It is noteworthy that, the bandwidth supported by the terminal may refer to the initial access bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the base station may broadcast the MIB. The MIB may include the frequency domain resource index. For example, eight bits of specific bits in the MIB can be used, in which four bits correspond to the frequency domain resource index, and the other four bits correspond to the time domain resource index.

In an embodiment, the first correlation relationship may be stored in advance in the first terminal, and the second correlation relationship may be stored in advance in the second terminal, and the first correlation relationship may be different from the second correlation relationship. The first correlation relationship and the second correlation relationship may be tables, and the table records the correlation relationship between the frequency domain resource indexes and the frequency domain resource information. The first table and the second table may be completely different or may be partially different and partially the same.

Certainly, the first correlation relationship and the second correlation relationship may also be in other forms in addition to table. Below, embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated by taking that the first correlation relationship is the first table and the second correlation relationship is the second table as an example.

According to embodiments of the disclosure, before broadcasting the MIB, the base station has configured the first CORESET #0 on the first frequency domain resource and has configured the second CORESET #0 on the second frequency domain resource. Before the terminal receives the MIB broadcasted by the base station, the first table and the second table have been pre-stored, and the first table and the second table each record a correspondence relationship between indexes and the frequency domain resource information. The frequency domain resource information includes, but is not limited to, number of resource blocks (RBs), number of symbols and offset.

Based on the frequency domain resource information, on one hand, the terminal may determine the bandwidth indicated by the base station based on for example the number of RBs and other parameters, and on the other hand, the terminal may determine the frequency domain resource of the CORESET #0 indicated by the base station based on for example the number of RBs, the number of symbols and the offset.

The first table may be different from the second table. The terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth may have the first table stored therein, and thus the first frequency domain resource information may be determined from the first table based on the frequency domain resource index and a frequency domain resource location of the first CORESET #0 may be determined based on the first frequency domain resource information. The terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth may have the second table stored therein, and thus the second frequency domain resource information may be determined from the second table based on the frequency domain resource index, and a frequency domain resource location of the second CORESET #0 may be determined based on the second frequency domain resource information.

Accordingly, both the terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth and the terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth may determine respective frequency domain resource locations of the CORESET #0, and further both terminals can access the base station. In addition, the base station may indicate the different frequency domain resource locations of the CORESET #0 respectively to these two types of terminals through one frequency domain resource index without the need of broadcasting two indexes, which is beneficial to avoiding waste of communication resources.

In addition, to ensure both the UE supporting the initial access bandwidth greater than or equal to 20 M and the UE supporting the initial access bandwidth less than 20 M to determine respective CORESET #0 indicated by the base station and further to access the base station, the following manner is proposed in the related art.

The initial access bandwidths indicated by the base station through broadcasting are all less than 20 M, which brings restrictions on the UE supporting the initial access bandwidth greater than or equal to 20 M, and thus the flexibility is low.

According to embodiments, for the terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth, the bandwidth indicated by the base station through broadcasting is less than the preset bandwidth. For the terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth, the bandwidth indicated by the base station through broadcasting may be less than, or greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth, which will not bring restrictions on the terminal.

In some examples, target frequency domain information whose bandwidth is less than the preset bandwidth in the second frequency domain resource information is the same as first target information associated with a target index corresponding to the target frequency domain information in the first frequency domain resource information.

In an embodiment, the first correlation relationship and the second correlation relationship may be partially the same. For example, if the first correlation relationship is the first table and the second correlation relationship is the second table, the first table and the second table may be partially the same.

As described in the above embodiments, based on the frequency domain resource information, on one hand, the terminals may determine the bandwidth indicated by the base station; and on the other hand, the terminals may determine respective frequency domain resources of the CORESET #0 indicated by the base station. The bandwidth indicated by the base station to each terminal through the frequency domain resource index may be not a single bandwidth but a plurality of bandwidths.

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating a second table according to embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating a first table according to embodiments of the disclosure.

In an embodiment, the second correlation relationship pre-stored in a terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth is the second table, and the second table may be as illustrated in FIG. 5A. The second table include 16 indexes, i.e., 0 to 15. The bandwidths indicated by the base station that are determined by the terminal according to the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes 0 to 11 are all less than the preset bandwidth. For example, the bandwidths are all less than 20 M. The bandwidths indicated by the base station that are determined by the terminal according to the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes from 12 to 15 are all greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth. For example, the bandwidths are all greater than or equal to 20 M.

In the second table illustrated as FIG. 5A, the bandwidths indicated by the base station that are determined based on the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes from 0 to 11 are all less than the preset bandwidth, which means that the bandwidths corresponding to these second frequency domain resource information in the second table are all less than the preset bandwidth, so that these second frequency domain resource information are used as the target frequency domain information, and target indexes corresponding to the target frequency domain information are 0 to 11.

Since the bandwidths indicated by the base station that are determined according to the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes 0 to 11 in the second table are all less than the preset bandwidth, these second frequency domain resource information corresponding to indexes 1 to 11 in the second table are used as the target frequency domain information and the target frequency domain information also may be applicable to the terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth. Therefore, in the first table that is pre-stored in the terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth, the first frequency domain resource information corresponding to the target indexes may be the same as the target frequency domain information.

For example, the first table is illustrated as FIG. 5B, which includes 16 indexes, 0 to 15. The frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes 0 to 11 in the first table is the same as the frequency domain resource information (i.e., the target frequency domain information) corresponding to the indexes 0 to 11 in the second table, and the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes 12 to 15 in the first table is different from the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes 12 to 15 in the second table.

Accordingly, in the first correlation relationship and the second correlation relationship, the contents applicable to the terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth are the same, and the contents applicable to the terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth are the same, which may reduce complexity when configuring the first correlation relationship and the second correlation relationship.

It is noteworthy that, in FIG. 5B, the frequency domain resource information corresponding to the indexes 12 to 15 is not blank, and the blanks in FIG. 5B represent that these frequency domain resource information may be set based on specific situations.

In some embodiments, the first correlation relationship and/or the second correlation relationship is a table.

In some embodiments, the terminal stores the first correlation relationship in advance in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being less than the preset bandwidth, and/or the terminal stores the second correlation relationship in advance in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart illustrating another method for determining a resource according to embodiments of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the method further includes the following.

In step S204, a time domain resource index is determined based on an MIB.

In step S205, first time domain resource information associated with the time domain resource index is determined based on a third correlation relationship, and a first time domain resource of a first CORESET #0 is determined based on the first time domain resource information, in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being less than the preset bandwidth.

In step S206, second time domain resource information associated with the time domain resource index is determined based on a fourth correlation relationship, and a second time domain resource of a second CORESET #0 is determined based on the second time domain resource information, in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being greater than the preset bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the MIB broadcasted by the base station further includes a time domain resource index. For example, eight bits of specific bits in the MIB are used, in which four bits correspond to a frequency domain resource index, and the other four bits correspond to the time domain resource index.

In an embodiment, the third correlation relationship may be stored in the first terminal in advance, the fourth correlation relationship may be stored in the second terminal in advance, and the third correlation relationship may be different from the fourth correlation relationship. The third correlation relationship and the fourth correlation relationship may each be a table, and the table records the correlation relationship between the time domain resource indexes and the time domain resource information. The third table and the fourth table may be completely different or may be partially different and partially the same.

Certainly, the third correlation relationship and the fourth correlation relationship may be may be in other forms in addition to a table. Below, embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated by taking that the third correlation relationship is the third table and the fourth correlation relationship is the fourth table as an example

According to embodiments of the disclosure, the base station has configured the first CORESET #0 on a first time-frequency resource and configured the second CORESET #0 on a second time-frequency resource before broadcasting the MIB. However, in the above embodiments, the first terminal only determines the first frequency domain resource in the first time-frequency resource based on the first frequency resource information, but the first time-frequency resource further corresponds to the time domain resource.

Therefore, in order to exactly determine the first time-frequency resource of the first CORESET #0, the first time domain resource of the first CORESET #0 may be determined based on the first time domain resource information, and the first time-frequency resource of the first CORESET #0 may be exactly determined based on both the first frequency domain resource and the first time domain resource.

Correspondingly, the second time domain resource of the second CORESET #0 is determined based on the second time domain resource information, and the second time-frequency resource of the second CORESET #0 may be exactly determined based on both the second frequency domain resource and the second time domain resource.

In some embodiments, the third correlation relationship and/or the fourth correlation relationship is a table.

In some embodiments, the terminal stores the third correlation relationship in advance, and/or the terminal stores the fourth correlation relationship in advance.

Corresponding to the above embodiments of the method for indicating the resource and the method for determining the resource, an apparatus for indicating a resource and an apparatus for determining a resource are further provided in the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus for indicating a resource according to embodiments of the disclosure. The apparatus according to the embodiments may be applicable to a base station. The base station may be a 5G base station, and the base station may communicate with a user equipment (UE). The UE may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of things device and other electronic devices.

In an embodiment, the “terminal” as described in the below embodiments refer to a Reduced Capability NR Devices (REDCAP). For this type of UEs, initial access bandwidths supported by different UEs may be different. For example, the initial access bandwidths supported by some UEs are greater than or equal to a preset bandwidth and the initial access bandwidths supported by some UEs are less than the preset bandwidth. The preset bandwidth may be 20 M.

As illustrated FIG. 7, the apparatus for indicating the resource may include a first configuring module 101 and a first broadcasting module 102.

The first configuring module 101 is configured to configure a first Control Resource Set Zero (CORESET #0) on a first time-frequency resource and configure a second CORESET #0 on a second time-frequency resource, in response to allowing a first terminal supporting a bandwidth greater than or equal to a preset bandwidth to access and allowing a second terminal supporting a bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth to access.

The first broadcasting module 102 is configured to broadcast a first index, to indicate the first time-frequency resource to the first terminal and to indicate the second time-frequency resource to the second terminal.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating another apparatus for indicating a resource according to embodiments of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the apparatus further includes a second configuring module 103 and a second broadcasting module 104.

The second configuring module 103 is configured to configure the first CORESET #0 on the first time-frequency resource, in response to allowing the first terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to a preset bandwidth to access and not allowing the second terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth to access.

The second broadcasting module 104 is configured to broadcast a second index, to indicate the first time domain resource to the first terminal.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating another apparatus for indicating a resource according to embodiments of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the apparatus further includes a setting module 105.

The setting module 105 is configured to, based on a received setting command, allow the first terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to a preset bandwidth to access and allow the second terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth to access, or allow the first terminal supporting the bandwidth greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth to access and not allow the second terminal supporting the bandwidth less than the preset bandwidth to access.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus for determining a resource according to embodiments of the disclosure. The apparatus according to embodiments may be applicable to a terminal. The terminal can be a user equipment (UE) to communicate with a base station. The base station may be a 5G base station, and the terminal may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of things device and other electronic devices.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the apparatus for determining the resource may include a first index determining module 201, a first frequency domain determining module 202 and a second frequency domain determining module 203.

The first index determining module 201 is configured to receive a Master Information Block (MIB) broadcasted by a base station, and determine a frequency domain resource index based on the MIB.

The first frequency domain determining module 202 is configured to determine first frequency domain resource information associated with the frequency domain resource index based on a first correlation relationship, and determine a first frequency domain resource of a first CORESET #0 based on the first frequency domain resource information, in response to a bandwidth supported by the terminal being less than a preset bandwidth. The bandwidth corresponding to the first frequency domain resource information is less than the preset bandwidth.

The second frequency domain determining module 203 is configured to determine second frequency domain resource information associated with the frequency domain resource index based on a second correlation relationship, and determine a second frequency domain resource of a second CORESET #0 based on the second frequency domain resource information, in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth. The bandwidth corresponding to the second frequency domain resource information is less than, or equal to, or greater than the preset bandwidth.

In some embodiments, target frequency domain information whose bandwidth is less than the preset bandwidth in the second frequency domain resource information is the same as first target information associated with a target index corresponding to the target frequency domain information in the first frequency domain resource information.

In some embodiments, the first correlation relationship and/or the second correlation relationship is a table.

In some embodiments, the terminal stores the first correlation relationship in advance in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being less than the preset bandwidth, and/or the terminal stores the second correlation relationship in advance in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being greater than or equal to the preset bandwidth.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a second index determining module 204, a first time domain determining module 205 and a second time domain determining module 206.

The second index determining module 204 is configured to determine a time domain resource index based on the MIB.

The first time domain determining module 205 is configured to determine first time domain resource information associated with the time domain resource index based on a third correlation relationship, and determine a first time domain resource of a first CORESET #0 based on the first time domain source information, in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being less than the preset bandwidth.

The second time domain determining module 206 is configured to determine second time domain resource information associated with the time domain resource index based on a fourth correlation relationship, and determine a second time domain resource of a second CORESET #0 based on the second time domain resource information, in response to the bandwidth supported by the terminal being greater than the preset bandwidth.

In some embodiments, the third correlation relationship and/or the fourth correlation relationship is a table.

In some embodiments, the terminal stores the third correlation relationship in advance, and/or the terminal stores the fourth correlation relationship in advance.

With regard to the apparatus in the above embodiments, the specific way each module performs the operation has been described in detail in the embodiments of the method and will not be elaborated here.

The embodiments of the apparatus refers to part descriptions of embodiments of the method since they corresponds to the embodiments of the method. The embodiments of the apparatus described above are only schematic, in which the above modules described as separate parts may or may not be physically separated, the parts shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network modules. Some or all modules may be selected according to the actual requirements to achieve the purpose of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art may understand and implement it without any creative effort.