first link. The first access network device may be any one of the k+1 access network devices. The relevant description may refer to the relevant description that the terminal establishes a communication connection with the access network device in step 301.

After the first access network device establishes a communication connection with the terminal, the configuration information may be sent to the terminal. Optionally, the first access network device sends configuration information to the terminal when the first condition is met. A detailed description about the first condition may be referred to the related description in 301. The configuration information may include identifiers of K access network devices other than the first access network device in the k+1 access network devices, and the configuration information may further include information of signals corresponding to each link. The K access network devices are connected with the same core network device with the first access network device, and all the K access network devices can establish communication connection with the terminal. The identification of the K access network devices and the information of the signals corresponding to each link may be sent by the core network device to the first access network device. Wherein the related description may refer to the related description of the configuration information transmitted to the terminal through the first link when the first condition is satisfied in step 301. When the access network device corresponds to the links one by one, the information for identifying the links can be the identification of the access network device or the cell identification. When one access network device corresponds to a plurality of links, the information for identifying the links may be one or more of TCI, CC, an identifier of the access network device, and a cell identifier.

When the first access network device corresponds to one link, after receiving the configuration information from the first access network device, the terminal may respectively establish backup links with the K access network devices according to the configuration information to obtain N backup links, that is, respectively establish one or more links with each access network device in the K access network devices to obtain N backup links. The terminal can establish N backup links according to the identifications of the K access network devices. The terminal can determine the signal corresponding to each backup link in the N backup links according to the configuration information, namely, the identification of each link is bound with the corresponding signal. The description of the correlation may refer to the description of the correlation of the terminal in step 301 to establish N backup links with the access network device according to the configuration information.

When the first access network device corresponds to a plurality of links, after receiving the configuration information from the first access network device, the terminal may respectively establish backup links with the k+1 access network devices according to the configuration information, so as to obtain N backup links.

The frequency points used by different backup links in the first link and the N backup links may be the same or different.

702. The terminal determines whether the first link is failed and when the first link is failed, step 703 is performed.

Step 702 is similar to step 302, and reference is made to step 302 for a detailed description.

Step 702 differs from step 302 in that: the information for identifying the link is one or more of an identifier of access network equipment, a cell identifier, a TCI and a CC; in another implementation, the first signal may be higher layer data in addition to DCI or physical layer data. In the present application, the higher layer refers to a protocol layer above the physical layer, which may be a medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer, a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, or a packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer. The higher layer data may be protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) data, or may be service data unit (service data unit, SDU) data.

The higher layer data may be combined from physical layer data. After receiving the first signal from the first access network device, the physical layer may send the first signal to a higher layer. After the higher layer receives the first signal from the physical layer, it may be first determined whether the first signal belongs to the higher layer data. When it is determined that the first signal belongs to high-level data, the terminal may combine the high-level data using the first signal. After the first signals are combined into the higher layer data, whether the higher layer data is successfully received can be judged, and when the higher layer data is successfully received, the first link can be determined to be valid. The first link failure may be determined when the higher layer data is not combined using the first signal or it is determined that the higher layer data reception fails. In one case, the terminal may determine whether the higher layer data is successfully received according to the check code of the higher layer data, and determine that the higher layer data is failed to be received when the check code fails to be verified. In another case, the terminal may determine whether the higher layer data is successfully received according to the format corresponding to the higher layer data, and determine that the higher layer data is failed to be received when the format corresponding to the higher layer data is not the first format. The check code and the first format may be preconfigured by the access network device or may be configured by default. The first signal may not be combined into the higher layer data, which may be caused by not receiving part of the physical layer data, or may be caused by decoding or decryption failure of the physical layer data, which is not limited herein.

703. And the terminal sends indication information to the second access network equipment.

And when the terminal determines that the first link fails, the terminal can send indication information to the second access network equipment through the second link. The indication information indicates that the service link is updated to the third link. The second link and the third link may be the same backup link of the N backup links, that is, a link between the second access network device and the terminal; and the second link may correspond to a third access network device, and both the second link and the third link may also correspond to a second access network device. The second access network device and the third access network device are devices in the K access network devices. When the first access network device corresponds to a plurality of links, the first access network device and the second access network device may be the same access network device.

When the second link and the third link are different backup links and correspond to different access network devices, the terminal sends the indication information to the second access network device through the second link, which can be understood as that the terminal sends the indication information to the third access network device through the second link, the third access network device sends the indication information to the core network device, the core network device sends the indication information to the second access network device, and the second access network device receives the indication information from the core network device. The indication information received by the second access network device may be the same as or different from the indication information sent by the terminal, that is, the indication information received by the second access network device may be processed information of the indication information sent by the terminal.

Accordingly, the second access network device may receive the indication information from the terminal through the second link, i.e. receive the indication information from the terminal. The indication information may be carried for transmission on PUCCH or PRACH.

Wherein the other relevant descriptions may refer to the relevant descriptions in step 303.

704. And the second access network equipment determines that the third link is a service link of the terminal according to the indication information.

After the second access network device receives the indication information from the terminal through the second link, if the second link and the third link are both links established by the second access network device and the terminal, the second access network device can determine that the third link is a service link of the terminal according to the indication information. Alternatively, the second access network device may send an acknowledgement message to the terminal, after which the second access network device may communicate with the terminal over a third link. If the second link is a link established between the third access network device and the terminal, and the third access network device and the second access network device are different access network devices, the third access network device may forward the indication information to the second access network device. The second access network device determines that the third link is a service link of the terminal. Optionally, the second access network device sends acknowledgement information to the terminal, after which the second access network device may communicate with the terminal via a third link. The second access network device may be referred to herein as a new serving access network device.

In uplink transmission, when the first link is valid, the terminal may send third information to the first access network device, and when the first link fails and the third link is valid, the terminal may send fourth information to the new serving access network device. In order to ensure that all information sent by the terminal can reach the core network equipment, after the third link takes effect, the terminal can send the information sent to the first access network equipment for a period of time before determining that the first link fails to work to send the information to the new service access network equipment again; the information that determines that the Acknowledgement (ACK) information sent by the first access network device is not received before the first link fails may also be sent to the new serving access network device again. Whereas the first access network device and the new serving access network device may send all the information sent by the terminal to the core network device, this will result in that part of the information received by the core network device from the first access network device and the new serving access network device may be duplicated. Thus, the third information corresponds to the first identifier and the fourth information corresponds to the second identifier. The first identifier and the second identifier may be serial numbers of the information, identifiers of contents of the information, or other information capable of identifying the information. When the third information and the fourth information are the same information, the identifiers carried by the two information are the same. Therefore, after the core network device receives the third information and the fourth information, when it is determined that the third information and the fourth information are both derived from the same terminal, whether the third information and the fourth information are duplicate information can be determined according to the first identifier and the second identifier, and when it is determined that the third information and the fourth information are duplicate information, one of the third information or the fourth information can be discarded, or the third information and the fourth information can be combined into one information, that is, the third information and the fourth information are put together to be decoded. The terminal may divide a complete message into several parts, and when the first identifier is the same as the second identifier, it indicates that the third message and the fourth message are messages belonging to the same message, and may combine the third message and the fourth message into a complete message according to the sequence numbers of the third message and the fourth message in the message.

In downlink transmission, since the core network device only knows the access network device currently communicating with the terminal, the access network device communicating with the terminal at the next moment cannot be predicted. Therefore, in order to ensure that the information can be transmitted to the terminal, the core network device may send the second information to the k+1 access network devices respectively. In addition, the second information may carry a first timestamp, so that after the k+1 access network devices receive the second information, whether to send the second information to the terminal may be determined according to the first timestamp. The first timestamp may be used to indicate a time when the core network device sends the second information to the access network device, and may also be used to indicate a time of failure of the second information. The access network device may send second information to the terminal according to the first timestamp and the current time. When the first timestamp is used to represent the transmission time, the access network device may first calculate a time interval between a current time and the first timestamp, the current time being later than the first timestamp. When the time interval is greater than or equal to the second threshold, it indicates that the second information is not time-efficient, and it is not meaningful to send the second information to the terminal, and the second information may not be sent to the terminal. In addition, the second information can be discarded, so that the storage space can be saved. When the time interval is less than or equal to the second threshold, indicating that the second information has not lost timeliness, the second information may be sent to the terminal, or the second information may be processed and then sent to the terminal. When the first timestamp is used for indicating the failure time, the access network device may compare the first timestamp with the current time, and when the first time is earlier than the current time, it indicates that the second information is not time-efficient, and it has not meaning to send the second information to the terminal, or may not send the second information to the terminal. When the first time stamp is later than the current time, the second information is indicated that the timeliness of the second information is not lost, and the second information can be sent to the terminal or sent to the terminal after being processed.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of still another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8, a terminal may establish a link with at least two wireless systems, such as

wireless systems

1 and 2 in fig. 1. At least two wireless systems establish a communication connection with the same central device. Each wireless system corresponds to at least one link. One of these links is a service link of the terminal, and the other links other than the service link are backup links of the terminal. The wireless system may include an access network device and a core network device.

Based on the above network architecture and the application scenario shown in fig. 8, fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. The functions performed by the wireless system in the present application may also be performed by an access network device or a core network device in the wireless system. As shown in fig. 9, the communication method may include the following steps.

901. The terminal establishes a first link and N backup links with K+1 wireless systems.

902. The terminal determines whether the first link is failed and when the first link is failed, step 903 is performed.

903. The terminal transmits the indication information to the second wireless system.

904. And the second wireless system determines that the third link is a service link of the terminal according to the indication information.

Wherein steps 901 to 904 are similar to steps 701 to 704, reference may be made to steps 701 to 704 for detailed description.

The method illustrated in fig. 9 differs from the method illustrated in fig. 7 in that: the information for identifying the link may be one or more of an identification of an access network device, an identification of a core network device, a cell identification, an identification of a core network context, TCI and CC; the steps performed by the access network device in fig. 7 are performed by the wireless system in fig. 9. The identification of the context on the core network may be the content of the context on the core network, or may be other information that may be used to identify the context on the core network.

It should be appreciated that the wireless technologies used by the k+1 wireless systems described above may be the same or different. For example, the radio technologies used by the k+1 radio systems may be all NR air interface technologies. For another example, the radio technology used by a part of the radio systems in the k+1 radio systems may be an NR air interface technology, and the technology used by a part of the radio systems may be a WiFi air interface technology.

When the radio technology used by the radio system is the NR air interface technology, the indication information may be carried for transmission on the PUCCH or may be carried for transmission on the PRACH. When the technology used by the wireless system is WiFi air interface technology, the indication information may be a specific data packet.

In the uplink transmission, the terminal device may transmit third information to the first wireless system when the first link is valid, and may transmit fourth information to the second wireless system after the first link is disabled and the third link is valid. And the first wireless system and the new serving wireless system may transmit all of the information transmitted by the terminal to the center device. For details reference may be made to the upstream transmission below step 704.

In downlink transmission, the central device may send second information to the k+1 wireless systems, respectively, where the second information may carry a first timestamp. For details, reference may be made to the downlink transmission below step 704.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of still another application scenario disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the access network device may establish links with at least two terminals (such as

terminals

1 and 2 in fig. 1), where each terminal corresponds to one or more links, where one of the links is a service link of the access network device, and other links except the service link are backup links of the access network device.

Based on the above network architecture and the application scenario shown in fig. 10, fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. The functions performed by the hub device in this application may also be performed by modules in the hub device. As shown in fig. 11, the communication method may include the following steps.

1101. The access network equipment establishes a first link and N backup links with K+1 terminals.

The access network device may establish n+1 links with k+1 terminals, i.e. may establish a first link and N backup links with k+1 terminals. The first link is a service link of the access network device, which may be understood as a current communication link of the access network device, or may be understood as a link where the access network device and the terminal currently communicate. K is a positive integer less than or equal to N. One link corresponds to one terminal device. One terminal device may correspond to one link or may correspond to a plurality of links.

And the K+1 terminals can respectively establish communication connection with the access network equipment to obtain N+1 links. The central device may determine the first link and the N backup links from the n+1 links, after which this information may be sent to the access network device, possibly through some or all of the k+1 terminals. After receiving the information from the terminal, the access network device can determine which link is a service link and which links are backup links according to the information. The access network device may then determine the signal corresponding to each link and send information to the terminal corresponding to each link. The information may include a signal corresponding to each link. The information may also include information whether it is a service link. After receiving the above information from the access network device, the terminal may communicate with the access network device when it is a service link, and may periodically send a corresponding signal to the access network device, so that the access network device measures the validity of the link with the terminal. In the case of a backup link, the terminal may store the corresponding signal, or may periodically send the corresponding signal to the access network device, so that the access network device measures the validity of the link with the terminal.

1102. The access network device determines whether the first link is down and when the first link is down, performs step 1103.

1103. The access network equipment sends indication information to the second terminal.

1104. And the second terminal determines that the third link is a service link of the access network equipment according to the indication information.

Wherein steps 1101 to 1104 are similar to steps 701 to 704, and reference is made to steps 701 to 704 for detailed description.

The method shown in fig. 11 differs from the method shown in fig. 7 in that: the information for identifying the link may be one or more of an identification of the terminal and a CC; the steps performed by the terminal in fig. 7 are performed by the access network device in fig. 11, and the steps performed by the access network device in fig. 7 are performed by the terminal in fig. 11; the steps performed by the core network device in fig. 7 are performed by the central device in fig. 11; the indication information may be carried on PDCCH for transmission, or may be carried on PDSCH for transmission. In one implementation, the first signal may be a sounding reference signal (sounding reference signal, SRS) or PRACH, and in another implementation, the first signal is PUCCH or PUSCH. The indication information may be DCI.

Based on the above network architecture, fig. 12 is a flow chart of yet another communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the communication method may include the following steps.

1201. The first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links.

The first link is a service link of the first communication device, and N is a positive integer.

In one implementation, a first communication device may establish a first link and N backup links with a second communication device. The first communication means may be a terminal and the second communication means may be an access network device, and the detailed description will refer to step 301 and step 501.

In another implementation, a first communication device may establish a first link and N backup links with k+1 communication devices. In one case, the first communication apparatus may be a terminal, and the k+1 communication apparatuses may be access network devices, and reference may be made to step 701 for details. In another case, the first communication apparatus may be a terminal, and the k+1 communication apparatuses may be wireless systems, or may be access network devices or core network devices in the wireless systems, and reference may be made to step 901 for details. In yet another case, the first communication apparatus may be an access network device, and the k+1 communication apparatuses may be terminals, and the detailed description may refer to step 1101.K is an integer less than or equal to N.

1202. The first communication device determines whether the first link is failed and when the first link is failed, step 1203 is performed.

In one implementation, the second communication device may periodically transmit the first signal to the first communication device over the first link, and reference may be made to step 302 and step 502 for details. In another implementation, the third communication device may periodically send the first signal to the first communication device over the first link, and the detailed description may refer to step 702, step 902, and step 1102.

The first communication device may receive the first signal over the first link and may then determine whether the first link is failed. In one implementation, the first communication device determines that the first link fails when the signal quality of the first signal is less than or equal to a first threshold. The first signal may be a reference signal or PRACH. In another implementation, the first communication device may determine that the first link fails when the first signal fails to be received. The first signal may be control information, physical layer data, or higher layer data. The first signal may be associated with an identification of the first link. The first signal is from the second communication device when the first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links with the second communication device. When the first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links with k+1 communication devices, the first signal comes from the third communication device. The second communication device and the third communication device are different communication devices.

The detailed description of step 1202 may refer to the descriptions of step 302, step 502, step 702, step 902 and step 1102.

1203. The first communication device transmits the indication information to the second communication device via the second link.

Accordingly, the second communication device may receive the indication information from the first communication device through the second link.

The indication information is used for indicating that the service link is updated to be a third link, and the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links. The second link and the third link may be the same backup link or may be different backup links.

When the second link and the third link are different backup links, the communication devices corresponding to the second link and the third link may be the same communication device, such as the access network device in fig. 3 and fig. 5. The communication means corresponding to the second link and the third link may also be different communication means, such as different wireless systems in fig. 7, such as different access network devices in fig. 9, such as different terminals in fig. 11.

In one case, the indication information may include an identification of the third link. In another case, the resource location of the indication information may be associated with an identification of the third link.

The identifier of the first link and the identifier of the third link may be one or more of TCI, CC, cell identifier, identifier of a core network context, identifier of an access network device, identifier of a core network device, and identifier of a terminal.

Alternatively, the first communication device may determine a backup link with the best signal quality among the N backup links as the third link.

Alternatively, the first communication device may determine a backup link with the smallest transmission delay among the N backup links as the second link.

For a detailed description of step 1203, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions of step 303, step 503, step 703, step 903 and step 1103.

1204. The second communication device determines that the third link is a service link of the first communication device according to the indication information.

After the second communication device determines that the third link is a service link of the first communication device according to the indication information, the second communication device may receive the first information from the first communication device through the third link, and may then send the first information to the fourth communication device.

After the second communication device determines that the third link is the service link of the first communication device according to the indication information, the second communication device may receive the second information from the fourth communication device, and may then send the second information to the first communication device through the third link. The second information may carry a first time stamp, and the second communication device may send the second information to the first communication device via the third link according to the first time stamp and the current time.

The second communication device may receive third information from the first communication device over the first link and may receive fourth information from the first communication device over the third link. The third information corresponds to the first identifier, and the fourth information corresponds to the second identifier. When the first identifier is the same as the second identifier, the second communication device may discard the third information or the fourth information, or may combine the third information and the fourth information.

The detailed description of step 1204 may refer to the relevant descriptions of step 304, step 504, step 704, step 904, and step 1104.

It should be understood that the relevant content of the several method embodiments described above may be referred to each other, and that some of the method embodiments described above may be combined with each other.

It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the functions of the above embodiments, the wireless system, the access network device, the core network device, the terminal and the central device comprise corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the elements and method steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13, the communication apparatus may include a processing unit 1301 and a transceiving unit 1302.

In one implementation, the communication device may be a first communication device.

A processing unit 1301, configured to establish a first link and N backup links, where the first link is a service link, and N is a positive integer;

the transceiver 1302 is configured to send, when the first link fails, indication information to the second communication device through the second link, where the indication information indicates that the service link is updated to a third link, and the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links.

In one embodiment, the indication information includes an identification of the third link; or, the resource location of the indication information is associated with an identification of the third link.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 1301 is further configured to determine that the first link fails when the signal quality of the first signal is less than or equal to the first threshold, the first signal is associated with the identity of the first link, the first signal is a reference signal or PRACH, and the first signal is from the second communication apparatus or the third communication apparatus.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 1301 is further configured to determine that the first link fails when receiving a first signal, where the first signal is control information, physical layer data, or higher layer data, and the first signal is from the second communication apparatus or the third communication apparatus, and the first signal is associated with an identification of the first link.

In one embodiment, the identity of the first link and the identity of the third link are TCI, CC, cell identity, identity of a core network context, identity of an access network device, identity of a core network device or identity of a terminal.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 1301 is further configured to determine, as the third link, a backup link with the best signal quality among the N backup links.

In an embodiment, the processing unit 1301 is further configured to determine, as the second link, a backup link with a smallest transmission delay among the N backup links.

The more detailed description of the above-mentioned connection processing unit 1301 and the transceiver unit 1302 may be directly obtained by referring to the related description of the first communication apparatus in the method embodiments shown in fig. 3, fig. 5, fig. 7, fig. 9, fig. 11 and fig. 12, which are not described herein.

In another implementation, the communication device may be a second communication device.

The transceiver 1302 is configured to receive, via the second link, indication information from the first communication device, where the indication information indicates that the service link is updated to a third link, the first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links, the first link is the service link, the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links, and N is a positive integer;

Processing unit 1301 is configured to determine, according to the indication information, that the third link is a service link of the first communication apparatus.

In one embodiment, the indication information includes an identification of the third link; or indicate that the resource location of the information is associated with the identity of the third link.

In one embodiment, the transceiver 1302 is further configured to send, to the first communication device, a first signal through the first link before receiving the indication information from the first communication device through the second link, where the first signal is associated with an identifier of the first link, where the first signal is used to determine whether the first link fails, and the first signal is a reference signal, a PRACH, control information, physical layer data, or higher layer data.

In one embodiment, the transceiver unit 1302 is further configured to receive, via a third link, first information from the first communication device;

the transceiver 1302 is further configured to send the first information to the fourth communication device.

In one embodiment, the transceiver 1302 is further configured to receive second information from a fourth communication device;

The transceiver 1302 is further configured to send the second information to the first communication device through the third link.

In one embodiment, the second information carries a first timestamp, and the transmitting/receiving unit 1302 transmits the second information to the first communication device through the third link includes:

and transmitting second information to the first communication device through a third link according to the first timestamp and the current time.

In one embodiment, the transceiver 1302 is further configured to receive third information from the first communication device through the first link, where the third information corresponds to the first identifier;

the transceiver 1302 is further configured to receive fourth information from the first communication device through a third link, where the fourth information corresponds to the second identifier;

the processing unit 1301 is further configured to discard the third information or the fourth information, or combine the third information and the fourth information when the first identifier is the same as the second identifier.

The more detailed description of the above-mentioned connection processing unit 1301 and the transceiver unit 1302 may be directly obtained by referring to the related description of the second communication apparatus in the method embodiments shown in fig. 3, fig. 5, fig. 7, fig. 9, fig. 11 and fig. 12, which are not described herein.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 14, the communication device may include a processor 1401 and an interface circuit 1401. The processor 1401 and the interface circuit 1402 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 1402 may be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device may further comprise a memory 1403 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1401 or for storing input data required for the processor 1401 to execute instructions or for storing data generated after the processor 1401 executes instructions.

When the communication device is used to implement the methods shown in fig. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12, the processor 1401 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1301, and the interface circuit 1402 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1302.

The present application also discloses a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method of the above-described method embodiments.

The present application also discloses a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed, perform the method of the above-described method embodiments.

The embodiment of the application also discloses a communication system, which at least comprises a terminal, an access network device and a core network device, and the specific description can refer to the communication methods shown in fig. 3, fig. 5, fig. 7, fig. 9, fig. 11 and fig. 12.

It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit, but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate arrays or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

The method steps in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory, erasable programmable read only memory, electrically erasable programmable read only memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a network device or terminal. The processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a network device or terminal.

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 comprises one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program or 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 program or instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired or wireless means. 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 integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium, e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, tape; but also optical media such as digital video discs; but also semiconductor media such as solid state disks.

In the various embodiments of the application, if there is no specific description or logical conflict, terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. In the text description of the present application, the character "/", generally indicates that the associated object is an or relationship; in the formulas of the present application, the character "/" indicates that the front and rear associated objects are a "division" relationship.

It will be appreciated that the various numerical numbers referred to in the embodiments of the present application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined according to the function and the internal logic.

Claims

A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links, wherein the first link is a service link, and N is a positive integer;

when the first link fails, the first communication device sends indication information to the second communication device through a second link, the indication information indicates that the service link is updated to a third link, and the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links.
The method of claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises an identification of the third link; or, the resource position of the indication information is associated with the identification of the third link.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

when the signal quality of a first signal is less than or equal to a first threshold, the first communication device determines that the first link fails, the first signal is associated with an identification of the first link, the first signal is a reference signal or a random access channel PRACH, and the first signal is from the second communication device or a third communication device.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

When receiving a first signal fails, the first communication device determines that the first link fails, the first signal is associated with an identification of the first link, the first signal is control information, physical layer data or high-level data, and the first signal is from the second communication device or the third communication device.
The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the identity of the first link and the identity of the third link are transmission configuration indication, TCI, carrier component, CC, cell identity, identity of a core network context, identity of an access network device, identity of a core network device or identity of a terminal.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, further comprising:

and the first communication device determines the backup link with the best signal quality from the N backup links as the third link.
The method according to any one of claims 1-6, further comprising:

and the first communication device determines the backup link with the smallest transmission delay in the N backup links as the second link.
A method of communication, comprising:

The second communication device receives indication information from the first communication device through a second link, wherein the indication information indicates that a service link is updated to a third link, the first communication device establishes a first link and N backup links, the first link is the service link, the second link and the third link are backup links in the N backup links, and N is a positive integer;

and the second communication device determines that the third link is a service link of the first communication device according to the indication information.
The method of claim 8, wherein the indication information comprises an identification of the third link; or the resource location of the indication information is associated with the identity of the third link.
The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein before the second communication device receives the indication information from the first communication device via the second link, the method further comprises:

the second communication device sends a first signal to the first communication device through the first link, the first signal is related to the identification of the first link, the first signal is used for determining whether the first link fails, and the first signal is a reference signal, a random access channel PRACH, control information, physical layer data or higher layer data.
The method according to any of claims 8-10, wherein the identity of the first link and the identity of the third link are transmission configuration indication, TCI, carrier component, CC, cell identity, identity of a core network context, identity of an access network device, identity of a core network device or identity of a terminal.
The method according to any one of claims 8-11, further comprising:

the second communication device receiving first information from the first communication device over the third link;

the second communication device transmits the first information to a fourth communication device.
The method according to any one of claims 8-11, further comprising:

the second communication device receives second information from a fourth communication device;

the second communication device transmits the second information to the first communication device over the third link.
The method of claim 13, wherein the second information carries a first timestamp, and wherein the second communication device transmitting the second information to the first communication device over the third link comprises:

The second communication device sends the second information to the first communication device through the third link according to the first timestamp and the current time.
The method according to any one of claims 8-11, further comprising:

the second communication device receives third information from the first communication device through the first link, wherein the third information corresponds to a first identifier;

the second communication device receives fourth information from the first communication device through the third link, wherein the fourth information corresponds to a second identifier;

when the first identifier is the same as the second identifier, the second communication device discards the third information or the fourth information, or combines the third information and the fourth information.
A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 1-7.
A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 8-15.
A communication device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from other communication devices than the communication device and transmitting signals from the processor to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices than the communication device, the processor being configured to implement the method of any of claims 1-7 by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.
A communication device comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from other communication devices than the communication device and transmitting signals from the processor to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices than the communication device, the processor being configured to implement the method of any of claims 8-15 by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.
A communication system, comprising:

the communication device of claim 16, and the communication device of claim 17; or alternatively

The communication device of claim 18, and the communication device of claim 19.
A computer program, characterized in that the method according to any of claims 1-15 is implemented when the computer program is executed by a communication device.
A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method of any of claims 1-15.