Patent Description:
With development of the mobile communications technology and popularization of multi-frequency remote radio units (remote radio unit, RRU), an increasing quantity of network devices implement configuration of a plurality of carriers for a same transmit power amplifier.

In the prior art, for carriers sharing the same transmit power amplifier, the network device calculates a remaining transmit power of each carrier in a next scheduling period based on a percentage of a remaining transmit power in a historical scheduling period of the carrier, and the remaining transmit power of the carrier is used as a basis for determining transmit power sharing between carriers in the next scheduling period. The power sharing method has low accuracy. Therefore, how to improve accuracy of transmit power calculation and further improve accuracy of the transmit power sharing becomes an urgent problem to be resolved.

<CIT> discloses a method in a base station for calculating a power relating to a first radio access. The power is to be shared with a second radio access within the base station. The base station communicates with a number of user equipments using the first radio access. When the base station has estimated a statistic power distribution of transmit power to said user equipments during a time interval, it calculates a margin of power not to be shared with the second radio access, based on the estimated statistic power distribution. The base station further calculates a power to be shared with the second radio access based on the margin of power.

<CIT> discloses a power sharing method and a base station. The method comprises the following steps of: according to a power demand of the communication systems of at least one mode among communication systems of different modes sharing a same power amplifier, determining whether to perform power sharing among communication systems of different modes; if it is determined to perform power sharing among communication systems of different modes, adjusting an available power of communication systems of one or more modes therein. According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, when it is determined to perform the power sharing according to the power demands, power sharing is performed among communication systems of different modes, thereby realizing dynamic and flexible power sharing among communication systems of at least two modes.

This application provides a power sharing method and apparatus, to improve accuracy of transmit power sharing.

According to a first aspect, a power sharing method is provided according to claim <NUM>.

According to the power sharing method in this embodiment of this application, a remaining second transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period is calculated based on the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices, so that accuracy of transmit power calculation can be improved, and transmit power sharing can be performed based on the second transmit power obtained through calculation, thereby improving accuracy of the transmit power sharing.

According to the power sharing method in this embodiment of this application, the first carrier and the another carrier in the transmit power sharing group exchange, in the broadcast manner, the sharable transmit power of the first carrier and the sharable transmit power of the another carrier, and each carrier directly broadcasts, in the transmit power sharing group, the sharable transmit power of the carrier, so that all carriers in the transmit power sharing group can directly exchange information about the sharable transmit power. There is no need to configure a scheduler for each carrier in the transmit power sharing group, thereby improving reliability of the transmit power sharing in the transmit power sharing group.

It should be understood that the another carrier in the transmit power sharing group refers to at least one carrier, other than the first carrier, in the transmit power sharing group. The sharable transmit power refers to a transmit power that the carrier may provide for the another carrier in the transmit power sharing group, or a transmit power that the carrier needs to provide for the another carrier in the transmit power sharing group. That the sharable transmit power of the first carrier and the sharable transmit power of the another carrier are exchanged in the broadcast manner means that: the sharable transmit power of each carrier does not need to be specifically sent to a carrier, but a message is sent to a carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

It should be understood that the first carrier is merely an example, and the first carrier is any carrier in the transmit power sharing group. In other words, it may be understood that any carrier in the transmit power sharing group may determine, based on a sharable transmit power obtained by the carrier through calculation and received information that is broadcast by another carrier in the transmit power sharing group and that is about the sharable transmit power, an actually shared transmit power of the carrier.

It should be further understood that, a carrier in the transmit power sharing group sends, to another carrier in the transmit power sharing group in the broadcast manner, the sharable transmit power of the carrier, which can improve reliability of the message about the sharable transmit power, and reduce a delay in sending the message about the sharable transmit power.

In a possible design, the power sharing apparatus is provided according to claim <NUM>.

According to a fourth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided according to claim <NUM>.

According to the power sharing method and the power sharing apparatus in the embodiments of this application, a remaining transmit power in a scheduling period is calculated based on the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices, so that accuracy of transmit power calculation can be improved, thereby improving accuracy of transmit power sharing.

First, several basic concepts in this application are described.

A transmit power sharing-out carrier means that in a scheduling period in which the carrier schedules terminal devices, the carrier shares a remaining transmit power with another carrier, where the carrier and the another carrier belong to a same transmit power sharing group.

A transmit power sharing-in carrier means that in a scheduling period in which the carrier schedules terminal devices, the carrier shares a remaining transmit power of another carrier, where the carrier and the another carrier belong to a same transmit power sharing group.

A transmit power non-sharing carrier means that in a scheduling period in which the carrier schedules terminal devices, the carrier does not share a remaining transmit power of another carrier, where the carrier and the another carrier belong to a same transmit power sharing group, and no remaining transmit power of the carrier is shared to the another carrier that belongs to the same transmit power sharing group.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application may be applied to various communications systems, for example, a global system for mobile communications (global system of mobile communication, GSM), a code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, a general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) system, a universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX) communications system, a 5th generation (5th generation, <NUM>) system, or a new radio (new radio, NR).

For ease of understanding the embodiments of this application, a communications system applicable to the embodiments of this application is described in detail with reference to <FIG> is a schematic diagram of a communications system <NUM> applicable to a power sharing method in an embodiment of this application.

As shown in <FIG>, the communications system <NUM> includes a network device <NUM>, and the network device <NUM> may include a plurality of antennas. In addition, the network device <NUM> may additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain. A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that both the transmitter chain and the receiver chain may include a plurality of components (such as a processor, a modulator, a multiplexer, a demodulator, a demultiplexer, or an antenna) related to signal sending and receiving.

It should be understood that the network device may be any device that has a wireless transceiver function or a chip that can be disposed in the device. The device includes but is not limited to a network device (base transceiver station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM) or in code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), or may be a NodeB (NodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, or an evolved NodeB (evolved NodeB, eNB, or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a <NUM> network, a network device in a evolved PLMN network, or the like. This is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

The network device <NUM> may communicate with a plurality of terminal devices (for example, a terminal device 120a to a terminal device 120n). The network device <NUM> may communicate with any quantity of terminal devices similar to the terminal device 120a.

The communications system <NUM> further includes a terminal device <NUM> (the terminal device 120a to the terminal device 120n shown in <FIG>), and the terminal device <NUM> may also include a plurality of antennas. In addition, the terminal device <NUM> may additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain. A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that both the transmitter chain and the receiver chain may include a plurality of components (such as a processor, a modulator, a multiplexer, a demodulator, a demultiplexer, or an antenna) related to signal sending and receiving.

It should be understood that the terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (user equipment, UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile console, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communications device, a user agent, or a user apparatus. The terminal device in the embodiments of this application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet (Pad), a computer having a wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in telemedicine (remote medical), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), or the like. An application scenario is not limited in the embodiments of this application. In this application, the foregoing terminal device and a chip that can be disposed in the foregoing terminal device are collectively referred to as a terminal device.

In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a memory management unit (memory management unit, MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement service processing by using a process (process), for example, a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a Windows operating system. The application layer includes applications such as a browser, an address book, word processing software, and instant communications software. In addition, a specific structure of an execution body of the method provided in the embodiments of this application is not specifically limited in the embodiments of this application, provided that a program that records code of the method provided in the embodiments of this application can be run to perform communication according to the method provided in the embodiments of this application. For example, the execution body of the method provided in the embodiments of this application may be the terminal device or the network device, or a function module that can invoke and execute the program in the terminal device or the network device.

In addition, aspects or features of this application may be implemented as a method, an apparatus, or a product that uses standard programming and/or engineering technologies. The term "product" used in this application covers a computer program that can be accessed from any computer-readable component, carrier or medium. For example, the computer-readable medium may include but is not limited to: a magnetic storage component (for example, a hard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical disc (for example, a compact disc (compact disc, CD) or a digital versatile disc (digital versatile disc, DVD)), a smart card and a flash memory component (for example, an erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable programmable read-only memory, EPROM), a card, a stick, or a key drive). In addition, various storage media described in this specification may indicate one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media that are configured to store information. The term "machine-readable storage media" may include but is not limited to a radio channel, and various other media that can store, include, and/or carry an instruction and/or data.

As shown in <FIG>, the network device <NUM> communicates with the terminal device <NUM> by using a carrier. Specifically, the network device <NUM> communicates with the terminal device 120a by using a carrier <NUM>, the network device <NUM> communicates with a terminal device 120b by using a carrier <NUM>, and the network device <NUM> communicates with the terminal device 120n by using a carrier n.

This embodiment of this application is applicable to downlink data transmission in the communications system <NUM>. A plurality of carriers share one transmit power amplifier.

For example, the carrier <NUM>, the carrier <NUM>, and the carrier n share one transmit power amplifier (power amplifier, PA) PA <NUM>.

In addition, the communications system <NUM> may be a public land mobile network (PLMN), a device-to-device (device to device, D2D) network, a machine-to-machine (machine to machine, M2M) network, or another network. <FIG> is merely a simplified schematic diagram of an example used for ease of understanding, and the network may further include another network device or another terminal device that is not shown in <FIG>.

With development of the mobile communications technology and popularization of the multi-frequency radio remote unit (remote radio unit, RRU), an increasing quantity of network devices <NUM> implement a scenario in which a same PA is configured with a plurality of carriers.

Each carrier can use only a maximum transmit power statically configured by the network device <NUM> for the carrier. Therefore, when the terminal device <NUM> is scheduled on the carrier, the scheduling is limited by the maximum transmit power.

In a mobile communications system, a transmit power is related to coverage, a capacity, and costs of a system. If the transmit power of the carrier cannot meet a requirement of the terminal device <NUM>, experience of the terminal device <NUM> deteriorates. On the contrary, if the transmit power of the carrier is greater than the requirement of the terminal device <NUM>, a waste of the transmit power is caused.

Therefore, without increasing costs, dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers is used to improve a capacity and PA usage efficiency of the communications system.

The dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers includes: allowing a carrier that requires a high transmit power to use a remaining transmit power of a carrier that requires a low transmit power.

With reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the following briefly describes a method of dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers in the prior art.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a method of dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers. The schematic diagram includes a super scheduler, a branch scheduler <NUM>, and a branch scheduler <NUM>, and further includes six steps: S210 to S231.

The following describes the six steps in detail with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>.

The branch scheduler <NUM> corresponds to a carrier <NUM>, the branch scheduler <NUM> corresponds to a carrier <NUM>, and the super scheduler corresponds to a PA, and is configured to coordinate transmit powers of a plurality of carriers that share one PA.

S210: The branch scheduler <NUM> calculates an average transmit power used by the carrier <NUM>, and calculates a percentage of a remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

For example, <FIG> is a schematic diagram of a time window of dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers. As shown in <FIG>, in a transmit power sharing period <NUM>, the branch scheduler <NUM> may calculate, based on transmit power usage of the carrier <NUM>, a percentage of the average transmit power used by the carrier <NUM> in an initially configured transmit power, and calculate, based on the obtained percentage of the average used transmit power in the initially configured transmit power, a percentage of the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

For example, if the initially configured transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is A1, and the average transmit power used in the transmit power sharing period <NUM> is a1, the percentage of the average used transmit power in the initially configured transmit power is (a1/A1) * <NUM>%, and the percentage of the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is <NUM> - (a1/A1) * <NUM>%.

S211: The branch scheduler <NUM> calculates an average transmit power used by the carrier <NUM>, and calculates a percentage of a remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, in the transmit power sharing period <NUM>, a percentage of the average used transmit power in the initially configured transmit power may be calculated based on transmit power usage of the carrier <NUM>, and a percentage of the remaining transmit power may be calculated based on the obtained percentage of the average used transmit power in the initially configured transmit power.

For example, if the initially configured transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is B1, and the average transmit power used in the transmit power sharing period <NUM> is b1, the percentage of the average used transmit power in the initially configured transmit power is (b1/B1) * <NUM>%, and the percentage of the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is <NUM> - (b1/B1) * <NUM>%.

S220: The branch scheduler <NUM> reports the percentage of the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

For example, the branch scheduler shown in <FIG> reports a moment of the percentage of the remaining transmit power. The branch scheduler <NUM> reports, to the super scheduler, the percentage of the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

S221: The branch scheduler <NUM> reports the percentage of the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

S230: The super scheduler delivers a transmit power sharing policy to the branch scheduler <NUM>.

The super scheduler sets the transmit power sharing policy for all branch schedulers and delivers the transmit power sharing policy to the branch scheduler <NUM>. The branch scheduler <NUM> schedules, in a next transmit power sharing period, a user based on the received transmit power sharing policy.

S231: The super scheduler delivers the transmit power sharing policy to the branch scheduler <NUM>.

The super scheduler sets the transmit power sharing policy for all the branch schedulers and delivers the transmit power sharing policy to the branch scheduler <NUM>. The branch scheduler <NUM> schedules, in a next transmit power sharing period, the user equipment based on the received transmit power sharing policy.

For example, after the super scheduler shown in <FIG> delivers the transmit power sharing policy to the branch scheduler <NUM> and the branch scheduler <NUM>, the carrier <NUM> and the carrier <NUM> schedule, at an effective moment of the transmit power sharing, and in a transmit power sharing period <NUM>, the user equipment based on the received transmit power sharing policy.

The transmit power sharing policy may be that, the carrier <NUM> in which the percentage of the remaining transmit power is less than a preset first threshold shares, in the transmit power sharing period <NUM>, the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM> in which the percentage of the remaining transmit power is greater than a preset second threshold.

The method of dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers shown in <FIG> and <FIG> includes the following steps.

First, the super scheduler sets the transmit power sharing policy based on the percentage of the remaining transmit power reported by the branch scheduler, and the foregoing percentage of the remaining transmit power is determined based on a percentage of a remaining transmit power of each carrier in a previous period. Therefore, for a next period, the historical basis lags behind. Consequently accuracy of predicting a transmit power requirement in the prior art is relatively low.

Second, because the super scheduler is used to determine the sharing policy for all the branch schedulers, reliability of determining the sharing policy in the centralized manner depends on the super scheduler. Once the super scheduler is faulty, transmit power sharing between carriers cannot be performed at all. Therefore, reliability of the prior art is relatively low.

In addition, from obtaining usage information of a transmit power of a corresponding carrier to receiving the sharing policy sent by the super scheduler, each branch scheduler needs at least twice a transmission delay between the branch scheduler and the super scheduler. Therefore, a message interaction delay in the prior art is relatively long.

To resolve the foregoing problem, this application provides a power sharing method. With reference to <FIG>, the following describes in detail a power sharing method provided in this application.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a power sharing method according to an embodiment of this application. The method includes S410 and S420.

The first transmit power is estimated based on a traffic volume of terminal devices to be scheduled in a first carrier in a first scheduling period, where the first transmit power is a transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices in the first scheduling period.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices may be determined by using a to-be-scheduled signalling radio bearer and/or a to-be-scheduled data radio bearer.

The following uses an example in which the first carrier is a carrier <NUM>, to describe how to estimate the first transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

An example in which the carrier <NUM> estimates, based on the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices, the first transmit power required in the carrier <NUM> in the first scheduling period is used to describe in detail a procedure of estimating the transmit power required in the first carrier in the first scheduling period in S410.

<FIG> is a schematic flowchart of estimating a first transmit power. The method includes four steps: S510 to S540.

S510: Determine whether the carrier <NUM> further includes a to-be-scheduled signalling radio bearer (signal radio bearer, SRB) and/or a to-be-scheduled data radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB).

If the carrier <NUM> further includes the to-be-scheduled SRB or the to-be-scheduled DRB, S520 is performed.

If the carrier <NUM> does not include the to-be-scheduled SRB or the to-be-scheduled DRB, S530 is performed.

Optionally, in some embodiments, that the first transmit power is estimated based on a traffic volume of terminal devices to be scheduled in a first carrier in a first scheduling period includes:
after completing scheduling the terminal devices in a second scheduling period, estimating the first transmit power based on the traffic volume of the terminal devices to be scheduled in the first carrier in the first scheduling period, where the first scheduling period is a next scheduling period of the second scheduling period.

In this case, the determining whether the carrier <NUM> further includes a to-be-scheduled SRB and/or a to-be-scheduled DRB may be performed after the scheduling of the terminal devices is completed in the second scheduling period.

Optionally, the second scheduling period may be an initial scheduling period, and the carrier <NUM> schedules the terminal devices based on an initial transmit power configured by a network device for the carrier <NUM>.

Optionally, the first scheduling period may be an initial scheduling period, and the carrier <NUM> schedules the terminal devices based on the initial transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM>.

S520: Calculate, based on the to-be-scheduled SRB or the to-be-scheduled DRB further included in the carrier <NUM>, a total quantity of RBs <MAT> occupied when the carrier <NUM> schedules the terminal devices in the first scheduling period and a quantity of RBs <MAT> occupied when the carrier <NUM> schedules to-be-scheduled terminal devices whose transmit power can be boosted in the first scheduling period.

The total quantity of RBs occupied when the carrier <NUM> schedules the terminal devices is related to scheduling types of the terminal devices.

The scheduling types of the terminal devices scheduled in the carrier <NUM> may include: semi-persistently scheduling, control message scheduling, hybrid automatic repeat request (hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ) retransmission scheduling, and dynamic initial transmission scheduling.

Optionally, the semi-persistently scheduling occupies a fixed time-frequency resource. For an activated semi-persistently scheduled terminal device, it is determined whether the first scheduling period is a scheduling period of the semi-persistently scheduled terminal device.

If the first scheduling period is the scheduling period of the semi-persistently scheduled terminal device, transmit power requirement information of the terminal device and a sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM> are estimated based on a quantity of RBs allocated to the terminal device.

If the first scheduling period is not the scheduling period of the semi-persistently scheduled terminal device, semi-persistently scheduled terminal devices to be activated or reactivated are traversed in descending order of waiting time lengths of the terminal devices.

If currently, utilization of a semi-persistently scheduled RB does not reach an upper limit, or a quantity of semi-persistently activated terminal devices does not reach an upper limit, and the terminal device currently has valid channel quality information (channel quality information, CQI) to report, a quantity of RBs of terminal devices to be activated or reactivated is estimated.

Optionally, the control message scheduling includes common control message scheduling and terminal-device-level control message scheduling.

A common control message includes a broadcast message, a paging message, and a random access reply message.

A terminal-device-level control message includes a signalling radio bearer <NUM> (signalling radio bearer <NUM>, SRB <NUM>), a signalling radio bearer <NUM> (signalling radio bearer <NUM>, SRB <NUM>), and a signalling radio bearer <NUM> (signalling radio bearer <NUM>, SRB <NUM>).

Specifically, a periodicity of the broadcast message is <NUM>, a quadrature phase shift keying (quadrature phase shift keying, QPSK) modulation mode is used, and the broadcast message is scheduled in a fixed subframe.

The paging message is related to a quantity of paging terminal devices, and the quantity of paging terminal devices in a next scheduling period is determined based on a paging frame and a paging occasion that are of each paging terminal device.

The random access reply message and the SRB <NUM> may be obtained by scanning a common control channel (common control channel, CCCH) linked list, to determine whether a random access response (random access response, RAR) message and the SRB <NUM> need to be sent.

Specifically, it is determined whether the first scheduling period is a scheduling period of the broadcast message, the paging message, the random access reply message, or the SRB <NUM>.

If the first scheduling period is the scheduling period of the broadcast message, the paging message, the random access reply message, or the SRB <NUM>, the quantity of RBs occupied for scheduling the terminal devices is calculated according to the following formula: <MAT>.

In the foregoing formula, TBScontrol is a transport block size (transport block size, TBS) of a control message, TB_CRC is a transport block cyclic redundancy code (cyclic redundancy code, CRC) check bit, CB_CRC is a code block CRC check bit, M is a modulation order, CRcontrol is a bit rate of the control message, and <MAT> is a quantity of resource elements (resource element, RE) used for data transmission in each RB.

Specifically, the SRB <NUM> and the SRB <NUM> may be obtained by scanning a dedicated control channel (dedicated control channel, DCCH) linked list, to determine whether there is a data volume of the SRB <NUM> and the SRB <NUM>.

If there is a data volume of the SRB <NUM> and the SRB <NUM>, processing is performed based on dynamic initial transmission scheduling. For an estimated quantity of RBs occupied when the control message is used to schedule the terminal devices, refer to the dynamic initial transmission scheduling.

Specifically, the HARQ retransmission scheduling needs to check whether a terminal device that is to perform retransmission exists in a retransmission chain of the second scheduling period. If a terminal device that is to perform retransmission exists in the retransmission chain of the second scheduling period, a quantity of RBs occupied for scheduling the terminal device that is to perform retransmission needs to be estimated.

If a last feedback of a retransmission transport block (transmission block, TB) is discontinuous transmission (discontinuous transmission, DTX) or the network service protocol (network services protocol, NSP), a retransmission MCS is consistent with that of initial transmission.

If a last feedback of a retransmission TB is a negative acknowledgment (negative acknowledgement, NACK), a retransmission MCS is a value that is output to retransmission scheduling after the current CQI is adjusted. A quantity of RBs required for the retransmission TB can be obtained by querying the table based on a retransmission TB size and the MCS.

Optionally, the dynamic initial transmission scheduling estimates, based on a remaining radio link control (radio link control, RLC) buffer (Buffer) data volume of the terminal devices to be scheduled in the carrier <NUM> and an MCS for initial transmission in the second scheduling period, a quantity of RBs required for initially transmitting data in the first scheduling period. A calculation formula is as follows: <MAT> where
K is a quantity of the terminal devices to be scheduled in the carrier <NUM> after the second scheduling period, <MAT> is a remaining RLC Buffer data volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices k after the second scheduling period, <MAT> is a quantity of REs used for data transmission in each RB, and ηk is spectral efficiency of to-be-scheduled terminal devices k.

If the terminal device is in the second scheduling period, the spectral efficiency is spectral efficiency to which the MCS in the second scheduling period is mapped. If the terminal device is not scheduled in the second scheduling period, the spectral efficiency is spectral efficiency to which the MCS is mapped, where the MCS is obtained after the CQI reported by the terminal device in the second scheduling period is adjusted.

It should be understood that, in the foregoing process of estimating the quantity of RBs occupied for scheduling the terminal device in each scheduling type, it is determined whether a to-be-scheduled terminal device is a terminal device whose transmit power can be boosted. If a to-be-scheduled terminal device is a terminal device whose transmit power can be boosted, a quantity of RBs required for scheduling the terminal device whose transmit power can be boosted is accumulated to a quantity, calculated by the carrier <NUM>, of RBs <MAT> that can be used to boost the transmit power. If the estimated quantity of occupied RBs <MAT> is greater than the total quantity of RBs <MAT> available for the carrier <NUM>, estimating the quantity of RBs is stopped, and <MAT> is set to the total quantity of RBs available for the carrier <NUM>, that is, <MAT>.

S530: Estimate a quantity of RBs occupied by the common control message scheduling in the first scheduling period.

Specifically, for the estimated quantity of RBs occupied by the common control message scheduling, refer to step S520.

S540: Calculate, based on the estimated quantity of RBs occupied for scheduling the terminal devices and the quantity of RBs that can be used to boost the transmit power, the first transmit power required in the carrier <NUM>.

Specifically, the transmit power occupied for scheduling the terminal devices is first calculated based on the estimated quantity of RBs occupied for scheduling the terminal devices and the transmit power allocated by each RB: <MAT>.

Then, a maximum boosted transmit power is calculated based on the quantity of RBs that can be used to boost the transmit power and a maximum boosted transmit power per RB: <MAT> where
<MAT> is a transmit power allocated by RBn, and is calculated based on PA and PB values of the terminal device to which the RB belongs. <MAT> is a maximum boosted transmit power of RBn, and is determined based on a scheduling type and a modulation scheme of the user equipment to which the RB belongs.

It should be understood that, that the first transmit power required in the first carrier in the first scheduling period is calculated based on the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices shown in <FIG> is only a specific implementation, and cannot limit the protection scope of this application. Another solution of calculating the first transmit power based on the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices also falls in the protection scope of this application.

The second transmit power is estimated based on the first transmit power and the initially configured transmit power, where the second transmit power is a remaining transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the first transmit power includes: an eighth transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices, and a ninth transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the terminal devices that are in the to-be-scheduled terminal devices and whose transmit power can be boosted.

The eighth transmit power is the transmit power that is occupied for scheduling the terminal devices and that is calculated based on the quantity of RBs occupied for scheduling the terminal devices and the transmit power allocated by each RB in S540.

The ninth transmit power is the maximum boosted transmit power calculated based on the quantity of RBs that can be used to boost the transmit power and the maximum boosted transmit power per RB in S540.

Specifically, the foregoing carrier <NUM> is used as an example to estimate the second transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

A sum of the transmit power <MAT> occupied for scheduling the terminal devices and the maximum boosted transmit power <MAT> is compared with the initially configured transmit power <MAT> of the carrier <NUM>:.

If <MAT>, the carrier <NUM> has a remaining transmit power, the carrier <NUM> is referred to as a transmit power sharing-out carrier, and the remaining transmit power is <MAT>.

If <MAT>, the carrier <NUM> has an additional requirement for the transmit power, the carrier <NUM> is referred to as a transmit power sharing-in carrier, and the additional required transmit power is <MAT>.

If <MAT>, the carrier <NUM> has no remaining transmit power, the carrier <NUM> has no additional requirement for the transmit power, and the carrier <NUM> is referred to as an unsolicited sharing carrier.

It should be understood that both the foregoing remaining transmit power and the additional required transmit power <MAT> may be referred to as a remaining second transmit power of the first carrier.

When the carrier <NUM> has an additional required transmit power, the second transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is a negative number.

When the carrier <NUM> has a remaining transmit power, the second transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is a positive number.

When the carrier <NUM> has no remaining transmit power, and the carrier <NUM> has no additional requirement for the transmit power, the second transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is <NUM>.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the first carrier and another carrier in a transmit power sharing group exchange, in a broadcast manner, a sharable transmit power of the first carrier and a sharable transmit power of the another carrier, to perform transmit power sharing, where the first carrier is any carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of this application, when carriers in the transmit power sharing group perform the transmit power sharing, each carrier broadcasts, in the transmit power sharing group, a sharable transmit power of the carrier, so that all carriers in the group can learn of the sharable transmit power of each carrier in the transmit power sharing group, thereby improving efficiency and reliability of transmit power sharing.

Further, the sharable transmit power of each carrier in the transmit power sharing group may be obtained through calculation based on the second transmit power.

A third transmit power is calculated based on the second transmit power and a preset shared transmit power, where the third transmit power is the sharable transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period.

For example, the foregoing carrier <NUM> is used as an example to calculate the sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM>.

Specifically, if the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier, a calculation formula for calculating the sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is as follows: <MAT> where
<MAT> is a maximum sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM>, and is a product of a preset maximum sharing-out amplitude ratio <MAT> and the initially configured transmit power <MAT> of the carrier <NUM>, that is, <MAT>.

It should be understood that, the setting of the maximum sharing-out amplitude ratio needs to ensure that the remaining transmit power of the carrier <NUM> can meet a requirement of transmitting a necessary signal such as a pilot signal.

Specifically, the carrier <NUM> needs to calculate a transmit power occupied by a cell-specific reference signal (cell-specific reference signal, CRS) on a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) symbol <NUM>, a transmit power occupied by a physical control format indicator channel (physical control format indicator channel, PCFICH), and a transmit power occupied by a (physical HARQ indicator channel, PHICH). The maximum sharing-out amplitude ratio of the carrier <NUM> needs to meet the following formula: <MAT>.

Specifically, if the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in carrier, a calculation formula for calculating the sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is as follows: <MAT> where
<MAT> is a maximum sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM>, and is a product of a preset maximum sharing-in amplitude ratio <MAT> and the initially configured transmit power <MAT> of the carrier, that is, <MAT>.

Optionally, when the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier, the sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is referred to as a sharing-out transmit power. When the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in carrier, the sharable transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is referred to as a sharing-in transmit power.

When the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier, it may be understood that a sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is the transmit power sharing-out carrier described above. When the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in carrier, it may be understood that a sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is the transmit power sharing-in carrier described above.

It should be understood that both the foregoing sharing-out transmit power <MAT> and sharing-in transmit power <MAT> may be referred to as a sharable third transmit power of the first carrier, and the foregoing maximum sharing-out transmit power <MAT> and maximum sharing-in transmit power <MAT> may be referred to as a preset shared transmit power of the first carrier.

When the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier, the third transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is a positive number.

When the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in carrier, the third transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is a negative number.

It should be understood that, in this application, when the carriers in the transmit power sharing group perform transmit power sharing, the sharable transmit power of each carrier is not limited to be definitely obtained through calculation based on the second transmit power, or as described in the foregoing <FIG> and <FIG>, the sharable transmit power of each carrier may be calculated based on the historical usage of the transmit power of the carrier.

In other words, the power sharing method provided in the embodiments of this application may be directly applied to the method of dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers shown in the foregoing <FIG> and <FIG>, and information transmission does not need to be performed by using a branch scheduler, instead, each carrier directly broadcasts, in the transmit power sharing group, the sharable transmit power of the carrier.

In this invention, information about the third transmit power is broadcast to the transmit power sharing group, where the first carrier is any carrier in the transmit power sharing group, and the transmit power sharing group includes a plurality of carriers. Information about a fourth transmit power is received, where the fourth transmit power is a sharable transmit power of another carrier, other than the first carrier, in the transmit power sharing group.

In this invention, a fifth transmit power is calculated based on the information about the third transmit power and the information about the fourth transmit power, where the fifth transmit power is an actually shared transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period.

Specifically, a sixth transmit power is calculated based on the fifth transmit power and the initially configured transmit power, where the sixth transmit power is a maximum transmit power in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices in the first scheduling period.

It should be understood that before the maximum transmit power for scheduling the to-be-scheduled terminal devices is calculated, a type of transmit power sharing of the first carrier may be determined based on the third transmit power and the fourth transmit power.

The following uses an example in which the first carrier is the carrier <NUM> to describe in detail how to determine the type of the transmit power sharing of the carrier.

<FIG> and <FIG> are a flowchart of determining a transmit power sharing type of a carrier. The method includes the following steps: S610 to S692.

S610: Determine whether a carrier <NUM> receives information about a sharable transmit power of another carrier in a transmit power sharing group. If the carrier <NUM> receives the information, S620 is performed; otherwise, S690 is performed.

S620: Determine whether the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier.

Whether the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier is determined based on the third transmit power. If the third transmit power is a positive number, S630 is performed; otherwise, S660 is performed.

S630: Determine whether there is at least one transmit power sharing-in carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

Whether there is at least one transmit power sharing-in carrier in the transmit power sharing group is determined based on the received fourth transmit power. If the fourth transmit power is a negative number, S640 is performed; otherwise, S650 is performed.

S640: The carrier <NUM> participates in transmit power sharing, and a sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out type.

S650: The carrier <NUM> does not participate in the transmit power sharing, and the sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power non-sharing type.

S660: Determine whether the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in carrier.

Whether the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier is determined based on the third transmit power. If the third transmit power is a negative number, S670 is performed; otherwise, S650 is performed.

S670: Determine whether there is at least one transmit power sharing-out carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

Whether there is at least one transmit power sharing-out carrier in the transmit power sharing group is determined based on the received fourth transmit power. If the fourth transmit power is a positive number, S680 is performed; otherwise, S650 is performed.

S680: The carrier <NUM> participates in the transmit power sharing, and the sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in type.

S690: Determine whether the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier.

Whether the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier is determined based on the third transmit power. If the third transmit power is a positive number, S691 is performed; otherwise, S692 is performed.

S691: The carrier <NUM> participates in the transmit power sharing, and the sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is the transmit power sharing-out type.

S692: The carrier <NUM> does not participate in the transmit power sharing, and the sharing type of the carrier <NUM> is the transmit power non-sharing type.

Specifically, the actually shared fifth transmit power of the first carrier is determined based on the transmit power sharing type determined by each carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

If the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier, and the carrier <NUM> does not receive the information about sharable transmit powers of all carriers in the transmit power sharing group, an actually shared transmit power of the carrier <NUM> is as follows: <MAT>.

Otherwise, statistics about a sum of sharable transmit powers of all transmit power sharing-out carriers and statistics about a sum of sharable transmit powers of all transmit power sharing-in carriers are collected: <MAT> and <MAT>.

Nout is a quantity of transmit power sharing-out carriers in the transmit power sharing group, Nin is a quantity of transmit power sharing-in carriers in the transmit power sharing group, and i is an identifier of each carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

Specifically, the sum of the sharable transmit powers of the transmit power sharing-out carriers in the transmit power sharing group may be referred to as a sum of sharing-out transmit powers. The sum of the sharable transmit powers of all transmit power sharing-in carriers in the transmit power sharing group may be referred to as a sum of sharing-in transmit powers.

Specifically, all transmit power sharing-out carriers shares, with all transmit power sharing-in carriers based on a preset rule, the sum of the sharing-out transmit powers.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the preset rule includes: allocating, based on a proportion of the sharing-in transmit powers in the transmit power sharing-in carriers, the sum of the sharing-out transmit powers to the transmit power sharing-in carriers.

Specifically, if PShareOut_Sum ≥ PShareIn_Sum, for a transmit power sharing-out carrier i, an actually shared-out transmit power is: <MAT> and
for a transmit power sharing-in carrier i, an actually shared-in transmit power is: <MAT>.

If PShareOut_Sum < PshareIn_Sum, for the transmit power sharing-out carrier i, an actually shared-out transmit power is: <MAT> and
for the transmit power sharing-in carrier i, an actually shared-in transmit power is: <MAT>.

Optionally, in some other embodiments, the preset rule includes: preferentially allocating the sum of the sharing-out transmit powers to the transmit power sharing-in carrier with a high priority, and allocating a sum of the remaining sharing-out transmit powers to the transmit power sharing-in carrier with a low priority. Specifically, if PShareOut_Sum ≥ PShareIn_Sum, for the transmit power sharing-out carrier i, an actually shared-out transmit power is: <MAT> and
for the transmit power sharing-in carrier i, an actually shared-in transmit power is: <MAT>.

If PShareOut_Sum < PShareIn_Sum, for the transmit power sharing-out carrier i, an actually shared-out transmit power is: <MAT>.

A sequence {<NUM>,<NUM>,···,Nin} of the transmit power sharing-in carriers is sorted based on a carrier priority to obtain a sorted sequence {q<NUM>,q<NUM>,···,qNin}, and a minimum integer Q that makes the following formula true is searched for: <MAT> and
for the transmit power sharing-in carrier i, an actually shared-in transmit power is: <MAT>.

It should be understood that both the actually shared-out transmit power and the actually shared-in transmit power may be referred to as a fifth transmit power.

When the fifth transmit power of the first carrier is a positive number, the fifth transmit power of the first carrier is the actually shared-out transmit power.

When the fifth transmit power of the first carrier is a negative number, the fifth transmit power of the first carrier is the actually shared-in transmit power.

Specifically, the maximum transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period may be determined based on the fifth transmit power and the initially configured transmit power.

Each carrier in the transmit power sharing group determines a maximum transmit power in a next scheduling period, where a maximum transmit power of the transmit power sharing-out carrier is a difference between the initially configured transmit power of a carrier and an actually shared-out transmit power of the transmit power sharing-out carrier, that is, <MAT>.

A maximum transmit power of the transmit power sharing-in carrier is a sum of the initially configured transmit power of the carrier and an actually shared-in transmit power of the transmit power sharing-in carrier, that is, <MAT>.

A maximum transmit power of the transmit power non-sharing carrier is the initially configured transmit power of the carrier, that is, <MAT>.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the information about the third transmit power is broadcast to the transmit power sharing group in a first preset time duration.

That the receiving the information about the sharable fourth transmit power of another carrier, other than the first carrier, in the transmit power sharing group includes:
receiving, in a second preset time duration, the information about the sharable fourth transmit power of the another carrier, other than the first carrier, in the transmit power sharing group, where an end moment of the first preset time duration is earlier than or equal to an end moment of the second preset time duration.

Specifically, <FIG> is a schematic diagram of exchanging information about sharable transmit powers according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in <FIG>, after downlink scheduling is performed, each carrier in the transmit power sharing group sends, to another carrier before a latest sending delay, the estimated information about the sharable transmit power, and each carrier receives, before a latest receiving delay, information that is sent by another carrier and that is about the sharable transmit power.

The latest sending delay shown in <FIG> is the foregoing first preset time duration, and the latest receiving delay is the foregoing second preset time duration.

Optionally, in some embodiments, before the first transmit power required in the first carrier in the first scheduling period is calculated, that the first carrier meets a preset condition is determined, and a transmit power sharing group including the first carrier and at least one second carrier is established.

Optionally, the foregoing preset condition includes: supporting, by the first carrier, carrier transmit power sharing, and sharing, by the first carrier and the at least one second carrier, one transmit power amplifier.

That the first carrier supports carrier transmit power sharing may be understood as that the first carrier enables an inter-carrier transmit power sharing function.

The following describes the process of establishing the transmit power sharing group by using the establishment of a transmit power sharing group including the carrier <NUM>, a carrier <NUM>, and a carrier <NUM> as an example.

The carrier <NUM>, the carrier <NUM>, and the carrier <NUM> share one transmit power amplifier, and the carrier <NUM> is a carrier that enables the inter-carrier transmit power sharing function. One transmit power sharing group is established to include the carrier <NUM>, the carrier <NUM>, and the carrier <NUM>.

<FIG> is a schematic flowchart of establishing a transmit power sharing group. The method includes five steps: S810 to S850.

S810: Determine whether a carrier <NUM> enables an inter-carrier transmit power sharing function. If the carrier <NUM> does not enable the inter-carrier transmit power sharing function, the procedure of establishing the transmit power sharing group ends directly. If the carrier <NUM> enables the inter-carrier transmit power sharing function, S720 is performed.

S820: Determine whether a transmit power sharing group exists on a remote radio unit (remote radio unit, RRU) to which the carrier <NUM> belongs. The RRU to which the carrier <NUM> belongs may be understood as a transmit power amplifier to which the carrier <NUM> belongs.

For example, if the carrier <NUM> belongs to an RRU <NUM>, and a carrier <NUM> and a carrier <NUM> included in the RRU <NUM> already form a transmit power sharing group <NUM>, S730 is performed. When no transmit power sharing group exists on the RRU to which the carrier <NUM> belongs, S540 is performed.

S830: A network device adds the carrier <NUM> to the transmit power sharing group exists on the RRU to which the carrier <NUM> belongs. For example, the carrier <NUM> is added to the transmit power sharing group <NUM>.

S840: The network device detects whether at least one other carrier meeting the transmit power sharing between carriers exists on the RRU to which the carrier <NUM> belongs.

For example, the network device detects whether the carrier <NUM> exists on the RRU <NUM> to which the carrier <NUM> belongs. The carrier <NUM> enables the inter-carrier transmit power sharing function and shares one transmit power amplifier with the carrier <NUM>. If another carrier meeting the transmit power sharing between carriers exists on the RRU to which carrier <NUM> belongs, S550 is performed. If another carrier meeting the transmit power sharing between carriers does not exist on the RRU to which the carrier <NUM> belongs, the procedure of establishing the transmit power sharing group ends directly.

S850: The network device establishes the transmit power sharing group existing on the RRU to which the carrier <NUM> belongs, and notifies each carrier included in the transmit power sharing group.

Optionally, in some embodiments, when the first scheduling period is the initial scheduling period, the terminal devices are scheduled based on an initially configured transmit power.

The network device configures a maximum transmit power in the scheduling period for each carrier in the transmit power sharing group.

Optionally, if the carrier <NUM> is added to the transmit power sharing group for the first time, the initial transmit power ( <MAT>) configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM> is used as a maximum transmit power of the carrier <NUM>, that is, <MAT>.

Optionally, if the carrier <NUM> is not added to the transmit power sharing group for the first time, the maximum transmit power determined in the first scheduling period is used as a maximum transmit power in the first scheduling period.

It should be understood that, a sum of maximum transmit powers of carriers in the transmit power sharing group is not greater than a rated total transmit power (Pmax) of the transmit power amplifier shared by the carriers, that is, <MAT>, where m≥<NUM>, and m is used to represent a quantity of carriers included in the transmit power sharing group.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the to-be-scheduled terminal devices are scheduled based on the maximum transmit power in the first scheduling period.

It should be understood that, each carrier in the transmit power sharing group separately schedules the terminal devices based on the maximum transmit power.

Optionally, if the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-out carrier, the maximum transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM> in the first scheduling period is less than the initial transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM>. Further, when the carrier <NUM> performs user equipment scheduling in the first scheduling period, a quantity of scheduled resource blocks (resource block, RB) is limited based on the maximum transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM> in the scheduling period.

Optionally, if the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power sharing-in carrier, or the carrier <NUM> is a transmit power non-sharing carrier, the maximum transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM> in the first scheduling period is greater than or equal to the initial transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM>. Further, when performing user equipment scheduling in the first scheduling period, the carrier <NUM> performs scheduling based on the initial transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM>.

Optionally, in some embodiments, after the to-be-scheduled terminal devices are scheduled based on the maximum transmit power, when the first carrier has a remaining seventh transmit power, the method further includes:.

The following uses the carrier <NUM> as an example to describe transmit power boosting.

If a remaining seventh transmit power exists after the carrier <NUM> completes scheduling the terminal devices in the first scheduling period, the carrier <NUM> collects statistics about the scheduled terminal devices that are in the scheduled terminal devices loaded by the carrier <NUM> and whose transmit power can be boosted, and uses the remaining transmit power for the scheduled terminal devices whose transmit power can be boosted, to perform transmit power boosting.

For example, if a remaining transmit power ( <MAT>) exists after the carrier <NUM> completes scheduling the terminal devices in the first scheduling period. In other words, after the carrier <NUM> completes scheduling the terminal devices in the first scheduling period, the transmit power actually used by the carrier <NUM> is less than the maximum transmit power configured by the network device for the carrier <NUM> in the first scheduling period. In this case, the carrier <NUM> collects statistics about a quantity of RBs ( <MAT>) occupied by the scheduled terminal devices that are in the scheduled terminal devices loaded by the carrier <NUM> and whose transmit power can be boosted, and calculates a transmit power that can be boosted on each RB: <MAT> where
<MAT> is a total quantity of RBs occupied by the carrier <NUM>. Based on a maximum transmit power boosting amplitude <MAT> corresponding to different scheduling manners and different modulation schemes of the terminal devices, the boosted transmit power of the scheduled terminal devices whose transmit power can be boosted is determined
to be: <MAT>.

Optionally, if a scheduling manner of the scheduled terminal devices whose transmit power can be boosted is retransmission scheduling, or a scheduling manner of the scheduled terminal devices whose transmit power can be boosted is initial transmission scheduling, and the terminal devices have no more data to be transmitted, only the transmit power of the terminal devices need to be updated, that is, <MAT>.

Optionally, if the scheduling manner of the scheduled terminal device whose transmit power can be boosted is initial transmission scheduling and the terminal device has no more data to be transmitted, the transmit power of the terminal device, a modulation and coding scheme (modulation and coding scheme, MCS) and a TBS of the terminal device need to be updated, that is, <MAT> <MAT> and <MAT><MAT> is obtained by searching a table of a correspondence between an MCS and a signal-to-noise ratio (signal-to-noise ratio, SNR), and <MAT> is obtained by searching a table of a correspondence between a TBS and an MCS.

The foregoing describes in detail the power sharing method provided in the embodiments of this application with reference to <FIG>. The following describes in detail a power sharing apparatus in the embodiments of this application with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a power sharing apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. The apparatus includes:.

Optionally, the transmit power sharing module <NUM> includes:.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of another power sharing apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. The apparatus includes:.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of a power sharing apparatus <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> may be configured to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments. For details, refer to the description in the foregoing method embodiments. The power sharing apparatus <NUM> may be a chip.

The power sharing apparatus <NUM> includes one or more processing units <NUM>. The processing unit <NUM> may be a general purpose processor, a dedicated processor, or the like. For example, the processing unit <NUM> may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be configured to process a communication protocol and communication data. The central processing unit may be configured to: control the power sharing apparatus (such as a base station, a terminal, or a chip), execute a software program, and process data of the software program.

The power sharing apparatus may include a sending unit <NUM>, configured to output (send) a signal. For example, the power sharing apparatus may be the chip, and the sending unit <NUM> may be an output circuit or a communications interface of the chip.

The power sharing apparatus may include a receiving unit <NUM>, configured to input (receive) a signal. For example, the power sharing apparatus may be the chip, and the sending unit <NUM> may be an input circuit or a communications interface of the chip.

The power sharing apparatus <NUM> includes one or more processing units <NUM>, and the one or more processing units <NUM> may implement steps performed in the power sharing method in the embodiments shown in <FIG>. The power sharing apparatus <NUM> includes:
a processing unit, configured to estimate a first transmit power based on a traffic volume of terminal devices to be scheduled in a first carrier in a first scheduling period, where the first transmit power is a transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices in the first scheduling period. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power requirement estimating submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

The processing unit is further configured to estimate a second transmit power based on the first transmit power and an initially configured transmit power, where the second transmit power is a remaining transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power requirement estimating submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

The processing unit is further configured to calculate a third transmit power based on the second transmit power and a preset shared transmit power, where the third transmit power is a sharable transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power requirement estimating submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

The power sharing apparatus <NUM> further includes: a sending unit, configured to broadcast information about the third transmit power to a transmit power sharing group, where the first carrier is any carrier in the transmit power sharing group, and the transmit power sharing group includes a plurality of carriers. In this case, the sending unit may be understood as the transmit power information interaction submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

It should be understood that the transmit power information interaction submodule <NUM> may directly perform information interaction on the remaining transmit power percentage information of each carrier based on the method of dynamic transmit power sharing between carriers shown in <FIG> and <FIG>. In other words, the information exchange performed by the transmit power information interaction submodule in this embodiment of this application is not necessarily only for the information about the third transmit power and information about a fourth transmit power.

The power sharing apparatus <NUM> further includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive the information about the fourth transmit power, where the fourth transmit power is a sharable transmit power of another carrier, other than the first carrier, in the transmit power sharing group. In this case, the receiving unit may be understood as the transmit power information interaction submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

The processing unit is further configured to calculate a fifth transmit power based on the information about the third transmit power and the information about the fourth transmit power, where the fifth transmit power is an actually shared transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power configuration module <NUM>, the transmit power sharing group maintaining submodule <NUM>, and the sharing policy determining submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

The processing unit is further configured to: calculate a sixth transmit power based on the fifth transmit power and the initially configured transmit power, where the sixth transmit power is a maximum transmit power in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices in the first scheduling period. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power calculating submodule <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

That the processing unit is configured to estimate a first transmit power based on a traffic volume of terminal devices to be scheduled in a first carrier in a first scheduling period includes: after completing scheduling the terminal devices in a second scheduling period, estimating, by the processing unit, the first transmit power based on the traffic volume of the terminal devices to be scheduled in the first carrier in the first scheduling period, where the first scheduling period is a next scheduling period of the second scheduling period.

In a possible design, that the sending unit broadcasts the information about the third transmit power to the transmit power sharing group includes: broadcasting, by the sending unit, the information about the third transmit power to the transmit power sharing group in a first preset time duration; and that the receiving unit receives the information about the fourth transmit power includes: receiving, by the receiving unit, the information about the fourth transmit power in a second preset time duration, where an end moment of the first preset time duration is earlier than or equal to an end moment of the second preset time duration.

The processing unit is further configured to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices based on the sixth transmit power in the first scheduling period. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the scheduling module <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

In a possible design, before the first transmit power required in the first carrier in the second scheduling period is calculated, the processing unit is further configured to: determine that the first carrier meets a preset condition, and establish the transmit power sharing group including the first carrier and at least one second carrier. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power sharing module <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

In a possible design, the first carrier supports carrier transmit power sharing, and the first carrier and the at least one second carrier share one transmit power amplifier.

After the processing unit schedules the to-be-scheduled terminal devices based on the sixth transmit power, when the first carrier has a remaining seventh transmit power, the processing unit is further configured to collect statistics about a scheduled terminal device that is in the scheduled terminal devices and whose transmit power can be boosted, and the processing unit is further configured to use the seventh transmit power for the scheduled terminal devices whose transmit power can be boosted. In this case, the processing unit may be understood as the transmit power boosting module <NUM> shown in <FIG>.

In a possible design, the traffic volume of the to-be-scheduled terminal devices includes a to-be-scheduled signalling radio bearer and/or a to-be-scheduled data radio bearer.

In a possible design, the first transmit power includes: an eighth transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices, and a ninth transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the terminal devices that are in the to-be-scheduled terminal devices and whose transmit power can be boosted.

In a possible design, when the second scheduling period is the initial scheduling period, that the scheduling unit completes scheduling the terminal devices in a second scheduling period includes that the processing unit is configured to schedule the terminal devices based on the initially configured transmit power.

The power sharing apparatus further includes:
a storage unit <NUM>, configured to store a corresponding instruction; and a processing unit, configured to execute an instruction in the storage unit to implement steps in the foregoing method embodiments.

Still another aspect of this application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores an instruction; and when the instruction is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the steps in the method shown in <FIG>.

Still another aspect of this application provides a computer program product including an instruction. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform steps in the method shown in <FIG>.

It should be noted that the foregoing method embodiments may be applied to a processor or may be implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip and has a signal processing capability. In an implementation process, steps in the foregoing method embodiments may be implemented by using a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor, or by using an instruction in a form of software. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The methods, the steps, and logic block diagrams that are disclosed in the embodiments of this application may be implemented or performed. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the methods disclosed with reference to the embodiments of this application may be directly executed and accomplished by using a hardware decoding processor, or may be executed and accomplished by using a combination of hardware and software modules in a decoding processor. The software module may be located in a mature storage medium in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable memory, or a register. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps in the foregoing methods in combination with hardware of the processor.

It may be understood that, in the embodiments of this application, the memory may be a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory, or may include both a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), a programmable read-only memory (programmable ROM, PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), used as an external cache. Through example but not limitative description, many forms of RAMs may be used, for example, a static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), an enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), a synchlink dynamic random access memory (synclink DRAM, SLDRAM), and a direct memory bus random access memory (direct rambus RAM, DR RAM). It should be noted that memories in the system and method described in this specification include but are not limited to the memories and memories of any other proper types.

In addition, the character "/" in this specification usually indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that units and algorithm steps in the examples described with reference to the embodiments disclosed in this specification may be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. A person skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions of each particular application, but it should not be considered that the implementation goes beyond the scope of the appended claims.

For example, division into units is merely logical function division and may be other division in actual implementation. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented through some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in an electronic form, a mechanical form, or another form.

When the functions are implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, the functions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of this application essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or some of the technical solutions may be implemented in a form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of this application. The storage medium includes any medium that can store program code such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

Claim 1:
A power sharing method, comprising:
estimating (S410) a first transmit power based on a traffic volume of terminal devices to be scheduled in a first carrier in a first scheduling period, wherein the first transmit power is a transmit power required in the first carrier to schedule the to-be-scheduled terminal devices in the first scheduling period; and
estimating (S420) a second transmit power based on the first transmit power and an initially configured transmit power, wherein the second transmit power is a remaining transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period,
wherein the method further comprises:
calculating a third transmit power based on the second transmit power and a preset shared transmit power, wherein the third transmit power is a sharable transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period;
broadcasting information about the third transmit power to a transmit power sharing group, wherein the transmit power sharing group comprises a plurality of carriers, and the first carrier is any carrier in the transmit power sharing group;
receiving information about a fourth transmit power, wherein the fourth transmit power is a sharable transmit power of another carrier, other than the first carrier, in the transmit power sharing group; and
calculating a fifth transmit power based on the information about the third transmit power and the information about the fourth transmit power, wherein the fifth transmit power is an actually shared transmit power of the first carrier in the first scheduling period.