Communication method, access network device, and terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11729754-B2
Application number	US-201916504003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2019
Priority date	Jan 6, 2017
Publication date	Aug 15, 2023
Grant date	Aug 15, 2023

Abstract

A first access network device determines a timing offset of a first carrier and a second carrier. The timing offset is an offset between timing of downlink communication of the first carrier and timing of uplink communication of the second carrier. The first carrier is a carrier using a first radio access technology (RAT), and the second carrier is an uplink frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier using the first RAT and a second RAT. The first access network device sends first indication information to a terminal. The first indication information indicates the timing offset, and the timing offset is used to determine the timing of the second carrier. Based on this scheme, the terminal can use a shared frequency band resource of LTE, thereby improving resource utilization.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, first indication information from a first access network device, wherein the first indication information indicates a timing offset of a first carrier and a second carrier, the timing offset is an offset between a timing of a downlink communication of the first carrier and a timing of an uplink communication of the second carrier, wherein the second carrier is an uplink frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT, and wherein the first carrier uses only the first RAT,
wherein the first RAT is new radio (NR) and the second RAT is Long Term Evolution (LTE); and
determining, by the terminal, the timing of the uplink communication of the second carrier based on the timing of the downlink communication of the first carrier and the timing offset.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the timing offset indicates a time difference between:
a subframe or symbol boundary of the first carrier; and
a start location at which a physical random access channel (PRACH) is sent on the second carrier.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first carrier is of the first access network device and the second carrier is of the first access network device.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein receiving the first indication information comprises:
receiving, using a system message carried on the first carrier, the first indication information from the first access network device.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the terminal using physical layer signaling carried on the first carrier, third indication information from the first access network device, wherein the third indication information comprises delay information, and the delay information indicates:
a quantity of available slots of the second carrier; or
a quantity of available slots of the first carrier.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the delay information indicates the quantity of available slots of the second carrier, and the method further comprises:
obtaining, by the terminal, a slot of the second carrier based on the timing of the uplink communication of the second carrier, wherein the slot of the second carrier is on the second carrier and corresponds to a slot in which the third indication information is received;
obtaining, by the terminal, an available resource of the second carrier based on the slot of the second carrier and the delay information; and
sending, by the terminal, a signal to the first access network device using the available resource of the second carrier.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
performing, by the terminal, an initial access procedure with the first access network device using the first RAT.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a subframe length of the first RAT is different than a subframe length of the second RAT.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a frame and subframe timing of the first carrier is in accordance with NR, and a frame and subframe timing of the second carrier is in accordance with LTE.

10. A terminal, comprising:
a receiver, configured to receive first indication information from a first access network device, wherein the first indication information indicates a timing offset of a first carrier and a second carrier, the timing offset is an offset between a timing of a downlink communication of the first carrier and a timing of an uplink communication of the second carrier, and wherein the second carrier is an uplink frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT, and wherein the first carrier uses only the first RAT or only, and wherein the first RAT is new radio (NR) and the second RAT is Long Term Evolution (LTE);
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by the processor, the program including instructions for:
determining the timing of the uplink communication of the second carrier based on the timing of the downlink communication of the first carrier and the timing offset.

11. The terminal according to claim 10 , wherein the timing offset indicates a time difference between:
a subframe or symbol boundary of the first carrier; and
a start location at which a physical random access channel (PRACH) is sent on the second carrier.

12. The terminal according to claim 10 , wherein the first carrier is of the first access network device and the second carrier is of the first access network device.

13. The terminal according to claim 10 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive, using a system message carried on the first carrier, the first indication information from the first access network device.

14. An apparatus comprised in a terminal, the apparatus comprising:
a non-transitory storage medium including executable instructions; and
a processor;
wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
decode first indication information sent from a first access network device, wherein the first indication information indicates a timing offset of a first carrier and a second carrier, the timing offset is an offset between a timing of a downlink communication of the first carrier and a timing of an uplink communication of the second carrier, wherein the second carrier is an uplink frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT, and wherein the first carrier uses only the first RAT, and wherein the first RAT is new radio (NR) and the second RAT is Long Term Evolution (LTE); and
determine the timing of the uplink communication of the second carrier based on the timing of the downlink communication of the first carrier and the timing offset.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the timing offset indicates a time difference between:
a subframe or symbol boundary of the first carrier; and
a start location at which a physical random access channel (PRACH) is sent on the second carrier.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the first carrier is of the first access network device and the second carrier is of the first access network device.

17. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the first indication information is received using a system message carried on the first carrier.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
decode first indication information sent from a first access network device, wherein the first indication information indicates a timing offset of a first carrier and a second carrier, the timing offset is an offset between a timing of a downlink communication of the first carrier and a timing of an uplink communication of the second carrier, wherein the second carrier is an uplink frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT, and wherein the first carrier uses only the first RAT, and wherein the first RAT is new radio (NR) and the second RAT is Long Term Evolution (LTE); and
determine the timing of the uplink communication of the second carrier based on the timing of the downlink communication of the first carrier and the timing offset.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 18 , wherein the timing offset indicates a time difference between:
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Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sun Wei
• Wan Lei
• Guo Zhiheng
• Cheng Xingqing
• Xie Xinqian

Classifications

• H04W72/0453 Primary

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04W74/0833

  Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access · CPC title

• H04L5/001

  the frequencies being arranged in component carriers · CPC title

• H04W36/0072

  of resource information of target access point · CPC title