Method and apparatus for quickly establishing communication, device and storage medium

[0001] This application is a national phase application of the international application PCT/CN2021/100110 filed on Jun. 15, 2021, under 35 U.S.C. § 371, and claims the priority of Chinese patent application CN 202011275795.9, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR QUICKLY ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION, DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM” and filed on Nov. 16, 2020, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication, and in particular to a method and apparatus for quickly establishing communication, a device and a storage medium.

[0003] Since a large bandwidth is required in 5G technology, TDD (Time Division Duplexing) technology will uncharacteristically play a dominant role in 5G to save wireless spectrum and expenditure of channel quality reporting. In current commercial 5G technology and frequency band definition of 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), TDD accounts for at least 80% of share.

[0004] Although TDD has many advantages applied in 5G, it has an inherent defect in which only uplink or downlink resource scheduling or data transmission is performed at certain duration. This is, TDD has an inherent defect in timely information transmission, and this defect cannot be overcome. However, FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) has an inherent advantage in real-time information transmission.

[0005] At present, NSA (Non Standalone) FDD and TDD networking types are adopted by most global operators, that is, FDD is mostly adopted for LTE while TDD is mostly adopted on a 5G side. Especially for a future URLLC (Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications) field having very-high requirements on latency during communication establishment, if long latency of TDD for communication establishment cannot be overcome, it will be a severe obstacle in corresponding industry fields.

[0006] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for quickly establishing communication, a device and a storage medium.

[0007] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for quickly establishing communication, and the method for quickly establishing communication may include: determining, in a non-standalone formed by a first standard network and a second standard network, whether a communication request to be sent to the first standard network is currently present; sending the communication request to the first standard network by using either of a current uplink resource of the first standard network and a current uplink resource of the second standard network, in a case where it is determined that the communication request to be sent to the first standard network is currently present; and receiving, through the first standard network, a communication response sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request, after the communication request is sent to the first standard network.

[0008] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a device for quickly establishing communication, and the device for quickly establishing communication may include: a memory, a processor, and a program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, and when the program is executed by the processor, the method as described above is implemented.

[0009] The present disclosure further provides a storage medium for computer readable storage, the storage medium stores at least one program(s) executed by at least one or more processor(s) to implement the method as described above.

[0022] It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

[0023] In subsequent description, suffixes such as “module”, “component” or “unit” for representing elements are only used to facilitate illustration of the present disclosure, and do not have a specific meaning. Therefore, the “module”, “component” or “unit” may be used in a mixed manner.

[0024] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, different frame structures of two different networks in NSA are used to enhance efficiency of communication establishment and to reduce communication latency, such that communication latency of 5G TDD reach to that of FDD approximatively, which is suitable for 5G terminals and corresponding networks.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a method for quickly establishing communication, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the method may include step S101 to step S103.

[0026] At step S101, a terminal determines whether a communication request to be sent to a first standard network is currently present in a non-standalone networking formed by a first standard network and a second standard network.

[0027] At step S102, if it is determined that the communication request to be sent to the first standard network is currently present, the terminal sends the communication request to the first standard network by using either of a current uplink resource of the first standard network and a current uplink resource of the second standard network.

[0028] The terminal determines whether the uplink resource of the first standard network is currently present. If it is determined that the uplink resource of the first standard network is currently present, the terminal sends the communication request to the first standard network by using the uplink resource of the first standard network; and if it is determined that no uplink resource of the first standard network is currently present and when it is determined that the uplink resource of the second standard network is currently present, the terminal sends the communication request to the first standard network by using the uplink resource of the second standard network. For example, the terminal marks the communication request to obtain a communication request marked with a cross-standard scheduling instruction, and sends the communication request marked with the cross-standard scheduling instruction to the second standard network by using the uplink resource of the second standard network, so that the second standard network sends the communication request to the first standard network according to the cross-standard scheduling instruction. An information identification for the cross-standard scheduling instruction may be provided before or after the communication request, or the cross-standard scheduling instruction may be carried in the communication request.

[0029] At step S103, the terminal receives, through the first standard network, a communication response sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request, after the communication request is sent to the first standard network.

[0030] The method further includes: if it is determined that none of the uplink resource of the first standard network and the uplink resource of the second standard network is currently present, the terminal delaying sending until there is an uplink resource of at least one of the first standard network and the second standard network and then sending the communication request through the network with the uplink resource. Specifically, after the sending is delayed, if the uplink resource of the first standard network is present firstly, the communication request is sent by using the uplink resource of the first standard network; if the uplink resource of the second standard network is present firstly, the communication request is sent by using the uplink resource of the second standard network; and if uplink resources of both the first standard network and the second standard network are present, the communication request is sent by using the uplink resource of the first standard network.

[0031] The communication request is a request sent from the terminal to the first standard network, such as a link establishment request, an uplink transmission request, etc. The communication response is a response generated and sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request, such as a link establishment response, a transmission response, etc. In an implementation, if the communication request is an uplink transmission request, the communication response is a transmission response carrying resource authorization information, and the method may further include: the terminal sending uplink data to the first standard network by using the resource authorization information, after receiving, through the first standard network, the communication response sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request. The resource authorization information is allocated to the terminal by the first standard network based on the uplink transmission request, and may include a RB (Resource Block) allocated to the terminal by the first standard network.

[0032] In this embodiment, the first standard network may be a 5G TDD network, and thus the uplink resource of the first standard network may be an uplink time slot of the first standard network or an uplink symbol of a special time slot of the first standard network. The second standard network may be an LTE FDD network or an LTE TDD network, and thus the uplink resource of the second standard network includes an uplink time slot of the second standard network.

[0033] In the method for quickly establishing communication provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, when no uplink resource is currently present in the first standard network, a current uplink resource of the second standard network may be used to transmit a communication request of the first standard network, thereby greatly reducing communication latency of the first standard network (such as a 5G TDD network), and enhancing communication efficiency.

[0034] Hereafter, the present disclosure will be illustrated in detail, by taking a case in which the first standard network of a NSA is a 5G TDD network, and the second standard network of the NSA is an LTE FDD network or LTE TDD network, and both the uplink resources of the first standard network and the uplink resource of the second standard network are uplink time slots, as an example, with reference to FIGS. 2a to 6b.

[0035] FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b are schematic diagrams of a frame structure relationship of 4G and 5G in a common NSA combinatorial network. At present, operators mainly perform deployment according to FIG. 2a, and will still perform deployment according to FIG. 2b in the future. In this embodiment, the LTE FDD and 5G TDD combinatorial network in FIG. 2a is taken as an example. According to a prior scheme, all the 5G-related communications may only be carried out on 5G. FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b show schematic timing diagrams when a terminal uploads data, in which a case where the terminal has data required to be sent to 5G TDD is taken as an example. In a scenario without retransmission as shown in FIG. 3a, since there is no available 5G UL (uplink) resource at a time point (i.e., at Time 0) when the terminal requires to send a request, the actual sending of an uplink data request (or an uplink request, a data request, an uplink transmission request) will be delayed until to a time point (i.e., at Time 4) when there is an available 5G UL resource. After receiving the uplink data request, the 5G network needs a certain period to perform processing. For example, if 3 slots (time slots) are needed for processing, resource information (or resource authorization information, resource allocation information, resource scheduling information, resource scheduling authorization result) may be allocated to the terminal at Time 7, and thus the terminal may indeed complete the uplink data transmission at about Time 9. In a scenario with retransmission as shown in FIG. 3b, assuming that the terminal fails to receive the resource allocation information on the 5G network side at Time 7 due to interference, the terminal will request retransmission. For example, at Time 9, the uplink data request will be retransmitted to continue requesting resources. Therefore, the 5G network will allocate the resource information to the terminal at Time 12, and the terminal will complete the uplink data transmission at about Time 14. It can be seen that, due to the inherent defect of TDD, the terminal cannot send data requests at any time point (i.e. without waiting), resulting in an inevitable waiting latency.

[0036] Since 4G and 5G seem to be independent from each other in NSA but incorporate to each other by NSA technology, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, communication between 4G and 5G sides is interactive, instead of isolating communication of the 4G side from the 5G side. In this way, resource characteristics of two different networks may be more effectively utilized to reduce latency of communication establishment, thereby increasing communication speed and enhancing communication efficiency. For a terminal supporting NSA, when the terminal requires to send a communication request on a first wireless standard network but the first wireless standard network now has no corresponding wireless resource (an uplink resource, such as an uplink slot) while a second wireless standard network has a corresponding wireless resource for sending this communication request, the terminal gives up sending this request on the first wireless standard network and turns to send this request on the second wireless standard network, and marks this request as a request with respect to the first wireless standard network. For example, if this request is a resource request, it is marked as a resource request with respect to the first wireless standard network; and when the terminal successfully sends the resource request on the second wireless standard network, a resource authorization response on a network side is monitored on the first wireless standard network. After the terminal has monitored the resource authorization response, it sends a specific request data on a next available wireless resource of the first wireless standard network. If the terminal fails to monitor the resource authorization response on the network side on a certain resource window, the previous process will be repeated until the resource authorization response on the network side is acquired. Correspondingly, for the NSA network, the second wireless standard network may receive a communication request from the first wireless standard network. For example, if this communication request is a resource request, after the first wireless standard network receives the resource request sent by the second wireless standard network, a corresponding resource authorization will be allocated on the first wireless standard network and feedback to the terminal. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of establishing and performing communication between a terminal and a network in an NSA environment, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, similarly, a case in which the terminal has data required to be sent to 5G TDD is taken as an example, and steps 401 to 409 may be included.

[0037] At step S401, the terminal has a data request to be sent to a current wireless network.

[0038] At step S402, whether the current wireless network has an uplink resource for sending the request is determined. If the current wireless network has an uplink resource, step S403 is performed to send the request by using the uplink resource of the current wireless network; and if the current wireless network has no uplink resource, step S404 is performed.

[0039] At step S404, whether a second wireless network has an uplink resource for sending the request is determined. If the second wireless network has an uplink resource, step S405 is performed to send the request by using the uplink resource of the second wireless network; and if the second wireless network has no uplink resource, step S409 is performed.

[0040] At step S406, after the request is sent, resource scheduling information of the current wireless network is monitored.

[0041] At step S407, whether effective resource scheduling information has been acquired is determined; and if the effective resource scheduling information has been acquired, uplink data (or uplink data request) are sent on a next available uplink resource of the current wireless network by using the effective resource scheduling information.

[0042] At step S409, the sending is delayed to a next slot or sub-frame, and step S402 is re-performed.

[0043] It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, when no wireless resource of the first standard network is currently present, the current wireless resource of the second standard network may be used to transmit the communication request of the first standard network, thereby greatly reducing communication latency of the first standard network (such as a 5G TDD network), and enhancing communication efficiency, such that the present disclosure is suitable for 5G NSA terminal products and network products.

[0044] In FIGS. 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b below, assuming that the first standard is 5G and the second standard is LTE (TDD or FDD), all the time units shown in the figures are schematic, and are only used to clearly demonstrate the implementations of the present disclosure and optimization for communication latency, but does not mean that such a time arrangement must be followed in a real environment.

[0045] FIG. 5a is a schematic timing diagram when a terminal uploads data in a scenario without retransmission in a LTE FDD-5G TDD combinatorial network, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure; and FIG. 5b is a schematic timing diagram when a terminal uploads in a scenario without retransmission in a LTE TDD-5G TDD combinatorial network, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, the implementation is as follows with reference to FIG. 4.

[0046] At step 1, at Time 0, a terminal requires to send an uplink transmission request, but at this time there is a downlink slot on a 5G side, and then the terminal sends this uplink transmission request to a 4G network by using an uplink slot of 4G FDD/4G TDD.

[0047] It should be noted that, the terminal needs to mark this uplink transmission request as a request with respect to a 5G TDD network, for example, an information identification for cross-standard scheduling instruction may be added before the uplink transmission request.

[0048] At step 2, after receiving this request, the 4G FDD/4G TDD network identifies that this request is from another wireless standard 5G according to the information identification for cross-standard scheduling instruction. In this case, the 4G FDD/4G TDD network routes this request to another wireless standard 5G TDD. The 5G TDD network immediately learns that the terminal has a resource requirement. After a certain period, the 5G TDD network sends resource information (or a resource scheduling authorization result) to the terminal at Time 2.

[0049] At step 3, the terminal may transmit corresponding data at next uplink Time 4 of 5G TDD.

[0050] Compared with the conventional scheme as shown in FIG. 3a in which the transmission is completed at Time 9, in this embodiment, the transmission may be completed at Time 4, thereby greatly reducing communication latency.

[0051] FIG. 6a is a schematic timing diagram when a terminal uploads data in a scenario with retransmission in a LTE FDD-5G TDD combinatorial network, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure; and FIG. 6b is a schematic timing diagram when a terminal uploads in a scenario with retransmission in a LTE TDD-5G TDD combinatorial network, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 6a and 6b, the implementation is as follows with reference to FIG. 4.

[0052] At step 1, at Time 0, a terminal requires to send an uplink transmission request, but at this time there is a downlink slot on a 5G side, and then the terminal sends this uplink transmission request to a network by using an uplink slot of 4G FDD/4G TDD.

[0053] It should be noted that, the terminal needs to mark this uplink transmission request as a request with respect to a 5G TDD network, for example, an information identification for cross-standard scheduling instruction may be added before the uplink transmission request.

[0054] At step 2, after receiving this request, the 4G FDD/4G TDD network identifies that this request is from another wireless standard 5G according to the information identification for cross-standard scheduling instruction, and then the 4G FDD/4G TDD network routes this request to another wireless standard 5G TDD. The 5G TDD network immediately learns that the terminal has a resource requirement. After a certain period, the 5G TDD network sends a resource scheduling authorization result to the terminal at Time 2. However, due to some reasons, such as signal interference, the terminal has not monitored this resource information (or the resource scheduling authorization result) at Time 2.

[0055] At step 3, at Time 4, the terminal requires to re-send the uplink transmission request. At this time, there is an uplink slot on the 5G TDD side, and thus the terminal sends this uplink transmission request to the 5G TDD network by using the uplink slot of the 5G TDD.

[0056] At step 4, after a certain period, the 5G network sends the resource scheduling authorization result to the terminal at Time 7.

[0057] At step 5, the terminal transmits corresponding data at next uplink Time 9 of 5G.

[0058] Compared with the conventional scheme as shown in FIG. 3b in which the transmission is completed at Time 14, in this embodiment, the transmission may be completed at Time 9, thereby greatly reducing communication latency.

[0059] In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the 5G TDD standard is endowed with main advantages of FDD by software upgrading. When applied to an industrial field, the present disclosure can greatly reduce communication latency of 5G TDD (such as a communication link establishment latency, a communication data transmission latency, etc.), and will play a great role in the field of URLLC to a large extent.

[0060] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a structure of an apparatus for quickly establishing communication, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the apparatus may include: a determination module 71, a sending module 72, and a reception module 73.

[0061] The determination module 71 is configured to determine, in a non-standalone formed by a first standard network and a second standard network, whether a communication request to be sent to the first standard network is currently present.

[0062] The sending module 72 is configured to send the communication request to the first standard network by using either of a current uplink resource of the first standard network and a current uplink resource of the second standard network, if it is determined that the communication request to be sent to the first standard network is currently present. The sending module 72 sends the communication request to the first standard network by using the uplink resource of the first standard network, if it is determined that the uplink resource of the first standard network is currently present. When the determination module 71 determines that the uplink resource of the second standard network is currently present and if it is determined that no uplink resource of the first standard network is currently present, the communication request is sent to the first standard network by using an uplink resource of the second standard network. For example, the sending module marks the communication request to obtain a communication request marked with a cross-standard scheduling instruction, and sends the communication request marked with the cross-standard scheduling instruction to the second standard network by using the uplink resource of the second standard network, so that the second standard network sends the communication request to the first standard network according to the cross-standard scheduling instruction. An information identification for cross-standard scheduling instruction may be provided before or after the communication request, or the cross-standard scheduling instruction may be carried in the communication request

[0063] The reception module 73 is configured to receive, through the first standard network, a communication response sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request, after the communication request is sent to the first standard network.

[0064] If the determination module 71 determines that none of an uplink resource of the first standard network and an uplink resource of the second standard network is currently present, the sending module 72 delays sending until there is an uplink resource of at least one of the first standard network and the second standard network, and then sends the communication request through the network with the uplink resource. Specifically, after the sending is delayed, if the uplink resource of the first standard network is present firstly, the communication request is sent by using the uplink resource of the first standard network; if the uplink resource of the second standard network is present firstly, the communication request is sent by using the uplink resource of the second standard network; and if uplink resources of both the first standard network and the second standard network are present, the communication request is sent by using the uplink resource of the first standard network.

[0065] The communication request is a request sent to the first standard network, such as a link establishment request, an uplink transmission request, etc. The communication response is a response generated and sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request, such as a link establishment response, a transmission response, etc. In an implementation, if the communication request is an uplink transmission request and the communication response is a transmission response carrying resource authorization information, the sending module 72 sends the uplink data to the first standard network by using the resource authorization information, after the reception module 73 receives, through the first standard network, the communication response sent by the first standard network in response to the communication request. The resource authorization information is allocated to the terminal by the first standard network based on the uplink transmission request, and may include a RB (Resource Block) allocated to the terminal by the first standard network.

[0066] In this embodiment, the first standard network may be a 5G TDD network, and the uplink resource of the first standard network may be an uplink time slot of the first standard network or an uplink symbol of a special time slot of the first standard network. The second standard network may be an LTE FDD network or an LTE TDD network, and the uplink resource of the second standard network includes an uplink time slot of the second standard network.

[0067] In the apparatus for quickly establishing communication provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, when no uplink resource of the first standard network is currently present, the current uplink resource of the second standard network may be used to transmit the communication request of the first standard network, thereby greatly reducing communication latency of the first standard network (such as a 5G TDD network), and enhancing communication efficiency.

[0068] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a structure of a device for quickly establishing communication, provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 8, the device may include a memory 81, a processor 82, and a program stored in the memory 81 and capable of running on the processor 82. When the program is executed by the processor 82, the method for quickly establishing communication as described above is implemented.

[0069] The present disclosure can greatly reduce communication latency of 5G TDD by simple software upgrading without modification of 5G terminals and network hardware, and is suitable for all the 5G terminal products and network products that support 5G NSA.

[0070] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a storage medium for computer readable storage. The storage medium stores at least one program that can be executed by at least one processor to implement the method for quickly establishing communication as described above.

[0071] Those skilled in the art may understand that all or some of the steps in the above-disclosed methods, and functional modules/units in the systems and devices may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and appropriate combinations thereof. In a hardware implementation, a division between functional modules/units mentioned in the above description may not necessarily correspond to a division of physical components. For example, a physical component may have multiple functions, or a function or step may be executed by collaboration of several physical components. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by processors, such as a central processor, a digital signal processor or a microprocessor, or may be implemented as hardware, or may be implemented as integrated circuits, such as an application-specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on a computer readable medium, which may include a computer storage medium (or a non-temporary medium) and a communication medium (or a temporary medium). As well known by those skilled in the art, the term computer storage medium includes volatile and non-volatile, removable, and non-removable media implemented in any method or technique for storing information (such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data). The computer storage medium includes, but are not limited to a RAM, a ROM, a EEPROM, a flash memory or other storage technology, a CD-ROM, a digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical disc storage, a magnetic cartridge, a magnetic tape, a disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that may be used to store desired information and may be accessed by a computer. In addition, it is well known for those skilled in the art that, the communication medium typically contains computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in modulated data signals such as a carrier signal or other transmission mechanism signal, and may include any information delivery medium.

[0072] Based on the method and apparatus for quickly establishing communication, the device, and the storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, when no uplink resource of a first standard network is currently present, a current uplink resource of a second standard network may be used to transmit a communication request of the first standard network, thereby greatly reducing communication latency of the first standard network (such as a 5G TDD network), and enhancing communication efficiency.

[0073] The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure shall be within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.