CN112399618B

CN112399618B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN112399618B
Application number: CN201910760475.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 余政; 温容慧; 张兴炜; 冯淑兰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-16
Filing date: 2019-08-16
Publication date: 2023-06-06
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-16
Also published as: CN112399618A

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the terminal device determines PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates, wherein the first time span is one or more time spans within the first time length, and the terminal device may determine which PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored when the number of configured PDCCH candidates is in a specific numerical range. By the selective monitoring scheme with the PDCCH candidates as granularity, the PDCCH can be monitored more flexibly.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

In a New Radio (NR) communication system, a network device may flexibly configure a Search Space (SS) for a terminal device in order to improve scheduling flexibility, and the terminal device monitors a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) candidate (candidate) in the search space. However, the number of PDCCH candidates configured in each time period may exceed the number of PDCCH candidates that the terminal device can monitor in the time period, which may cause the terminal device to fail to reasonably monitor the necessary PDCCH candidates, for example, PDCCH candidates of low latency, high reliability service (URLLC).

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can monitor PDCCH more flexibly.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, where the method may be executed by a terminal device or a chip applied in the terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: determining the number of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates configured in a first time length; and determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates when the number of the PDCCH candidates is in a first numerical range, wherein the first time span is one or more time spans in the first time length.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can determine which PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored when the number of the configured PDCCH candidates is in a specific numerical range. By the selective monitoring scheme with the PDCCH candidates as granularity, the PDCCH can be monitored more flexibly.

Specifically, if the number of PDCCH candidates configured for the terminal device exceeds the number of PDCCH candidates determined to be monitored by the terminal device, the terminal device cannot monitor all the PDCCH candidates. At this time, if all PDCCH candidates in a certain search space are simply abandoned to be monitored, service delay or reliability may be unreasonably affected. For example, if it is determined that PDCCH candidates containing URLLC in the search space that need not be monitored, transmission of this portion of URLLC traffic may be affected. According to the embodiment of the application, whether to discard monitoring is determined by taking the PDCCH candidates as granularity, and the transmission of low-delay and high-reliability service can be supported more flexibly.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: information indicative of the first range of values is obtained.

The information indicating the first numerical range may be stored in the terminal device in advance, or may be obtained by the terminal device in a predetermined manner. Alternatively, the terminal device may also receive information from the network device indicating the first numerical range, e.g. by a broadcast message or a dedicated message of the network device; or the terminal device may receive information indicative of the first range of values from other data sources, such as other terminal devices in device-to-device (D2D) communication with the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device can determine the first numerical range according to the acquired information, so as to determine whether to discard the monitoring part of the PDCCH candidates, and can monitor the PDCCH more flexibly.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: and determining one or more time spans with the largest number of search spaces configured in the first time length as the first time span.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment determines the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in the time span with more search spaces as much as possible, and the PDCCH candidates which are as many as possible in the time span can be monitored for the terminal equipment, so that the timeliness of service scheduling with the PDCCH candidates in the time span can be ensured as much as possible.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first time span is one or more time spans within the first time length other than a jth time span, where j is a positive integer; or, the first time length comprises at least one time span within a time slot, and the first time span comprises one or more time spans within the time slot other than the first time span.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can flexibly determine the first time span, and the PDCCH candidate in the jth time span is not affected, so that the timeliness of carrying out service scheduling with the control channel of the jth time span in the first time span is ensured, or the PDCCH candidate in the 1 st time span is not affected, and the timeliness of carrying out service scheduling with the control channel of the first time span in the time slot is ensured.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span includes: and determining that the PDCCH candidates corresponding to a first aggregation level do not need to be monitored in the first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates, wherein the first aggregation level comprises one or more aggregation levels.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can flexibly determine the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored according to the first aggregation level. For example, the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level may be PDCCH candidates having a smaller influence on the URLLC service scheduling, and the terminal device may not monitor the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level, so as to ensure timeliness of the URLLC service scheduling.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: information indicating the first aggregation level is obtained.

The information indicating the first aggregation level may be pre-stored in the terminal device, or may be obtained by the terminal device in a pre-agreed manner. Alternatively, the terminal device may also receive information from the network device indicating the first aggregation level, e.g. by a broadcast message or a dedicated message of the network device; or the terminal device may also receive information indicative of the first aggregation level from other data sources, such as other terminal devices in D2D communication with the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device may determine the first aggregation level according to the acquired information, thereby determining which PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored, and monitoring the PDCCH more flexibly.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first search space includes one or more search spaces other than the common search space CSS.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the PDCCH candidates in the CSS can be prevented from being influenced, so that the timeliness of service scheduling of the control channel in the CSS is ensured.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first search space is determined according to whether carrier aggregation is supported.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can flexibly select the PDCCH candidates in which search spaces are not monitored according to the supporting capability of carrier aggregation.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first search space is determined according to a priority rule of the search space within the first time span.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can determine the first search space according to the priority rule, and can ensure that the PDCCH candidates in the high-priority search space are monitored as much as possible, so that the scheduling of the high-priority service can be ensured.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first search space is a search space with a lowest priority within the first time span, and the method further includes: and in the first time span, determining the search space with the lowest priority according to a priority rule of the search space and service characteristics of data scheduled by the PDCCH, wherein the priority rule of the search space is as follows: the method comprises the steps of a USS of a first service feature < USS of a second service feature < common search space CSS, or a USS of a first service feature < USS of a second service feature < CSS of the first service feature < CSS of the second service feature, or a USS of a first service feature < CSS of the first service feature < USS of a second service feature < CSS of the second service feature.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, different service features have different control channel configurations, the search space with the lowest priority is determined according to the priority rule of the search space and the service features, the PDCCH candidate which does not need to be monitored is determined in the search space with the lowest priority, the high priority of the public search space can be ensured, the PDCCH candidate in the CSS and the PDCCH candidate in the search space with the second service feature can be ensured to be monitored as much as possible, and therefore the timeliness of service scheduling with the CSS control channel and the control channel of the search space with the second service feature is ensured.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span includes: determining that n1 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in the first search space corresponding to the first service characteristic in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates; and/or determining that n2 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in the first search space corresponding to the second service characteristic in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates; wherein n1 and n2 are positive integers.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored are respectively selected from the PDCCH candidates corresponding to different service features, so that each service feature can be ensured to be monitored as many as possible, and the timeliness of service scheduling by the control channels in the search space of the service feature is ensured.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: information indicating the n1 and/or information indicating the n2 is acquired.

The information indicating n1 and/or the information indicating n2 may be stored in the terminal device in advance, or may be obtained by the terminal device in a predetermined manner. Alternatively, the terminal device may also receive information indicating the n1 and/or information indicating the n2 from the network device, for example by a broadcast message or a dedicated message of the network device; or the terminal device may also receive information indicative of the n1 and/or information indicative of the n2 from other data sources, such as other terminal devices in D2D communication with the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device may determine the n1 and/or the n2 according to the acquired information, thereby determining the number of PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored, and monitoring the PDCCH more flexibly.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, determining, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span includes: and determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates according to whether carrier aggregation is supported.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can flexibly select which PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored according to the supporting capability of carrier aggregation.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first range of values is determined based on whether carrier aggregation is supported.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can determine the first numerical range according to the supporting capability of carrier aggregation, further determine whether to discard the monitoring part of PDCCH candidates, and can monitor PDCCH more flexibly.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, where the method may be performed by a communication device or a chip applied in the communication device. The method comprises the following steps: transmitting information indicating a first numerical range to terminal equipment, wherein the first numerical range is used for determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first time length by the terminal equipment; and configuring Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates for the terminal equipment.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the information indicating the first numerical range is sent to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can determine the first numerical range according to the received information, whether the PDCCH candidates need to be abandoned or not is determined, and the PDCCH can be monitored more flexibly. The terminal device may determine which PDCCH candidates need not be monitored when the number of configured PDCCH candidates is in a particular numerical range. By the selective monitoring scheme with the PDCCH candidates as granularity, the PDCCH can be monitored more flexibly.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and sending information indicating the first aggregation level to the terminal equipment.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, information indicating the first aggregation level is sent to the terminal equipment. The terminal equipment can determine the first aggregation level according to the received information, and further flexibly determine the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored according to the first aggregation level. For example, the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level may be PDCCH candidates having a smaller influence on the URLLC service scheduling, and the terminal device may not monitor the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level, so as to ensure timeliness of the URLLC service scheduling.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: transmitting information indicating n1 and/or information indicating n2 to the terminal equipment, wherein n1 and n2 are positive integers, and n1 is used for indicating that the terminal equipment does not need to monitor n1 PDCCH candidates from the first search space corresponding to a first service feature in the first time span in the configured PDCCH candidates; and the n2 is used for indicating the terminal equipment to determine that the n2 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored from the first search space corresponding to the second service characteristic in the first time span in the configured PDCCH candidates.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the information indicating n1 and/or the information indicating n2 are sent to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can determine the n1 and/or the n2 according to the received information, and the corresponding quantity of PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored are respectively selected from PDCCH candidates corresponding to different service features, so that each service feature can be ensured to be monitored as many as possible, and the timeliness of the PDCCH candidates in the search space of the service feature for service scheduling is ensured.

In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which has a function of implementing the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which has a function of implementing the communication device in the above-described method embodiment. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device may be a terminal device in an embodiment of the method described above, or a chip provided in the terminal device. The communication device comprises a memory, a communication interface and a processor, wherein the memory is used for storing a computer program or instructions, and the processor is coupled with the memory and the communication interface, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the communication device is caused to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the embodiment of the method.

In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a communication device in the above method embodiment, or a chip provided in the communication device. The communication device comprises a memory, a communication interface and a processor, wherein the memory is used for storing a computer program or instructions, and the processor is coupled with the memory and the communication interface, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the communication device executes the method executed by the communication equipment in the embodiment of the method.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the terminal device in the above aspects.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the above aspects performed by the communication device.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip system comprising a processor for implementing the functions of the terminal device in the methods of the above aspects, e.g. for receiving or processing data and/or information involved in the above methods. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for holding program instructions and/or data. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a chip system comprising a processor for implementing the functions of the communication device in the methods of the above aspects, e.g. for receiving or processing data and/or information involved in the above methods. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for holding program instructions and/or data. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed, implements the method performed by the terminal device in the above aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed, implements the method performed by the communication device in the above aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system according to one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a diagram of a search space configured for a UE within one slot.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method of one embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method of another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method of another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global mobile communications (global system formobile communications, GSM) system, code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), universal mobile communications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communications system, future fifth generation (5th generation,5G) system or enhancement or evolution system of New Radio (NR) or fifth generation system, vehicle-to-other devices (V hicle-to-X V X), wherein V2X may include vehicle-to-internet (vehicle to network, V2N), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (vehicle to infrastructure, V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (vehicle to pedestrian, V2P) and the like, workshop communications long term evolution technology (long term evolution-hicle, LTE-V), vehicle-to-internet communications (machine-of-type communications (machine type communication), machine-to-machine-internet of-machine (machine-of-Machine (MTC), machine-to-machine (machine-communication (48M), machine-to-machine (machine-internet (MTC) and the like), machine-communication (48M) and the like.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to the communication equipment in the communication system, such as the terminal equipment or the network equipment.

The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet (pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in an industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in an unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in a remote medical (remote medium), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in a transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a smart city (smart city) or an evolved-from-to-land (PLMN) network, a public network (PLMN) or the like.

The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wearing and developing wearable devices by applying a wearable technology, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes and the like. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

Furthermore, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an internet of things (internet of things, ioT) system. IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect an item with a network through a communication technology, so as to implement man-machine interconnection and an intelligent network for object interconnection.

It should be understood that embodiments of the present application are not limited to specific forms of terminal devices.

The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be any device having a wireless transceiver function. The apparatus includes, but is not limited to: an evolved node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home base station (home evolved nodeB, or home node B, HNB, for example), a Base Band Unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP) or the like, may also be a gNB or a transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G (such as NR) system, or one or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, or may also be a network node constituting a gNB or transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), or the like.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and DUs. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, abbreviated as AAU). The CU implements part of the functionality of the gNB and the DU implements part of the functionality of the gNB, e.g. the CU is responsible for handling non-real time protocols and services, implementing radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer functions. The DUs are responsible for handling physical layer protocols and real-time services, implementing the functions of the radio link control (radio link control, RLC), medium access control (media access control, MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers. The AAU realizes part of physical layer processing function, radio frequency processing and related functions of the active antenna. Since the information of the RRC layer may eventually become information of the PHY layer or be converted from the information of the PHY layer, under this architecture, higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the du+aau. It is understood that the network device may be a device comprising one or more of a CU node, a DU node, an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in an access network (radio access network, RAN), or may be divided into network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

The network device provides services for the cell, and the terminal device communicates with the cell through transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) allocated by the network device, where the cell may belong to a macro base station (e.g., macro eNB or macro gNB, etc.), or may belong to a base station corresponding to a small cell (small cell), where the small cell may include: urban cells (metro cells), micro cells (micro cells), pico cells (pico cells), femto cells (femto cells) and the like, and the small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmitting power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

It should be noted that, when the communication device is a network device, the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a communication system that performs communication between the network device and a terminal device, and when the communication device is a terminal device, the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a communication system that performs communication between a plurality of terminal devices. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application, where a communication system in the embodiment of the present application may include a network device and a plurality of terminal devices, and inter-device communication may be performed between the plurality of terminal devices, and in the communication system, the communication device may be a network device. The communication system in the embodiment of the application may also include a plurality of terminal devices, and inter-device communication may be performed between the plurality of terminal devices. As shown in fig. 1, a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application may include a base station (base station) and user equipments UE1 to UE6, where in the communication system, the base station may send information to one or more UEs of the UEs 1 to UE6, and the base station is the communication equipment. The communication system according to the embodiment of the present application may also include UE4 to UE6, where in the communication system, UE5 may send information to one or more UEs of UE4 and UE6, and UE5 is the communication device.

The number of PDCCH candidates configured per length of time may exceed the number of PDCCH candidates that the terminal device can monitor for the length of time. For example, if the number of physical downlink control channel PDCCH candidates configured for the terminal device exceeds the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that the terminal device can monitor within the first time period, the terminal device does not monitor all PDCCH candidates in the lowest priority search space. Illustratively, the first time length may be one slot (slot), and the terminal device may be a UE. Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a search space configured for a UE within one slot, including a common search space (common search space, CSS) 0, CSS1, UE-specific search space (UE-specific search space, USS) 1, and USS2. For a particular subcarrier spacing, it is assumed that the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that a UE can monitor in a slot is 44, but there are 46 PDCCH candidates in the search space configured for the UE, where the number of PDCCH candidates in the search space configured for the UE exceeds the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that the UE can monitor in the slot.

At this time, the UE does not monitor PDCCH candidates in the low priority search space, for example, assuming USS2 in fig. 2 is the lowest priority search space, the UE determines that it is not necessary to monitor 14 PDCCH candidates in USS2, and the UE may monitor the other 32 PDCCH candidates in the slot (46-14=32).

If the USS2 includes PDCCH candidates of the URLLC, the above manner of determining PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored may result in that the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH candidates of the portion of the URLLC, which affects transmission of a control channel of the URLLC, that is, may affect transmission of the portion of the URLLC service.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a communication method 300 of one embodiment of the present application. The method 300 of fig. 3 may be performed by a respective device in the communication system of fig. 1 or by a chip in a respective device, such as any one of the base stations or terminal devices UE1-UE6 of fig. 1.

S301, the communication device transmits information indicating the first numerical range to the terminal device.

S310, the terminal device determines the number of PDCCH candidates configured within a first time length.

It should be noted that, the monitoring in the embodiments of the present application may be understood as monitoring and/or receiving.

And S320, when the number of the PDCCH candidates is in a first numerical range, determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates, wherein the first time span is one or more time spans in the first time length.

At least one time span may be included within the first time period. At least one search space may be included within each time span.

It should be specifically noted that the execution sequence of S301 and S310 is not separate, and before S310, the method may further include the communication device configuring a physical downlink control channel PDCCH candidate for the terminal device.

For example, the terminal device may determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, a PDCCH candidate that does not need to be monitored in the first search space of the first time span according to the following manner 1, manner 2, or manner 3.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can determine the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in the first search space of the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates. By the selective monitoring scheme with the PDCCH candidates as granularity, the PDCCH can be monitored more flexibly.

Specifically, if the number of PDCCH candidates configured for the terminal device exceeds the number of PDCCH candidates determined to be monitored by the terminal device, the terminal device cannot monitor all the PDCCH candidates. At this time, if all PDCCH candidates in a certain search space are simply abandoned to be monitored, service delay or reliability may be unreasonably affected. For example, if the unmonitored search space contains PDCCH candidates for URLLC, transmission of this portion of URLLC traffic may be affected. According to the embodiment of the invention, the PDCCH candidates in a certain search space are not simply abandoned to be monitored within a first time length, and the PDCCH candidates with granularity larger than the search space are abandoned to be monitored, but the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in the first search space of the first time span are determined from the configured PDCCH candidates, so that the number of the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored is determined to be less, the control channel transmission flexibility of the communication equipment is improved, the terminal equipment can monitor more PDCCH candidates, the timeliness of service scheduling is met, the service transmission delay is reduced, and the transmission of low-delay and high-reliability services can be supported more flexibly.

It should be appreciated that S301 described above is an optional step. For example, the terminal device may also receive information from the network device indicating the first numerical range. Such as a broadcast message or a dedicated message received by the network device. Or the terminal device may also receive information indicative of the first range of values from other data sources, such as other terminal devices in D2D communication with the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device can determine the first numerical range according to the acquired information, so as to determine whether to discard the monitoring part of the PDCCH candidates, and can monitor the PDCCH more flexibly.

Alternatively, the terminal device may determine the first range of values from other approaches. For example, the first range of values may be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, the information indicating the first numerical range may be pre-stored in the terminal device, or may be obtained by the terminal device in other manners. In this way, the terminal device can determine the first numerical range according to the acquired information, so as to determine whether to discard the monitoring part of the PDCCH candidates, and can monitor the PDCCH more flexibly.

The terminal device may also determine the first numerical range according to whether carrier aggregation is supported, for example. For example, if the terminal device supports carrier aggregation, the terminal device may monitor all PDCCH candidates configured in the first time period. For another example, if the terminal device does not support carrier aggregation, when the number of configured PDCCH candidates is in the first numerical range, some PDCCH candidates are not monitored. For another example, the first numerical range corresponding to the terminal device supporting carrier aggregation is different from the first numerical range corresponding to the terminal device not supporting carrier aggregation. The first numerical range corresponding to the terminal equipment supporting carrier aggregation is larger than y1, and the first numerical range corresponding to the terminal equipment not supporting carrier aggregation is larger than y2, wherein y1 is larger than y2.

In this way, the terminal device can determine the first numerical range according to the supporting capability of carrier aggregation, further determine whether to discard the monitoring part of the PDCCH candidates, and can monitor the PDCCH more flexibly.

Specifically, the first numerical range may be [ x1, x2], or (x 3, +), where x1, x2, and x3 are positive integers. For example x3 may be the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that the terminal device can monitor during the first time period. Thus, when the number of configured PDCCH candidates falls within the (x 3, +_3) range, the terminal device determines that some PDCCH candidates are not monitored for the first time period. In the embodiment of the present application, (x 3, +_s) is taken as an example of the first numerical range, and the communication method in the embodiment of the present application is described and should not be construed as limiting the present application. The first range of values is (x 3, +%) equal to the number of configured PDCCH candidates greater than x3.

Mode 1:

the first time period may be specified or preset by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device).

Illustratively, the first time length may be one time slot, or one subframe, or one radio frame, or one half time slot, or one sub-slot or mini-slot, etc.

The number and/or length of the time spans may be specified or preset by a protocol, or may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device). Or the number and/or length of the time spans may be determined according to capability information of the UE or according to a control channel configuration of the base station. Illustratively, a time span may be a span (span).

Embodiments of the present application may flexibly determine the first time span according to the following examples, but not by way of limitation.

For example, the first time span may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g. a network device or other terminal device), that is to say the external communication device may assign one or more time spans to the terminal device as the first time span. As another example, the first time span may also be specified or preset by a protocol without additional configuration.

Illustratively, the first time span may include one or more time spans within the first time length other than a j-th time span, where j is a positive integer. The value of j may be specified or preset by the protocol. Alternatively, the value of j may also be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g. a network device or other terminal device). In this way, the terminal device can flexibly determine the first time span, and the monitoring of the PDCCH candidate in the jth time span is not affected, so that the timeliness of service scheduling of the jth time span control channel in the first time span is ensured. Alternatively, the first time length may comprise at least one time span within a time slot, and the first time span may comprise one or more time spans within the time slot other than the first time span. In this way, the monitoring of the PDCCH candidate of the first time span in the time slot is not affected, so that the timeliness of service scheduling of the control channel of the first time span in the time slot is ensured.

For example, the terminal device may determine one or more time spans with the largest number of search spaces configured in the first time length as the first time span. As an example, the terminal device may consider that, when determining the first time span, one or more time spans having the largest number of search spaces configured in all time spans within the first time length are determined as the first time span. Alternatively, as another example, the terminal device may consider only determining, as the first time span, one or more time spans having the largest number of search spaces configured in the partial time spans within the first time length. For example, one or more time spans with the largest number of configured search spaces among k time spans are determined as the first time span, where k is a positive integer. Wherein the k time spans may be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, the k time spans may also be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device).

If all or most of the PDCCH candidates within a search space or time span are not monitored, the timeliness of scheduling traffic with the PDCCH candidates within the search space or time span may not be guaranteed. The terminal equipment of the embodiment of the invention determines the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored as much as possible in the time span with more search spaces, and the terminal equipment can monitor as many PDCCH candidates as possible in the time span, so that the timeliness of service scheduling with the PDCCH candidates in the time span can be ensured as much as possible.

For example, if more than one time span is configured with the largest number of search spaces in the first time period, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored may be alternately determined in the multiple time spans with the largest number of search spaces configured.

In this way, the terminal device does not always select the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in one time span, so that each time span is ensured to have as many PDCCH candidates as possible to be monitored, and the timeliness of service scheduling with the PDCCH candidates in the time span can be ensured as much as possible.

Embodiments of the present application may flexibly determine the first search space according to the following examples, but not by way of limitation.

For example, the first search space may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device), that is, the communication device may designate one or more search spaces for the terminal device as the first search space. Alternatively, the first search space may also be specified or preset by the protocol.

Illustratively, the first search space may include one or more search spaces other than the common search space CSS. Therefore, the monitoring of the PDCCH candidates in the CSS can be prevented from being influenced, and the timeliness of service scheduling of the control channel in the CSS is ensured.

Illustratively, the terminal device may determine the first search space according to whether carrier aggregation is supported. In this way, the terminal device can flexibly select which PDCCH candidates in the search spaces need not be monitored according to the support capability of carrier aggregation. For example, if the terminal device supports carrier aggregation, the terminal device may monitor all PDCCH candidates configured in the first time period. For another example, if the terminal device does not support carrier aggregation, when the number of configured PDCCH candidates is in the first numerical range, some PDCCH candidates are not monitored. For another example, the first numerical range corresponding to the terminal device supporting carrier aggregation is different from the first numerical range corresponding to the terminal device not supporting carrier aggregation. The first numerical range corresponding to the terminal equipment supporting carrier aggregation is larger than y1, and the first numerical range corresponding to the terminal equipment not supporting carrier aggregation is larger than y2, wherein y1 is larger than y2.

The terminal device may also determine the first search space according to a priority rule within the first time span. For example, the terminal device may determine one or more search spaces of lowest priority according to the priority rule within the first time span. The first search space may be one or more search spaces of lowest priority within the first time span. That is, the terminal device may determine PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored within one or more search spaces of the lowest priority within the first time span.

According to the scheme of the embodiment of the application, the first search space is determined according to the priority rule, so that monitoring of PDCCH candidates in the high-priority search space can be prevented from being influenced as much as possible, and scheduling of high-priority service can be ensured.

As an example, the terminal device may consider that, in determining the first search space, one or more search spaces of the lowest priority among all search spaces within the first time span are determined as the first search space according to the priority rule. Alternatively, as another example, the terminal device may consider only one or more search spaces with the lowest priority among the partial search spaces within the first time span as the first search space according to the priority rule. For example, the terminal device may take, as the first search space, one or more search spaces with the lowest priority among L search spaces in the first time span according to the priority rule, where L is a positive integer. Wherein, the L search spaces can be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, the L search spaces may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device). The L search spaces may or may not include a common search space CSS. If the L search spaces do not include CSS, that is, the first search space cannot be CSS. Therefore, the PDCCH candidates in the CSS can be prevented from being influenced, and the timeliness of service scheduling of the PDCCH in the CSS space is guaranteed.

The priority rules may be specified or preset by a protocol, for example. Alternatively, the priority rule may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device). For example, PDCCHs scheduling high priority traffic (e.g., URLLC) always have priority to be mapped starting from a search space with a low index, the priority rule may prioritize the search spaces in order of the index of the search spaces from high to low, and the search space with the highest index may be the search space with the lowest priority.

For example, when the terminal device determines the search space with the lowest priority as the first search space within the first time span, if the search space with the lowest priority is more than one, the terminal device may alternatively determine PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the search spaces.

In this way, the terminal equipment cannot always determine the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in one search space, so that as many PDCCH candidates as possible in each search space are monitored, and the timeliness of service scheduling with the PDCCH candidates in the search space can be ensured as much as possible.

For example, the determining, by the terminal device, that the PDCCH candidate that does not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates may be: the PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time span are randomly determined from the configured PDCCH candidates. This may provide better randomness and fairness.

For example, the determining, by the terminal device, that the PDCCH candidate that does not need to be monitored in the first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates may also be: and determining that the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level (aggregation level, AL) do not need to be monitored in the first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates.

Illustratively, the first aggregation level may be specified or preset by a protocol.

Illustratively, the terminal device may obtain information indicative of the first aggregation level.

The information indicating the first aggregation level may be pre-stored in the terminal device, or may be obtained by the terminal device in a pre-agreed manner. Alternatively, the terminal device may also receive information indicating the first aggregation level from a network device. Such as a broadcast message or a dedicated message received by the network device. Or the terminal device may also receive information indicative of the first aggregation level from other data sources, such as other terminal devices in D2D communication with the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device may determine the first aggregation level according to the acquired information, thereby determining which PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored, and monitoring the PDCCH more flexibly.

Illustratively, the first aggregation level may be one or more of the lowest aggregation levels, for URLLC traffic, a larger aggregation level AL is typically used to guarantee PDCCH performance. Therefore, the influence of PDCCH candidates corresponding to the smaller aggregation level on the URLLC service is not monitored, and the scheduling of the service can be preferentially ensured.

If more than one PDCCH candidates are corresponding to the first aggregation level AL, the PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored may be determined in the order of increasing or decreasing candidate indexes (candidate indexes) among the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level. For example, among the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level, the PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored are determined in the ascending index order.

The terminal device may repeat the above procedure until the PDCCH monitoring capability of the terminal device within the first time period is satisfied. For example, until the number of PDCCH candidates that the terminal device needs to monitor for the first time period is not in the first numerical range.

For example, the terminal device may determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space within a first time span, or the terminal device may determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, that all PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time span. This may reduce the complexity of the determination algorithm.

It should be noted that the above steps are not necessarily all performed. For example, the terminal device determines, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that may not need to be monitored in the first time span. Further, the terminal device may not monitor PDCCH candidates in the first time span. Or, the terminal device may also determine that the PDCCH candidate corresponding to the first aggregation level does not need to be monitored in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates. For another example, the terminal device may determine the first search space according to the priority rule within the first time period, and determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, a PDCCH that does not need to be monitored in the first search space. Further, the terminal device may determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, that the PDCCH candidate corresponding to the first aggregation level does not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time length.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a communication method 400 according to another embodiment of the present application. The method 400 of fig. 4 may be performed by a terminal device or by a chip in a terminal device, e.g. by any one of the terminal devices UE1-UE6 of fig. 1. The method 400 includes the following steps.

S410, the terminal device determines the number of PDCCH candidates configured within the first time length.

And S420, when the number of the PDCCH candidates is in a first numerical range, the terminal equipment determines one or more time spans with the largest number of the search spaces configured in the first time length as the first time span.

And S430, determining one or more search spaces with the lowest priority as first search spaces according to the priority rule in the first time span.

For example, the priority rule may be the priority rule described above, and a description thereof will not be repeated here.

S440, the terminal equipment determines that the PDCCH candidates corresponding to the first aggregation level do not need to be monitored in the first search space.

For example, the first aggregation level may be the lowest aggregation level.

The terminal equipment can repeat the above process until the PDCCH monitoring capability of the terminal equipment in the first time length is met.

In the following, the method 400 will be described by taking the communication device as a base station and the terminal device as a UE as an example, and assuming that the first time length is one time slot, the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that can be monitored by the UE in the time slot is 44, that is, the maximum number of Blind Detection (BD) times of the UE in the time slot is limited to 44. The first range of values may be greater than 44. The number of blind tests required in each search space is shown in fig. 5, and the total number of blind tests required in the search space SS in fig. 5 is 46, where S411 is a specific implementation of S410 in fig. 4, and specifically, the UE determines the number of PDCCH candidates configured by the base station for the UE in the slot. S421 in fig. 5 is a specific implementation of S420 in fig. 4, where when the number of PDCCH candidates exceeds the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that the UE can monitor in the slot, the UE determines the time span with the largest number of configured search spaces as the first time span, and specifically, the first time span includes the largest search space SS, so the UE takes the first time span as the first time span. S431 in fig. 5 is a specific implementation of S430 in fig. 4, where the search space with the largest index is determined to be the lowest priority SS in the first time span. S441 in fig. 5 is a specific implementation manner of S440 in fig. 4, specifically, the UE determines that it is not necessary to monitor the PDCCH candidate corresponding to the minimum aggregation level in the USS 2.

S411 to S441 are repeated until the PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE in the slot is satisfied, for example, until the number of PDCCH candidates that the UE can monitor in the slot is 44 or less. As shown in fig. 5, after determining that two PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in USS2 of the first time span, the PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE in the time slot is satisfied.

The data transmission of the terminal device may comprise a first traffic feature and a second traffic feature, the transmission requirement of the first traffic feature being different from the transmission requirement of the second traffic feature. For example, the first traffic feature is enhanced mobile broadband (enhanced mobile broadband, emmbb) related traffic and the second traffic feature is low latency high reliability URLLC traffic. For another example, the first service feature is a service related to the internet of things or a service related to the internet of vehicles, and the second service feature is a service with low time delay and high reliability. When the control information configurations of the first traffic feature and the second traffic feature are not independently configured, the terminal device cannot determine whether the monitored control channel is for the first traffic feature or for the second traffic feature according to the configuration of the search space or the control resource set (control resource set, CORESET) when monitoring the control channel.

When the control information configuration of the first service feature and the control information configuration of the second service feature are independent configurations, the terminal device may determine whether the monitored control channel is for the service of the first service feature or the service of the second service feature according to the configuration of the control information.

Wherein the control information configuration may be used to configure or indicate one or more of a search space SS, a control channel resource set CORESET, a control channel element (control channel elements, CCE), a blind detection BD, a DCI format (format), power or UE capability (capability).

The communication method in embodiment 1 can be applied to both cases.

When the control information configuration of the first service feature and the control information configuration of the second service feature are independent configurations, the manner in which the terminal device determines, from the configured PDCCH candidates, the PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time span may be further implemented by manner 2 and manner 3.

Mode 2:

the first search space may be, for example, a lowest priority search space within the first time span. The terminal device may determine, in the first time span, a search space with the lowest priority according to a priority rule of the search space and service characteristics of data scheduled by the PDCCH, where the priority rule of the search space may be:

USS of the first service feature < USS of the second service feature < common search space CSS, or

USS of first service feature < USS of second service feature < CSS of said first service feature < CSS of said second service feature, or

USS of the first service feature < CSS of the first service feature < USS of the second service feature < CSS of the second service feature.

Note that the symbol < identity is smaller than, for example, USS of the first traffic feature < USS of the second traffic feature < common search space CSS representation: the priority of the USS of the first service feature is smaller than the priority of the USS of the second service feature, which is smaller than the common search space CSS.

Different service features have different control channel configurations, the search space with the lowest priority is determined according to the priority rule of the search space and the service features, the PDCCH candidate which does not need to be monitored is determined in the search space with the lowest priority, the high priority of the public search space can be ensured, and the PDCCH candidate in the CSS and the PDCCH candidate in the search space with the second service features can be ensured to be monitored as much as possible, so that the timeliness of the PDCCH candidate in the CSS for carrying out relevant service scheduling and the PDCCH candidate in the search space with the second service features for carrying out scheduling of the second service is ensured.

Determining PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the lowest priority search space may determine all PDCCH candidates in the lowest priority search space that do not need to be monitored for the terminal device. Alternatively, determining PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the lowest priority search space may also be n PDCCH candidates in the lowest priority search space that do not need to be monitored, where n is a positive integer. n may be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, n may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device).

Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a communication method 500 according to another embodiment of the present application. The method 500 of fig. 6 may be performed by a terminal device, for example, by a UE of the terminal devices UE1-UE6 of fig. 1. The method 500 includes the following steps.

S510, the terminal device determines the number of PDCCH candidates configured within the first time length.

And S520, determining the service characteristics of the control channel when the number of the PDCCH candidates is in the first numerical range.

And S530, determining the search space with the lowest priority according to the service characteristics and the priority rule of the control channel.

For example, the priority rule may be the priority rule described in the above-described mode 2, and a description thereof will not be repeated here.

S540, determining the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in the search space with the lowest priority.

The terminal device may repeat the above process until the PDCCH monitoring capability of the terminal device in the first time period is met, for example, until the number of PDCCH candidates that the terminal device needs to monitor in the first time period is not in the first numerical range.

Mode 3:

the terminal device determines that the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space within a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates may be that n1 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in the first search space corresponding to a first service feature within the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates; and determining that n2 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in the first search space corresponding to the second service characteristic in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates, wherein n1 and n2 are positive integers.

And selecting PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored from PDCCH candidates corresponding to different service features, so that the PDCCH candidates in the search space of each service feature can be ensured to be monitored as many as possible, and the timeliness of the PDCCH candidates in the search space of the service feature in service scheduling is ensured.

Illustratively, n1 may be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, n1 may also be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g. a network device or other terminal device), that is to say a value indicated directly or indirectly by the communication device for the terminal device. n2 may be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, n2 may also be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g. a network device or other terminal device), that is to say a value indicated directly or indirectly by the communication device for the terminal device.

For example, there may also be a correspondence between n1 and n2, for example, α=n1/n 2, α may be specified or preset by a protocol. Alternatively, α may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device), i.e., the communication device is a value indicated directly or indirectly for the terminal device. In this case, the communication device may transmit only information of α to the terminal device, which is able to determine n1 and/or n2 from α.

The first search space may include a search space with a lowest priority corresponding to the first service feature and a search space with a lowest priority corresponding to the second service feature.

For example, the priority of the search space may be determined according to a priority rule. The priority rules may be specified or preset by a protocol or may be configured for the terminal device by an external communication device (e.g., a network device or other terminal device).

For example, the priority rule may be the following rule: USS of the service feature < CSS of the service feature.

In this way, the PDCCH candidates in the CSS can be ensured to be monitored as much as possible, so that the timeliness of service scheduling with the control channel in the CSS is ensured.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a communication method 600 according to another embodiment of the present application. The method 600 of fig. 7 may be performed by a terminal device or by a chip in a terminal device, e.g. by any one of the terminal devices UE1-UE6 of fig. 1. The method 600 includes the following steps.

S610, the terminal device determines that the number of PDCCH candidates configured in the first time period is within a first numerical range.

S620, the terminal device may determine that n1 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in a search space with a lowest priority corresponding to the first service feature in the first time span. Wherein n1 is a positive integer.

S630, the terminal device may determine that n2 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in a search space with a lowest priority corresponding to the second service feature in the first time span. Wherein n2 is a positive integer.

It should be noted that S620 and S630 may be executed simultaneously, S620 may be executed first, S630 may be executed second, and S620 may be executed first, S630 may be executed second. The terminal device may repeatedly execute S620 and S630, that is, may alternately determine PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the search space corresponding to the first service feature and the search space corresponding to the second service feature, until the PDCCH monitoring capability of the terminal device in the first time length is satisfied.

According to the embodiment, the PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored are selected in turn from the PDCCH candidates corresponding to different service features, so that each service feature can be ensured to have as many PDCCH candidates as possible to be monitored, and the timeliness of service scheduling of the PDCCH candidates in the search space of the service feature is ensured.

As another embodiment, the determining, by the terminal device, from among the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time span may be: determining that monitoring of a PDCCH candidate corresponding to a specific DCI format (format) is not required in a first search space within a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates; for example, the specific DCI format may be a DCI format that is not expected by the terminal device, or may be specified by a protocol, preset, or configured by an external device. In this way, the terminal device can flexibly select which PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored according to the DCI format.

Or, the determining, by the terminal device, that the PDCCH candidate that does not need to be monitored in the first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates may be: determining that monitoring of a PDCCH candidate corresponding to a specific DCI payload size (payload size) is not required in a first search space within a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates; the specific DCI payload size may be a DCI payload size not expected by the terminal device, or may be specified by a protocol, preset, or configured by an external device. In this way, the terminal device can flexibly select which PDCCH candidates to monitor according to the DCI payload size.

Still alternatively, the determining, by the terminal device, that the PDCCH candidate that does not need to be monitored in the first search space within the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates may be: and determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space in a first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates according to whether the terminal equipment supports carrier aggregation. For example, a terminal device supporting carrier aggregation may monitor all configured PDCCH candidates. For example, a terminal device that does not support carrier aggregation, when configured PDCCH candidates are in the first range, does not monitor some PDCCH candidates. For another example, the first range corresponding to the terminal device supporting carrier aggregation is different from the first range corresponding to the terminal device not supporting carrier aggregation. The first range corresponding to the terminal equipment supporting carrier aggregation is larger than y1, and the first range corresponding to the terminal equipment supporting carrier aggregation is larger than y2, wherein y1 is larger than y2. In this way, the terminal device can determine which PDCCH candidates to monitor based on the support capability of carrier aggregation.

It should be noted that, the above DCI format, DCI payload size, or carrier aggregation related schemes may be used in combination with the above-described mode 1, mode 2, and/or mode 3. Two or three of the

modes

1, 2 and 3 may be used in combination.

It should be understood that, in the foregoing embodiments, the sequence number of each process does not mean that the execution sequence of each process should be determined by the function and the internal logic of each process, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in one embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be used to perform the behavioral functions of the terminal device in the above embodiment of the method, or the communication device may be a chip or a circuit of the terminal device. This process is not described in detail in order to avoid repetition. As shown in fig. 8, the communication device 700 may include a processing unit 710 and a storage unit 720. The storage unit 720 is used for storing a computer program.

The processing unit 710 is configured to determine a number of physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates configured within a first time span, and to determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space of a first time span, when the number of PDCCH candidates is in a first range of values, wherein the first time span is one or more time spans within the first time span

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 of an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 800 is capable of performing the behavioural functions of the network device in the above-described method embodiment. In order to avoid repetition, details are not given here. The communication apparatus 800 may be a network device or a chip applied to the network device. The communication apparatus 800 includes: a transceiver unit 810 and a processing unit 820.

A transceiver 810, configured to send information indicating a first numerical range to a terminal device, where the information in the first numerical range is used for the terminal device to determine PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first time period;

a processing unit 820, configured to configure a physical downlink control channel PDCCH candidate for the terminal device.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1000 of an embodiment of the present application. It should be understood that the communication device may be configured to perform the steps performed by the terminal device in the above method example, and may also be configured to perform the steps performed by the network device in the above method embodiment. In order to avoid repetition, details are not given here. The communication apparatus 1000 includes:

a memory 1010 for storing a program;

a communication interface 1020 for communicating with other devices;

A processor 1030 configured to execute a program in the memory 1010, the processor 1030 configured to generally determine a number of physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates configured within a first time span, the first time span being one or more time spans within the first time span, when the program is executed, and to determine, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first search space of the first time span when the number of PDCCH candidates is within a first numerical range.

Or, the processor 1030 is configured to send, to a terminal device via the communication interface 1020, information indicating a first numerical range, where the information in the first numerical range is used for the terminal device to determine PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in a first time period; and configuring Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates for the terminal equipment.

It should be understood that the communication device 1000 shown in fig. 10 may be a chip or a circuit. For example, a chip or circuit that may be provided within the terminal device, or a chip or circuit that may be provided within the network device. The communication interface 1020 may also be a transceiver. The transceiver includes a receiver and a transmitter. Further, the communication device 1000 may also include a bus system.

The processor 1030, the memory 1010, the receiver and the transmitter are connected through a bus system, where the processor 1030 is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 1010 to control the receiver to receive signals and control the transmitter to send signals, thereby completing the steps of the network device in the communication method of the present application. Wherein the receiver and the transmitter may be the same or different physical entities. Which are the same physical entities, may be collectively referred to as transceivers. The memory 1010 may be integrated in the processor 1030 or may be separate from the processor 1030.

As an implementation, the functions of the receiver and the transmitter may be considered to be implemented by a transceiving circuit or a transceiving dedicated chip. Processor 1030 may be considered to be implemented with a dedicated processing chip, processing circuit, processor, or general-purpose chip.

Fig. 11 shows a simplified schematic diagram of one possible design structure of the terminal device involved in the above-described embodiment. The terminal device comprises a transmitter 1101, a receiver 1102, a controller/processor 1103, a memory 1104 and a modem processor 1105.

The transmitter 1101 is configured to transmit an uplink signal, which is transmitted to the network device described in the above embodiment via an antenna. On the downlink, an antenna receives downlink signals (DCI) transmitted by the network device in the above embodiments. The receiver 1102 is configured to receive downlink signals (DCI) received from antennas. In modem processor 1105, encoder 1106 receives traffic data and signaling messages to be sent on the uplink and processes the traffic data and signaling messages. Modulator 1107 further processes (e.g., symbol maps and modulates) the encoded traffic data and signaling messages and provides output samples. A demodulator 1109 processes (e.g., demodulates) the input samples and provides symbol estimates. Decoder 1108 processes (e.g., decodes) the symbol estimates and provides decoded data and signaling messages that are sent to the terminal device. Encoder 1106, modulator 1107, demodulator 1109, and decoder 1108 may be implemented by a composite modem processor 1105. These units are handled according to the radio access technology employed by the radio access network.

The controller/processor 1103 controls and manages the actions of the terminal device, and is used to execute the processing performed by the terminal device in the above embodiment. For example, the terminal equipment is controlled to receive the indication information from the second equipment, and according to the received indication information, the characteristic parameters monitored in one or more time spans in the N time spans contained in the first time length are determined; the control channel and/or other processes of the techniques described herein are received on control channel element resources corresponding to the monitored characteristic parameter(s) in one or more time spans. As an example, the controller/processor 1103 is used to support the terminal device to perform the processes S310 and S320 in fig. 3.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is merely a logic function division, and there may be other division manners in which a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. Alternatively, the communications links shown or discussed may be indirect coupling or communications links through interfaces, devices or units, which may be electrical, mechanical, or other.

In addition, each unit in the embodiment of the apparatus of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

The methods in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted across a computer-readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server that integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium, e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, tape; optical media such as CD-ROM, DVD; but also semiconductor media such as Solid State Disk (SSD), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), and registers.

An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a network device or terminal device. The processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a transmitting device or a receiving device.

In the various embodiments of the application, if there is no specific description or logical conflict, terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

In this application, "and/or" describes an association relationship of an association object, which means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B may mean: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. In the text description of the present application, the character "/", generally indicates that the associated object is an or relationship; in the formulas of the present application, the character "/" indicates that the front and rear associated objects are a "division" relationship.

It will be appreciated that the various numerical numbers referred to in the embodiments of the present application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined according to the function and the internal logic.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

determining the number of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates configured in a first time length;

determining a search space with the lowest priority according to a priority rule of the search space and service characteristics of data scheduled by the PDCCH in a first time span;

and determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space of the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates when the number of the PDCCH candidates is in a first numerical range, wherein the first time span is one or more time spans in the first time length, and the first search space is the search space with the lowest priority in the first time span.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

information indicative of the first range of values is obtained.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and determining one or more time spans with the largest number of search spaces configured in the first time length as the first time span.

4. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that,

the first time span includes one or more time spans within the first time length other than a j-th time span, where j is a positive integer; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first time length includes at least one time span within a time slot, and the first time span includes one or more time spans within the time slot other than the first time span.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space of the first time span, comprises:

and determining that the PDCCH candidates corresponding to a first aggregation level do not need to be monitored in the first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates, wherein the first aggregation level comprises one or more aggregation levels.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

information indicating the first aggregation level is obtained.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first search space comprises one or more search spaces other than a common search space CSS.

8. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the priority rule of the search space is:

user equipment UE specific search space USS of first service feature < USS of second service feature < common search space CSS, or

9. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining, from the configured PDCCH candidates, PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space of the first time span, comprises:

determining that n1 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in the first search space corresponding to the first service characteristic in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates; and/or

Determining that n2 PDCCH candidates do not need to be monitored in the first search space corresponding to the second service characteristic in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates;

wherein n1 and n2 are positive integers.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

information indicating the n1 and/or information indicating the n2 is acquired.

11. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein determining PDCCH candidates from the configured PDCCH candidates that do not need to be monitored in the first search space of the first time span comprises:

and determining PDCCH candidates which do not need to be monitored in a first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates according to whether carrier aggregation is supported.

12. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the first range of values is determined based on whether carrier aggregation is supported.

13. A communication device is characterized by comprising a storage unit and a processing unit, wherein the storage unit is connected with the processing unit,

the storage unit is used for storing a computer program;

The processing unit is configured to determine a number of physical downlink control channel PDCCH candidates configured in a first time length, and is further configured to: and determining a PDCCH candidate which does not need to be monitored in a first search space of the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates when the number of the PDCCH candidates is in a first numerical range, wherein the first time span is one or more time spans in the first time span, and the first search space is the lowest priority search space in the first time span.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

and the receiving and transmitting unit is used for acquiring information indicating the first numerical range.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

16. The device according to claim 13 or 14, wherein,

17. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and determining that the PDCCH candidates corresponding to a first aggregation level do not need to be monitored in a first search space in the first time span from the configured PDCCH candidates, wherein the first aggregation level comprises one or more aggregation levels.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

the transceiver unit is further configured to obtain information indicating the first aggregation level.

19. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the first search space comprises one or more search spaces other than a common search space, CSS.

20. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the priority rule of the search space is:

21. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

wherein n1 and n2 are positive integers.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

the transceiver unit is further configured to obtain information indicating the n1 and/or information indicating the n 2.

23. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

24. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

25. A communication device comprising a processor connected to a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

26. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores a computer program which, when run, implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.