阅读说明：本技术 一种传输方法和设备 (Transmission method and equipment ) 是由 王轶 付景兴 孙霏菲 于 2020-04-30 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请公开了传输方法及设备。根据本申请的一方面,提供了一种通信系统中由用户设备(UE)执行的方法,该方法包括：UE从基站接收配置信息,并基于配置信息确定被基站调度的第一数目个连接；基于第一规则,确定UE能够同时进行连接的第二数目；基于第二规则,从第一数目个连接中选择第二数目个连接。(The application discloses a transmission method and equipment. According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising: the UE receives configuration information from the base station and determines a first number of connections scheduled by the base station based on the configuration information; determining a second number of simultaneous connections capable of being made by the UE based on the first rule; a second number of connections is selected from the first number of connections based on a second rule.)

1. A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising:

the UE receives configuration information from the base station and determines a first number of connections scheduled by the base station based on the configuration information;

determining a second number of simultaneous connections capable of being made by the UE based on the first rule;

a second number of connections is selected from the first number of connections based on a second rule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the connections are all uplink connections; or

Wherein the connections are all downlink connections.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first rule comprises at least one of:

the second number does not exceed the number of radio frequency paths possessed by the UE;

the second number does not exceed the number of baseband processing branches which can be processed in parallel and are possessed by the UE;

the second number does not exceed the number of beams capable of transmitting simultaneously possessed by the UE;

the second number does not exceed the number of beams capable of receiving simultaneously possessed by the UE;

the sum of the expected transmit powers for the second number of connections does not exceed a predefined maximum transmit power;

the number of directions of the second number of connections to the expected transmit beam does not exceed the third number;

the number of directions of the second number of connection-intended receive beams does not exceed the third number.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein selecting, based on a second rule, a second number of connections from the first number of connections comprises:

determining a priority of each connection based on a second rule;

selecting a second number of connections in order of priority from high to low,

wherein the second rule comprises at least one of:

a channel type;

carrier/cell type;

a transmission process;

a service type;

carrier/cell frequency points.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein,

and under the condition that the priority of each connection is determined according to the channel type, determining the priority of the uplink channel type according to at least one of the following modes:

the first priority: physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission on a primary cell (PCell);

the second priority is: physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, transmission with hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information and/or resource request, SR, or physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, transmission with HARQ-ACK information and/or SR;

third priority: PUCCH transmission with channel state information, CSI, or PUSCH transmission with CSI;

the fourth priority: PUSCH transmission without HARQ-ACK information or CSI, and PUSCH transmission on PCell for type 2 random access procedure;

the fifth priority: sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission, wherein aperiodic SRS is prioritized over semi-persistent and/or periodic SRS, or PRACH transmission on a serving cell other than PCell.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein,

under the condition that the priority of each connection is determined according to the channel type, determining the priority of the downlink channel type according to at least one of the following modes:

the priority of the synchronizing signal SS/physical broadcast channel PBCH is higher than that of other downlink channels;

the priority of SS/PBCH and PDCCH of a type 0 common search space CSS for receiving system information is higher than that of other downlink channels;

the priority of the SS/PBCH and/or the type 0CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the type 1 CSS;

the priority of the PDCCH of the type 1CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the type 2 CSS;

the priority of the PDCCH of type 2CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the user-specific search space USS;

the priority of the PDCCH is higher than that of the PDSCH.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein,

in the case where the priority of each connection is determined according to the carrier/cell type, the priority of the carrier/cell is determined according to at least one of the following:

the priority of the primary cell Pcell is higher than that of the secondary cell Scell;

the priority of the carrier/cell in the master cell group MCG is higher than that of the carrier/cell in the auxiliary cell group SCG;

the priority of the carrier/cell carrying the physical uplink control channel PUCCH is higher than that of the carrier/cell not carrying the PUCCH;

the priority of the non-secondary carrier is higher than the priority of the secondary carrier;

the priority of the carrier/cell of the non-public network NPN is higher than that of the carrier/cell of the public network PLMN;

the carrier/cell priority of the PLMN is higher than that of the NPN carrier/cell;

the priority of the carrier/cell of the independent non-public network is higher than that of the carrier/cell of the NPN based on the PLMN network;

the priority of the NPN carrier/cell based on the PLMN network is higher than the priority of the carrier/cell of the independent non-public network;

and setting the determined priority order of the serving cells of the SIM cards based on the UE.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein,

in the case of determining the priority of each connection according to the transmission process, the priority of the connection is determined according to at least one of the following ways:

the first priority: an initial access process;

the second priority is: a random access procedure or an RRC connection establishment procedure;

third priority: a process of receiving a paging message;

the fourth priority: and (4) other processes.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein,

and under the condition that the priority of each connection is determined according to the service type, determining the priority of the connection according to at least one of the following modes:

determining the priority according to the priority information of the configured physical channel or signal;

and determining the priority according to the priority information of the service.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein,

and under the condition that the priority of each connection is determined according to the frequency points of the carriers/cells, determining the priority of the connection according to the principle that the priority of the connected low-frequency-band carriers/cells is higher than the priority of the connected high-frequency-band carriers/cells.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the UE reports the interaction capacity of each connection to the base station;

the UE selects a connection based on configuration information from the base station including a connection selection method,

wherein, when the UE has a plurality of connections, the UE divides the plurality of connections into one or more connection groups each including one or more connections based on configuration information from the base station, an

Wherein the UE selects connections in each connection group and allocates power based on configuration information from the base station.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the interaction capability is reported on a frequency point basis, on a RAT basis, or on a SIM card basis, and

the connection selection method is configured according to frequency points, or according to RAT, or according to SIM card, or according to connection group.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the UE sends auxiliary information to the base station side;

the UE receives scheduling information configured by the base station with reference to the auxiliary information from the base station;

the UE performs communication based on the scheduling information of the base station.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following information:

time information of reception/transmission;

resource occupation condition information;

an RRC state;

SS/PBCH configuration information;

PDCCH detection information;

resource configuration information for receiving a paging message;

RACH resource configuration information;

configuration information of HARQ-ACK feedback;

the lowest guaranteed transmit power when the UE terminal communicates with connection B;

maximum transmission power when the UE terminal communicates with connection B;

number of supportable links;

supportable transmit power;

supportable beam information;

priority information;

the information scheduled by the base station cannot be responded;

interference information within the device;

DRX configuration; and

and a Channel State Information (CSI) processing unit.

15. A user equipment, comprising:

a transceiver to transmit/receive a signal to/from a base station; and

a controller controlling an overall operation of the user equipment,

wherein the user equipment is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-14.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a transmission method and apparatus when a User Equipment (UE) has multiple connected paths.

Background

In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or quasi-5G communication systems. Accordingly, the 5G or quasi-5G communication system is also referred to as a "super 4G network" or a "post-LTE system".

The 5G communication system is implemented in a higher frequency (millimeter wave) band, for example, a 60GHz band, to achieve a higher data rate. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase transmission distance, beamforming, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, massive antenna technology are discussed in the 5G communication system.

Further, in the 5G communication system, development of improvement of the system network is ongoing based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Network (RAN), ultra dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multipoint (CoMP), reception side interference cancellation, and the like.

In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and Sliding Window Superposition Coding (SWSC) have been developed as Advanced Coding Modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) as advanced access techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising: the UE receives configuration information from the base station and determines a first number of connections scheduled by the base station based on the configuration information; determining a second number of simultaneous connections capable of being made by the UE based on the first rule; a second number of connections is selected from the first number of connections based on a second rule.

Optionally, the connections are all uplink connections; or wherein the connections are all downstream connections. Optionally, the second number of connections that the UE is simultaneously using for receiving is different from the second number of connections that the UE is simultaneously using for transmitting; or the second number of connections that the UE is simultaneously using for receiving is the same as the second number of connections that the UE is simultaneously using for transmitting.

Optionally, the first rule comprises at least one of: the second number does not exceed the number of radio frequency paths possessed by the UE; the second number does not exceed the number of baseband processing branches which can be processed in parallel and are possessed by the UE; the second number does not exceed the number of beams capable of transmitting simultaneously possessed by the UE; the second number does not exceed the number of beams capable of receiving simultaneously possessed by the UE; the sum of the expected transmit powers for the second number of connections does not exceed a predefined maximum transmit power; the number of directions of the second number of connections to the expected transmit beam does not exceed the third number; the number of directions of the second number of connection-intended receive beams does not exceed the third number.

Optionally, selecting the second number of connections from the first number of connections based on a second rule comprises: determining a priority of each connection based on a second rule; selecting a second number of connections in order of priority from high to low, wherein the second rule comprises at least one of: a channel type; carrier/cell type; a transmission process; a service type; carrier/cell frequency points.

Optionally, in a case that the priority of each connection is determined according to the channel type, the priority of the uplink channel type is determined according to at least one of the following manners: the first priority: physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission on a primary cell (PCell); the second priority is: physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, transmission with hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information and/or resource request, SR, or physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, transmission with HARQ-ACK information and/or SR; third priority: PUCCH transmission with channel state information, CSI, or PUSCH transmission with CSI; the fourth priority: PUSCH transmission without HARQ-ACK information or CSI, and PUSCH transmission on PCell for type 2 random access procedure; the fifth priority: sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission, wherein aperiodic SRS is prioritized over semi-persistent and/or periodic SRS, or PRACH transmission on a serving cell other than PCell.

Optionally, in a case that the priority of each connection is determined according to the channel type, the priority of the downlink channel type is determined according to at least one of the following manners: the priority of the synchronizing signal SS/physical broadcast channel PBCH is higher than that of other downlink channels; the priority of SS/PBCH and PDCCH of a type 0 common search space CSS for receiving system information is higher than that of other downlink channels; the priority of the SS/PBCH and/or the type 0CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the type 1 CSS; the priority of the PDCCH of the type 1CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the type 2 CSS; the priority of the PDCCH of type 2CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the user-specific search space USS; the priority of the PDCCH is higher than that of the PDSCH.

Optionally, in the case that the priority of each connection is determined according to the carrier/cell type, the priority of the carrier/cell is determined according to at least one of the following modes: the priority of the primary cell Pcell is higher than that of the secondary cell Scell; the priority of the carrier/cell in the master cell group MCG is higher than that of the carrier/cell in the auxiliary cell group SCG; the priority of the carrier/cell carrying the physical uplink control channel PUCCH is higher than that of the carrier/cell not carrying the PUCCH; the priority of the non-secondary carrier is higher than the priority of the secondary carrier; the priority of the carrier/cell of the non-public network NPN is higher than that of the carrier/cell of the public network PLMN; the carrier/cell priority of the PLMN is higher than that of the NPN carrier/cell; the priority of the carrier/cell of the independent non-public network is higher than that of the carrier/cell of the NPN based on the PLMN network; the priority of the NPN carrier/cell based on the PLMN network is higher than the priority of the carrier/cell of the independent non-public network; and setting the determined priority order of the serving cells of the SIM cards based on the UE.

Optionally, in the case that the priority of each connection is determined according to the transmission process, the priority of the connection is determined according to at least one of the following modes: the first priority: an initial access process; the second priority is: a random access procedure or an RRC connection establishment procedure; third priority: a process of receiving a paging message; the fourth priority: and (4) other processes.

Optionally, in a case that the priority of each connection is determined according to the service type, the priority of the connection is determined according to at least one of the following manners: determining the priority according to the priority information of the configured physical channel or signal; and determining the priority according to the priority information of the service.

Optionally, in the case that the priority of each connection is determined according to the carrier/cell frequency point, the priority of the connection is determined according to a principle that the priority of the connected low-frequency-band carrier/cell is higher than the priority of the connected high-frequency-band carrier/cell.

The method further comprises the following steps: the UE reports the interaction capacity of each connection to the base station; the UE selects a connection based on configuration information from the base station including a connection selection method, wherein when the UE has a plurality of connections, the UE divides the plurality of connections into one or more connection groups each including one or more connections based on the configuration information from the base station, and wherein the UE selects connections in the respective connection groups and allocates power based on the configuration information from the base station.

Optionally, the interaction capability is reported according to a frequency point, or according to an RAT, or according to an SIM card, and the connection selection method is configured according to a frequency point, or according to an RAT, or according to an SIM card, or according to a connection group.

The method further comprises the following steps: the UE sends auxiliary information to the base station side; the UE receives scheduling information configured by the base station with reference to the auxiliary information from the base station; the UE performs communication based on the scheduling information of the base station.

Optionally, the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following information: time information of reception/transmission; resource occupation condition information; an RRC state; SS/PBCH configuration information; PDCCH detection information; resource configuration information for receiving a paging message; RACH resource configuration information; configuration information of HARQ-ACK feedback; the lowest guaranteed transmit power when the UE terminal communicates with connection B; maximum transmission power when the UE terminal communicates with connection B; number of supportable links; supportable transmit power; supportable beam information; priority information; the information scheduled by the base station cannot be responded; interference information within the device; DRX configuration; and a channel state information, CSI, processing unit.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a user equipment comprising a transceiver and a controller, the user equipment being configured to perform the above method.

Drawings

The foregoing and additional aspects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent and readily appreciated from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3a illustrates an example user device according to this disclosure;

fig. 3b illustrates an example base station in accordance with this disclosure;

fig. 4 shows a diagram of an exemplary connection between a UE and a base station; and

fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of a method performed by a UE according to an embodiment of the application.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in fig. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

Wireless network 100 includes a gandeb (gNB)101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the internet, a proprietary IP network, or other data network.

Depending on the network type, other well-known terms can be used instead of "gnnodeb" or "gNB", such as "base station" or "access point". For convenience, the terms "base station," "gNodeB," and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. Also, other well-known terms, such as "mobile station", "subscriber station", "terminal", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal", or "user equipment", can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE", depending on the network type. For convenience, the terms "user equipment," "UE," and "terminal" are used throughout this patent document to refer to a remote wireless device that wirelessly accesses a gNB, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or smartphone) or what is commonly considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes: a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Enterprise (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); the UE 116, may be a mobile device (M) such as a cellular phone, wireless laptop, wireless PDA, etc. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gnbs 101-103 are capable of communicating with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX, or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

The dashed lines illustrate the approximate extent of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that coverage areas associated with the gNB, such as coverage areas 120 and 125, can have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNB and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and artificial obstructions.

As described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

Although fig. 1 shows one example of a wireless network 100, various changes can be made to fig. 1. For example, wireless network 100 can include any number of gnbs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 can communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 is capable of communicating directly with network 130 and providing UEs with direct wireless broadband access to network 130. Further, the gnbs 101, 102, and/or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

Fig. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, transmit path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB (such as gNB 102), while receive path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE (such as UE 116). However, it should be understood that the receive path 250 can be implemented in the gNB and the transmit path 200 can be implemented in the UE. In some embodiments, receive path 250 is configured to support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

The transmit path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210, an N-point Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 220, an add cyclic prefix block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. Receive path 250 includes a down-converter (DC)255, a remove cyclic prefix block 260, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 265, an N-point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decode and demodulation block 280.

In transmit path 200, a channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding, such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding, and modulates the input bits, such as with Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), to generate a sequence of frequency domain modulation symbols. A serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) the serial modulation symbols into parallel data in order to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the number of IFFT/FFT points used in the gNB 102 and the UE 116. N-point IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. Parallel-to-serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from N-point IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time domain signal. Upconverter 230 modulates (such as upconverts) the output of add cyclic prefix block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission over a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at baseband before being converted to RF frequency.

The RF signal transmitted from the gNB 102 reaches the UE 116 after passing through the radio channel, and the reverse operation to that at the gNB 102 is performed at the UE 116. Downconverter 255 downconverts the received signal to baseband frequency and remove cyclic prefix block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. Serial-to-parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal to parallel time-domain signals. The N-point FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency domain signals. The parallel-to-serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency domain signals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. Channel decode and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

Each of the gnbs 101-103 may implement a transmit path 200 similar to transmitting to the UE 111-116 in the downlink and may implement a receive path 250 similar to receiving from the UE 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmit path 200 for transmitting in the uplink to gNB 101-103 and may implement a receive path 250 for receiving in the downlink from gNB 101-103.

Each of the components in fig. 2a and 2b can be implemented using hardware only, or using a combination of hardware and software/firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in fig. 2a and 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. For example, FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, where the value of the number of points N may be modified depending on the implementation.

Further, although described as using an FFT and IFFT, this is merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that the value of the variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) for DFT and IDFT functions, and any integer that is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) for FFT and IFFT functions.

Although fig. 2a and 2b show examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to fig. 2a and 2 b. For example, the various components in fig. 2a and 2b can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added according to particular needs. Also, fig. 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of the types of transmit and receive paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communications in a wireless network.

Fig. 3a illustrates an example UE 116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 shown in fig. 3a is for illustration only, and the UE 111 and 115 of fig. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs have a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

The UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver 310, Transmit (TX) processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor/controller 340, an input/output (I/O) interface 345, input device(s) 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. Memory 360 includes an Operating System (OS)361 and one or more applications 362.

RF transceiver 310 receives incoming RF signals from antenna 305 that are transmitted by the gNB of wireless network 100. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts an incoming RF signal to generate an Intermediate Frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 325, where RX processing circuitry 325 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 325 sends the processed baseband signals to speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or to processor/controller 340 (such as for web browsing data) for further processing.

TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from processor/controller 340. TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 315 and upconverts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals, which are transmitted via antenna 305.

The processor/controller 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and executes the OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control overall operation of the UE 116. For example, processor/controller 340 may be capable of controlling the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by RF transceiver 310, RX processing circuitry 325, and TX processing circuitry 315 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, processor/controller 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

The processor/controller 340 can also execute other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems having 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. Processor/controller 340 is capable of moving data into and out of memory 360 as needed to perform a process. In some embodiments, processor/controller 340 is configured to execute applications 362 based on OS 361 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The processor/controller 340 is also coupled to an I/O interface 345, where the I/O interface 345 provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I/O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and processor/controller 340.

The processor/controller 340 is also coupled to input device(s) 350 and a display 355. The operator of the UE 116 can input data into the UE 116 using the input device(s) 350. Display 355 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and/or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). A memory 360 is coupled to the processor/controller 340. A portion of memory 360 can include Random Access Memory (RAM) while another portion of memory 360 can include flash memory or other Read Only Memory (ROM).

Although fig. 3a shows one example of a UE 116, various changes can be made to fig. 3a to implement various embodiments of the present application. For example, the various components in FIG. 3a can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor/controller 340 can be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs) and one or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Also, while fig. 3a shows the UE 116 configured as a mobile phone or smart phone, the UE can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

Fig. 3b illustrates an example gNB 102 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 shown in fig. 3b is for illustration only, and the other gnbs of fig. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, the gNB has a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the gNB. Note that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structure as gNB 102.

As shown in fig. 3b, the gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, Transmit (TX) processing circuitry 374, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 376. In some embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n comprises a 2D antenna array. The gNB 102 also includes a controller/processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

The RF transceivers 372a-372n receive incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs or other gnbs, from the antennas 370a-370 n. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 376, where RX processing circuitry 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 376 sends the processed baseband signals to the controller/processor 378 for further processing.

TX processing circuitry 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from controller/processor 378. TX processing circuitry 374 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 374 and upconvert the baseband or IF signals into RF signals for transmission via antennas 370a-370 n.

Controller/processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller/processor 378 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, RX processing circuitry 376, and TX processing circuitry 374 according to well-known principles. The controller/processor 378 can also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller/processor 378 can perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process, such as by performing a BIS algorithm, and decode the received signal with the interference signal subtracted. Controller/processor 378 may support any of a wide variety of other functions in the gNB 102. In some embodiments, controller/processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

Controller/processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in memory 380, such as a base OS. The controller/processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, controller/processor 378 supports communication between entities such as a web RTC. Controller/processor 378 can move data into and out of memory 380 as needed to perform a process.

Controller/processor 378 is also coupled to a backhaul or network interface 382. Backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. Backhaul or network interface 382 can support communication via any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G or new radio access technologies or NR, LTE or LTE-a), the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gnbs over wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network (such as the internet) via a wired or wireless local area network or via a wired or wireless connection. Backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication over a wired or wireless connection, such as an ethernet or RF transceiver.

A memory 380 is coupled to the controller/processor 378. A portion of memory 380 can include RAM and another portion of memory 380 can include flash memory or other ROM. In some embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as a BIS algorithm, are stored in memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller/processor 378 to perform a BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interfering signal determined by a BIS algorithm.

As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuitry 374, and/or RX processing circuitry 376) support aggregated communication with FDD and TDD cells.

Although fig. 3b shows one example of a gNB 102, various changes may be made to fig. 3b to implement various embodiments of the present application. For example, the gNB 102 can include any number of each of the components shown in fig. 3 a. As a particular example, the access point can include a number of backhauls or network interfaces 382 and the controller/processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, although shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 374 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 376, gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are further described below in conjunction with the appended drawings.

The text and drawings are provided as examples only to assist the reader in understanding the disclosure. They are not intended, nor should they be construed, as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. While certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based on the disclosure herein, that changes can be made in the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

In an existing communication system, a UE terminal may establish a connection with multiple carriers of a base station in a Carrier Aggregation (CA) manner. In carrier aggregation, a UE may maintain a connection with up to 16 or 32 carriers. One UE terminal may also establish a connection with two base stations by means of Dual-connectivity. With the advent of new networks, such as non-public networks (NPN), a UE terminal may need to be connected in different networks simultaneously, e.g. in both NPN and public networks PLMN. Networks based on various access technologies will coexist for some time, e.g. LTE, NR and 6G networks, and one UE terminal may need to be connected in different networks at the same time. Moreover, with the expansion of the frequency domain range of the available carrier, for example, the frequency point lower than 1GHz, the frequency point above 1GHz and below 6GHz, and the millimeter wave frequency band, even the appearance of the future terahertz frequency band, one UE terminal may need to be connected to different frequency points at the same time to meet the requirements of coverage and high rate. Furthermore, as cooperation of the respective operators deepens, one UE terminal may be simultaneously served by a plurality of operators.

Based on these requirements, one UE terminal may need to establish connections with more than two networks at the same time. One or more embodiments of the present application provide a multi-connection based operation that improves existing transmission methods to improve overall system efficiency.

Fig. 4 shows a diagram of an exemplary connection between a UE and a base station.

In fig. 4, the UE has three connections with three base stations. The UE may select one or more connections from the three connections for communication based on configuration information of the base station. Although three connections of the UE with three base stations are shown in fig. 4, the number of base stations and the number of connections are not limited thereto, for example, the number of base stations may be two or more, and for example, the UE may establish one or more connections with each base station. Moreover, the base stations may be of the same network type and/or the same operator, or may be of different network types and/or different operators.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of a method of selecting a connection by a UE according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.

S510, the UE receives configuration information from the base station and determines a first number of connections scheduled by the base station based on the configuration information;

s520, the UE determines a second number of the UE capable of simultaneously connecting based on the first rule;

s530, the UE selects a second number of connections from the first number of connections based on a second rule.

In step S510, for a terminal with L connections, the terminal receives configuration information from the base station and determines to be scheduled by the base station to simultaneously receive or transmit on a first number N (N ≦ L) of connections based on the configuration information.

In step S520, the terminal determines a second number M of terminals capable of simultaneous connection based on the first rule. According to one embodiment, the terminal can receive a second number M of connections simultaneously_revNumber of connections M that can be sent simultaneously_transMay be the same. According to another embodiment, the terminal can receive the second number M of connections simultaneously_revNumber of connections M that can be sent simultaneously_transMay be different.

Factors that cause the terminal to transmit/receive only on the second number M of connections may be various, including but not limited to, the terminal only having M radio frequency paths, or the terminal only having M baseband processing branches capable of parallel processing, or the UE terminal only having M beams capable of transmitting simultaneously, or the UE terminal only having M beams capable of receiving simultaneously, etc.

According to one embodiment of the application, the first rule for the terminal to determine the second number M of connections comprises at least one of:

the second number does not exceed the number of radio frequency paths possessed by the UE;

the second number does not exceed the number of baseband processing branches which can be processed in parallel and are possessed by the UE;

the second number does not exceed the number of beams capable of transmitting simultaneously possessed by the UE;

the second number does not exceed the number of beams capable of receiving simultaneously possessed by the UE;

the sum of the expected transmit powers for the second number of connections does not exceed a predefined maximum transmit power;

the number of directions of the second number of connections to the expected transmit beam does not exceed the third number;

the number of directions of the second number of connection-intended receive beams does not exceed the third number.

According to one embodiment, in the case that the UE receives configuration information from the base station and determines that the UE is scheduled by the base station to simultaneously receive or transmit on N (N ≦ L) connections based on the configuration information, the UE determines that the second number of connections that can be simultaneously made is M based on the first rule if the UE has only M radio frequency paths.

According to one embodiment, for a UE with L connections, in case the UE is scheduled to transmit on N (N ≦ L) connections simultaneously, if the sum of the transmission powers expected for the N connections exceeds the predefined maximum transmission power, the UE determines a second number M of connections that can be made simultaneously based on a first rule, such that the sum of the transmission powers of the M connections does not exceed the predefined maximum transmission power.

According to one embodiment, for a UE with L connections, if the UE is scheduled to transmit on N (N ≦ L) connections simultaneously, if the number of directions of transmit beams expected for the N connections exceeds the beam direction number threshold M1, the UE determines the second number of simultaneous connections as M based on a first rule such that the total number of directions of transmit beams for the M connections does not exceed the beam direction number threshold M1.

According to one embodiment, for a UE with L connections, if the UE is scheduled to receive on N (N ≦ L) connections simultaneously, if the number of directions of receive beams expected for the N connections exceeds the beam direction number threshold M1, the UE determines, based on a first rule, that the second number of connections that can be made simultaneously is M, such that the total number of directions of receive beams for the M connections does not exceed the beam direction number threshold M1.

According to one implementation, for example, a UE with L-4 connections is scheduled to transmit on N-3 connections simultaneously, and if the number of directions of the transmit beams expected by N-3 connections is 3 due to each connection having a different transmit beam direction, and the beam direction number threshold M1 is exceeded by 2, then at most M-2 connections are selected from N-3 connections according to a predefined rule, where the total number of directions of the transmit beams of the 2 connections does not exceed the beam direction number threshold M1-2. For another example, if the beam direction of the 1 st and 2 nd connections is the same among the 3 connections, and the beam direction of the 3 rd connection is different from the direction of 1/2, then M is 3, and M1 is 2.

According to one implementation, M-2 connections are selected according to a predefined rule such that the total number of different beam directions does not exceed M1-2, and for the remaining N-M-2 connections, the own beam direction may be selected from the M1-2 beam directions for transmission, or the transmission may be dropped. For example, a UE terminal remains connected to both LTE and NR base stations, but the UE terminal can only receive one beam direction at the same time. And according to a predefined rule, selecting one connection with a high priority from the two connections, and carrying out downlink receiving according to the beam transmitting direction indicated by the base station. For reception of a low priority connection, the UE may receive in the same reception beam direction as the reception of a high priority connection, instead of receiving in accordance with the beam information indicated by the base station. Also for example, a UE terminal remains connected to both LTE and NR base stations, but the UE terminal can only transmit one beam direction at the same time. According to a predefined rule, one connection with a high priority is selected from the two connections, uplink transmission is carried out according to the beam sending direction indicated by the base station, and the other connection is sent in the same beam direction. If it is considered that changing the transmission beam direction may cause unpredictable interference, the UE terminal gives up transmitting a signal of low priority if the transmission beam of the signal is different from the beam direction of the signal of high priority. Optionally, the base station configures multiple transmission beam directions, and the UE terminal may select one of the beam directions, so that the total number of beam directions transmitted simultaneously does not exceed M. If the UE terminal can not select the beam meeting the requirement, the UE gives up sending the signal with low priority. Optionally, the base station may configure one optimal beam and at least one backup beam. When the UE transmission beam is not restricted, the UE may transmit using the optimal beam. If the UE transmission beam is limited, an alternative beam can be selected for transmission.

According to one embodiment, M and/or M1 are determined by the terminal, which may inform the base station about M or M1 information.

In the L connections of a communication device, each connection may contain one or more carriers/cells. Carriers/cells belonging to the same connection may operate in a carrier aggregation manner to determine the reception or transmission of carriers/cells in the connection. Or, the carriers/cells belonging to the same connection determine reception or transmission according to the rules of the present invention. Or, the receiving or transmitting is determined by combining the rule in the invention and the carrier aggregation mode.

In step S530, the UE selects a second number of connections from the first number of connections based on a second rule. According to one embodiment, the UE determines the priority of the respective connections based on a second rule and selects a second number of connections in order of priority from high to low.

According to an embodiment of the application, the second rule comprises at least one of:

a channel type;

carrier/cell type;

a transmission process;

a service type;

carrier/cell frequency points.

For example, the UE selects, based on the second rule, the second number of connections from the first number of connections including, but not limited to, one or more of:

(1) the priority of each connection is determined according to the channel type. And selecting M connections to perform corresponding operation according to the sequence of the priority from high to low. For example, the priority of the uplink channel type is determined according to at least one of the following modes:

-a first priority: physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission on a primary cell (PCell);

-a second priority: physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmission with hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information and/or resource request (SR) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission with HARQ-ACK information and/or SR;

-a third priority: PUCCH transmission with Channel State Information (CSI) or PUSCH transmission with CSI;

-a fourth priority: PUSCH transmission without HARQ-ACK information or CSI, and for type 2 random access procedure, PUSCH transmission on PCell;

-a fifth priority: an SRS transmission, wherein an aperiodic SRS is prioritized over a semi-persistent and/or periodic SRS, or a PRACH transmission on a serving cell other than a PCell.

According to one embodiment, the priority order of the first priority through the fifth priority is first priority > second priority > third priority > fourth priority > fifth priority.

For example, the priority of the downlink channel type is determined according to at least one of the following modes:

-the priority of the synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) is higher than the priority of the other downlink channels;

-the priorities of the SS/PBCH and PDCCH of Type 0(Type-0) Common Search Space (CSS) are higher than the priorities of other downlink channels;

the priority of the SS/PBCH and/or the Type-0CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the Type 1(Type-1) CSS.

For example, the Type-1CSS is a CSS for receiving other system information, a CSS for receiving a random access response RAR, and a CSS for receiving a paging message.

The priority of the PDCCH of the Type-1CSS is higher than that of the PDCCH of the Type-2 (Type-2) CSS. For example, the Type-2CSS is a PDCCH for receiving uplink and downlink configuration, a PDCCH for uplink power control of a group of UEs, and a CSS of a PDCCH for scheduling fallback DCI of data.

The PDCCH of the Type-2CSS has a higher priority than that of a user-specific search space (USS).

-the priority of the PDCCH is higher than the priority of the PDSCH.

(2) The priority of each connection is determined according to the carrier/cell type. And selecting M connections to perform corresponding operation according to the sequence of the priority from high to low. For example, priorities of different types of carriers/cells are determined according to at least one of the following:

-Pcell priority higher than Scell

-the priority of the carriers/cells in the MCG (Master cell group) is higher than the priority of the carriers/cells in the SCG (Secondary cell group);

optionally, in the SCG, the priority of the carrier/cell with a low SCG index is higher than that of the carrier/cell with a high SCG index.

-the priority of the carrier/cell carrying PUCCH is higher than the priority of the carrier/cell not carrying PUCCH;

-the non-secondary carrier (non-secondary carrier) has a higher priority than the secondary carrier;

-carriers/cells of non-public networks (NPN) have higher priority than carriers/cells of public networks (PLMN)

-the carrier/cell priority of the public network (PLMN) is higher than the carrier/cell priority of the non-public network (NPN)

-the carrier/cell priority of the stand-alone non-Public network (NPN) is higher than the carrier/cell priority of an Integrated Public network-based NPN (IPN-NPN)

-the carrier/cell priority of an Integrated Public network-NPN (IPN-NPN) based PLMN network is higher than the carrier/cell priority of a stand-alone non-Public network (stand-alone NPN)

-determining the priority order of the serving cells of the respective SIM cards according to terminal settings (e.g. factory settings or user settings).

For example, for a dual-card dual-standby terminal customized by china mobile, the priority of the china mobile SIM card is higher than the priority of the SIM cards of other operators.

As another example, the SIM card of card slot 1 has a higher priority than the SIM card of card slot 2.

(3) The priority of each connection is determined according to the transmission process. And selecting M connections to perform corresponding operation according to the sequence of the priority from high to low. For example, the priority of the connection may be determined, for example, according to at least one of:

-a first priority: initial access procedure

For example, the procedure may include cell search receiving the SS/PBCH, or receiving the SS/PBCH and SIB1 system information. For another example, when the primary carrier/primary cell Radio Link Fails (RLF), the UE re-performs the initial access procedure.

-a second priority: random access procedure or RRC connection establishment procedure

For example, a random access procedure used by the UE to establish an RRC connection in the initial access. Optionally, the random access procedure is a random access procedure based on four steps (send PRACH, receive RAR, send Msg3, receive Msg4), or is a random access procedure based on two steps (Msg APRACH + PUSCH, Msg B PDCCH + PDSCH).

-a third priority: procedure for receiving paging message

-a fourth priority: other procedures

(4) And determining the priority of each connection according to the service type. And selecting M connections to perform corresponding operation according to the sequence of the priority from high to low. For example, the priority of the connection is determined according to at least one of the following:

-determining priority based on priority information of configured physical channels or signals

-determining a priority based on priority information of the service

For example, voice traffic has a higher priority than data traffic.

(5) And determining the priority of each connection according to the carrier/cell frequency points. And determining the priority of the connection and selecting M connections to carry out corresponding operation according to the principle that the priority of the connected low-frequency-band carrier/cell is higher than that of the connected high-frequency-band carrier/cell.

The above described rules and methods of determining priority may be used in various combinations.

Although the steps are shown in a particular order in fig. 4, this should not be understood as necessarily requiring their performance in the order shown, e.g., the operations shown in fig. 4 may be performed in parallel, or in the reverse order. For example, the UE may determine a second number and select the second number of connections from the first number of connections based on the first rule and the second rule.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the UE may inform the base station of the interaction capabilities of the respective connections. And the base station configures a connection selection method for the UE based on the interactive capability of each connection of the UE. The UE selects a connection for communication based on the configuration of the base station.

For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station whether the UE has the capability to handle fast communication between two connected modules (e.g., modem Modems). For example, the two connections each belong to a different RAT, or the two connections each correspond to a different SIM card. For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station whether it has dynamic power sharing capability or semi-static power sharing capability for both connections. According to the difference of the interaction capability of the UE, the base station can be configured with different connection selection methods. For example, the base station may configure different methods for selecting connection for a UE terminal with dynamic power sharing capability and a UE terminal with semi-static power sharing capability. The UE selects a connection for communication based on the configuration of the base station.

Optionally, the interactive capability is reported according to a frequency point. Optionally, the interworking capability is reported in terms of RAT. Optionally, the interaction capability is reported according to a SIM card.

For a UE, the handling of each carrier/cell may be different between connections or for a connection. For example, for multiple connections that may interact with each other or interact in real time, the UE may use a more dynamic method for selecting connections according to the configuration of the base station, and for multiple connections with limited interaction, the UE may use a semi-static or fixed method for selecting connections. The base station may inform the UE of the method of selecting a connection between connections or within one connection. According to one embodiment, when a UE has multiple connections, a base station may divide the multiple connections into one or more connection groups and inform the UE of a method of selecting connections among the various connections. For example, the UE establishes 3 connections, where connection 1 is an NPN, connection 2 is a PLMN, connection 3 is also a PLMN, and the frequency points of connection 2 and connection 3 are different. The base station may inform the UE that connection 2 and connection 3 are a group and connection 1 is a group, and connection selection is performed between the two groups in a semi-static manner, for example, each connection in the same connection group performs transmission power allocation in a dynamic manner, and each connection in different connection groups performs transmission power allocation in a semi-static manner. For another example, the UE establishes 3 connections, where connection 1 is an NPN, connection 2 is a PLMN, and connection 3 is also a PLMN. The UE has the capability to communicate with 2 connections at the same time. The base station may inform the UE that connection 2 and connection 3 are a group, connection 1 is a group, connection 2/3 shares a connection path, and connection 1 occupies a connection path. The base station may also configure the UE to select a connection for communication between connections 2/3 in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

Optionally, the method for selecting connection is configured according to frequency points. Optionally, the method of selecting a connection is configured per RAT. Optionally, the method of selecting connection is configured according to SIM card. Optionally, the method of selecting connections is configured in connection groups.

In order to assist the scheduling decision of the base station side, the UE may transmit assistance information to the base station side, informing the base station of a desired configuration of the UE, so that the base station configures the scheduling information for the UE with reference to the UE assistance information, and the UE performs communication based on the scheduling information of the base station, thereby reducing resource collision between multiple connections.

When the UE terminal establishes multiple connections, the UE terminal may inform the base station of connection a about the information of connection B, or the UE terminal may suggest a reasonable configuration to the base station of connection a. The proposed configuration information may be based on information of at least one of the connected base stations or the information may be decided by the UE terminal itself. By assisting the scheduling decision of the base station in this way, resource conflicts between multiple connections can be reduced. The auxiliary information can be carried by the signaling reported by the UE terminal capability, or the auxiliary information can be carried by the signaling different from the signaling reported by the UE terminal capability. Typically, the UE terminal capabilities are determined by factory settings, but the UE assistance information is determined according to the number of connections the UE maintains and the characteristics of each connection. The assistance information may be higher layer signaling or physical layer signaling. The auxiliary information includes at least one of the following information:

-time information of reception/transmission

And the UE terminal can perform downlink receiving/uplink sending time information with the base station connected with the A. For example, uplink and downlink configuration information, or time pattern information for transmission and reception.

For example, if the UE terminal establishes multiple connections, the UE terminal may report desired uplink and downlink configuration information to the base station of connection a. The uplink and downlink configuration information can be determined according to the cell public uplink and downlink configuration information of the connection B. In this way, base station a may avoid scheduling the UE's transmissions in resources that conflict with the uplink and downlink transmissions of base station B. For example, the UE terminal establishes 2 connections, where connection 1 is NPN and connection 2 is PLMN. It is assumed that the UE terminal can only stay connected to one of the connections at a time. The UE terminal can inform the NPN base station of the uplink and downlink configuration information of the PLMN carrier/cell, and is used for assisting the NPN base station to schedule the uplink and downlink transmission of the UE terminal, so that the loss of one connection caused by the simultaneous scheduling of the UE by two connections is reduced.

For another example, the UE terminal may report, to the base station of connection a, time pattern information that the UE terminal can transceive with connection a. The time pattern information may indicate on which time resources the UE terminal may transmit on the uplink carrier of connection a and on which time resources may receive on the downlink carrier of connection a. Alternatively, the time pattern information may indicate slots/symbols in connection B that are determined not to be used for uplink transmission, or slots/symbols in connection B that are intended for other connections not to be used for uplink transmission serving the UE terminal.

-resource occupancy information

For example, the UE reports to the base station the expected resource occupancy information, e.g., the UE reports to the base station of connection a which time/frequency/spatial domain (such as beam direction) resources connection B is expected to occupy, and occupies the resource in proportion, e.g., 50% of the frequency occupies the resources.

-RRC State

For example, the UE terminal may report the desired RRC state to the base station. The RRC state is at least one of a connected state, an RRC idle state, or an RRC inactive state. The UE terminal may report the time information in the RRC state, e.g., the time duration for the RRC state, to the base station.

Or, the UE terminal may report the RRC state of the UE in connection B to the base station connected to a. Time information of the RRC state can also be reported.

-SS/PBCH configuration information

For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station connected to a the desired time offset information configured with the base station for receiving the SS/PBCH. Alternatively, the UE terminal may report the desired time offset information for receiving the SS/PBCH to the base station of connection a. Alternatively, the UE terminal may report time information of the expected receivable SS/PBCH to the base station of connection a, e.g., the UE terminal may receive the SS/PBCH in a partial subset of the received SS/PBCH configured by the base station. The UE terminal can determine the expected SS/PBCH configuration information reported to the base station connected with the A according to the SS/PBCH configuration information connected with the B

Or, the UE terminal may report the SS/PBCH configuration information of connection B to the base station of connection a.

-PDCCH detection information

The PDCCH detection information comprises at least one of PDCCH search space configuration information, PDCCH blind detection carrier number, PDCCH blind detection times and PDCCH channel estimation times. For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station connected to a the expected time offset information from the PDCCH search space configured by the base station. Or, the UE terminal may report the desired PDCCH search space-time information to the base station connected to a. Alternatively, the UE terminal may report time information of the expected receivable PDCCH to the base station connected to a, for example, the UE terminal may receive the PDCCH in a partial subset of the PDCCH search space configured by the base station. For another example, the UE reports the carrier number Ncap of PDCCH blind detection to the base station connected to a. When the UE terminal and both connection a and connection B maintain the RRC connected state, the UE terminal may report the number Ncap1 of PDCCH blind detection carriers to the base station connected to a, and the UE terminal may report the number Ncap2 of PDCCH blind detection carriers to the base station connected to B. Depending on the number of connections the UE terminal maintains, or on the priority of these connections, the UE terminal may determine the appropriate number of PDCCH blind detection carriers for each connection.

Alternatively, the UE terminal may report PDCCH detection information of connection B, for example, PDCCH search space configuration information, to the base station of connection a.

Optionally, the PDCCH search space may be used for a PDCCH that receives scheduling system information.

Optionally, the PDCCH search space may be used for receiving PDCCH of RAR.

-resource configuration information for receiving paging messages

For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station connected to a an offset from the resource configured by the base station for receiving the paging message. For example, the UE terminal may report the desired offset information to the base station of connection a, so that the UE terminal may receive the Paging information in a Paging Frame (PF) and/or Paging Occasion (PO) of the desired Paging message. The offset information may be an offset of the UE _ ID used for calculating PO/PF, for example, the PF used for paging is determined according to (system frame number + paging frame offset) mod T ═ T div N (UE _ ID + offset information reported by the UE) mod N), where T is a DRX cycle of the UE and N is the number of PFs in one DRX cycle. The index i _ s of PO used for paging is floor (UE _ ID + offset information/N reported by UE) mod Ns, and Ns is the number of POs in one PF.

For another example, the offset information is a PF time offset, and the PF used for paging is determined according to (system frame number + paging frame offset + offset information reported by the UE) mod T ═ T div N (UE _ ID) mod N.

RACH resource configuration information

For example, the UE terminal may report an offset to the RACH resource configured by the base station to the base station connected to a. Alternatively, the UE terminal may report time information expected to send RACH to the base station of connection a, for example, the UE terminal may send RACH in a partial subset of RACH resources configured by the base station.

-configuration information for HARQ-ACK feedback

Minimum guaranteed transmit power for UE terminals in communication with connection B

Maximum work of transmission when a UE terminal communicates with connection B

Number of supportable links

The supportable link is the supportable carrier number, and/or the supportable band number, and/or the supportable antenna number, and/or the supportable Layer number.

For example, a UE terminal may report to a base station of connection a the maximum number of carriers available for communication with the base station.

For example, a UE terminal may report to a base station of connection a the number of frequency bands (bands) available for communication with the base station. For example, the UE terminal may support 5 maximum carriers, where carriers 1 to 3 are carriers within the same band X, and carriers 4 and 5 are carriers within the same band Y. UE reporting may support 2 bands. If the UE is in the RRC connection state only on connection A, the UE reports 2 bands. If the UE is in the RRC connected state on both connection a and connection B, the UE may report 1 band to connection a, and the UE may report 1 band to connection B.

For example, a UE terminal may report to a base station of connection a the number of transmit and/or receive links (Tx/Rx chain) available for communication with the base station. For example, a UE terminal may support 2 transceiving links. If the UE is only in the RRC connection state on connection A, the UE reports 2 transceiving links. If the UE is in the RRC connection state on both connection A and connection B, the UE reports to connection A that 1 transceiving link can be supported, and the UE reports to connection B that 1 transceiving link can be supported.

For example, the UE terminal may report the number of links used for communication in connection B to the base station in connection a.

Supportable transmit power

For example, the UE terminal may report the maximum transmit power available for uplink communication with the base station to the base station connected to a. For another example, the UE terminal may report the maximum transmit power used by the UE terminal for connection B to the base station connected to a, or the UE terminal may report the minimum guaranteed transmit power used by the UE terminal for connection B to the base station connected to a. For example, when the UE establishes multi-connection with two base stations through 2 SIM cards, the UE determines the maximum power available for uplink transmission of each base station according to information obtained from the two base stations, and informs each base station.

Supportable beam information

For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station of connection a the beam directions available for communication with the base station and/or the number of available beam directions.

-priority information

For example, the UE terminal may report to the base station connected to a the priority of the base station when the UE terminal processes. For example, when the UE has only one uplink transmission channel, the UE may notify at least one of the base stations B, and when two base stations simultaneously schedule uplink transmission, the priority of the base station B is lower than that of the base station a, so the UE may not perform uplink transmission to the base station B.

-information not responsive to base station scheduling

For example, the UE terminal may report, to the base station connected to the connection a, the number of times or percentage of transmission fails to be performed according to the scheduling of the base station, or time pattern information failing to be performed according to the scheduling of the base station.

-intra-device interference information

The UE terminal may report the information of the interfered frequency point to the base station connected to the terminal a due to the intra-device interference. For example, if the connection a and the connection B of the UE terminal have carriers in the same frequency band, or carriers in different frequency bands that may cause interference with each other, the UE terminal may report information of the interfered carrier to at least one of the connections. The information at least includes frequency point information, information of RATs subjected to interference or causing interference, such as NR, or LTE, and a direction of the interference, such as interference caused by NR to LTE, interference caused by LTE to NR, interference caused by NR to NR, and the like.

-DRX configuration

The UE terminal may report the desired DRX configuration information to the base station connected to a. For example, DRX cycle and offset information (e.g., DRX-LongCycleStartOffset), DRX on timer (DRX-onDurationTimer), and the like.

-a Channel State Information (CSI) processing unit

The UE terminal may report the number of supported processing units (CSI CPUs) that process CSI in parallel to the base station connected to a. Also, for example, the UE terminal reports the number Ncsi of CSI CPUs to the base station connected to a. When the UE terminal maintains the RRC connected state with both connection a and connection B, the UE terminal may report the number of CSI CPUs to the base station connected to a as Ncsi1, and the UE terminal may report the number of CSI CPUs to the base station connected to B as Ncsi 2.

Each connected base station can make a corresponding scheduling decision according to the auxiliary information reported by the UE. For example, if the UE terminal reports the maximum uplink transmit power for the connection, the base station of the connection cannot allocate uplink transmit power for the UE that exceeds this value. For another example, if the UE terminal reports time information available for transceiving on the connection, for example, on which symbols/slots the UE terminal can transceive on the connection, the base station cannot schedule downlink reception or uplink transmission on other symbols/slots for the UE. For another example, the base station may not fully comply with the information reported by the UE terminal for scheduling, and the base station expects to be able to ensure communication on the available resources reported by the UE terminal, but may not be able to communicate on other resources. For another example, the base station may not fully comply with the information reported by the UE terminal for scheduling, and the base station expects the UE terminal to communicate according to the scheduling and configuration of the base station.

The UE may inform the base station through the assistance information whether the base station may change the UE's related configuration. For example, the UE notifies the base station whether the relevant configuration of the UE can be changed through different assistance information signaling or by adding a changeable type of the assistance information in the assistance information signaling.

According to an example of the present invention, when a UE establishes a connection with two different networks, referred to as network 1 (NPN) and network 2 (PLMN), and the UE establishes a connection with 2 different frequency points in network 1, referred to as frequency point 1 of network 1 and frequency point 2 of network 1. Assume that the UE can simultaneously maintain at most M-2 connections. According to the priority rule of the invention, the NPN has a higher priority than the PLMN, and therefore network 1 has a higher priority than network 2. The UE may inform network 2 that it is lower priority than network 1. When the network 1 and the network 2 communicate with the UE at the same time, the UE preferentially selects the network 1, for example, when 2 frequency points of the network 1 and the network 2 both have uplink transmission requirements, the UE selects 2 frequency points on the network 1 for uplink transmission.

According to an example of the present invention, when a UE establishes a connection with two different networks, referred to as network 1 (NPN) and network 2 (PLMN), and the UE establishes a connection with 2 different frequency points in network 1, referred to as frequency point 1 of network 1 and frequency point 2 of network 1. Assume that the UE can simultaneously maintain at most M-2 connections. According to the priority rule of the invention, the NPN has a higher priority than the PLMN, and therefore network 1 has a higher priority than network 2. The UE may inform network 2 that it is lower priority than network 1. When the network 1 and the network 2 communicate with the UE at the same time, the UE preferentially selects the network 1, for example, when 2 frequency points of the network 1 and the network 2 both have uplink transmission requirements, the UE selects to perform uplink transmission on 2 frequency points of the network 1. If 1 frequency point of the network 1 and the network 2 both have uplink transmission requirements, the UE may perform uplink transmission on the frequency point of the network 1 and the network 2.

According to an example of the invention, when a UE establishes a connection with two different networks, referred to as network 1 (NPN) and network 2 (PLMN), and the UE establishes a connection with 2 different frequency points in network 2, referred to as frequency point 1 of network 2 and frequency point 2 of network 2. Assume that the UE can simultaneously maintain at most M-2 connections. According to the priority rule of the invention, the NPN has a higher priority than the PLMN, and therefore network 1 has a higher priority than network 2. The UE may inform network 2 that it is lower priority than network 1. When the network 1 and the network 2 communicate with the UE at the same time, the UE preferentially selects the network 1, for example, when 2 frequency points of the network 2 and the network 1 both have uplink transmission requirements, the UE selects 1 frequency point on the network 1 and the network 2 for uplink transmission. The base station may configure a semi-static connection selected from 2 frequency points in the UE network 2 for uplink transmission, for example, the UE performs uplink transmission with the frequency point 1 only in the configured first group of uplink time slots/symbols, and the UE performs uplink transmission with the frequency point 2 in other time slots/symbols.

According to one example of the invention, when a UE establishes a connection with two different networks, referred to as network 1(LTE) and network 2(NR), and the UE establishes a connection with 2 different frequency points in network 2, referred to as frequency point 1 of network 2 and frequency point 2 of network 2. Assume that the UE can simultaneously maintain at most M-2 connections. According to the priority rule of the present invention, LTE has a higher priority than NR, and thus network 1 has a higher priority than network 2. The UE may inform network 2 that it is lower priority than network 1. When the network 1 and the network 2 communicate with the UE at the same time, the UE preferentially selects the network 1, for example, when 2 frequency points of the network 2 and the network 1 both have uplink transmission requirements, the UE selects 1 frequency point on the network 1 and the network 2 for uplink transmission. The base station may configure 2 frequency points in the UE network 2 to dynamically select one connection for uplink transmission, for example, if the UE selects a connection where a signal with a high priority is located according to the type of the uplink signal to be transmitted, to transmit the high priority signal.

According to an example of the present invention, when the UE establishes connection with three networks, the UE corresponds to MCG, SCG1 and SCG2, respectively. It is assumed that the UE can simultaneously maintain M-3 connections at most, and it is necessary to ensure that the uplink transmission power does not exceed the UE maximum transmission power Pcmax. According to the priority rules of the present invention, MCG has priority over SCG1 and over SCG 2. The base station configures the SCG1 and the SCG2 as a connection group, and the MCG is a connection group. The power is distributed between the two connection groups in a semi-static mode, and the power is distributed in one connection group in a dynamic mode. The base station configures maximum transmission power P1 and P2 for two connection groups respectively, and the UE needs to ensure that the maximum transmission power of each connection group does not exceed the maximum transmission power of the group respectively. Within a connection group, power may be dynamically allocated between SCG1 and SCG2 such that the sum of the transmit power of the two connections does not exceed P2. When the sum of the transmission power required for the SCG1 and the transmission power required for the SCG2 exceeds P2, the transmission power of the SCG with a low SCG number, i.e., the transmission power of the SCG1, is preferentially satisfied according to the prioritization rules of the present invention.

According to an example of the present invention, when a UE establishes a connection with two networks, it is referred to as network 1(SIM card 1) and network 2(SIM card 2). It is assumed that the UE can simultaneously maintain at most M-1 downlink connections. According to the priority of the invention, the connection on which reception takes place is determined according to the different transmission processes. When the transmission process of the multiple connections is the same, it may be determined on which connection to receive according to other priority rules, for example, the priority of SIM card 1 is higher than the priority of SIM card 2. For example, assuming that the UE is in an RRC idle state in the network 1 and the UE is in an RRC connected state in the network 2, the UE switches to the network 1 at a corresponding time according to the paging message configuration information of the network 1, and switches back to the network 2 if the paging message is not received. If the paging message is received in the network 1 and the RRC connection needs to be established, the RRC connection establishment procedure is completed in the network 1. If the UE keeps RRC connection in the network 1 and the network 2 at the same time, the UE keeps connection in the two networks by turns in a time division multiplexing mode. The pattern of time division multiplexing may be determined by network 1 and/or network 2 and signaled to the UE, or determined by the UE and signaled to the network.

Those of skill in the art would understand that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and steps described in this application may be implemented as hardware, software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in this application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, 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. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The examples of the present application are only for the purpose of easy description and to aid in a comprehensive understanding of the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. Therefore, it should be understood that all modifications and changes or forms of modifications and changes derived from the technical idea of the present application other than the embodiments disclosed herein fall within the scope of the present application.

The above description is only exemplary of the present application and should not be taken as limiting the present application, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that are made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of the present application.