CN115038061A

CN115038061A - Synchronization method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115038061A
Application number: CN202110564759.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘云; 才宇; 薛丽霞
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-08
Filing date: 2021-05-24
Publication date: 2022-09-09
Also published as: WO2022188693A1

Abstract

The application provides a synchronization method and equipment, wherein in the method, the synchronization priority of first-class equipment in target synchronization priority configuration information of a terminal to be synchronized is highest, and the synchronization priority of second-class equipment is higher than or equal to that of third-class equipment. The third type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the first type of equipment; the first type of equipment is GNSS, and the second type of equipment is a base station; or the first type of equipment is a base station and the second type of equipment is a GNSS. In this way, the terminal to be synchronized can be preferentially synchronized to the second type of device under the condition that the terminal to be synchronized cannot be synchronized to the first type of device. Since the second type of device is a base station or GNSS, the terminal to be synchronized may not need to search for the synchronization signal of the second type of device through a full search if the terminal to be synchronized is not synchronized to the first type of device, and may not need to perform a full search if the terminal to be synchronized has the second type of device as a synchronization source. Therefore, the method can obviously reduce the opportunity of the terminal to be synchronized to search the synchronous signal.

Description

Synchronization method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority of chinese patent application having application number 202110250150.8, entitled "a synchronization method, terminal and network device", filed at 03/08/2021 by the chinese patent office, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a synchronization method and apparatus.

Background

With the development of communication technology, the third generation partnership project (3) ^rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP) version 12, Release, fourth Generation (4) ^th generation, 4G) communication system (i.e., Long Term Evolution (LTE) system) and fifth generation (5G) communication system ^th generation, 5G) communication systems (i.e., New Radio (NR) systems) may each support device-to-device communication. This communication mode is called sidelink (sidelink) communication, and the connection established between two terminals is a direct link.

In the sidelink communication system, data can be directly transmitted between two terminals without passing through a base station, a core network and the like, so that the data transmission delay can be greatly reduced. One application scenario of sidelink communication is vehicle to any object (V2X), and V2X is mainly used for realizing communication between a vehicle and a vehicle, roadside infrastructure (infrastructure), pedestrian (pedestrian), network (network), and the like. Support for V2X services was introduced in LTE systems by 3GPP during release14 and release15 to extend the 3GPP platform to the automotive industry; the related design of NR V2X was studied during release 16.

In a sidelink communication system, a primary procedure is synchronization in order to ensure data transmission efficiency and avoid signal collision. At present, the terminal needs to synchronize according to a preset synchronization mode: such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based synchronization, or base station (gNB/eNB) based synchronization. Each synchronization mode also specifies synchronization priorities of different kinds of devices, e.g., in a GNSS synchronization based mode, the synchronization priority of GNSS is highest; in the base station synchronization-based scheme, the synchronization priority of the base station is highest. A terminal which needs to be synchronized (hereinafter, simply referred to as a terminal to be synchronized) configured in a certain synchronization mode preferentially synchronizes with a device with a high synchronization priority in the synchronization mode.

Because the resources used by the synchronization signals of the GNSS or the base station are set, the terminal to be synchronized can be predetermined; while the resources used by other types of devices (generally terminals that synchronize directly or indirectly to GNSS or base stations) are determined by their own configuration, the terminals to be synchronized cannot be predetermined. Therefore, the terminal to be synchronized may search for the synchronization signal of the GNSS or the base station on the predetermined fixed resource, but if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the GNSS or the base station, the terminal to be synchronized may synchronize to another type of device having a lower synchronization priority than the GNSS or the base station. However, due to the mobility of the terminal to be synchronized and other types of devices, in order to ensure that the terminal to be synchronized can continue to synchronize to other types of devices with the highest signal strength and higher priority, the terminal to be synchronized needs to perform a full search (also called a finite search) on all subframes in a frame so as to search all synchronization signals.

The terminal to be synchronized in the sidelink communication system performs all searches, and needs to search for synchronization signals on all subframes in a frame, and also needs to compare the reliability of the searched synchronization signals, which causes higher power consumption for the terminal to be synchronized.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a synchronization method and a device, which are used for reducing the opportunity or time for a terminal to be synchronized to search for a synchronization signal so as to reduce the power consumption caused by the execution of the search for the synchronization signal.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a synchronization method, which may be applied to a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system, and the method includes the following steps:

a terminal to be synchronized determines target synchronization priority configuration information, wherein the target synchronization priority configuration information is used for representing synchronization priorities of different types of equipment; and then the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes according to the target synchronization priority configuration information. In the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of a first type of equipment is the highest, the synchronization priority of a second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of a third type of equipment, and the third type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the first type of equipment; the first type of equipment is GNSS, and the second type of equipment is a base station; or the first equipment is a base station and the second equipment is a GNSS.

In the method, the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of equipment in the target synchronization priority configuration information. In this way, the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially synchronize to the second type of device when the synchronization signal of the first type of device is not searched for or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first type of device is searched for is lower than the set threshold, so that the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially select the second type of device as the synchronization source. Since the second type of device is a base station or a GNSS, that is, a resource used by the second type of device to send the synchronization signal is a fixed resource, the terminal to be synchronized may not need to search for the synchronization signal of the second type of device through all searches when the terminal to be synchronized is not synchronized with the first type of device, and may not need to perform all searches when the terminal to be synchronized uses the second type of device as a synchronization source. Therefore, compared with the traditional synchronization priority configuration, the method can obviously reduce the opportunity of the terminal to be synchronized to search for the synchronization signal, thereby reducing the power consumption caused by the execution of the search for the synchronization signal.

In a possible design, according to specific situations of relative relationships among the synchronization priority of the first type device, the synchronization priority of the second type device, and the synchronization priority of the third type device in the synchronization priority configuration information, the following three situations may be included in the design:

the first condition is as follows: the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is higher than that of the second type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is higher than that of the third type of equipment; i.e. the synchronization priority of the first class of devices > the synchronization priority of the second class of devices > the synchronization priority of the third class of devices. In this case, the terminal to be synchronized may perform synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information by:

when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is not searched and the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment; or

And when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment and the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment are not searched and the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the third type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment.

Case two: the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is equal to that of the first type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment and the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment are higher than that of the third type of equipment; that is, the synchronization priority of the first type device is greater than the synchronization priority of the second type device. In case two, the terminal to be synchronized may perform synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information by:

when the synchronous signal of the first type equipment is searched, synchronizing with the first type equipment according to the synchronous signal of the first type equipment; or

When the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment;

or

Case three: the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is equal to that of the third type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is higher than that of the second type of equipment and that of the third type of equipment; that is, the synchronization priority of the first type device > the synchronization priority of the second type device ═ the synchronization priority of the third type device. In case three, the terminal to be synchronized may perform synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information through the following steps:

when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is not searched and the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment; or alternatively

When the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is not searched and the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the third type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment; or

When the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is not searched and the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment and the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment are searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment; or

In this design, the synchronization priority of the second type of device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of device. Through the design, the terminal to be synchronized can be preferentially synchronized to the second type of equipment when the synchronization signal of the first type of equipment is not searched or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first type of equipment is searched to be lower than a set threshold value, so that the terminal to be synchronized can preferentially select the second type of equipment as a synchronization source.

In a possible design, in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the first type device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the second type device, and the synchronization priority of the first type device is higher than the synchronization priority of the third type device; based on this, the terminal to be synchronized can synchronize according to the synchronization priority configuration information by the following steps:

When the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment is searched, synchronizing the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment; or

And when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment and the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment are not searched and the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment is searched, synchronizing according to the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment.

In a possible design, before the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes with the second type of device according to the synchronization signal of the second type of device, it may further determine that the synchronization priority of the second type of device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized; and/or determining that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is greater than or equal to a set threshold.

Through the design, the terminal to be synchronized can be ensured to be synchronized to the equipment with high synchronization priority and higher reliability of the synchronization signal as much as possible, so that the accuracy of time synchronization of the terminal to be synchronized is ensured.

In a possible design, after synchronizing with the second type of device according to the synchronization signal of the second type of device, the terminal to be synchronized may continue to adjust the synchronization source if the following occurs:

the first condition is as follows: when the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is not searched or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is lower than a set threshold value, no synchronization is carried out with the second type of equipment according to the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment;

case two: and when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is searched, synchronizing the first type of equipment with the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment.

Through the design, the terminal to be synchronized can adjust the synchronization source in time according to the real-time change of the synchronization signal of the second-class equipment, so that the terminal to be synchronized can be synchronized to the equipment with high synchronization priority and reliable synchronization signal as much as possible.

In a possible design, it is considered that the synchronization source of the TDD base station is a GNSS, and therefore, when the terminal to be synchronized detects a synchronization signal of the TDD base station or detects a synchronization signal of a terminal synchronized to the TDD base station, it indicates that the GNSS exists in the current application scenario. Therefore, in this design, before determining the target synchronization priority configuration information, the terminal to be synchronized may also perform a search for a synchronization signal of a target terminal, where the target terminal is a terminal synchronized to a time division duplex TDD communication mode base station, or the target terminal is located within a coverage area of the TDD communication mode base station; or searching for a synchronization signal of the second type of device.

Through the design, when the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronization signal of the target terminal, the GNSS is present in the current application scene. Therefore, the terminal to be synchronized can use the target synchronization priority configuration information, and thus the above method can be implemented.

In one possible design, when the first type of device is a GNSS, the second type of device is a base station in TDD communication mode, considering the relationship between the TDD base station and the GNSS.

In one possible design, the terminal to be synchronized may perform synchronization according to the target synchronization priority configuration information by:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the third type device or the fourth type device, determining a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source; the fourth type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the third type of equipment; searching for a synchronization signal within the first time range.

The first time range may also be referred to as a search time range, which is a time range for performing a search for a terminal to be synchronized. In other words, the first time range is a time range for the terminal to be synchronized to search for a synchronization signal of the other terminal related to the current synchronization source.

Through the design, the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the traditional full search, the implementation mode can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to execute the full search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

It should be further noted that, in this implementation manner, in the process that the terminal to be synchronized performs the search for the synchronization signal in the first time range, the search may be performed in all time units in the first time range, or in a part of time units (subframes or slots) in the first time range, which is not limited in this application. Optionally, in addition, the time domain position of the time unit of the part for performing the search may be continuous or discrete, which is not limited in this application.

In a possible design, the synchronization information of the current synchronization source includes synchronization signal time domain information, where the synchronization signal time domain information is used to indicate a first duration, and the first duration is a duration of a synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source. In this design, the terminal to be synchronized may determine the first time range according to the synchronization signal time domain information.

Because the time for the terminal related to the same base station/GNSS to transmit the synchronization signal is relatively close, the terminal to be synchronized may determine the first time range according to the first duration of the current synchronization source, so that the synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source may be searched in the first time range.

In a first possible design, the synchronization signal time domain information is protocol-specified, or configured for a base station to which the terminal to be synchronized accesses, or configured for the current synchronization source.

In one possible design, the duration of the first time range is greater than or equal to the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information.

Since the terminals associated with the same base station (or GNSS) transmit synchronization signals at relatively close times, there may be a relatively small time difference. Therefore, in this implementation, the duration of the first time range is greater than or equal to the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information. In order to search for as many synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source as possible, the duration of the first time range may be greater than the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information.

In one possible design, the starting position of the first time range precedes or is equal to the first time domain position; and/or the end position of the first time range is located after or equal to a second time domain position;

the first time domain position is the time domain position of the synchronization signal of the current synchronization source searched by the terminal to be synchronized; the second time domain position is located after the first time domain position, and the time duration of the interval between the second time domain position and the first time domain position is equal to the first time duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information.

Through the design, the terminal to be synchronized can determine the time domain position of the first time range through the searched time domain position and the first time length of the synchronization signal of the current synchronization source.

In one possible design, the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in the second time range; and/or, the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in a third time range;

wherein the second time range is a time range between a start position of the first time range and the first time domain position, and the third time range is a time range between the second time domain position and an end position of the first time range.

In a possible design, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signals of the third type device and the fourth type device (and also does not search for the synchronization signal of the first type device) in the first time range, the terminal to be synchronized may also search for the synchronization signals over all time units in the fourth time range (e.g., search time period, frame), i.e., back to all searches, so that the terminal to be synchronized may achieve synchronization by searching for the synchronization signals of the terminal through all searches. Illustratively, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any kind of device in the first time range, the terminal searches for the synchronization signal on each subframe in a frame.

In one possible design, the terminal to be synchronized may search for a synchronization signal by:

searching for a synchronization signal of at least one device of a target class when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; the sequence of the synchronization signal of the at least one target class of device is within a set signal sequence range, the synchronization priority of each target class of device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal, and the first terminal belongs to the third class of device or the fourth class of device.

Through the design, on the basis of ensuring that the terminal to be synchronized can synchronize to the first terminal or the terminal with the same or higher synchronization priority of the first terminal, the terminal to be synchronized can not need to search and compare synchronization signals with synchronization priorities lower than other terminals of the first terminal, so that the power consumption of terminal equipment can be reduced.

when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched, the synchronous signal within the set signal sequence range is searched. And the synchronous signal in the set signal sequence range is the synchronous signal of at least one target class of equipment. The synchronization priority of the equipment of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal. Optionally, the first terminal belongs to the third class of device or the fourth class of device. And the at least one target class of devices comprises a first class of devices and a second class of devices.

In short, through the above two designs, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal, the signal sequence range of the synchronization signal of each target class of device can be determined; and then comparing the signal sequence range of the synchronous signal of each target class of equipment with the received signal so as to realize coherent calculation. Because the synchronization signals of other terminals with the synchronization priority lower than that of the first terminal do not need to be compared, the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

In one possible design, the terminal to be synchronized may determine the target synchronization priority configuration information by:

the terminal to be synchronized receives indication information (such as a graph) sent by network equipment; the indication information is used for indicating a synchronization mode; then, the terminal to be synchronized determines the target synchronization priority configuration information from the multiple synchronization priority configuration information according to the synchronization mode indicated by the indication information.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a synchronization method, which may be applied to a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system, and the method includes the following steps:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a terminal, the terminal to be synchronized determines a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source; and searching for a synchronization signal within the first time range.

By the method, the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the traditional full search, the implementation mode can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to execute the full search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

It should be further noted that, in the method, in the process that the terminal to be synchronized performs the search for the synchronization signal in the first time range, the search may be performed in all time units in the first time range, or in a part of time units (subframes or time slots) in the first time range, which is not limited in this application. Optionally, in addition, the time domain position of the time unit of the part for performing the search may be continuous or discrete, which is not limited in this application.

In one possible design, the synchronization information of the current synchronization source includes synchronization signal time domain information, where the synchronization signal time domain information is used to indicate a first time length, and the first time length is a time length of a synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source; in this design, the terminal to be synchronized may determine the first time range according to the synchronization signal time domain information.

In a possible design, the synchronization signal time domain information is protocol-specified, or configured for a base station to which the terminal to be synchronized accesses, or configured for the current synchronization source.

In one possible design, the starting position of the first time range is before the first time domain position or equal to the first time domain position; and/or the end position of the first time range is located after or equal to a second time domain position;

In one possible design, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any type of device (and also does not search for the synchronization signal of the base station or GNSS) in the first time range, the terminal to be synchronized may also search for the synchronization signal over all time units in a fourth time range (e.g., search time period, frame), i.e., back to all searches, so that the terminal to be synchronized may achieve synchronization by searching for the synchronization signal of the terminal through all searches.

searching a synchronization signal of at least one target class of equipment when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; the sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

Through the design, on the basis of ensuring that the terminal to be synchronized can synchronize to the first terminal or the terminal with the same or higher synchronization priority of the first terminal, the terminal to be synchronized can not need to search and compare synchronization signals with the synchronization priority lower than other terminals of the first terminal, and therefore power consumption of terminal equipment can be reduced.

In one possible design, the terminal to be synchronized may further search for a synchronization signal by:

when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched, the synchronous signal within the set signal sequence range is searched. And the synchronous signal in the set signal sequence range is the synchronous signal of at least one target class of equipment. The synchronization priority of the equipment of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a synchronization method, which may be applied to a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system, where the method includes the following steps:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, configuring information of the synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority level and searching the synchronization signal; wherein the target synchronization priority configuration information is used to indicate synchronization priorities of different kinds of devices; the terminal to be synchronized may search for a synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority configuration information in any of the following manners:

the first method is as follows: and searching the synchronous signal of at least one target class of equipment when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched. The sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to that of the first terminal;

the second method comprises the following steps: when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched, the synchronous signal within the set signal sequence range is searched. And the synchronous signal in the set signal sequence range is the synchronous signal of at least one target class of equipment. The synchronization priority of the equipment of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

By the method, on the basis of ensuring that the terminal to be synchronized can be synchronized to the first terminal or the terminal with the same or higher synchronization priority than the first terminal, the terminal to be synchronized can not need to search and compare synchronization signals with the synchronization priority lower than that of other terminals of the first terminal, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

In short, through the above two designs, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal, the signal sequence range of the synchronization signal of each target class of device can be determined; and then comparing the signal sequence range of the synchronous signal of each target class of equipment with the received signal so as to realize coherent calculation. Because the synchronization signals with the synchronization priority lower than that of other terminals of the first terminal do not need to be compared, the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal, including means for performing each step in the above first to third aspects.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a terminal, including at least one processing element and at least one memory element, where the at least one memory element is configured to store programs and data, and the at least one processing element is configured to execute the methods provided in the above first aspect to third aspect of the present application.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including means for performing the steps of the synchronization method described in any embodiment of the present application.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processing element and at least one storage element, where the at least one storage element is used to store programs and data, and the at least one processing element is used to execute the steps of the synchronization method introduced in any embodiment of the present application.

In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in any one of the above aspects.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method provided in any one of the above aspects.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip is configured to read a computer program stored in a memory, and execute the method provided in any of the foregoing aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, and is configured to support a computer apparatus to implement the method provided in any one of the above aspects. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

Drawings

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a conventional synchronization priority configuration;

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a conventional synchronization priority configuration;

FIG. 1C is a diagram illustrating a conventional synchronization priority configuration;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a synchronization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5A is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5B is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5C is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5D is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5E is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5F is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5G is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5H is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5I is a schematic diagram of synchronization priority configuration information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a first time range according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a structural diagram of another terminal according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The application provides a communication method and equipment for reducing the opportunity or time for a terminal to be synchronized to perform synchronization signal search so as to reduce power consumption caused by the synchronization signal search. The method and the device are based on the same technical conception, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not repeated.

Hereinafter, some terms in the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) The base station is a device for accessing the terminal to the wireless network in the mobile communication system. A base station, as a node in a radio access network, may also be referred to as a Radio Access Network (RAN) node (or device), a network device, and the like.

Currently, some examples of base stations are: a new generation Node B (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), an Access Point (AP), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), or a Base Band Unit (BBU), a micro base station, a macro base station, and the like in a heterogeneous network scenario.

In a distributed network architecture, a base station may include: a Base Band Unit (BBU) and a Remote Radio Unit (RRU).

In a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN), a base station may include a baseband pool (BBU pool) and an RRU.

In addition, in one network configuration, a base station may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node and a Distributed Unit (DU) node. The structure separates the protocol layers of the eNB in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the functions of part of the protocol layers are controlled in the CU in a centralized way, the functions of the rest part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, and the CU controls the DU in a centralized way.

2) A terminal, is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user. A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal equipment, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), etc.

For example, the terminal may be a handheld device having a wireless connection function, various in-vehicle devices, a roadside unit, or the like. Currently, some examples of terminals are: mobile phone (mobile phone), tablet computer, notebook computer, palm computer, Mobile Internet Device (MID), smart point of sale (POS), wearable device, Virtual Reality (VR) device, Augmented Reality (AR) device, wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), wireless terminal in remote surgery (remote medical supply), wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), various smart meters (smart water meter, smart electric meter, DSA gas meter), e-lte-UE, integrated access device (integrated access b, smart phone b) having access capability, An Electronic Control Unit (ECU) or the like, an in-vehicle computer, an in-vehicle cruise system, a telematics BOX (T-BOX), an in-vehicle communication module, a Vehicle User Equipment (VUE) or the like.

3) GNSS, refers broadly to all satellite navigation systems, including global, regional, and enhanced varieties of satellite navigation systems. Exemplary, GNSS may include, but are not limited to: global Positioning System (GPS), global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), beidou satellite navigation system (BDS), Galileo satellite navigation system (Galileo), and the like.

The communication device in the GNSS may be referred to as a GNSS device or a GNSS apparatus, and generally includes a GNSS satellite, a ground station, and the like. In the embodiments of the present application, GNSS may be used to refer to GNSS devices or GNSS apparatuses, and the like.

4) The device, i.e. the communication device, is a device having a communication function in a communication system, and in the embodiment of the present application, generally refers to a device capable of serving as a synchronization source of a terminal and having a capability of transmitting a synchronization signal. In the embodiments of the present application, the devices may include, but are not limited to, the following categories: base stations, GNSS, terminals, etc.

Wherein, according to the difference of the synchronous source of the terminal, the terminal can be further subdivided into the following types:

a terminal directly synchronized to a base station may be referred to as a first type terminal, that is, a terminal synchronized to the base station, or a terminal using the base station as a synchronization source. Generally, terminals in the coverage area (IC) of the base station are directly synchronized to the base station, and the base station is used as a synchronization source, so the first type of terminals may also be referred to as IC UEs. Furthermore, it should be noted that, synchronizing to the base station, it can also be understood as: to a cell (cell) under the base station, to a cell, etc. Wherein the cell is within the coverage of a base station.

A terminal indirectly synchronized to a base station may be referred to as a second-class terminal, that is, a terminal synchronized to a first-class terminal, or a terminal using the first-class terminal as a synchronization source, and may also be denoted as sync with IC UE.

A terminal directly synchronized to a GNSS may be referred to as a third type of terminal, that is, a terminal synchronized to a GNSS, or a terminal using the GNSS as a synchronization source, and may also be referred to as a GNSS UE. The synchronization source of the third type of terminal is a GNSS, and specifically may be a GNSS device, a GNSS satellite, a ground station, or the like, which is not limited in the present application.

A terminal indirectly synchronized to a GNSS may be referred to as a fourth type terminal for short, that is, a terminal synchronized to a third type terminal, or a terminal using the third type terminal as a synchronization source, and may also be referred to as sync with GNSS UE.

In the above types, the first type of terminal and the second type of terminal may be collectively referred to as base station related terminals, and the third type of terminal and the fourth type of terminal may be collectively referred to as GNSS related terminals.

5) The synchronization priority of the device can be understood as: the priority of the device being synchronized when the device is used as a synchronization source, or the priority of the device being used as a synchronization source, the priority of the device being used as a synchronization source by a terminal, the priority of the synchronization being performed by the terminal using a synchronization signal of the device.

6) The communication mode of the base station, also called the communication mode of the cell managed by the base station, may generally include two types: time-division duplex (TDD) and frequency-division duplex (FDD).

The TDD communication mode is a mode in which a Downlink (DL) and an Uplink (UL) of a mobile communication system share the same frequency point, and the mobile communication system performs DL communication and UL communication at different times in order to avoid signal interference between the DL and the UL.

The FDD communication mode means that DL and UL in the mobile communication system use different frequency points. Since no interference occurs in signals between DL and UL in the FDD communication mode, the mobile communication system can simultaneously perform DL communication and UL communication.

The base station in TDD communication mode is referred to as TDD base station for short. In order to achieve the full network synchronization and avoid the signal interference between DL and UL caused by the time asynchronization with other TDD base stations, a GNSS module is usually configured in the TDD base station to receive GNSS synchronization signals and synchronize the GNSS synchronization signals to GNSS.

The base station in FDD communication mode is abbreviated as FDD base station. Because the UL and the DL of the FDD base station use different frequency points, the communication of the FDD base station can not be influenced even if the FDD base station cannot accurately realize the whole network synchronization, and therefore, the FDD base station does not need to be configured with a GNSS module.

Optionally, in order to enable the terminal receiving the synchronization signal to identify that the device transmitting the synchronization signal is the TDD base station or the terminal synchronized to the TDD base station, the TDD base station or the terminal synchronized to the TDD base station may carry uplink and downlink time allocation information or a TDD indication in the synchronization signal. The TDD indication may indicate uplink and downlink time allocation information in a TDD communication mode; or the TDD indication may indicate that the base station transmitting the synchronization signal is a TDD base station, and/or the terminal transmitting the synchronization signal is a terminal synchronized to the TDD base station. For example, the uplink and downlink time allocation information or the TDD indication may be transmitted in a broadcast channel carrying a synchronization signal.

Thus, after receiving the synchronization signal, the terminal can determine, according to the uplink and downlink time allocation information or the TDD indication in the broadcast channel carrying the synchronization signal, that the device sending the synchronization signal is the TDD base station or the terminal synchronized to the TDD base station.

7) A synchronization signal (synchronization signal) for providing a reference signal for a time reference to the device to be synchronized. Wherein the synchronization signals transmitted by different kinds of devices are different. The synchronization signal may be transmitted in a Broadcast Channel (BCH).

For example, the synchronization signal transmitted by the base station is a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), and the synchronization signal transmitted by the GNSS is typically a GNSS signal, such as a GPS signal. Therefore, after receiving the synchronization signal other than the SL-SSB, the terminal can determine whether the synchronization signal is transmitted by the GNSS or the base station according to the type of the synchronization signal (whether the synchronization signal is an SSB or a GNSS signal).

For example, in a sidelink communication system, a synchronization signal transmitted by a terminal may be referred to as a sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) or a sidelink synchronization signal block (SL-SSB). In the following description of the present application, the synchronization signal transmitted by the terminal in the sidelink communication system is only expressed by SL-SSB.

The signal sequence of the SL-SSB is within a predetermined signal sequence range, for example, the signal sequence range contains several hundred signal sequences. For the sake of distinction, the SL-SSB signal sequence denoted by 0 is transmitted by terminals of the third type (i.e. terminals directly synchronized to GNSS); and the SL-SSBs sent by the other types of terminals (the first type of terminals, the second type of terminals and the fourth type of terminals) are SL-SSB signal sequences with other labels.

The SL-SSB is composed of a Sidelink Primary Synchronization Signal (SPSS) and a Sidelink Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSSS). The terminal may identify the SL-SSB sent for the terminal by a sidelink synchronization signal identifier (SL-SSID) in the SL-SSB. Therefore, after the terminal to be synchronized receives the SL-SSB, the terminal sending the SL-SSB can be identified by detecting the SL-SSID in the SL-SSB.

The SL-SSB may be carried in a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), and transmitted. The SL-SSID may be carried in the PSBCH for transmission. Of course, in the SL-SSB transmitted synchronized to the terminal of the TDD base station, the uplink and downlink time allocation information or the TDD indication may also be carried in the PSBCH in the SL-SSB.

In addition, the terminal may transmit at least one SL-SSB during the SL-SSB period. Illustratively, the SL-SSB period may be 160 milliseconds (ms), 80ms, etc.

The synchronization signal that is not searched for a certain type of device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to: the synchronization signal of the type of device is not detected, or the signal quality of the detected synchronization signal of the type of device is less than a set threshold. Accordingly, searching for a synchronization signal for a device of a certain type may refer to: and detecting the synchronous signal of the type of equipment, or detecting that the signal quality of the synchronous signal of the type of equipment is greater than or equal to a set threshold value.

8) Search time period, time unit, symbol, in time units.

The search time period, the time unit for performing the entire search, may be one or more frames (frames), or a set time length, which is not limited in this application.

A time unit for composing a unit of a search time period. Optionally, the time unit may be one or more subframes (subframes), or one or more slots (slots), or a set duration, which is not limited in this application.

The symbol, the smallest unit used to compose a time unit, is also called a time symbol or a time domain symbol, e.g., an OFDM symbol.

9) "and/or" describe the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

In the present application, the plural number means two or more. At least one, means one or more.

In addition, it is to be understood that the terms first, second, etc. in the description of the present application are used for distinguishing between the descriptions and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order.

The current synchronization mechanism is explained first.

Currently, in a sidelink communication system, the synchronization mode may be determined by a synchronization priority configuration parameter, which may be denoted as SL-SyncPriority (for indicating the synchronization priority order of the devices). The SL-SyncPriority of the terminal may be dynamically configured by the base station or configured before the terminal leaves the factory.

By setting the value of SL-SyncPriority, it can be indicated that the device with the highest synchronization priority is a base station or GNSS.

When the SL-SyncPriority is configured as the base station (gNB/eNB) indication information (e.g., 1), it indicates that the synchronization priority of the base station is the highest and the terminal preferentially synchronizes to the base station.

When the SL-SyncPriority is configured as the GNSS indication information (e.g., 0), it indicates that the synchronization priority of the GNSS is the highest, and the terminal preferentially synchronizes to the GNSS. In addition, in the synchronization mode, whether the base station can be used as a synchronization source can also be indicated by whether the base station configures parameters for the synchronization source. The parameter of whether the base station is configured for the synchronization source can be expressed as SL-NbAsSync.

The value of SL-NbAsSync is set to indicate whether the base station can be used as a synchronization source. When the SL-NbAsSync is configured as the first indication information (e.g., (true), 1, etc.), indicating that the base station can serve as a synchronization source of the terminal (or that the terminal supports the base station as the synchronization source); when the SL-NbAsSync is configured as the second indication information (e.g., no, 0, etc.), it indicates that the base station cannot be a synchronization source of the terminal (or the terminal does not support the base station as a synchronization source).

Similar to SL-SyncPriority, the SL-NbAsSync of the terminal may also be dynamically configured by the base station or pre-configured before the terminal leaves the factory.

According to the configuration of SL-SyncPriority and SL-SyncPriority of the terminal, the following three configuration processes may occur, as shown in fig. 1A to 1C. In fig. 1A to 1C, Pi represents synchronization priority, and the lower the value of i, the higher the synchronization priority, and the higher the value of i, the lower the synchronization priority. The synchronization priority of P0 is highest, the synchronization priority of P1 is lower than that of P0 but higher than that of P2, and so on.

The first condition is as follows: SL-Syncpriority is configured as base station (gNB/eNB) indication information, and the terminal adopts a synchronization mode of preferentially synchronizing to the base station. In this case, the synchronization priorities of the various devices are as shown in fig. 1A.

Referring to fig. 1A, the synchronization priority of the base station is the highest, i.e., P0: and a base station.

In the configuration process, the terminal to be synchronized preferentially considers the base station as a synchronization source.

When the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the base station, or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the base station is lower than the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized considers the first type of terminal (i.e. P1: a terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE) related to the base station as the synchronization source.

When the terminal to be synchronized does not search the synchronization signal of the first type terminal, or the signal instruction of the searched synchronization signal of the first type terminal is lower than the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized considers the second type terminal (i.e. P2: the terminal indirectly synchronized to the base station, sync with IC UE) related to the base station as the synchronization source.

When the terminal to be synchronized does not search the synchronization signal of the second type of terminal, or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the second type of terminal is lower than the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized considers GNSS (i.e. P3: GNSS) as the synchronization source.

When the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the GNSS, or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the GNSS is lower than the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized considers a third type of terminal related to the GNSS (i.e., P4: a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) as a synchronization source.

When the terminal to be synchronized does not search the synchronization signal of the third type of terminal, or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the searched third type of terminal is lower than the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized considers the fourth type of terminal related to the GNSS (i.e. P5: the terminal indirectly synchronized to the GNSS, sync with GNSS UE) as the synchronization source.

P6: and the other terminal indicates that when the terminal to be synchronized does not search the synchronization signal of the base station, the synchronization signal of the terminal related to the base station, the synchronization signal of the GNSS, and the synchronization signal of the terminal related to the GNSS, the terminal to be synchronized sends the synchronization signal by itself as a synchronization source of other equipment.

Case two: SL-SyncPriority is configured as GNSS indication information and SL-NbAsSync is configured as first indication information (e.g., true). The terminal adopts a synchronization mode of preferentially synchronizing to the GNSS, and the base station can be used as a synchronization source. In this case, the synchronization priorities of the various devices are as shown in fig. 1B.

Referring to FIG. 1B, the GNSS synchronization priority is highest, i.e. P0: GNSS.

In the configuration process, the terminal to be synchronized preferentially considers the GNSS as a synchronization source.

Under the condition that the synchronous signal of the GNSS is not searched or the signal quality of the searched synchronous signal of the GNSS is lower than a set threshold value, the terminal to be synchronized sequentially considers a third type terminal (P1: the terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) related to the GNSS, a fourth type terminal (P2: the terminal indirectly synchronized to the GNSS, sync with GNSS UE), a base station, a first type terminal (P4: the terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE) related to the base station and a second type terminal (P5: the terminal indirectly synchronized to the base station, sync with IC UE) related to the base station as synchronization sources. The specific process is the same as the above case one, and the detailed description thereof is omitted here.

Finally, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search the synchronization signal of the GNSS, the synchronization signal of the terminal related to the GNSS, the synchronization signal of the base station, and the synchronization signal of the terminal related to the base station, the terminal to be synchronized itself sends the synchronization signal as a synchronization source of other devices.

The specific process may refer to the process in case one, and details are not repeated here.

Case three: SL-Syncpriority is configured as GNSS indication information and SL-NbAsSync is configured as second indication information (e.g., false). The terminal adopts a synchronization mode of preferentially synchronizing to the GNSS, and the base station cannot be used as a synchronization source. In this case, the synchronization priorities of the various devices are as shown in fig. 1C.

Referring to FIG. 1C, the GNSS synchronization priority is highest, i.e. P0: GNSS.

Under the condition that the synchronization signal of the GNSS is not searched or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the GNSS is lower than a set threshold value, the terminal to be synchronized considers a third type of terminal (P1: a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) related to the GNSS and a fourth type of terminal (P2: a terminal indirectly synchronized to the GNSS, sync with GNSS UE) related to the GNSS as synchronization sources. The specific process is similar to the above case, and is not further described here.

When the terminal to be synchronized does not search the synchronization signal of the GNSS and the synchronization signal of the terminal related to the GNSS, the terminal to be synchronized itself transmits the synchronization signal as a synchronization source of other devices.

Since the resources used by the GNSS or the synchronization signal of the base station are set, the terminal to be synchronized may be predetermined. The resources used by the terminal associated with the GNSS or the terminal associated with the base station are determined by the configuration of the terminal itself, and the terminal to be synchronized cannot be determined in advance. Therefore, in the configuration process in the above three cases, the terminal to be synchronized may search for the synchronization signal of the GNSS or the base station on the predetermined fixed resource, but if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the GNSS or the base station, the terminal to be synchronized may synchronize to a terminal with a lower synchronization priority than the GNSS or the base station.

However, due to the mobility of the terminal to be synchronized and the current synchronization source (the terminal related to the GNSS or the terminal related to the base station), in order to ensure that the terminal to be synchronized can continue to synchronize to the terminal with the highest signal strength and higher priority (the terminal related to the GNSS or the terminal related to the base station), the terminal to be synchronized needs to perform a full search (also called a poor search) on all subframes in the frame so as to search for synchronization signals of as many terminals as possible.

In order to reduce power consumption caused by the fact that a terminal to be synchronized performs all searches, the embodiment of the application provides a synchronization method. By the method, the opportunity or time for the terminal to be synchronized to search for the synchronization signal can be reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption caused by the execution of the search for the synchronization signal.

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 illustrates an application scenario diagram applicable to the synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 2, the application scenario includes a mobile communication system and a GNSS.

In a mobile communication system, a base station and at least one terminal device (e.g., terminal a and terminal b in fig. 2) are included.

A base station, which is an entity capable of receiving and transmitting wireless signals on a network side, is responsible for providing wireless access-related services for terminals in a cell managed by the base station, and implements physical layer functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, Quality of Service (QoS) management, radio access control, and mobility management functions.

A terminal in a mobile communication system needs to access a network through the base station.

In the GNSS, a GNSS device such as a GNSS satellite or a ground station, and at least one terminal (e.g., terminal c and terminal d in fig. 2) are included. The GNSS device, which has functions similar to those of the base station in the mobile communication system, is responsible for providing wireless access-related services to the terminals within its coverage area, and will not be described herein again. A terminal in a GNSS needs to access a network through the GNSS device.

In the application scenario shown in fig. 2, the mobile communication system and the GNSS support sidelink communication technology. sidelink communication technology is a near field communication technology capable of direct connection between terminals, and is also called proximity services (ProSe) communication technology, or D2D communication technology. In the communication system, a plurality of terminals which are located in close geographical positions and support sidelink communication may form a sidelink communication system (also referred to as a sidelink communication subsystem, a sidelink system, etc.). In the sidelink communication system, two terminals can carry out sidelink communication through a direct link. For example, as shown in fig. 2, the terminal a and the terminal b in the mobile communication system may form a sidelink communication system, and the terminal c and the terminal d in the GNSS may also form a sidelink communication system.

In the above application scenario, in order to ensure data transmission efficiency and avoid signal collision, the primary flow of the terminal in the network access process is synchronization. In an application scenario, the base station, the GNSS, and the terminal may broadcast a synchronization signal to provide a reference time to other devices.

According to the difference of the synchronization sources of the devices, the application scenarios can be divided into the following ones:

and the base station provides a synchronous signal.

A terminal directly synchronized to a base station, or a terminal using the base station as a synchronization source, which is simply referred to as: the first type of terminal, IC UE, is for example terminal a in the figure.

A terminal indirectly synchronized to the base station or a terminal directly synchronized to the base station as a synchronization source, which is simply referred to as: the second type of terminal, sync with IC UE, is shown as terminal b.

The GNSS provides a synchronization signal.

A terminal directly synchronized to GNSS or a terminal using GNSS as a synchronization source, which is simply referred to as: a third class of terminals, GNSS UEs, such as terminal c in the figure.

A terminal indirectly synchronized to a base station or a terminal directly synchronized to a GNSS as a synchronization source, which is simply referred to as: the fourth type of terminal, sync with GNSS UE, is shown as terminal d in the figure.

Terminals directly synchronized to the base station (terminals of the first type) and terminals indirectly synchronized to the base station (terminals of the second type) can also be collectively referred to as terminals related to the base station; terminals that are directly synchronized to GNSS (terminals of the third category), terminals that are indirectly synchronized to GNSS (terminals of the fourth category) may also be collectively referred to as GNSS-related terminals.

It should be noted that the above six types of devices do not limit the types of devices actually present in the application scenario. In an actual application scenario, there may be the above six types of devices, or there may be some types of devices, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Of course, each terminal in the above application system needs to continuously search for a synchronization signal to continuously perform synchronization. In addition, since the terminal has mobility and the signal quality of the synchronization signal is affected by various factors, the synchronization source of the terminal may vary. Taking terminal e in the figure as an example, when it moves to the coverage area or the vicinity of the base station, the base station may be used as a synchronization source, or the first type terminal or the second type terminal may be used as a synchronization source; when it moves within or near the coverage of a GNSS, it is possible to use the GNSS as a synchronization source, or to use a terminal of the third or fourth type as a synchronization source.

During the synchronization process, each terminal may execute a corresponding synchronization configuration process according to the specific configuration condition of the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) and whether the base station is a synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync), and according to synchronization priority configuration information (synchronization priorities of different types of devices, for example, as shown in fig. 1A to 1C) corresponding to the configuration condition, where the specific process may refer to the description of the configuration process under different conditions, and is not described herein again.

It should be further noted that the application scenario shown in fig. 2 is taken as an example, and does not limit the applicable scenario of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In practical applications, only a mobile communication system, only a GNSS, or other communication systems may exist in an actual scenario, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the systems of the mobile communication system and the GNSS. For example, The mobile communication system may be a fifth Generation (5G) communication system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, a future Generation communication system, an evolved communication system, or The like, and The embodiment of The present invention is not limited thereto.

Taking a terminal to be synchronized as a terminal e in the application scenario shown in fig. 2 as an example, a conventional synchronization process is described:

when the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-sync priority) of the terminal e is the base station indication information, the synchronization priority configuration information of the terminal e refers to fig. 1A. The terminal e will continuously search the synchronization signal of the base station on the set resource broadcasted by the base station, so as to synchronize to the base station preferentially; when the terminal e does not search the synchronous signal of the base station or the signal quality of the searched synchronous signal of the base station is smaller than a set threshold value, the terminal e searches the synchronous signal of the terminal b through all searches; and when the terminal e determines that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the terminal b is greater than or equal to the set threshold, the terminal e synchronizes to the terminal b, and the terminal b is taken as the current synchronization source.

In order to ensure that the terminal e can continuously synchronize to the terminal with the highest signal quality and higher priority, the terminal e needs to perform all searches on all subframes in the frame so as to be able to search for the synchronization signal of the first type of terminal (e.g. terminal a) and thus to be able to synchronize to the device with higher synchronization priority.

Of course, even if synchronizing to terminal b, terminal e needs to continue searching for the synchronization signal of the base station on the set resource so that it can preferentially synchronize to the base station later. The terminal e can perform the above-described overall search process in parallel with the process of searching for the synchronization signal of the base station. The two processes do not conflict.

The synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) of the terminal e is a synchronization configuration process when GNSS indication information is used, and similar to the above process, the synchronization configuration process may be referred to each other.

As can be seen from the above description, the conventional synchronization priority configuration (fig. 1A-1C) results in a high probability and time for the terminal to perform the full search, and the terminal performs the full search results in a large amount of power consumption. Therefore, how to reduce the opportunity or time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform the search for the synchronization signal is an important way to reduce the power consumption of the terminal.

In order to reduce power consumption caused by searching for a synchronization signal by a terminal to be synchronized, the embodiment of the application provides a synchronization method. The method can be applied to terminals to be synchronized (e.g., terminals a to e) supporting sidelink communication in the application scenario shown in fig. 2, and the steps of the method are specifically described below with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 3.

S301: and the terminal to be synchronized determines target synchronization priority configuration information, wherein the target synchronization priority configuration information is used for indicating the synchronization priority of different types of equipment.

In an embodiment, the terminal to be synchronized may determine the target synchronization priority configuration information according to a synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) and a specific configuration of whether a base station is a synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync).

For example, when SL-sync priority is configured as the base station indication information, the synchronization priority of the base station is the highest in the target synchronization priority configuration information, and the synchronization priority of the GNSS is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first type of terminal (terminal synchronized to the base station, terminal directly synchronized to the base station).

For another example, when the SL-SyncPriority is configured as the GNSS indication information and the SL-NbAsSync is configured as the first indication information (for example, yes), the synchronization priority of the GNSS is the highest in the target synchronization priority configuration information, and the synchronization priority of the base station is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the terminal of the third type (a terminal synchronized to the GNSS, a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS).

In this embodiment, the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) and whether the base station is a synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync) may be configured by the network device when the terminal to be synchronized accesses the network device, or may be preconfigured before the terminal to be synchronized leaves the factory.

In this embodiment, the network device may be a base station or a GNSS to which a terminal to be synchronized accesses.

In another embodiment, the target synchronization priority configuration information is configured by a network when the terminal to be synchronized accesses the network device, or is preconfigured before the terminal to be synchronized leaves a factory.

In another embodiment, a terminal device to be synchronized receives indication information sent by a network device, where the indication information is used to indicate a synchronization mode; and the terminal equipment to be synchronized determines the target synchronization priority configuration information in the stored multiple synchronization priority configuration information according to the synchronization mode indicated by the indication information.

Optionally, the indication information may include a synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority), and whether the base station is a synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync); or the indication information indicates the synchronization mode in other modes, which is not limited in the present application.

The synchronization priority configuration information stored in the terminal device to be synchronized may be configured by a network device, or may be preconfigured by the terminal device to be synchronized before leaving a factory, which is not limited in this application.

In the target synchronization priority configuration information determined by the terminal to be synchronized, the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is the highest, the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of equipment, and the third type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the first type of equipment; the first type of equipment is GNSS, and the second type of equipment is a base station; or the first equipment is a base station and the second equipment is a GNSS.

According to different synchronization modes of the terminals to be synchronized, the types of the devices represented by the first-class devices to the third-class devices are different.

The first embodiment: when the SL-SyncPriority of the terminal to be synchronized is configured as the GNSS indication information and the SL-NbAsSync is configured as the first indication information, the first type of device is a GNSS, the second type of device is a base station, and the third type of device is a third type of terminal (i.e., a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE).

The second embodiment: when SL-sync priority is configured as base station indication information, the first type of device is a base station, the second type of device is a GNSS, and the third type of device is a first type of terminal (i.e., a terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE).

S302: and the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes according to the target synchronization priority configuration information. Namely, the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes according to the synchronization priority of different types of equipment in the target synchronization priority configuration information.

The first embodiment: in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is higher than or equal to that of the second type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is higher than that of the third type of equipment. In this case, the terminal to be synchronized may perform S302 by:

When the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment; or

When the synchronous signal of the first class device is not searched, and the synchronous signal of the second class device and the synchronous signal of the third class device are searched, synchronizing with the second class device according to the synchronous signal of the second class device; or

The second embodiment: according to the specific situation of the relative relationship among the synchronization priority of the first type device, the synchronization priority of the second type device, and the synchronization priority of the third type device in the synchronization priority configuration information, the following three situations are included in the present embodiment:

the first condition is as follows: the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is higher than that of the second type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is higher than that of the third type of equipment. I.e. the synchronization priority of the first class of devices > the synchronization priority of the second class of devices > the synchronization priority of the third class of devices. For example, P0: a first type of device; p1: a second type of device; p2: a third type of device; … …

In case one, the terminal to be synchronized may perform S302 by the following steps:

Case two: the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is equal to that of the first type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment and the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment are higher than that of the third type of equipment. That is, the synchronization priority of the first type device is greater than the synchronization priority of the second type device. For example, P0: a first type of device, a second type of device; p1: third class of devices … …

In case two, the terminal to be synchronized may perform S302 by:

when the synchronous signal of the first type equipment is searched, synchronizing with the first type equipment according to the synchronous signal of the first type equipment; or alternatively

When the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment is searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment; or alternatively

And a third situation: the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is equal to that of the third type of equipment, and the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment is higher than that of the second type of equipment and that of the third type of equipment. That is, the synchronization priority of the first type device > the synchronization priority of the second type device ═ the synchronization priority of the third type device. For example, P0: a first type of device; p1: devices of the second type, devices of the third type … …

In case three, the terminal to be synchronized may perform S302 by:

As can be seen from the above description of the two embodiments, in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the second type device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type device. In this way, the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially synchronize to the second type of device when the synchronization signal of the first type of device is not searched for or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first type of device is searched for is lower than the set threshold, so that the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially select the second type of device as the synchronization source. Since the second type of device is a base station or a GNSS, that is, the resource used by the second type of device to transmit the synchronization signal is a fixed resource, the terminal to be synchronized may not need to search for the synchronization signal of the second type of device through all searches when the terminal to be synchronized is not synchronized to the first type of device, and may not need to perform all searches after the terminal to be synchronized has the second type of device as a synchronization source. Therefore, compared with the conventional synchronization priority configuration, the method can obviously reduce the probability of the terminal to be synchronized performing the whole search, namely, the opportunity of the terminal to be synchronized searching the synchronization signal is reduced, so that the power consumption caused by the synchronization signal searching can be reduced.

Optionally, in the two above embodiments, before the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes with the second type of device according to the synchronization signal of the second type of device, the following steps may be further performed:

determining that the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized; and/or determining that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is greater than or equal to a set threshold value.

Therefore, the terminal to be synchronized can be ensured to be synchronized to the equipment with high synchronization priority and higher reliability of the synchronization signal as much as possible, and the accuracy of time synchronization of the terminal to be synchronized is ensured.

In addition, optionally, in the two above embodiments, after the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes with the second type of device according to the synchronization signal of the second type of device, if the following situations occur, the terminal to be synchronized may continue to adjust the synchronization source:

the first condition is as follows: and when the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is not searched or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is lower than a set threshold value, the terminal to be synchronized does not synchronize with the second type of equipment according to the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment any more.

Case two: and when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is searched, the terminal to be synchronized synchronizes with the first type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment.

Through the mode, the terminal to be synchronized can adjust the synchronization source in time according to the real-time change of the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment, so that the terminal to be synchronized can be synchronized to the equipment with high synchronization priority and reliable synchronization signal as far as possible.

In some implementations, in order to implement full network synchronization and avoid signal interference, a base station in TDD communication mode is usually configured with a GNSS module inside to synchronize to GNSS. That is, the synchronization source of the TDD base station is the GNSS, and the TDD base station has the same time as the GNSS, so that when the terminal to be synchronized detects the synchronization signal of the TDD base station or detects the synchronization signal of the terminal synchronized to the TDD base station, it indicates that the GNSS exists in the current application scenario.

Therefore, in view of the above situation, in the embodiment of the present application, before the terminal to be synchronized performs S301, the following steps may also be performed:

and searching a synchronization signal of a target terminal, wherein the target terminal is a terminal synchronized to the base station in the TDD communication mode (namely, a terminal synchronized to the TDD base station), or the target terminal is located in the coverage area of the base station in the TDD communication mode. Therefore, the target terminal may be denoted as TDD IC UE.

As can be seen from the foregoing, after receiving a synchronization signal of a certain terminal, a terminal to be synchronized may determine whether the terminal is a TDD IC UE by whether a broadcast channel that sends the synchronization signal carries uplink and downlink time configuration information or a TDD indication.

In some implementations, when the first device is a GNSS, the second device is a base station in TDD communication mode, considering the relation between the TDD base station and the GNSS.

In some implementations, before performing S301, the terminal to be synchronized may further determine whether synchronization needs to be performed according to the target synchronization priority configuration information by determining whether a synchronization signal of the second type device is searched:

when the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is searched, the terminal to be synchronized determines that the target synchronization priority configuration information is required to be synchronized, and starts to execute the synchronization process in S301-S302;

when the synchronization signal of the second type of device is not searched, the terminal to be synchronized may perform a synchronization process by using a conventional synchronization priority configuration, and the specific process may refer to the foregoing related contents, which is not described herein again.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the step of determining whether to search for the synchronization signal of the second type device is an optional step, and in practical applications, the terminal to be synchronized may or may not perform the step, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In the synchronization method provided in the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the first type device or the synchronization signal of the second type device, the terminal to be synchronized needs to perform all searches to search for the synchronization signal of the terminal with the higher synchronization priority. Therefore, during the process of executing S302, the terminal device to be synchronized may use a third type device or a fourth type device as a synchronization source, where the fourth type device is a terminal synchronized to the third type device (i.e., a terminal indirectly synchronized to the first type device). In the conventional synchronization process, the terminal to be synchronized always performs all searches, so that a terminal with higher synchronization priority and reliable signal quality of the synchronization signal can be searched unless the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronization signal of the first type device or the second type device. Therefore, the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform all searches in the process of taking the current synchronization source as the terminal is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized can also be obviously reduced.

In the communication field, the time domain positions of the synchronization signals transmitted by the devices with the same synchronization source or related to the synchronization source are relatively close. Ideally, the transmission time of the synchronization signals of the terminals (the first type terminal (IC UE) and the second type terminal (sync with IC UE)) related to the base station should be the same, but the time difference of the transmission synchronization time between the terminals is small in consideration of the time delay deviation and coverage of different terminals. Similarly, the time difference between the GNSS related terminals (third type terminal (GNSS UE) and fourth type terminal (sync with GNSS UE)) sending the synchronization signal is also small.

In summary, in some implementation manners, when a current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a terminal (e.g., the third type of device or the fourth type of device), the terminal to be synchronized performs synchronization through the following steps:

a1: the terminal to be synchronized determines a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source;

a2: and the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal in the first time range.

In this embodiment, the synchronization information of the current synchronization source may be a device type of the current synchronization source, synchronization signal time domain information of the current synchronization source, and the like, which is not limited in this application. In short, the information such as the time domain position of the synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source or the time length of the synchronization signal can be determined through the synchronization information of the current synchronization source.

Through the implementation mode, the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the traditional full search, the implementation mode can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to execute the full search, and the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized can be obviously reduced.

Optionally, the synchronization information of the current synchronization source includes synchronization signal time domain information, where the synchronization signal time domain information is used to indicate a first time length, and the first time length is a time length of a synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source. In this case, the terminal to be synchronized may perform the step a1 described above by:

b1: and determining the first time range according to the synchronous signal time domain information.

The synchronization signal time domain information may be specified by a protocol, or configured for a base station or a GNSS accessed by the terminal to be synchronized, or configured for the current synchronization source (before the current synchronization source leaves a factory, the synchronization signal time domain information may be preconfigured in the current synchronization source), which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Illustratively, the synchronization signal time domain information of the GNSS (or the terminal related to the GNSS) is preconfigured before the terminal to be synchronized leaves the factory, or is preconfigured by a protocol or a manager; the time domain information of the synchronization signal of the base station (or the terminal related to the base station) may be pre-configured before the terminal to be synchronized leaves the factory, or pre-configured by a protocol or a manager, or configured by the base station.

Wherein the first duration may be indicated in the synchronization signal time domain information by, but is not limited to:

the first method is as follows: an explicit indication. The synchronization signal time domain information includes the first duration (the duration of the synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source).

The second method comprises the following steps: an implicit indication. The synchronization signal time domain information includes: and indicating the time length. The duration indication corresponds to the first duration. The terminal to be synchronized may determine a first duration corresponding to the duration indication.

Optionally, the synchronization signal time domain information may further include the following parameters: the number of synchronization signals in a synchronization signal transmission period; time offset of the first synchronization signal within the synchronization signal transmission period; and when the data quantity of the synchronous signal in the synchronous signal sending period is larger than 1, the time interval of two adjacent synchronous signals. Through the three parameters, the time domain position of each synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source can be calculated.

Taking the synchronization signal of the terminal as the SL-SSB as an example, the synchronization signal time domain information may be expressed as a configuration time (SL-SSB-time allocation) of the SL-SSB. Wherein, the SL-SSB-TimeAllocation may include the following three parameters:

the number of SL-SSBs in a SL-SSB period, i.e., (SL-NumSB-Withinperiod), is used to indicate the number of SL-SSBs sent in one SL-SSB period.

The time offset of the first SL-SSB, i.e., (SL-TimeOffsetSSB), is used to represent the amount of time offset from the beginning of the SL-SSB period to the time domain position of the first SL-SSB.

The time interval between two adjacent SL-SSBs, i.e., (SL-TimeInterval). This parameter applies to the case where SL-NumSB-WithinPeriod is greater than 1.

Since the terminals associated with the same base station (or GNSS) transmit synchronization signals at relatively close times, there may be a relatively small time difference. Therefore, in this implementation, the duration of the first time range is greater than or equal to the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information. In order to search for as many synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source as possible, the duration of the first time range may be greater than the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information. For example: if the current synchronization source is the first class terminal/the second class terminal, the other terminals related to the current synchronization source are the first class terminal and the second class terminal. Another example is: if the current synchronization source is the third type terminal/the fourth type terminal, then the other terminals related to the current synchronization source are the third type terminal and the fourth type terminal.

In addition, the terminal to be synchronized may determine the time domain position of the first time range by:

the starting position of the first time range is before or equal to a first time domain position; and/or the end position of the first time range is located after or equal to a second time domain position;

the first time domain position is the time domain position of the synchronization signal of the current synchronization source searched by the terminal to be synchronized; the second time domain position is located after the first time domain position, and the interval duration between the second time domain position and the first time domain position is equal to the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information.

For example, the duration of the first time range is greater than the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information, the start position of the first time range is located before the first time domain position, and/or the end position of the first time range is located after the second time domain position.

Additionally, the first time range may contain some or all of the symbols in the second time range; and/or, the first time range may include some or all of the symbols in a third time range; wherein the second time range is a time range between a start position of the first time range and the first time domain position, and the third time range is a time range between the second time domain position and an end position of the first time range.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the second time range may be one or more time units, for example, 1 time slot or 2 time slots. The third time range may also be one or more time units, e.g. 1 time slot or 2 time slots.

It should be further noted that, if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any terminal (and does not search for the synchronization signal of the first type of device) in the first time range, the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal in all time units in the fourth time range (e.g., search time period, frame), that is, returns to all searches, so that the terminal to be synchronized can implement synchronization by searching for the synchronization signal of the terminal through all searches. Illustratively, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any type of device in the first time range, the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal in each subframe in a frame.

And under the condition that the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a third-class device or a fourth-class device, the first time range is used for searching the third-class device or the fourth-class device. Therefore, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the third type device or the fourth type device within the first time range, the terminal returns to the full search.

In the conventional synchronization process, the terminals to be synchronized need to search for the synchronization signals of all the terminals in the process of executing all the searches, and also need to compare the reliability of the searched synchronization signals, which also causes higher power consumption for the terminals to be synchronized.

Based on this, in some implementations, the terminal to be synchronized may search for the synchronization signal by:

when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal (or after the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched for), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search for the synchronization signal of the device of the at least one target class. The sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal. Optionally, the first terminal belongs to the third class of device or the fourth class of device. In this embodiment, the at least one target class of device may further include at least one of a first class of device and a second class of device.

Optionally, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal and determines that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first terminal is greater than the set threshold, the search method in this implementation manner is executed.

By the method, on the basis of ensuring that the terminal to be synchronized can be synchronized to the first terminal or the terminal with the same or higher synchronization priority level than the first terminal, the terminal to be synchronized does not need to search and compare the synchronization signals with the synchronization priority level lower than that of other terminals of the first terminal, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

In other implementations, the terminal to be synchronized may also search for the synchronization signal by:

when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal (or after the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched for), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search for the synchronization signal within the range of the set signal sequence. And the synchronous signal in the set signal sequence range is the synchronous signal of at least one target class of equipment. The synchronization priority of the equipment of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal. Optionally, the first terminal belongs to the third class of device or the fourth class of device. And the at least one target class of devices comprises a first class of devices and a second class of devices.

Optionally, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal and determines that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first terminal is greater than the set threshold, the search method in this implementation is executed.

To implement the above two implementation manners, the communication system may set a range for a signal sequence of the synchronization signal of each type of terminal. For example, the SL-SSBs of the first class of terminals (IC UEs), the SL-SSBs of the second class of terminals (sync with IC UEs), the SL-SSBs of the third class of terminals (GNSS UEs), and the SL-SSBs of the fourth class of terminals (sync with GNSS UEs) are each defined within different signal sequence ranges. The synchronization signals of the first type of device and the second type of device (base station and GNSS) may be within a preset signal sequence.

In the two implementation manners, when the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronization signal of the first terminal, the signal sequence range of the synchronization signal of each target class of device can be determined; and then comparing the signal sequence range of the synchronous signal of each target class of equipment with the received signal so as to realize coherent calculation. Because the synchronization signals of other terminals with the synchronization priority lower than that of the first terminal do not need to be compared, the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a synchronization method. In the synchronization method, the synchronization priority of the first type of equipment in the target synchronization priority configuration information of the terminal to be synchronized is the highest, and the synchronization priority of the second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of equipment. In this way, the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially synchronize to the second type of device when the synchronization signal of the first type of device is not searched for or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first type of device is searched for is lower than the set threshold, so that the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially select the second type of device as the synchronization source. Since the second type of device is a base station or a GNSS, that is, a resource used by the second type of device to send the synchronization signal is a fixed resource, the terminal to be synchronized may not need to search for the synchronization signal of the second type of device through all searches when the terminal to be synchronized is not synchronized with the first type of device, and may not need to perform all searches when the terminal to be synchronized uses the second type of device as a synchronization source. Therefore, compared with the traditional synchronization priority configuration, the method can obviously reduce the probability that the terminal to be synchronized performs the synchronization signal search, thereby reducing the power consumption caused by the synchronization signal search.

In order to reduce power consumption caused by the fact that the terminal to be synchronized performs all searches, the embodiment of the application further provides another synchronization method. The method can be applied to terminals to be synchronized (e.g., terminals a-e) supporting sidelink communication in an application scenario as shown in fig. 2. As can be seen from the description in the above embodiments, when the synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a terminal, the terminal to be synchronized needs to perform all searches to search for the synchronization signal of the terminal with the higher synchronization priority. In the conventional synchronization process, the terminal to be synchronized always performs all searches, so that a terminal with higher synchronization priority and with signal quality exceeding a set threshold can be searched, unless the terminal to be synchronized searches a synchronization signal of a base station or GNSS with the highest synchronization priority and synchronizes to the base station or GNSS. Therefore, the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform all searches in the process of taking the current synchronization source as the terminal is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized can also be obviously reduced.

The steps of the method will be described in detail with reference to the flow chart shown in fig. 4.

S401: and when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, the terminal to be synchronized determines a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source.

S402: and the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal in the first time range.

By the synchronization method provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the traditional full search, the implementation method can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform the full search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

It should be further noted that, in this embodiment, in the process that the terminal to be synchronized performs the search for the synchronization signal in the first time range, the search may be performed in all time units in the first time range, or in a part of time units (subframes or time slots) in the first time range, which is not limited in this application. Optionally, in addition, the time domain position of the time unit of the part for performing the search may be continuous or discrete, which is not limited in this application.

In an implementation manner, the synchronization information of the current synchronization source includes synchronization signal time domain information, where the synchronization signal time domain information is used to indicate a first duration, and the first duration is a duration of a synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source. In this case, the terminal to be synchronized may perform the above S401 by: and determining the first time range according to the synchronous signal time domain information.

In this embodiment, the manner of obtaining the synchronization signal time domain information, the manner of indicating the first duration by the synchronization signal time domain information, and the process of determining the first time range according to the synchronization signal time domain information may all refer to corresponding descriptions in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and are not described herein again.

It should be further noted that, if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any type of device in the first time range, the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal in all time units in the fourth time range (for example, search time period, frame), that is, returns to all searches, so that the terminal to be synchronized can search for the synchronization signal of the terminal through all searches to achieve synchronization. Illustratively, when the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any kind of device in the first time range, the terminal searches for the synchronization signal on each subframe in a frame.

when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal (or after the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched for), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search for the synchronization signal of the device of the at least one target class. The sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal. The at least one target class of devices may include a base station and a GNSS.

when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal (or after the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched for), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search for the synchronization signal within the range of the set signal sequence. And the synchronous signal in the set signal sequence range is the synchronous signal of at least one target class of equipment. The synchronization priority of the equipment of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

Optionally, in the two implementation manners, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal and determines that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first terminal is greater than the set threshold, the search process is executed again.

Through the two implementation modes, on the basis of ensuring that the terminal to be synchronized can synchronize to the first terminal or the terminal with the same or higher synchronization priority of the first terminal, the terminal to be synchronized can not need to search and compare synchronization signals with synchronization priorities lower than other terminals of the first terminal, and therefore power consumption of terminal equipment can be reduced.

In addition, in order to implement the above two implementation manners, the communication system may set a range for a signal sequence of the synchronization signal of each type of terminal. For example, the SL-SSBs of terminals of the first type (IC UEs), the SL-SSBs of terminals of the second type (sync with IC UEs), the SL-SSBs of terminals of the third type (GNSS UEs), and the terminals of the fourth type (sync with GNSS UEs) are all restricted to different signal sequences. While the signal sequences of the first and second type of devices (base station and GNSS) are fixed.

In the conventional synchronization process, the terminals to be synchronized need to search for the synchronization signals of all the terminals in the whole search process, and also need to compare the reliability of the searched synchronization signals, which also causes higher power consumption for the terminals to be synchronized. In order to reduce power consumption of a terminal to be synchronized in the process of executing all searches, the embodiment of the application further provides another synchronization method. The method can be applied to terminals to be synchronized (e.g., terminals a to e) supporting sidelink communication in the application scenario shown in fig. 2.

When the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, configuring information of the synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority level and searching the synchronization signal; wherein the target synchronization priority configuration information is used to indicate synchronization priorities of different kinds of devices. The target synchronization priority configuration information may be conventional synchronization priority configuration information (for example, shown in fig. 1A to 1C), or may also be target synchronization priority configuration information provided in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, which is not limited in this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal to be synchronized may search for a synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority configuration information in the following two implementation manners:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps: when the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronization signal of the first terminal (or after the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search the synchronization signal of the device of at least one target class. The sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps: when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal (or after the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched for), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search for the synchronization signal within the range of the set signal sequence. And the synchronization signal in the set signal sequence range is the synchronization signal of at least one target class device. The synchronization priority of the equipment of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal. The at least one target class of devices may include a base station and a GNSS.

Optionally, in the two implementation manners, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the first terminal and determines that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first terminal is greater than a set threshold, the search process is executed again.

By the method provided by the embodiment of the application, on the basis of ensuring that the terminal to be synchronized can be synchronized to the first terminal or the terminal with the same or higher synchronization priority than the first terminal, the terminal to be synchronized can be free from searching and comparing the synchronization signals with the synchronization priority lower than that of other terminals of the first terminal, so that the power consumption of the equipment to be synchronized can be reduced.

In addition, in order to implement the above two implementation manners, the communication system may set a range to a signal sequence of the synchronization signal of each type of terminal. For example, the SL-SSBs of the first class of terminals (IC UEs), the SL-SSBs of the second class of terminals (sync with IC UEs), the SL-SSBs of the third class of terminals (GNSS UEs), and the fourth class of terminals (sync with GNSS UEs) are all limited to different signal sequence ranges. While the signal sequences of the first and second type of devices (base station and GNSS) are fixed.

It should be further noted that, in various embodiments of the present application, the set threshold used for determining the reliability of the synchronization signal may be determined for the terminal to be synchronized, or configured by the network device when the terminal to be synchronized accesses the network device (base station or GNSS), or specified by a protocol. Optionally, the set threshold may refer to a signal quality threshold in the protocol 38.331, for example, the set threshold may be a threshold (Srxlev) used for cell selection, and the like.

Based on the synchronization method provided by the above embodiment, the present application also provides the following examples. The following is a description of various examples.

The following examples one to three are examples of the synchronization priority configuration information in the case that the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) of the terminal to be synchronized is configured as the GNSS indication information, and whether the base station is configured as the first indication information (for example, yes) for the synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync).

Considering the relation between TDD base stations and GNSS, base stations are divided into two categories in examples one to three: TDD base stations and FDD base stations. With respect to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, in the following examples one to three, the synchronization priority of the TDD base station is set to be greater than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to GNSS, GNSS UE).

Example one:

compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, in this example, the synchronization priority of the TDD base station can be raised to be before the third type of terminal (i.e., a terminal directly synchronized to GNSS, GNSS UE), that is, P1: a TDD base station; the sequence of the synchronization priority of the FDD base station remains unchanged, and the synchronization priority of other types of devices such as the third type terminal, the fourth type terminal, and the FDD base station is sequentially delayed and the sequence remains unchanged. The synchronization priorities for heterogeneous devices in example one are shown in fig. 5A.

In this example, in the process of synchronizing the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5A:

when the synchronous signal of the GNSS is not searched and the synchronous signal of the TDD base station is searched, synchronizing with the TDD base station according to the synchronous signal of the TDD base station; or

When the synchronous signal of the GNSS and the synchronous signal of the TDD base station are not searched, and the synchronous signal of a third type terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) is searched, synchronizing with the third type terminal according to the synchronous signal of the third type terminal;

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser according to the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5A, the specific process may be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example two:

compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of the TDD base station can be raised to be the same as that of the GNSS, that is, P0: a GNSS or TDD base station; the order of the synchronization priority of the FDD base station remains unchanged, and the order of the synchronization priority of other types of devices such as the third type of terminal and the fourth type of terminal also remains unchanged. The synchronization priorities of the different kinds of devices in example two are shown in fig. 5B.

In this example, in the process of synchronizing the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5B:

when the synchronous signal of the GNSS is searched, the synchronization is carried out with the GNSS according to the synchronous signal of the GNSS; or

When the synchronous signal of the TDD base station is searched, synchronizing with the TDD base station according to the synchronous signal of the TDD base station; or

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser in the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5B, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example three:

compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of the TDD base station can be raised to be the same as that of the third type of terminal, that is, P1: a TDD base station or a third class terminal; the order of the synchronization priority of the FDD base station remains unchanged, and the order of the synchronization priority of other types of devices such as the fourth type of terminal remains unchanged. The synchronization priorities of the different kinds of devices in example three are shown in fig. 5C.

In this example, in the process of synchronizing the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5C:

When the synchronization signal of the GNSS is not searched and the synchronization signal of a third type terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) is searched, synchronizing with the third type terminal according to the synchronization signal of the third type terminal; or

When the synchronization signal of the GNSS is not searched, and the synchronization signal of the TDD base station and the synchronization signal of the third type terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) are searched, synchronizing with the TDD base station according to the synchronization signal of the TDD base station. When the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronous signals of the TDD base station and the third class terminal at the same time, the TDD base station is preferentially selected for synchronization; or alternatively

When the synchronization signal of the GNSS and the synchronization signal of the TDD base station are not searched, and the synchronization signal of a third type terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) is searched, synchronizing with the third type terminal according to the synchronization signal of the third type terminal;

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in the order from the greater to the smaller of the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5C, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

In a possible implementation manner, in the first to third examples, the terminal to be synchronized searches for the synchronization signal of the TDD base station, the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the TDD base station is greater than or equal to a set threshold, and when it is determined that the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is lower than the synchronization priority of the TDD base station, the terminal to be synchronized performs synchronization according to the synchronization signal of the TDD base station, that is, the TDD base station is selected as the synchronization source.

In addition, after the TDD base station is selected as the synchronization source, the synchronization signal of the TDD base station and the synchronization signal of the GNSS are continuously searched, and if the synchronization signal of the TDD base station is not searched, or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the searched TDD base station is lower than a set threshold, or the synchronization signal of the GNSS exceeds the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized no longer uses the TDD base station as the synchronization source.

The following fourth to sixth examples are examples of the synchronization priority configuration information when the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-sync priority) of the terminal to be synchronized is the base station indication information.

Considering the relation between the TDD base station and the GNSS, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of a terminal directly synchronized to the TDD base station (or a terminal within the coverage of the TDD base station, TDD IC UE), it indicates that the GNSS exists in the current scene. In this case, the synchronization priority of the heterogeneous devices conforms to that shown in example four to example six, in which the synchronization priority of the GNSS is set to be greater than or equal to that of the first type of terminal (terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE). When the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of the TDD IC UE, the terminal to be synchronized may continue to adopt the conventional synchronization priority configuration, as shown in fig. 1A.

Example four:

compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1A, in this example, the synchronization priority of GNSS can be raised to be before the first type of terminal (i.e., terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE), i.e., P1: GNSS; the synchronous priority of other types of equipment such as the first type of terminal, the second type of terminal and the like is sequentially delayed, and the sequence is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities of the different kinds of devices in example four are shown in fig. 5D.

In this example, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of a terminal directly synchronized to the TDD base station (or a terminal within the coverage of the TDD base station, TDD IC UE), the terminal to be synchronized performs a synchronization process according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5D:

when the synchronous signal of the base station is not searched and the synchronous signal of the GNSS is searched, synchronizing with the GNSS according to the synchronous signal of the GNSS; or

When the synchronous signal of the base station and the synchronous signal of the GNSS are not searched, and the synchronous signal of a first type terminal (a terminal directly synchronous to the base station, IC UE) is searched, synchronizing with the first type terminal according to the synchronous signal of the first type terminal;

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in the order of the synchronization priority from large to small in the configuration information shown in fig. 5D, a specific procedure may be described with reference to the procedure of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example five:

compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1A, the synchronization priority of the GNSS can be raised to be the same as that of the base station in this example, i.e. P0: a base station or GNSS; and the synchronous priorities of other types of equipment such as the first type of terminal, the second type of terminal and the like are sequentially delayed, and the sequence is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities for the different classes of devices in example five are shown in fig. 5E.

In this example, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of a terminal directly synchronized to the TDD base station (or a terminal within the coverage of the TDD base station, TDD IC UE), the terminal to be synchronized performs a synchronization process according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5E:

when the synchronous signal of the base station is searched, the base station is synchronized according to the synchronous signal of the base station; or alternatively

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in the order from the greater to the smaller of the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5E, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example six:

compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1A, the synchronization priority of the GNSS can be raised to be the same as that of the first type of terminal, that is, P1: GNSS or first class terminals; and the synchronization priority of other types of equipment such as a second type of terminal and the like is sequentially delayed, and the sequence is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities for the different classes of devices in example five are shown in fig. 5F.

In this example, when the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of a terminal directly synchronized to the TDD base station (or a terminal within the coverage of the TDD base station, TDD IC UE), the terminal to be synchronized performs a synchronization process according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5F:

when the synchronous signal of the base station is not searched and the synchronous signal of the GNSS is searched, synchronizing with the GNSS according to the synchronous signal of the GNSS; or alternatively

When the synchronous signal of the base station is not searched and the synchronous signal of a first type terminal (a terminal directly synchronous to the base station, IC UE) is searched, synchronizing with the first type terminal according to the synchronous signal of the first type terminal; or alternatively

When the synchronization signal of the base station is not searched, and the synchronization signal of the GNSS and the synchronization signal of the first type terminal (terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE) are searched, synchronization is performed with the GNSS according to the synchronization signal of the GNSS. When the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronous signals of the GNSS and the first class of terminals at the same time, the GNSS is preferentially selected for synchronization; or

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser in the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5F, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

In a possible implementation manner, in the fourth to sixth examples, the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of a GNSS, the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the GNSS is greater than or equal to a set threshold, and when it is determined that the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is lower than the synchronization priority of the GNSS, the terminal to be synchronized performs synchronization according to the synchronization signal of the GNSS, that is, the GNSS is selected as the synchronization source.

In addition, after the GNSS is selected as the synchronization source, the synchronization signal of the GNSS and the synchronization signal of the base station are continuously searched, and if the synchronization signal of the GNSS is not searched, or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the GNSS is lower than a set threshold, or the synchronization signal of the base station exceeds the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized does not use the GNSS as the synchronization source any more.

The first to sixth examples are synchronization priority configurations of different types of devices in consideration of the relation between the TDD base station and the GNSS. The following examples seven to twelve are synchronization priority configuration information without regard to the relationship of the TDD base station and the GNSS.

The following seven to nine examples are examples of synchronization priority configuration information in the case that the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) of the terminal to be synchronized is GNSS indication information, and whether the base station is configured as the first indication information (for example, yes) for the synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-nbasasync).

Example seven: in contrast to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of the base station can be increased to be before the third type of terminal (i.e., terminal directly synchronized to GNSS, GNSS UE), i.e., P1: a base station; and the synchronous priority of the third type terminal and the fourth type terminal is sequentially delayed, and the sequence is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities of the different kinds of devices in example seven are shown in fig. 5G.

In this example, in the process of synchronizing the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5G:

when the synchronous signal of the GNSS is not searched and the synchronous signal of the base station is searched, the base station is synchronized according to the synchronous signal of the base station; or

When the synchronous signal of the GNSS and the synchronous signal of the base station are not searched, and the synchronous signal of a third type terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) is searched, synchronizing with the third type terminal according to the synchronous signal of the third type terminal;

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser in the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5G, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example eight: relative to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of the base station can be increased to be the same as that of GNSS, i.e., P0: a GNSS or base station; and the synchronization priority order of the third type terminal and the fourth type terminal is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities for the different classes of devices in example eight are shown in fig. 5H.

In this example, in the process of synchronizing the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5H:

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser in the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5H, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example nine: with respect to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of the base station can be increased to be the same as that of the third type of terminal (i.e., terminal directly synchronized to GNSS, GNSS UE), i.e., P1: a base station or a third class terminal; and the synchronization priority order of other kinds of devices such as the fourth kind of terminals remains unchanged. Example nine synchronization priorities for different classes of devices are shown in fig. 5I.

In this example, in the process of synchronizing the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5I:

when the synchronous signal of the GNSS is not searched and the synchronous signal of the base station is searched, synchronizing with the base station according to the synchronous signal of the base station; or alternatively

When the synchronization signal of the GNSS is not searched and the synchronization signal of the base station and the synchronization signal of the terminal of the third type (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) are searched, the base station is synchronized according to the synchronization signal of the base station. When the terminal to be synchronized searches the synchronous signals of the base station and the third class terminal at the same time, the base station is preferentially selected for synchronization; or

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser in the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5I, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

In a possible implementation manner, in the seventh to ninth examples, the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of the base station, the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the base station is greater than or equal to a set threshold, and when it is determined that the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is lower than the synchronization priority of the base station, the terminal to be synchronized performs synchronization according to the synchronization signal of the base station, that is, the base station is selected as the synchronization source.

In addition, after the base station is selected as the synchronization source, the synchronization signal of the base station and the synchronization signal of the GNSS are continuously searched, and if the synchronization signal of the base station is not searched, or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the searched base station is lower than a set threshold, or the synchronization signal of the GNSS exceeds the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized does not use the base station as the synchronization source any more.

The following tenth to twelfth examples are examples of the synchronization priority configuration information when the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-sync priority) of the terminal to be synchronized is the base station indication information.

Example ten: compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1A, in this example, the synchronization priority of GNSS can be raised to be before the first type of terminal (i.e., terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE), i.e., P1: GNSS; and the synchronous priority of the first class terminal and the second class terminal is sequentially delayed and the sequence is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities of the different kinds of devices in example ten are shown in fig. 5D.

In this example, during the synchronization process of the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5D:

When the synchronous signal of the base station and the synchronous signal of the GNSS are not searched, and the synchronous signal of a first type terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE) is searched, synchronizing with the first type terminal according to the synchronous signal of the first type terminal;

……

regarding different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in the order from the greater to the lesser of the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5D, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example eleven: relative to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of GNSS can be increased to be the same as that of the base station in this example, i.e., P0: a base station or GNSS; and the synchronization priority order of the first class terminal and the second class terminal is kept unchanged. The synchronization priorities of the different kinds of devices in example eleven are shown in fig. 5E.

In this example, during the synchronization process of the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5E:

When the synchronous signal of the GNSS is searched, the synchronization is carried out with the GNSS according to the synchronous signal of the GNSS; or alternatively

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in order from greater to lesser in the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5E, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

Example twelve: with respect to the conventional synchronization priority configuration shown in fig. 1B, the synchronization priority of GNSS can be increased to be the same as the first type of terminal (i.e. terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE), i.e. P1: GNSS or first class terminals; while the order of the synchronization priority of other kinds of devices, such as the second kind of terminals, remains unchanged. The synchronization priorities for the different classes of devices in example twelve are shown in FIG. 5F.

In this example, during the synchronization process of the terminal to be synchronized according to the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5F:

When the synchronous signal of the base station is not searched and the synchronous signal of a first type terminal (a terminal directly synchronous to the base station, IC UE) is searched, synchronizing with the first type terminal according to the synchronous signal of the first type terminal; or

……

considering different kinds of devices as synchronization sources in the order from the greater to the smaller of the synchronization priority in the configuration information shown in fig. 5F, the specific process can be described with reference to the process of case one shown in fig. 1A.

In a possible implementation manner, in the tenth to twelfth examples, the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal of a GNSS, the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the GNSS is greater than or equal to a set threshold, and when it is determined that the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is lower than the synchronization priority of the GNSS, the terminal to be synchronized performs synchronization according to the synchronization signal of the GNSS, that is, the GNSS is selected as the synchronization source.

In addition, after the GNSS is selected as the synchronization source, the synchronization signal of the GNSS and the synchronization signal of the base station are continuously searched, and if the synchronization signal of the GNSS is not searched, or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the GNSS is lower than a set threshold, or the synchronization signal of the base station is searched to exceed the set threshold, the terminal to be synchronized does not use the GNSS as the synchronization source.

In each of the above examples, in the synchronization priority configuration information of the terminal to be synchronized, the synchronization priority of the first type of device is the highest, and the synchronization priority of the second type of device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of device; when the first type of equipment is a base station, the second type of equipment is a GNSS; when the first type of equipment is GNSS, the second type of equipment is a base station; the third class of devices is terminals that are synchronized to the first class of devices. In this way, the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially synchronize to the second type of device when the synchronization signal of the first type of device is not searched for or the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the first type of device is searched for is lower than the set threshold, so that the terminal to be synchronized may preferentially select the second type of device as the synchronization source. Since the second type of device is a base station or a GNSS, that is, the resource used by the second type of device to transmit the synchronization signal is a fixed resource, the terminal to be synchronized may not need to search for the synchronization signal of the second type of device through all searches when the terminal to be synchronized is not synchronized to the first type of device, and may not need to perform all searches after the terminal to be synchronized has the second type of device as a synchronization source. Therefore, the methods provided in the above examples can significantly reduce the probability of performing the entire search by the terminal to be synchronized, i.e., reduce the chance of performing the search for the synchronization signal in the synchronization, compared to the conventional synchronization priority configuration, so that the power consumption caused by performing the search for the synchronization signal can be reduced.

In the following thirteen to fifteen examples, which are examples in which the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, the entire search needs to be performed. In example thirteen and example fourteen, the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform the full search may be reduced by setting the time range of the full search, the first time range, so that the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized may be reduced.

Considering that the time domain positions of the synchronization signals transmitted by the terminals with the same synchronization source or related to the synchronization source are relatively close, the first time range may be determined according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source of the device to be synchronized, so that the terminal to be synchronized may search the synchronization signal of the current synchronization source and the synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source in the first time range.

For example, if the current synchronization source is a terminal directly (or indirectly) synchronized to the target base station, then other terminals associated with the current synchronization source may be other terminals directly synchronized to the target base station and other terminals indirectly synchronized to the target base station.

For another example, if the current synchronization source is a terminal that is directly (or indirectly) synchronized to the target GNSS, then other terminals associated with the current synchronization source may be other terminals that are directly synchronized to the target GNSS and other terminals that are indirectly synchronized to the target GNSS.

Example thirteen: a synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) of the terminal to be synchronized is configured as base station indication information, and then the terminal to be synchronized may perform synchronization by using the conventional synchronization priority configuration information as shown in fig. 1A; or may synchronize according to the synchronization priority configuration information provided in the embodiments of the present application, as shown in fig. 5D, 5E, or 5F.

When the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a first-class terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE) or a second-class terminal (a terminal indirectly synchronized to the base station, sync with IC UE), the terminal to be synchronized may determine the first time range according to the synchronization signal time domain information (SL-SSB-time allocation) of the current synchronization source. Then, the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal in the first time range.

In this example, the first time range is used for the terminal to be synchronized to search for the synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source, that is, the synchronization signals of the first class of terminals or the second class of terminals.

Specifically, the terminal to be synchronized determines a first duration according to the SL-SSB-time allocation, where the first duration is a duration of a synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source. And then, determining the first time range according to the time domain position of the synchronization signal of the current synchronization source searched by the terminal to be synchronized and the first time length. The first time range may be greater than or equal to the first length of time.

For example, the starting position of the first time range is located before the first time domain position; and the end position of the first time range is located after the second time domain position. The first time domain position is the time domain position of the synchronization signal of the current synchronization source searched by the terminal to be synchronized; the second time domain position is located after the first time domain position, and the interval duration between the second time domain position and the first time domain position is equal to the first duration. Optionally, the first time range may include some or all symbols in the second time range, and may also include some or all symbols in the third time range. Wherein the second time range is a time range between a start position of the first time range and the first time domain position, and the third time range is a time range between the second time domain position and an end position of the first time range. For example, the second time range may be 1 time slot, and the third time range may be 1 time slot.

For example, the first time range determined by the terminal to be synchronized according to the first time length indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information may be as shown in fig. 6.

In this example, the terminal to be synchronized may perform a search on a part or all of subframes within the first time range. And the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the conventional whole search process, the embodiment can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform the whole search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

It should be noted that, if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any terminal within the first time range, in order to search for the synchronization signal, the terminal to be synchronized may return to the full search, and perform the conventional full search process.

Optionally, in this example, since the third type of terminal (terminal directly synchronized to GNSS, GNSS UE) and the fourth type of terminal (terminal indirectly synchronized to GNSS, sync with GNSS UE) are not related to the base station, the synchronization signal transmission positions of the third type of terminal and the fourth type of terminal, and the synchronization signal transmission position of the terminal related to the base station are also not related. Therefore, in the scenario of this example, if the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the third-class terminal or the fourth terminal, the terminal to be synchronized needs to continue to search for the synchronization signal through the conventional whole search process.

Example fourteen: if the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) of the terminal to be synchronized is configured as the GNSS indication information and the base station is configured as the first indication information (for example, yes) for the synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync), then the terminal to be synchronized may use the conventional synchronization priority configuration information as shown in fig. 1B for synchronization; or may perform synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5A, fig. 5B, fig. 5C, fig. 5G, fig. 5H, and fig. 5I.

When the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a third-class terminal (a terminal directly synchronized to the GNSS, GNSS UE) or a fourth-class terminal (a terminal indirectly synchronized to the GNSS, sync with GNSS UE), the terminal to be synchronized may determine the first time range according to the synchronization signal time domain information (SL-SSB-time allocation) of the current synchronization source. Then, the terminal to be synchronized searches for a synchronization signal in the first time range.

In this example, the first time range is used for the terminal to be synchronized to search for the synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source, that is, the synchronization signals of the third class terminal or the fourth class terminal.

The process of determining the first time range by the terminal to be synchronized may refer to the description in the above embodiment and the description in the thirteenth embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

In this example, the terminal to be synchronized may perform a search on a part or all of subframes within the first time range. In addition, the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the conventional whole search process, the embodiment can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform the whole search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

Optionally, in this example, since the first type of terminal (terminal directly synchronized to the base station, IC UE) and the second type of terminal (terminal indirectly synchronized to the base station, sync with IC UE) are not related to the GNSS, the transmission positions of the synchronization signals of the first type of terminal and the second type of terminal, and the transmission positions of the synchronization signals of the terminals related to the GNSS are also not related. Therefore, in the scenario of this example, if the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the first type terminal or the second type terminal, the terminal to be synchronized needs to continue to search for the synchronization signal through the conventional whole search process.

Example fifteen: in the case that the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-SyncPriority) of the terminal to be synchronized is configured as the GNSS indication information, and whether the base station is configured as the second indication information for the synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync) (for example, no), then the terminal to be synchronized may perform synchronization using the conventional synchronization priority configuration information as shown in fig. 1C.

In this example, the first time range is used for the terminal to be synchronized to search for the synchronization signals of other terminals related to the current synchronization source, i.e. the synchronization signals of the third type terminal or the fourth type terminal.

The process of determining the first time range by the terminal to be synchronized may refer to the description in the above embodiment and the descriptions in the thirteenth and fourteenth examples, which are not described herein again.

In this example, the terminal to be synchronized may perform a search on part or all of subframes within the first time range. In addition, the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, so that compared with the conventional whole search process, the embodiment can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to perform the whole search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

It should be noted that, if the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal of any terminal within the first time range, in order to search for the synchronization signal, the terminal to be synchronized may return to a full search, and perform a conventional full search process.

Considering that the terminals to be synchronized need to search for the synchronization signals of all the terminals in the process of searching for the synchronization signals, and also need to compare the reliability of the searched synchronization signals, this also causes higher power consumption for the terminals to be synchronized. The following example sixteen can reduce the number of the synchronization signals searched and compared by the terminal to be synchronized, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

Example sixteen:

and the terminal to be synchronized carries out synchronization according to the configuration of the synchronization priority configuration parameter (SL-Syncpriority) and whether the base station is a synchronization source configuration parameter (SL-NbAsSync) according to the set synchronization priority configuration information. The synchronization priority configuration information may be the conventional synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 1A to 1C, or may be the synchronization priority configuration information shown in fig. 5A to 5I provided in the embodiments of the present application.

In the process of searching the synchronous signals, if the synchronous signals of the first terminal are searched (or after the synchronous signals of the first terminal are searched), the terminal to be synchronized continues to search the synchronous signals of at least one target device. The sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

Take the example that the terminal to be synchronized performs synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information as shown in fig. 1A.

In the process of searching the synchronization signal by the terminal to be synchronized, if the P1 is searched: synchronization signals of terminals of the first type (terminals directly synchronized to the base station, IC UEs), then the subsequent terminals to be synchronized only search P0: base station, and P1: the synchronization signals of the first type terminals are not searched for synchronization signals of other devices with synchronization priority P2-P5.

Based on the same technical concept, the application also provides a terminal, and the terminal can be applied to the application scenario shown in fig. 2. The terminal can implement the synchronization method provided in the above embodiments and examples, and is a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system. Referring to fig. 7, the terminal 700 includes a communication unit 701 and a processing unit 702. The communication unit 701 is configured to receive and transmit signals. The physical representation of the communication unit 701 may be a transceiver, an antenna, etc.

In one embodiment, the terminal 700 can implement the synchronization method as shown in fig. 3. In this embodiment, the processing unit 702 is configured to execute, by the communication unit 701:

determining target synchronization priority configuration information, wherein the target synchronization priority configuration information is used for indicating synchronization priorities of different types of equipment;

synchronizing according to the target synchronization priority configuration information;

in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of a first type of equipment is the highest, the synchronization priority of a second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of a third type of equipment, and the third type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the first type of equipment;

the first type of equipment is GNSS, and the second type of equipment is a base station; or the first equipment is a base station and the second equipment is a GNSS.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the relative relationship between the synchronization priorities of the first type device, the second type device, and the third type device includes the following three cases:

the first condition is as follows: in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the first type of device is higher than the synchronization priority of the second type of device, and the synchronization priority of the second type of device is higher than the synchronization priority of the third type of device. In this case, when performing synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

Case two: in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the second type of device is equal to the synchronization priority of the first type of device, and the synchronization priority of the first type of device and the synchronization priority of the second type of device are higher than the synchronization priority of the third type of device. In case two, when performing synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

Case two: in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the second type of device is equal to the synchronization priority of the third type of device, and the synchronization priority of the first type of device is higher than the synchronization priority of the second type of device and the synchronization priority of the third type of device. In case three, when performing synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, in this embodiment, in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the first type device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the second type device, and the synchronization priority of the first type device is higher than the synchronization priority of the third type device. The processing unit 702, when performing synchronization according to the synchronization priority configuration information, is specifically configured to:

And when the synchronous signal of the first type of equipment is not searched and the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment and the synchronous signal of the third type of equipment are searched, synchronizing with the second type of equipment according to the synchronous signal of the second type of equipment.

Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to:

before the synchronization with the second type equipment is carried out according to the synchronization signal of the second type equipment, determining that the synchronization priority of the second type equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized; and/or determining that the signal quality of the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment is greater than or equal to a set threshold.

Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to:

after the synchronization with the second type device is carried out according to the synchronization signal of the second type device, when the synchronization signal of the second type device is not searched or the signal quality of the searched synchronization signal of the second type device is lower than a set threshold value, the synchronization with the second type device is not carried out according to the synchronization signal of the second type device; or when the synchronous signal of the first type equipment is searched, the first type equipment is synchronized according to the synchronous signal of the first type equipment.

Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to:

searching a synchronization signal of a target terminal before determining target synchronization priority configuration information, wherein the target terminal is a terminal of a base station synchronized to a Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication mode, or the target terminal is positioned in a coverage range of the base station in the TDD communication mode; or searching for a synchronization signal of the second type of device.

Optionally, when the first type of device is a GNSS, the second type of device is a base station in a TDD communication mode.

Optionally, when performing synchronization according to the target synchronization priority configuration information, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the third type device or the fourth type device, determining a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source; the fourth type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the third type of equipment;

searching for a synchronization signal within the first time range.

Optionally, the synchronization information of the current synchronization source includes synchronization signal time domain information, where the synchronization signal time domain information is used to indicate a first time length, and the first time length is a time length of a synchronization signal sent by the current synchronization source. In this case, when determining the first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

and determining the first time range according to the synchronous signal time domain information.

Optionally, the synchronization signal time domain information is specified by a protocol, or configured for a base station to which the terminal to be synchronized accesses, or configured for the current synchronization source.

Optionally, a duration of the first time range is greater than or equal to the first duration indicated by the synchronization signal time domain information.

Optionally, the starting position of the first time range is before the first time domain position, or equal to the first time domain position; and/or the end position of the first time range is located after or equal to a second time domain position;

Optionally, the first time range includes some or all symbols in the second time range; and/or, the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in a third time range;

Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to:

and when the synchronous signals of the third type of equipment and the fourth type of equipment are not searched in the first time range, searching the synchronous signals on all time units in a fourth time range.

Optionally, when searching for the synchronization signal, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

searching a synchronization signal of at least one target class of equipment when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; the sequence of the synchronization signal of the at least one target class of device is within a set signal sequence range, the synchronization priority of each target class of device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal, and the first terminal belongs to the third class of device or the fourth class of device.

searching a synchronous signal within a set signal sequence range when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched; the set signal sequence range is a signal sequence range in which a sequence of a synchronization signal of at least one target type of equipment is located, the synchronization priority of each target type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal, and the first terminal belongs to the third type of equipment or the fourth type of equipment.

Optionally, when determining the target synchronization priority configuration information, the processing unit 702 is specifically configured to:

receiving, by the communication unit 701, indication information sent by a network device; the indication information is used for indicating a synchronization mode;

and determining the target synchronization priority configuration information in a plurality of synchronization priority configuration information according to the synchronization mode indicated by the indication information.

In one embodiment, the terminal 700 is capable of implementing the synchronization method as shown in fig. 4. In this embodiment, the processing unit 702 is configured to execute, by the communication unit 701:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, determining a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source;

searching for a synchronization signal within the first time range.

Optionally, the starting position of the first time range is before the first time domain position, or is equal to the first time domain position; and/or the end position of the first time range is located after or equal to a second time domain position;

Optionally, the processing unit 702 is further configured to:

and when the synchronous signals of any equipment are not searched in the first time range, searching the synchronous signals in all time units in a fourth time range.

searching for a synchronization signal of at least one device of a target class when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; and the sequence of the synchronous signals of the at least one target class of equipment is within a set signal sequence range, and the synchronous priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronous priority of the first terminal.

when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched, the synchronous signal within the set signal sequence range is searched. The set signal sequence range is a signal sequence range in which a sequence of a synchronization signal of at least one target class of equipment is located, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

In an embodiment, the processing unit 702 may be configured to perform, by the communication unit 701:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, configuring information of the synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority level and searching the synchronization signal; the target synchronization priority configuration information is used for indicating the synchronization priority of different kinds of equipment;

searching for a synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority configuration information, comprising:

searching for a synchronization signal of at least one device of a target class when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; the sequence of the synchronization signals of the at least one target class of equipment is located in a set signal sequence range, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to that of the first terminal; or alternatively

When the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched, the synchronous signal in the set signal sequence range is searched. The set signal sequence range is a signal sequence range in which a sequence of a synchronization signal of at least one target class of equipment is located, and the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, which includes a unit for executing the steps of the synchronization method provided in the above embodiments and examples. Illustratively, the structure of the communication device may be the same as the terminal 700 shown in fig. 7.

It should be noted that, the division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and in actual implementation, there may be another division manner, and in addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method of the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Based on the same technical concept, the embodiment of the present application further provides a terminal, which may be applied in the application scenario shown in fig. 2. The terminal can implement the methods provided by the above embodiments and examples, and has the functions of the terminal 700 provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 7. Referring to fig. 8, a terminal 800 includes: a transceiver 801, a processor 802, and a memory 803. The transceiver 801, the processor 802 and the memory 803 are connected to each other.

Optionally, the transceiver 801, the processor 802 and the memory 803 are connected to each other via a bus 804. The bus 804 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 8, but that does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

The transceiver 801 is used for receiving and transmitting signals to realize communication with other devices. The transceiver 801 may be connected to an antenna to enable signal transmission.

The processor 802 is configured to implement the synchronization method provided in the above embodiments or examples, and specific functions may refer to the description in the above embodiments, which are not described herein again.

The processor 802 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), or a combination of the CPU and the NP. The processor 802 may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof. When the processor 802 implements the above functions, it may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software.

The memory 803 stores program instructions and the like. In particular, the program instructions may include program code comprising computer operational instructions. The memory 803 may include a Random Access Memory (RAM) and may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk memory. The processor 802 executes the program instructions stored in the memory 803 to implement the above functions, thereby implementing the methods provided by the above embodiments.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, which includes at least one processing element and at least one storage element, where the at least one storage element is configured to store a program and data, and the at least one processing element is configured to execute the steps of the synchronization method described in any embodiment of the present application. Illustratively, the structure of the communication device may be the same as the terminal 800 shown in fig. 8.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the present application further provides a computer program, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method provided by the foregoing embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer program causes the computer to execute the method provided by the above embodiments.

A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limiting: computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a chip, where the chip is used to read a computer program stored in a memory, and implement the method provided by the above embodiments.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the present application provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, and is used to support a computer device to implement the functions related to the communication device in the foregoing embodiments. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system may be constituted by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In summary, the embodiments of the present application provide a synchronization method and device. In the method, the synchronization priority of a first type of equipment in target synchronization priority configuration information of a terminal to be synchronized is the highest, and the synchronization priority of a second type of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of a third type of equipment. The third type of equipment is a terminal synchronized to the first type of equipment; the first type of equipment is GNSS, and the second type of equipment is a base station; or the first type of equipment is a base station and the second type of equipment is a GNSS. In this way, the terminal to be synchronized can be preferentially synchronized to the second type of device under the condition that the terminal to be synchronized cannot be synchronized to the first type of device. Since the second type of device is a base station or a GNSS, the terminal to be synchronized does not need to search for a synchronization signal of the second type of device by a full search when the terminal to be synchronized is not synchronized to the first type of device, and does not need to perform a full search when the terminal to be synchronized uses the second type of device as a synchronization source. Therefore, the method can obviously reduce the probability of the terminal to be synchronized performing the full search, namely, reduce the chance of the terminal to be synchronized searching for the synchronization signal, thereby reducing the power consumption caused by performing the full search.

Further, when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, the terminal device may determine a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source, and search for the synchronization signal in the first time range. Because the terminal to be synchronized does not search for the synchronization signal outside the first time range, compared with the traditional full search, the implementation mode can greatly reduce the time for the terminal to be synchronized to execute the full search, thereby obviously reducing the power consumption of the terminal to be synchronized.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A synchronization method is applied to a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system, and is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in the target synchronization priority configuration information, the synchronization priority of the first type device is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the second type device, and the synchronization priority of the first type device is higher than the synchronization priority of the third type device; synchronizing according to the synchronization priority configuration information, comprising:

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein prior to determining target synchronization priority configuration information, the method further comprises:

searching a synchronous signal of a target terminal, wherein the target terminal is a terminal of a base station in a synchronous Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication mode, or the target terminal is positioned in the coverage range of the base station in the TDD communication mode; or

And searching for the synchronization signal of the second type of equipment.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the second type of device is a base station in TDD communication mode when the first type of device is GNSS.

5. The method of claims 1-4, wherein synchronizing according to the target synchronization priority configuration information comprises:

searching for a synchronization signal within the first time range.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the synchronization information of the current synchronization source comprises a synchronization signal time domain information, the synchronization signal time domain information is used to indicate a first time length, and the first time length is a time length of the synchronization signal transmitted by the current synchronization source;

determining a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source, including:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a starting position of the first time range is located before or equal to a first time domain position; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the end position of the first time range is located after, or equal to, a second time domain position;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in the second time range; and/or, the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in a third time range;

9. The method of any one of claims 5-8, further comprising:

10. The method of any of claims 5-9, wherein searching for a synchronization signal comprises:

searching for a synchronization signal of at least one device of a target class when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; the synchronization priority of each target class of equipment is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal, and the first terminal belongs to the third class of equipment or the fourth class of equipment.

11. The method of any of claims 5-9, wherein searching for a synchronization signal comprises:

when the synchronous signal of the first terminal is searched, the synchronous signal within the set signal sequence range is searched.

12. The method of any of claims 1-11, wherein determining target synchronization priority configuration information comprises:

receiving indication information sent by network equipment; the indication information is used for indicating a synchronization mode;

13. A synchronization method applied to a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system, the method comprising:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is a terminal, determining a first time range according to the synchronization information of the current synchronization source;

searching for a synchronization signal within the first time range.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the synchronization information of the current synchronization source comprises a synchronization signal time domain information indicating a first duration, the first duration being a duration of a synchronization signal transmitted by the current synchronization source;

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a starting position of the first time range is prior to the first time domain position or equal to the first time domain position; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in the second time range; and/or, the first time range includes some or all of the symbols in a third time range;

17. The method of any one of claims 13-16, further comprising:

18. The method of any one of claims 13-17, wherein searching for a synchronization signal comprises:

searching for a synchronization signal of at least one device of a target class when the synchronization signal of the first terminal is searched; wherein the synchronization priority of the device of each target class is higher than or equal to the synchronization priority of the first terminal.

19. The method of any one of claims 13-17, wherein searching for a synchronization signal comprises:

20. A synchronization method applied to a terminal to be synchronized in a sidelink communication system, the method comprising:

when the current synchronization source of the terminal to be synchronized is the terminal, configuring information for searching a synchronization signal according to the target synchronization priority; wherein the target synchronization priority configuration information is used to indicate synchronization priorities of different kinds of devices;

21. A terminal, comprising:

a transceiver for receiving and transmitting signals;

a memory for storing program instructions and data;

a processor for reading program instructions and data in the memory, the method of any one of claims 1-20 being implemented by the transceiver.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method of any one of claims 1 to 20.

23. A chip, wherein the chip is coupled to a memory, wherein the chip reads a computer program stored in the memory and executes the method of any one of claims 1-20.