CN116830774A - Multipath communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application disclose a multipath communication method and device. By receiving first configuration information of a network device, the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device. The first configuration information includes a first gate. In the case of a limit value, according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, the first indication information and the second indication information are respectively indicated to the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity. , enabling terminal devices to realize offload transmission of data in multi-path communication scenarios, and to adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources, effectively improving service quality, improving transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoiding waste of resources. .

Description

Multipath communication method and device

Technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a multi-path communication method and device.

Background technique

In related technologies, the terminal device may not be directly connected to the network device, but may establish a communication connection with the network device through a relay of another terminal device. Among them, a terminal device that is not connected to a network device is called a remote terminal device, and a terminal device that provides a relay function is called a relay terminal device. The direct connection between a terminal device and a network device is called a direct link, and the connection between a terminal device and a network device through a relay terminal device is called an indirect link. The remote terminal device and the relay terminal device communicate through sidelink unicast, and the communication interface between the terminal devices is PC5.

In order to improve the transmission rate and transmission reliability, the remote terminal device can maintain connections with the network through direct paths and indirect paths at the same time. This function is called multipath connection (multipath).

Contents of the invention

The first embodiment of the present application proposes a multi-path communication method. The method is executed by a terminal device. The method includes:

Receive first configuration information of network device configuration, the first configuration information being used for multi-path communication of the terminal device;

In the case where the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second The MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively;

Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the third The buffer status report BSR of a MAC entity and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the The buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

The second embodiment of the present application proposes a multi-path communication method. The method is executed by a network device. The method includes:

Send first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device;

In the case where the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the first threshold value is used by the terminal device according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. The first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively;

Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the third The buffer status report BSR of a MAC entity and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the The buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

The third embodiment of the present application provides a multi-path communication device, which is applied to terminal equipment. The device includes:

A transceiver unit configured to receive first configuration information of a network device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device;

A processing unit configured to, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, provide the first media access control MAC entity with information based on the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. and/or the second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively;

Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the third The buffer status report BSR of a MAC entity and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the The buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

The fourth embodiment of the present application provides a multipath communication device, which is applied to network equipment. The device includes:

A transceiver unit configured to send first configuration information to a terminal device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device;

In the case where the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the first threshold value is used by the terminal device according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. The first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively;

Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the third The buffer status report BSR of a MAC entity and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the The buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

The fifth embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The device includes a processor and a memory. A computer program is stored in the memory. The processor executes the computer program stored in the memory so that the The device executes the multi-path communication method described in the above embodiment of the first aspect.

The sixth embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The device includes a processor and a memory. A computer program is stored in the memory. The processor executes the computer program stored in the memory so that the The device executes the multi-path communication method described in the above embodiment of the second aspect.

The seventh embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The device includes a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor. The processor is used to run the code instructions to enable the The device executes the multi-path communication method described in the above embodiment of the first aspect.

The eighth embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The device includes a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor. The processor is used to run the code instructions to enable the The device executes the multi-path communication method described in the above embodiment of the second aspect.

The ninth embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions. When the instructions are executed, the multi-path communication method described in the first embodiment is implemented.

The tenth embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions. When the instructions are executed, the multi-path communication method described in the second embodiment is implemented.

The eleventh embodiment of the present application provides a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the multipath communication method described in the first embodiment.

The twelfth aspect embodiment of the present application provides a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the multi-path communication method described in the second aspect embodiment.

A multipath communication method and device provided by embodiments of the present application receive first configuration information of a network device. The first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device. The first configuration information includes a first gate. In the case of a limit value, according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, the first indication information and the second indication information are respectively indicated to the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity. , enabling terminal devices to realize offload transmission of data in multi-path communication scenarios, and to adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources, effectively improving service quality, improving transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoiding waste of resources. .

Additional aspects and advantages of the application will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the application.

Description of the drawings

In order to more clearly explain the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the background technology, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments or the background technology of the present application will be described below.

Figure 1a is a schematic architectural diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 1b is a schematic structural diagram of a BSR provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-path communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-path communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another multi-path communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the embodiments of the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of embodiments of the present application as detailed in the appended claims.

The terms used in the embodiments of the present application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application. As used in the embodiments and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe various information in the embodiments of this application, the information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application, the first information may also be called second information, and similarly, the second information may also be called first information. Depending on the context, the words "if" and "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when" or "when" or "in response to determining."

The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are exemplary and are intended to explain the present application, but should not be construed as limiting the present application.

In order to better understand the multi-path communication method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the communication system to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable is first described below.

Please refer to Figure 1a, which is a schematic architectural diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication system may include but is not limited to a network device, a first terminal device and a second terminal device. The number and form of devices shown in Figure 1a are only for examples and do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present application. In practical applications, It may include two or more network devices, two or more first terminal devices, and two or more second terminal devices. The communication system shown in Figure 1a takes as an example a network device 101, a first terminal device 102 and a second terminal device 103.

It should be noted that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example: Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, fifth-generation mobile communication system, 5G new air interface system, or other future new mobile communication systems.

The network device 101 in the embodiment of this application is an entity on the network side that is used to transmit or receive signals. For example, the network device 101 may be an evolved base station (Evolved NodeB, eNB), a transmission point (TransmissionReception Point, TRP), a next generation base station (Next Generation NodeB, gNB) in an NR system, or other base stations in future mobile communication systems. Or access nodes in wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, WiFi) systems, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form used by the network equipment. The network device provided by the embodiment of the present application may be composed of a centralized unit (Central Unit, CU) and a distributed unit (Distributed Unit, DU). The CU may also be called a control unit (Control Unit). CU-DU is used. The structure can separate the protocol layers of network equipment, such as base stations, and place some protocol layer functions under centralized control on the CU. The remaining part or all protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU, and the CU centrally controls the DU.

The first terminal device 102 and the second terminal device 103 in the embodiment of this application are both entities on the user side that are used to receive or transmit signals, such as a mobile phone. Terminal equipment may also be called terminal equipment (terminal), user equipment (user equipment, UE), mobile station (Mobile Station, MS), mobile terminal equipment (Mobile Terminal, MT), etc. The terminal device can be a car with communication functions, a smart car, a mobile phone, a wearable device, a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiver functions, a virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR) terminal device, an augmented reality ( Augmented Reality (AR) terminal equipment, wireless terminal equipment in industrial control (Industrial Control), wireless terminal equipment in self-driving (Self-Driving), wireless terminal equipment in remote medical surgery, smart grid ( Wireless terminal equipment in Smart Grid), wireless terminal equipment in Transportation Safety (Transportation Safety), wireless terminal equipment in Smart City (Smart City), wireless terminal equipment in Smart Home (SmartHome), etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form used by the terminal equipment.

In the communication system, in order to support direct communication between terminal devices, the sidelink (SL) communication method is introduced. The communication interface between terminal devices is PC-5 (underlying direct-connect cellular communication protocol interface). According to the corresponding relationship between the sending terminal device and the receiving terminal device, three transmission methods are supported on sidelink: unicast, multicast and broadcast.

In the related art, the first terminal device 102 may not be directly connected to the network device 101, but may establish a communication connection with the network device 101 through the relay of another second terminal device 103. Connections through relays can expand the coverage of wireless networks, eliminate or reduce communication blind spots, and obtain higher link capacity. Among them, a terminal device that is not connected to a network device is called a remote terminal device, and a terminal device that provides a relay function is called a relay terminal device. The direct connection between a terminal device and a network device is called a direct link, and the connection between a terminal device and a network device through a relay terminal device is called an indirect link. The remote terminal device and the relay terminal device communicate through sidelink unicast.

In order to improve the transmission rate and transmission reliability, the remote terminal device (first terminal device 102) can maintain connection with the network through direct paths and indirect paths at the same time. This function is called multipath connection (multipath, MP). It can support data signaling bearer (Data Radio Bearer, DRB) transmission only through direct links, DRB transmission only through indirect links and DRB split (splitDRB). DRB offload can be transmitted through direct links and indirect links.

When there is uplink data to be transmitted, a scheduling request message needs to be sent to the network. However, the scheduling request message only indicates that there is uplink data to be sent and requests uplink resources, but does not indicate how much data needs to be sent. Therefore, it is necessary to indicate how much data it needs to send by reporting a buffer status report (Buffer Status Report, BSR), and the network device allocates uplink resources to the UE based on the BSR. The format of Short BSR is shown in Figure 1b.

Among them, the buffer size (Buffer Size) indicates that after all transmission blocks are generated within the current transmission time interval, the wireless link layer control protocol (wireless link layer control protocol) of all logical channels in the logical channel group (Logical Channel Group, LCG) The sum of the remaining valid data available for transmission in the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer and the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer.

In the sidelink SL communication scenario, the terminal device running in the first resource allocation mode (mode1 mode) is supported to report SLBSR to the network device.

In a multi-path connection scenario, for offload DRB, terminal equipment can directly transmit data from direct links and indirect links. The specific impact of PDCP layer offload on Uu BSR and SL BSR reporting is unclear.

It can be understood that the communication system described in the embodiments of the present application is to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. As those of ordinary skill in the art will know, With the evolution of system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

In an embodiment of the present application, a multipath communication method is provided, and the multipath communication method of the embodiment of the present application is executed by the first terminal device. This method can be performed independently or in combination with other embodiments described below in this application.

The multipath communication method and device provided by this application will be introduced in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to Figure 2. Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the multi-path communication method in the embodiment of the present application is executed by the terminal device. This method can be executed independently or in conjunction with any other embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the method may include the following steps:

Step 201: Receive first configuration information of the network device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can receive first configuration information of network device configuration, and the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information may be included in Radio Resource Control (Radio Resources Control, RRC) signaling or System Information Block (SIB). Alternatively, the first configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the first configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that the terminal device in the RRC connected state can obtain the first configuration information through dedicated RRC signaling; the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state can obtain the first configuration information through the SIB; the terminal device in the absent network A terminal device in an out-of-coverage (OOC) state can obtain the first configuration information through pre-configuration of the network device.

In some implementations, the first configuration information may include a first threshold value, and the first threshold value is used for DRB offloading of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the first configuration information may include a first threshold value and a first ratio value, and the first threshold value and the first ratio value are used for DRB offloading of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the first configuration information may not include the first threshold value nor the first ratio.

Optionally, in some implementations, the first ratio needs to be configured before the first threshold value can be configured. That is to say, if the first configuration information includes the first ratio, the first configuration information must include the first threshold value; if the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, then the first threshold value must be included in the first configuration information. A configuration information must also not include the first ratio.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the terminal device may send a request to the first media access control module according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. The MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity respectively indicates the first indication information and the second indication information.

Optionally, indicating the first indication information and the second indication information to the first MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity respectively according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value may include steps 202 and Step 203.

Step 202: If the first configuration information includes a first threshold, determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the terminal device can determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted and the first threshold value.

In each embodiment of the present application, the data to be transmitted by the terminal device is PDCP layer data. For example, the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is the amount of data to be transmitted at all PDCP layers.

Step 203: According to the quantitative relationship, indicate the first indication information and the second indication information to the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity respectively.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can provide the data to the terminal device based on the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted and the first threshold value. The first medium access control (Medium Access Control, MAC) entity indicates first indication information and indicates second indication information to the second MAC entity.

Wherein, the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity; the second indication information is used to trigger the second MAC The BSR of the entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is the MAC entity corresponding to the primary RLC entity (primary RLC entity), and the second MAC entity is the MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity (secondary RLC entity). Both the first MAC entity and the second MAC entity are on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the primary RLC entity according to the second configuration information configured by the network device.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, and when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the first indication information and The second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold value, the first indication information is used to indicate The amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, the second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted is 0.

In some implementations, the first configuration information includes the first threshold and the first ratio.

Optionally, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The ratio of the amount of data transferred; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate that when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity Quantity ratio.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold and the first ratio, and when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity;

Wherein, the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity are the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device according to the first ratio and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. definite.

As an example, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted by the terminal device. According to the ratio of the amount of data to be transmitted, it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity = first ratio * the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity = (1-first ratio)*the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

As another example, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted by the terminal device. The ratio of the amount of data to be transmitted to be transmitted, then it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted to be transmitted through the first MAC entity = (1-first ratio) * the amount of data to be transmitted to the terminal device, the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity The amount of data to be transmitted = the first ratio * the amount of data to be transmitted of the terminal device.

As another example, the first ratio is used to indicate that when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity. The ratio of the amount of data transmitted by the two MAC entities, then it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted by the first MAC entity = the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device * first ratio / (1 + first ratio), through the first MAC entity The amount of data to be transmitted by the two MAC entities = the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device/(1+first ratio).

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold and the first ratio, and when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, the first The indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted is 0.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, the terminal device can indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, and the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device The first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in various embodiments of the present application, triggering the BSR of the MAC entity may include triggering the MAC entity to generate a BSR and report it.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

Among them, it should be noted that the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) is a way of dynamic scheduling by the network, and the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) is a way for the terminal device to autonomously select resources in the network configuration or preconfigured resource pool. .

In summary, by receiving the first configuration information of the network device, the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device, and in the case where the first configuration information includes the first threshold value, the terminal device is determined. There is a quantitative relationship between the amount of transmitted data and the first threshold. According to the quantitative relationship, the first indication information and the second indication information are respectively indicated to the first media access control MAC entity and the second MAC entity, so that the terminal device can In the scenario of multi-path communication, it realizes the offload transmission of data and can adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources, which effectively improves the service quality, improves the transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoids the waste of resources.

Please refer to Figure 3. Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the multi-path communication method in the embodiment of the present application is executed by the terminal device. This method can be executed independently or in conjunction with any other embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 3, the method may include the following steps:

Step 301: Receive first configuration information of the network device. The first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device. The first configuration information includes a first threshold value.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can receive first configuration information of network device configuration, and the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information may be included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB. Alternatively, the first configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the first configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that a terminal device in the RRC connected state can obtain the first configuration information through dedicated RRC signaling; a terminal device in the RRC idle state or RRC inactive state can obtain the first configuration information through the SIB; in the OOC state The terminal device can obtain the first configuration information through the preconfiguration of the network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, and the first threshold value is used for DRB offloading of the terminal device.

Step 302: Determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted and the first threshold.

In each embodiment of the present application, the data to be transmitted by the terminal device is PDCP layer data. For example, the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is the amount of data to be transmitted at all PDCP layers.

If the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, perform steps 303 and 304; if the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, perform steps 305 and step 306.

Step 303: Indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, where the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

Step 304: Indicate second indication information to the second MAC entity, where the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can indicate the first indication information to the first MAC entity, and the first indication information to the second MAC entity. The entity indicates the second indication information. The first indication information and the second indication information are both used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

It can be understood that the data to be transmitted by the terminal device here refers to all the data to be transmitted by the PDCP layer of the terminal device.

Wherein, the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity; the second indication information is used to trigger the second MAC The BSR of the entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, and the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity. Both the MAC entity and the second MAC entity are on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the primary RLC entity according to the second configuration information configured by the network device.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

As an example, the primary RLC entity of the terminal device can be determined through a parameter in RRC signaling (such as ul-DataSplitDRB-ViaPC5). If this parameter is set to TRUE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity; if this parameter is not configured or this parameter is set to FALSE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a UuRLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is PC5 RLC entity.

It can be understood that the above example is only shown as a possible implementation and not as a limitation on the manner. The network side can also configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device through other parameters and other parameter configuration methods, which is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

It is also understandable that the BSR of the Uu MAC entity is Uu BSR and the BSR of the PC5 MAC entity is SLBSR.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

Step 305: Indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, where the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

Step 306: Indicate second indication information to the second MAC entity. The second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity is zero.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can indicate the first indication information to the first MAC entity and indicate the first indication information to the second MAC entity. Second instruction information. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity is 0.

It can be understood that the data to be transmitted by the terminal device here also refers to the data to be transmitted by all PDCP layers of the terminal device.

Wherein, the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity; the second indication information is used to trigger the second MAC The BSR of the entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, and the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity. Both the MAC entity and the second MAC entity are on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the primary RLC entity according to the second configuration information configured by the network device.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

As an example, the primary RLC entity of the terminal device can be determined through a parameter in RRC signaling (such as ul-DataSplitDRB-ViaPC5). If this parameter is set to TRUE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity; if this parameter is not configured or this parameter is set to FALSE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a UuRLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is PC5 RLC entity.

It can be understood that the above example is only shown as a possible implementation and not as a limitation on the manner. The network side can also configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device through other parameters and other parameter configuration methods, which is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

It is also understandable that the BSR of the Uu MAC entity is Uu BSR and the BSR of the PC5 MAC entity is SLBSR.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

In summary, by receiving the first configuration information of the network device, the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device. The first configuration information includes the first threshold value, and the amount of data to be transmitted and the amount of data to be transmitted of the terminal device are determined. The quantitative relationship of the first threshold value, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, indicates first indication information to the first MAC entity, and the first indication information is used to Indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and indicate second indication information to the second MAC entity. The second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device; when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the third In the case of a threshold value, the first indication information is indicated to the first MAC entity. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is indicated to the second MAC entity. The second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity is 0, so that the terminal device can implement offload transmission of data in a multi-path communication scenario, and can adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources, effectively It improves service quality, improves transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoids waste of resources.

Please refer to Figure 4. Figure 4 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the multi-path communication method in the embodiment of the present application is executed by the terminal device. This method can be executed independently or in conjunction with any other embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4, the method may include the following steps:

Step 401: Receive first configuration information of the network device. The first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device. The first configuration information includes a first threshold value and a first ratio.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can receive first configuration information of network device configuration, and the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information may be included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB. Alternatively, the first configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the first configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that a terminal device in the RRC connected state can obtain the first configuration information through dedicated RRC signaling; a terminal device in the RRC idle state or RRC inactive state can obtain the first configuration information through the SIB; in the OOC state The terminal device can obtain the first configuration information through the preconfiguration of the network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first configuration information includes a first threshold value and a first ratio value, and the first threshold value and the first ratio value are used for DRB offloading of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The ratio of the amount of data transferred; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity Quantity ratio.

Optionally, in some implementations, the first ratio needs to be configured before the first threshold value can be configured. That is to say, if the first configuration information includes the first ratio, the first configuration information must include the first threshold value; if the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, then the first threshold value must be included in the first configuration information. A configuration information must also not include the first ratio.

It can be understood that the data to be transmitted of the terminal device refers to the data to be transmitted of all PDCP layers of the terminal device.

Step 402: Determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted and the first threshold.

In each embodiment of the present application, the data to be transmitted by the terminal device is PDCP layer data. For example, the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is the amount of data to be transmitted at all PDCP layers.

If the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, perform steps 403 and 404; if the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, perform steps 405 and step 406.

Step 403: Indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, where the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity.

Step 404: Indicate second indication information to the second MAC entity, where the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can indicate the first indication information to the first MAC entity, and the first indication information to the second MAC entity. The entity indicates the second indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity.

Wherein, the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity are determined by the terminal device based on the first ratio and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. . That is, the terminal device can calculate how much data to be transmitted is submitted to the two MAC entities based on the first ratio and the amount of data to be transmitted of the terminal device.

As an example, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted by the terminal device. According to the ratio of the amount of data to be transmitted, it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity = first ratio * the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity = (1-first ratio)*the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

As another example, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted by the terminal device. The ratio of the amount of data to be transmitted to be transmitted, then it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted to be transmitted through the first MAC entity = (1-first ratio) * the amount of data to be transmitted to the terminal device, the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity The amount of data to be transmitted = the first ratio * the amount of data to be transmitted of the terminal device.

As another example, the first ratio is used to indicate that when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity. The ratio of the amount of data transmitted by the two MAC entities, then it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted by the first MAC entity = the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device * first ratio / (1 + first ratio), through the third MAC entity The amount of data to be transmitted by the two MAC entities = the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device/(1+first ratio).

Wherein, the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity; the second indication information is used to trigger the second MAC The BSR of the entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, and the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity. Both the MAC entity and the second MAC entity are on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the primary RLC entity according to the second configuration information configured by the network device.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

As an example, the primary RLC entity of the terminal device can be determined through a parameter in RRC signaling (such as ul-DataSplitDRB-ViaPC5). If this parameter is set to TRUE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity; if this parameter is not configured or this parameter is set to FALSE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a UuRLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is PC5 RLC entity.

It can be understood that the above example is only shown as a possible implementation and not as a limitation on the manner. The network side can also configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device through other parameters and other parameter configuration methods, which is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

It is also understandable that the BSR of the Uu MAC entity is the Uu BSR and the BSR of the PC5 MAC entity is the SL BSR.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

Step 405: Indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, where the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

Step 406: Indicate second indication information to the second MAC entity. The second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity is zero.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can indicate the first indication information to the first MAC entity and indicate the first indication information to the second MAC entity. Second instruction information. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity is 0.

It can be understood that the data to be transmitted by the terminal device here also refers to the data to be transmitted by all PDCP layers of the terminal device.

Wherein, the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity; the second indication information is used to trigger the second MAC The BSR of the entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, and the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity. Both the MAC entity and the second MAC entity are on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the primary RLC entity according to the second configuration information configured by the network device.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

As an example, the primary RLC entity of the terminal device can be determined through a parameter in RRC signaling (such as ul-DataSplitDRB-ViaPC5). If this parameter is set to TRUE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity; if this parameter is not configured or this parameter is set to FALSE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a UuRLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is PC5 RLC entity.

It can be understood that the above example is only shown as a possible implementation and not as a limitation on the manner. The network side can also configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device through other parameters and other parameter configuration methods, which is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

It is also understandable that the BSR of the Uu MAC entity is the Uu BSR and the BSR of the PC5 MAC entity is the SL BSR.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

In summary, by receiving the first configuration information of the network device, the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device, the first configuration information includes the first threshold value and the first ratio, and the waiting time of the terminal device is determined. The quantitative relationship between the amount of transmitted data and the first threshold value. When the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the first indication information is indicated to the first MAC entity. The first The indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to indicate the second indication information to the second MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity; When the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold value, first indication information is indicated to the first MAC entity. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the first indication information is indicated to the first MAC entity. The second MAC entity indicates second indication information. The second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity is 0, so that the terminal device can realize offload transmission of data in a multi-path communication scenario. It can adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources, effectively improving service quality, improving transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoiding waste of resources.

Please refer to Figure 5. Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the multi-path communication method in the embodiment of the present application is executed by the terminal device. This method can be executed independently or in conjunction with any other embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 5, the method may include the following steps:

Step 501: Receive first configuration information of the network device. The first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device. The first configuration information does not include the first threshold value.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can receive first configuration information of network device configuration, and the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information may be included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB. Alternatively, the first configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the first configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that a terminal device in the RRC connected state can obtain the first configuration information through dedicated RRC signaling; a terminal device in the RRC idle state or RRC inactive state can obtain the first configuration information through the SIB; in the OOC state The terminal device can obtain the first configuration information through the preconfiguration of the network device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value.

Step 502: Indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, where the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can indicate the first indication information to the first MAC entity. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

It can be understood that the data to be transmitted by the terminal device here refers to all the data to be transmitted by the PDCP layer of the terminal device.

The first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, to use the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information, and so on. In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information may also have other functions, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary RLC entity, and the first MAC entity is on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may also be a PC5 RLC entity.

Optionally, the terminal device may determine the primary RLC entity according to the second configuration information configured by the network device.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

As an example, the primary RLC entity of the terminal device can be determined through a parameter in RRC signaling (such as ul-DataSplitDRB-ViaPC5). If this parameter is set to TRUE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity; if this parameter is not configured or this parameter is set to FALSE, it indicates that the primary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity.

It can be understood that the above example is only shown as a possible implementation and not as a limitation on the manner. The network side can also configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device through other parameters and other parameter configuration methods, which is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

It is also understandable that the BSR of the Uu MAC entity is the Uu BSR and the BSR of the PC5 MAC entity is the SL BSR.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

In summary, by receiving the first configuration information of the network device, the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device, the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, and the first indication is indicated to the first MAC entity Information, the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, so that the terminal device can adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources in a multi-path communication scenario, effectively improving the service quality, improving the transmission rate and Transmission reliability avoids waste of resources.

Please refer to Figure 6, which is a schematic flowchart of a multi-path communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the multi-path communication method in the embodiment of the present application is executed by a network device. This method can be executed independently or in conjunction with any other embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 6, the method may include the following steps:

Step 601: Send first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network device can configure the first configuration information to the terminal device, and the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information may be included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB. Alternatively, the first configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the first configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that the terminal device in the RRC connected state can obtain the first configuration information through dedicated RRC signaling; the terminal device in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state can obtain the first configuration information through the SIB; the terminal device in the absent network A terminal device in an out-of-coverage (OOC) state can obtain the first configuration information through pre-configuration of the network device.

In some implementations, the first configuration information may include a first threshold value, and the first threshold value is used for DRB offloading of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the first configuration information may include a first threshold value and a first ratio value, and the first threshold value and the first ratio value are used for DRB offloading of the terminal device.

In some implementations, the first configuration information may not include the first threshold value nor the first ratio.

Optionally, in some implementations, the first ratio needs to be configured before the first threshold value can be configured. That is to say, if the first configuration information includes the first ratio, the first configuration information must include the first threshold value; if the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, then the first threshold value must be included in the first configuration information. A configuration information must also not include the first ratio.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the first threshold value is used for the terminal device to send a request to the third threshold based on the amount of data to be transmitted and the first threshold value. A MAC entity and/or a second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively.

Optionally, the first threshold value is used by the terminal device to determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted and the first threshold value.

In each embodiment of the present application, the data to be transmitted by the terminal device is PDCP layer data. For example, the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is the amount of data to be transmitted at all PDCP layers.

In this embodiment of the present application, the PDCP entity whose quantity relationship can be used for the terminal device can send a request to the first medium access control (Medium Access Control) according to the quantity relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. , the MAC) entity indicates the first indication information and indicates the second indication information to the second MAC entity.

Wherein, the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the first MAC entity; the second indication information is used to trigger the second MAC The BSR of the entity and/or calculate the buffer size (buffer size) in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, and for the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information. etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the first instruction information and the second instruction information may also have other functions, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in each embodiment of the present application, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, and the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity. Both the MAC entity and the second MAC entity are on the terminal device side.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity; or, the primary RLC entity may be a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity may be a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the network device can configure second configuration information to the terminal device, and the second configuration information is used to determine the primary RLC entity.

Optionally, the second configuration information may also be included in RRC signaling or SIB. Alternatively, the second configuration information may also be pre-configured to the terminal device by the network side, that is, the second configuration information is included in the pre-configuration.

It can be understood that the data transmitted through the Uu RLC entity and the corresponding Uu MAC entity will be transmitted through the direct link, and the data transmitted through the PC5 RLC entity and the corresponding PC5 MAC entity will be transmitted through the indirect link.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, and when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the first indication information and The second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold value, the first indication information is used to indicate The amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, the second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted is 0.

In some implementations, the first configuration information includes the first threshold and the first ratio.

Optionally, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The ratio of the amount of data transferred; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity Quantity ratio.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold and the first ratio, and when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity;

Wherein, the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity are the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device according to the first ratio and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. definite.

As an example, the first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity is equal to the amount of data transmitted by the terminal device. According to the ratio of the amount of data to be transmitted, it can be determined that the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity = first ratio * the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity = (1-first ratio)*the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold and the first ratio, and when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, the first The indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the amount of data to be transmitted is 0.

In some embodiments, when the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, the terminal device can indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity, and the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device The first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity.

Optionally, the first indication information can also be used to trigger resource selection/resource reselection, to determine resource selection/resource reselection, to use the terminal device to select/reselect resources based on the indication information, and so on. In the embodiment of the present application, the first indication information may also have other functions, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that in various embodiments of the present application, triggering the BSR of the MAC entity may include triggering the MAC entity to generate a BSR and report it.

In various embodiments of the present application, only terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) may be supported, or terminal devices in the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) or the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) may be supported. terminal equipment (that is, the resource allocation mode of the terminal equipment is not limited).

Among them, it should be noted that the first resource allocation mode (mode 1) is a way of dynamic scheduling by the network, and the second resource allocation mode (mode 2) is a way for the terminal device to autonomously select resources in the network configuration or preconfigured resource pool. .

In summary, by sending the first configuration information to the terminal device, the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device. In the case where the first configuration information includes the first threshold value, the first threshold value The terminal device is configured to respectively indicate the first indication information and the second indication information to the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the first MAC entity. The buffer status report BSR and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity. The buffer size enables terminal devices to adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources in multi-path communication scenarios, effectively improving service quality, improving transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoiding resource waste.

Corresponding to the multi-path communication methods provided by the above-mentioned embodiments, the present application also provides a multi-path communication device. Since the multi-path communication device provided by the embodiments of the present application corresponds to the methods provided by the above-mentioned embodiments, therefore The implementation of the multipath communication method is also applicable to the multipath communication device provided in the following embodiments, and will not be described in detail in the following embodiments.

Please refer to FIG. 7 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a multipath communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in Figure 7, the multipath communication device 700 includes: a transceiver unit 710 and a processing unit 720, wherein:

The transceiver unit 710 is configured to receive first configuration information of the network device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device;

The processing unit 720 is configured to provide the first media access control MAC entity and/or the first medium access control MAC entity with the first threshold according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold when the first configuration information includes the first threshold. Or the second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively;

Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the first MAC entity. The buffer status report BSR and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity. Buffer size.

Optionally, the processing unit 720 is specifically used for:

Determine the quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold;

According to the quantity relationship, the first indication information and the second indication information are respectively indicated to the first MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity.

Optionally, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information and the second indication information are both used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information also includes a first ratio;

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity Quantity ratio.

Optionally, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second The indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity;

Wherein, the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity are the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device according to the first ratio and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. definite.

Optionally, the first configuration information is included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB or preconfiguration.

Optionally, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The amount of data transferred is 0.

Optionally, when the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, the method includes:

Indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity. The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the third The size of the buffer in a MAC entity's BSR.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity; or,

The primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 710 is also used for:

Receive second configuration information configured by the network device. The second configuration information is used to configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device. The second configuration information is included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB or preconfiguration. .

Optionally, the data to be transmitted is data of the PDCP layer of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol.

The multipath communication device of this embodiment can receive the first configuration information of the network device. The first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device. When the first configuration information includes the first threshold value, , according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, indicate the first indication information and the second indication information to the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity respectively, so that the terminal device can In the scenario of multi-path communication, it realizes the offload transmission of data and can adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources, which effectively improves the service quality, improves the transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoids the waste of resources.

Please refer to FIG. 8 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a multipath communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in Figure 8, the multipath communication device 800 includes: a transceiver unit 810, wherein:

Transceiver unit 810, configured to send first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal device;

In the case where the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, the first threshold value is used by the terminal device to access the first medium according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. The control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively;

Wherein, the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to trigger the first MAC entity. The buffer status report BSR and/or calculates the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity. Buffer size.

Optionally, the first threshold value is used by the terminal device to determine a quantitative relationship between the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, and the quantitative relationship is used by the terminal device to send data to the first MAC entity and /Or the second MAC entity indicates the first indication information and the second indication information respectively.

Optionally, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information and the second indication information are both used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device.

Optionally, the first configuration information also includes a first ratio;

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. ratio; or,

The first ratio is used to indicate that, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, the amount of data transmitted through the first MAC entity corresponds to the amount of data transmitted through the second MAC entity. Ratio of data volume.

Optionally, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second The indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted through the second MAC entity;

Wherein, the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the first MAC entity and the amount of data to be transmitted transmitted through the second MAC entity are the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device according to the first ratio and the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. definite.

Optionally, the first configuration information is included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB or preconfiguration.

Optionally, when the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device is less than the first threshold, the first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device. The amount of data transferred is 0.

Optionally, when the first configuration information does not include the first threshold value, the first configuration information is used by the terminal device to indicate first indication information to the first MAC entity. The first indication information The first indication information is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, and the first indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity.

Optionally, the primary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity; or,

The primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity, and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity.

Optionally, the transceiver unit is also used for:

Configure second configuration information for the terminal device, the second configuration information is used to configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device, and the second configuration information is included in radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB or preconfiguration.

Optionally, the data to be transmitted is data of the PDCP layer of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol.

The multipath communication device of this embodiment can send first configuration information to a terminal device. The first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device. When the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, , the first threshold value is used for the terminal device to respectively indicate a first indication to the first media access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity according to the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value. information and second indication information, wherein the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the primary Radio Link Layer Control Protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to the secondary RLC entity, and the first indication information is used to Trigger the buffer status report BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used to trigger the BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculate the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity. The buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity enables the terminal device to adaptively and flexibly request scheduled resources in multi-path communication scenarios, effectively improving service quality, improving transmission rate and transmission reliability, and avoiding resource loss. waste.

In order to implement the above embodiments, embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, including: a processor and a memory. A computer program is stored in the memory. The processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, so that the device executes the steps shown in Figure 2 to The method shown in the embodiment of Figure 5, or the method shown in the embodiment of Figure 5 is executed.

In order to implement the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application also proposes a communication device, including: a processor and a memory. A computer program is stored in the memory. The processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, so that the device executes the implementation in Figure 6 The method shown in the example.

In order to implement the above embodiments, embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, including: a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor. The processor is used to run the code instructions to Perform the methods shown in the embodiments of Figures 2 to 5, or perform the method shown in the embodiment of Figure 5.

In order to implement the above embodiments, embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, including: a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor. The processor is used to run the code instructions to The method shown in the embodiment of Figure 6 is executed.

Please refer to FIG. 9 , which is a schematic structural diagram of another multi-path communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. The multipath communication device 900 may be a network device, a terminal device, a chip, a chip system, a processor, etc. that supports a network device to implement the above method, or a chip or a chip system that supports a terminal device to implement the above method. , or processor, etc. The device can be used to implement the method described in the above method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment.

Multipath communication device 900 may include one or more processors 901. The processor 901 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor, or the like. For example, it can be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor can be used to control and execute multi-path communication devices (such as base stations, baseband chips, terminal equipment, terminal equipment chips, DU or CU, etc.) A computer program processes data for a computer program.

Optionally, the multipath communication device 900 may also include one or more memories 902, on which a computer program 903 may be stored. The processor 901 executes the computer program 903, so that the multipath communication device 900 executes the above method embodiments. described method. The computer program 903 may be solidified in the processor 901, in which case the processor 901 may be implemented by hardware.

Optionally, the memory 902 may also store data. The multipath communication device 900 and the memory 902 can be provided separately or integrated together.

Optionally, the multipath communication device 900 may also include a transceiver 905 and an antenna 906. The transceiver 905 may be called a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, etc., and is used to implement transceiver functions. The transceiver 905 may include a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver may be called a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., used to implement the receiving function; the transmitter may be called a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc., used to implement the transmitting function.

Optionally, the multipath communication device 900 may also include one or more interface circuits 907. The interface circuit 907 is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor 901 . The processor 901 executes code instructions to cause the multi-path communication device 900 to perform the method described in the above method embodiment.

In one implementation, the processor 901 may include a transceiver for implementing receiving and transmitting functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuits, interfaces or interface circuits used to implement the receiving and transmitting functions can be separate or integrated together. The above-mentioned transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit can be used for reading and writing codes/data, or the above-mentioned transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit can be used for signal transmission or transfer.

In one implementation, the multipath communication device 900 may include a circuit, and the circuit may implement the sending or receiving or communication functions in the foregoing method embodiments. The processor and transceiver described in this application can be implemented in integrated circuits (ICs), analog ICs, radio frequency integrated circuits RFICs, mixed signal ICs, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), printed circuit boards ( printed circuitboard (PCB), electronic equipment, etc. The processor and transceiver can also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS), P-type Metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

The multipath communication device described in the above embodiments may be a network device or a terminal device, but the scope of the multipath communication device described in this application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the multipath communication device may not be limited to that shown in Figures 7-8 limits. A multipath communication device may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, a multipath communication device may be:

(1) Independent integrated circuit IC, or chip, or chip system or subsystem;

(2) A collection of one or more ICs. Optionally, the IC collection may also include storage components for storing data and computer programs;

(3)ASIC, such as modem;

(4) Modules that can be embedded in other devices;

(5) Receivers, terminal equipment, intelligent terminal equipment, cellular phones, wireless equipment, handheld devices, mobile units, vehicle-mounted equipment, network equipment, cloud equipment, artificial intelligence equipment, etc.;

(6) Others, etc.

For the case where the multipath communication device may be a chip or a chip system, refer to the schematic structural diagram of the chip shown in FIG. 10 . The chip shown in Figure 10 includes a processor 1001 and an interface 1002. The number of processors 1001 may be one or more, and the number of interfaces 1002 may be multiple.

For the case where the chip is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment of this application:

Interface 1002 for code instructions and transmission to the processor;

The processor 1001 is configured to run code instructions to perform the methods shown in Figures 2 to 5.

For the case where the chip is used to implement the functions of the network device in the embodiment of this application:

Interface 1002 for code instructions and transmission to the processor;

The processor 1001 is used to run code instructions to perform the method as shown in Figure 6.

Optionally, the chip also includes a memory 1003, which is used to store necessary computer programs and data.

Those skilled in the art can also understand that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps listed in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and overall system design requirements. Those skilled in the art can use various methods to implement the functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be understood as exceeding the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a communication system that includes a multipath communication device as a terminal device and a multipath communication device as a network device in the aforementioned embodiments of FIGS. 7-8 , or the system includes the aforementioned implementation of FIG. 9 Examples include a multipath communication device as a terminal device and a multipath communication device as a network device.

This application also provides a readable storage medium on which instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by a computer, the functions of any of the above method embodiments are implemented.

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

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. A computer program product includes one or more computer programs. When a computer program is loaded and executed on a computer, processes or functions according to embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer program may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer program may be transmitted from a website, computer, server or data center via a wireline (e.g. Coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means to transmit to another website, computer, server or data center. Computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, or other integrated media that contains one or more available media. Usable media may be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, tapes), optical media (e.g., high-density digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid state disks (SSDs) )wait.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art can understand that the first, second, and other numerical numbers involved in this application are only for convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application and also indicate the order.

At least one in this application can also be described as one or more, and the plurality can be two, three, four or more, which is not limited by this application. In the embodiment of this application, for a technical feature, the technical feature is distinguished by "first", "second", "third", "A", "B", "C" and "D", etc. The technical features described in "first", "second", "third", "A", "B", "C" and "D" are in no particular order or order.

The corresponding relationships shown in each table in this application can be configured or predefined. The values of the information in each table are only examples and can be configured as other values, which are not limited by this application. When configuring the correspondence between information and each parameter, it is not necessarily required to configure all the correspondences shown in each table. For example, in the table in this application, the corresponding relationships shown in some rows may not be configured. For another example, appropriate deformation adjustments can be made based on the above table, such as splitting, merging, etc. The names of the parameters shown in the titles of the above tables may also be other names understandable by the communication device, and the values or expressions of the parameters may also be other values or expressions understandable by the communication device. When implementing the above tables, other data structures can also be used, such as arrays, queues, containers, stacks, linear lists, pointers, linked lists, trees, graphs, structures, classes, heaps, hash tables or hash tables. wait.

Predefinition in this application can be understood as definition, pre-definition, storage, pre-storage, pre-negotiation, pre-configuration, solidification, or pre-burning.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented with electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each specific application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be described again here.

It should be understood that the various forms of processes shown above may be used, with steps reordered, added or deleted. For example, the steps described in the embodiments of the present application can be executed in parallel, sequentially, or in different orders. As long as the desired results of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention can be achieved, there is no limitation here.

The above-mentioned specific embodiments do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and substitutions are possible depending on design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (28)

1. A method of multipath communication, the method being performed by a terminal device, the method comprising:

receiving first configuration information configured by network equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal equipment;

when the first configuration information comprises a first threshold value, according to the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment and the first threshold value, indicating first indication information and second indication information to a first Media Access Control (MAC) entity and/or a second MAC entity respectively;

the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, the first indication information is used for triggering a buffer status report BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used for triggering a BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the indicating the first indication information and the second indication information to the first medium access control MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity, respectively, according to the amount of data to be transmitted of the terminal device and the first threshold value, comprises:

determining the quantity relation between the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment and the first threshold value;

and respectively indicating the first indication information and the second indication information to the first MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity according to the quantity relation.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that,

and when the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment is larger than or equal to the first threshold value, the first indication information and the second indication information are used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the first configuration information further comprises a first ratio;

the first ratio is used for indicating the ratio of the data quantity transmitted by the first MAC entity to the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device, when the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value; or,

The first ratio is used for indicating the ratio of the data quantity transmitted by the second MAC entity to the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device, where the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or,

the first ratio is used for indicating the ratio of the data volume transmitted by the first MAC entity to the data volume transmitted by the second MAC entity when the data volume to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining the position of the first electrode is performed,

the first indication information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted through the second MAC entity when the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment is larger than or equal to the first threshold value;

the data amount to be transmitted through the first MAC entity and the data amount to be transmitted through the second MAC entity are determined by the terminal device according to the first ratio and the data amount to be transmitted of the terminal device.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the first configuration information is comprised in a radio resource control, RRC, signaling or system information block, SIB, or pre-configuration.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein,

and under the condition that the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment is smaller than the first threshold value, the first indicating information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment, and the second indicating information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted to be 0.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein in case the first threshold value is not included in the first configuration information, the method comprises:

and indicating first indication information to the first MAC entity, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment, and the first indication information is used for triggering the BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculating the buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein,

the main RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity, and the auxiliary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity; or,

The primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity.

10. The method according to any one of claims 9, further comprising:

and receiving second configuration information configured by the network equipment, wherein the second configuration information is used for configuring the main RLC entity for the terminal equipment, and the second configuration information is included in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or a System Information Block (SIB) or pre-configuration.

11. The method according to any of claims 1-10, wherein the data to be transmitted is data of a packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, layer.

12. A method of multipath communication, the method being performed by a network device, the method comprising:

transmitting first configuration information to terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for multi-path communication of the terminal equipment;

when the first configuration information includes a first threshold, the first threshold is used for the terminal device to respectively indicate first indication information and second indication information to a first media access control MAC entity and/or a second MAC entity according to the data volume to be transmitted of the terminal device;

The first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, the first indication information is used for triggering a buffer status report BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used for triggering a BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the first threshold value is used by the terminal device to determine a quantitative relation between an amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device and the first threshold value, the quantitative relation being used by the terminal device to indicate the first indication information and the second indication information to the first MAC entity and/or the second MAC entity, respectively.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein,

and when the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment is larger than or equal to the first threshold value, the first indication information and the second indication information are used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment.

15. The method of any of claims 12-14, wherein the first configuration information further comprises a first ratio;

the first ratio is used for indicating the ratio of the data quantity transmitted by the first MAC entity to the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device, when the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold value; or,

the first ratio is used for indicating the ratio of the data quantity transmitted by the second MAC entity to the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device, where the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold; or,

the first ratio is used for indicating the ratio of the data quantity correspondingly transmitted by the first MAC entity to the data quantity transmitted by the second MAC entity when the data quantity to be transmitted by the terminal device is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the first indication information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted through the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted through the second MAC entity when the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment is larger than or equal to the first threshold value;

The data amount to be transmitted through the first MAC entity and the data amount to be transmitted through the second MAC entity are determined by the terminal device according to the first ratio and the data amount to be transmitted of the terminal device.

17. The method according to any of claims 12-16, wherein the first configuration information is comprised in a radio resource control, RRC, signaling or a system information block, SIB, or a pre-configuration.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein,

and under the condition that the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment is smaller than the first threshold value, the first indicating information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted of the terminal equipment, and the second indicating information is used for indicating the data quantity to be transmitted to be 0.

19. The method according to claim 12, wherein in case the first threshold value is not included in the first configuration information, the first configuration information is used for the terminal device to indicate to the first MAC entity first indication information, the first indication information is used for indicating an amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device, the first indication information is used for triggering a BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity.

20. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein,

the main RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity, and the auxiliary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity; or,

the primary RLC entity is a PC5 RLC entity and the secondary RLC entity is a Uu RLC entity.

21. The method according to any one of claims 20, further comprising:

configuring second configuration information to the terminal device, where the second configuration information is used to configure the primary RLC entity for the terminal device, and the second configuration information is included in radio resource control RRC signaling or a system information block SIB or pre-configuration.

22. The method according to any of claims 12-21, wherein the data to be transmitted is data of a packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, layer.

23. A multi-path communication apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a terminal device, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver unit, configured to receive first configuration information of a network device, where the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal device;

the processing unit is configured to, when the first configuration information includes a first threshold value, respectively indicate first indication information and second indication information to a first media access control MAC entity and/or a second MAC entity according to a data amount to be transmitted of the terminal device and the first threshold value;

The first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, the first indication information is used for triggering a buffer status report BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used for triggering a BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

24. A multi-path communication apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a network device, the apparatus comprising:

the receiving and transmitting unit is used for sending first configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information is used for multipath communication of the terminal equipment;

when the first configuration information includes a first threshold, the first threshold is used for the terminal device to respectively indicate first indication information and second indication information to a first media access control MAC entity and/or a second MAC entity according to the data volume to be transmitted of the terminal device and the first threshold;

the first MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a primary radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, the second MAC entity is a MAC entity corresponding to a secondary RLC entity, the first indication information is used for triggering a buffer status report BSR of the first MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the first MAC entity, and the second indication information is used for triggering a BSR of the second MAC entity and/or calculating a buffer size in the BSR of the second MAC entity.

25. A communication device, characterized in that the device comprises a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein a computer program, the processor executing the computer program stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22.

26. A communication device, comprising: a processor and interface circuit;

the interface circuit is used for receiving code instructions and transmitting the code instructions to the processor;

the processor for executing the code instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22.

27. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 to be implemented or cause the method of any one of claims 12 to 22 to be implemented.

28. A communication system, comprising:

terminal device for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 11;

network device for performing the method of any of claims 12 to 22.