CN113938995B

CN113938995B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN113938995B
Application number: CN202010803120.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邝奕如
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-14
Filing date: 2020-08-11
Publication date: 2023-09-22
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-11
Also published as: CN113938995A; WO2022012388A1

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and equipment. The terminal device receives a first message from the network device, wherein the first message is used for indicating a plurality of paging occasions PO of the terminal device associated with indication information, and the indication information is used for waking up the terminal device or not waking up the terminal device. The terminal equipment determines the value of N, N is the number of PO of the terminal equipment associated with the indication information, and the value of N is related to the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment. The terminal equipment receives the first indication information from the network equipment, and determines monitoring conditions of N POs of the terminal equipment according to the first indication information. In the embodiment of the application, even if the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal equipment is smaller, the terminal equipment can monitor only a part of the POs in the paging cycle, and the rest POs in the paging cycle do not need to monitor. Since the number of POs to be monitored is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

Description

Communication method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from chinese patent application filed at 14 months 07 in 2020, filed in chinese national intellectual property office with application number 202010674448.7, application name "a method for waking up indication, terminal and network device", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

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

Background

The fifth generation (5 generation,5 g) new air interface (NR) technology has followed a discontinuous reception (discontinuous reception, DRX) mechanism in long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) that includes a DRX cycle in which the terminal device "wakes up" for a period of time and at other times in the DRX cycle the terminal device can remain "dormant" to reduce power consumption. When the terminal device is in a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) idle state or an RRC inactive state, if the core network device or the base station needs to send downlink data to the terminal device (for example, there is a call that needs to be received by the terminal device or there is data that needs to be transmitted to the terminal device), a paging message is sent to the terminal device first for paging the terminal device, and after the terminal device receives the paging message, an RRC connection establishment procedure is initiated, so that downlink data can be received.

In the paging mechanism, for terminal devices in the RRC idle state or RRC inactive state, the DRX cycle is also called paging cycle. The base station may broadcast a cell-common paging cycle, referred to as a default paging cycle (default paging cycle), and the terminal device may determine a terminal device-specific paging cycle, referred to as a UE-specific paging cycle (UE specific paging cycle). The existing standard specifies that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal device is a default paging cycle and a smaller value in the UE-specific paging cycle. The paging cycle special for the UE is generally determined by the terminal equipment according to the service condition, and is more in line with the actual working condition of the terminal equipment. However, even if the terminal device determines a UE-specific paging cycle with a larger value according to the delay requirement of the service of the terminal device, the terminal device still uses the default paging cycle because the default paging cycle is smaller, and the frequency of actually waking up the terminal device is faster than the frequency of the terminal device expected to wake up, which is not beneficial to energy saving of the terminal device.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and equipment, which are used for reducing the power consumption of terminal equipment.

In a first aspect, there is provided a first communication method comprising: receiving a first message from a network device, wherein the first message is used for indicating a plurality of paging occasions PO of an indication information associated terminal device from the network device, and the indication information is used for waking up the terminal device or not waking up the terminal device; determining the value of N, wherein N is the number of PO (potential oxygen) of the terminal equipment associated with one indication message, the value of N is related to a special paging cycle of the terminal equipment, and N is a positive integer; receiving first indication information from the network device; and determining monitoring conditions of N POs of the terminal equipment according to the first indication information.

The method may be performed by a first communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a chip, capable of supporting the functions required by the communication apparatus to implement the method. The first communication means is, for example, a terminal device, or a chip arranged in the terminal device for realizing the functions of the terminal device, or other components for realizing the functions of the terminal device. In the following description, the first communication apparatus is exemplified as a terminal device.

The network device is for example an access network device or a core network device, or the network device may be the same device if the access network device and the core network device are combined into the same device in a later communication system. In the embodiment of the present application, the indication information may be associated with a plurality of paging occasions, that is, even if the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device is small, the terminal device may monitor only a portion of the POs in the paging cycle, and the remaining POs in the paging cycle need not monitor. Since the number of POs to be monitored is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the first aspect, determining the value of N includes:

determining the value of N according to the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

a second message is received from the network device, the second message being used to indicate the value of N.

The specific paging cycle of the terminal device may have a correspondence with the value of N, and the terminal device may determine the value of N according to the specific paging cycle of the terminal device. In this way, the terminal device can determine the value of N by itself without indication of network device, so as to reduce signaling interaction and save signaling overhead. Or if the terminal equipment is in the RRC inactive state, the network equipment can send a unicast message to the terminal equipment, and the network equipment can inform the terminal equipment of the value of N through the second message, so that the terminal equipment is not required to determine the value of N again, the realization of the terminal equipment can be simplified, and the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application is beneficial to being applied to more terminal equipment with lower capability.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second optional implementation manner of the first aspect, determining the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device includes:

the special paging cycle is smaller than or equal to a default paging cycle of a system, and N is determined to be a first value; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the special paging cycle is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, N is determined to be a second value, and the second value is determined according to the special paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system.

The special paging cycle of the terminal device may have a correspondence relationship with the value of N, which is one of the correspondence relationships. In the corresponding relation, the terminal equipment can determine the value of N only according to the size relation between the special paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system, and the mode is simpler.

With reference to the second optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the second value is a value determined according to the dedicated paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system, and includes:

the second value = the dedicated paging cycle/the system default paging cycle.

If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment, so that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is more in line with the service requirement of the terminal equipment. At this time, the value of N (i.e., the first value) is, for example, 1, which indicates that the granularity of paging of the terminal device by the network is refined to each PO, so that the probability of missing the paging of the terminal device can be reduced. If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is the default paging cycle of the system, so that the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than the cycle required by the service of the terminal equipment. At this time, N may be determined according to the dedicated paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system, so that the value of N (i.e., the second value) may not only meet the service requirement of the terminal device, but also reduce the power consumption of the terminal device as much as possible.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, determining, according to a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, the value of N includes:

the special paging cycle is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, and N is determined to be a second value;

wherein the first value and the second value are both preconfigured values.

There may be a correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N, which is another correspondence therein. If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment, so that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is more in line with the service requirement of the terminal equipment. At this time, N may be 1, which indicates that the granularity of paging of the network to the terminal device is refined to each PO, so that the probability of missing paging of the terminal device may be reduced. If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is the default paging cycle of the system, so that the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than the cycle required by the service of the terminal equipment. In this case, N may be a second value, for example, the second value is greater than the first value, and by applying the second value, the power consumption of the terminal device may be reduced as much as possible. And the first value and the second value are both preconfigured, so that the terminal equipment does not need to calculate by itself, and the implementation of the terminal equipment can be simplified.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, determining, according to a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, the value of N includes:

and determining the value of N according to the value range of the special paging cycle, wherein different value ranges correspond to different values of N, and the number of the value ranges is more than or equal to 3.

There may be a correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N, which is yet another correspondence therein. In this way, more ranges can be divided, and the terminal device can determine the value of N according to the value range to which the dedicated paging cycle belongs. The divided value ranges can be more and finer, so that the determined value of N can be more accurate.

With reference to any one of the second optional implementation manner of the first aspect to the fifth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

receiving a third message from the network device, wherein the third message is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the value of N and the special paging cycle of the terminal device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

According to the predefined information, determining the corresponding relation between the value of N and the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and pre-storing the corresponding relation between the value of N and the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment.

For example, the correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N may be specified by a protocol, and then the terminal device may determine the correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device according to predefined information; or, the corresponding relation between the special paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N may be stored in the terminal device in advance; alternatively, the correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N may be configured by a network device (e.g., an access network device) and sent to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may send a third message, which may indicate a correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N, for example, a broadcast message or a unicast message. In summary, the terminal device can obtain a correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N, so that the terminal device can determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first alternative embodiment to the sixth alternative embodiment of the first aspect, in a seventh alternative embodiment of the first aspect,

the first indication information is included in paging control information, and is used for indicating to monitor paging information or not monitoring paging information, and the paging control information is used for scheduling the paging information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first indication information is included in downlink control information before the PO, and is used for indicating to monitor paging or not monitoring paging.

In various embodiments of the present application, listening to a page may be understood as listening to a PO, i.e. listening to messages sent by the network in the PO, the messages sent by the network in the PO for example comprising paging control information, or paging control information and paging messages. For example, the first indication information may be included in DCI before the first PO of one paging cycle, for example WUS. The first indication information may indicate to monitor for a page or indicate not to monitor for a page. The WUS is located before the POs in the time domain, and if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the terminal device does not need to monitor in N POs, so that power consumption of the terminal device can be saved to a greater extent. Alternatively, the first indication information may be included in the paging control information, for example, in a case where WUS is not transmitted, the first indication information may be transmitted through the paging control information so that the first indication information can be normally transmitted.

With reference to the seventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the first indication information is included in paging control information, and determining, according to the first indication information, a listening situation of N POs to the terminal device includes:

the first indication information is used for indicating to monitor paging messages, and then, the paging messages from the network equipment are monitored in the current PO, and the paging messages from the network equipment are monitored in the rest POs except the current PO in the N POs; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first indication information is used for indicating that paging messages are not monitored, and then the paging messages from the network equipment are not monitored in the current PO, and the paging messages from the network equipment are not monitored in the rest POs except the current PO in the N POs.

If the first indication information is included in the paging control information, the N POs associated with the first indication information may include a PO in which the DCI is located, and include N-1 consecutive POs located after the PO; or, the N POs associated with the first indication information may also include any N POs in the paging cycle, where the N POs may be continuous or discontinuous in the time domain, and the N POs may include a PO where the DCI is located, or may not include a PO where the DCI is located; alternatively, the N POs associated with the first indication information may also include N POs in a plurality of paging periods, where the N POs may include a PO in which the DCI is located, or may not include a PO in which the DCI is located. Taking the example that the N POs include the PO where the DCI is located, the terminal device may monitor the paging message or not monitor the paging message in the N POs according to the indication of the first indication information. In this way, the first indication information may affect the "sleep" and "wake-up" of the terminal device in the N POs, i.e. the first indication information may indicate that the terminal device is not only sleep in the N POs, but also wake-up of the terminal device in the N POs, and the indication is more comprehensive.

With reference to the seventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a ninth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the first indication information is included in downlink control information before a PO, and determining, according to the first indication information, monitoring situations of N POs of the terminal device includes:

the first indication information is used for indicating to monitor paging, and then monitoring paging control information in the N POs or monitoring paging control information and paging information in the N POs; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the first indication information is used for indicating that paging is not monitored, and if paging control information and/or paging information is not monitored in the N POs.

If the first indication information is included in the downlink control information located before the PO in the time domain, N POs associated with the first indication information may include N consecutive POs starting from the first PO after the WUS; alternatively, the N POs associated with the first indication information may be any N POs included in the paging cycle, where the N POs may be continuous or discontinuous in the time domain; alternatively, the N POs associated with the first indication information may also include N POs in a plurality of paging cycles. The terminal device may monitor for pages or not within the N POs as indicated by the first indication information. In this way, the first indication information may affect the "sleep" and "wake-up" of the terminal device in the N POs, i.e. the first indication information may indicate that the terminal device is not only sleep in the N POs, but also wake-up of the terminal device in the N POs, and the indication is more comprehensive.

With reference to the seventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a tenth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the first indication information is included in paging control information, and determining, according to the first indication information, a listening situation of N POs to the terminal device includes:

the first indication information is used for indicating to monitor paging messages, and then the paging messages from the network equipment are monitored in the current PO; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

In yet another manner, the first indication information may affect the "dormancy" of the terminal device within the N POs, but not the "wake-up" of the terminal device within the N POs. Then, for example, the first indication information indicates to monitor the paging message, the terminal device may monitor the paging control information in the PO where the paging control information is located, if the received paging control information includes scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device monitors the paging message in the PO, after receiving the paging message, if the paging message includes an identifier of the terminal device, the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device, or the terminal device is not paged if the paging message does not include the identifier of the terminal device; or if the first indication information indicates that the paging message is not monitored, the terminal equipment does not need to monitor the paging message in the N POs associated with the first indication information. Equivalently, if the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the first indication information and the N POs are regarded as having no association relationship, and the terminal device only needs to monitor normally in the PO where the first indication information is located; and if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the first indication information is considered to have an association relationship with N POs, and the terminal equipment does not monitor paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. By the method, the first indication information only indicates the dormancy of the terminal equipment in the N POs, so that the purpose of saving the power consumption of the terminal equipment is achieved.

With reference to the seventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eleventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the first indication information is included in downlink control information before a PO, and determining, according to the first indication information, monitoring situations of N POs of the terminal device includes:

the first indication information is used for indicating to monitor paging, and then monitoring paging control information or monitoring paging control information and paging information in a first PO after the downlink control information before the PO; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the first indication information is used for indicating that paging is not monitored, and if paging control information and paging information are not monitored in the N POs.

This is also the way the first indication information may affect the "dormancy" of the terminal device within the N POs, but not the "wake-up" of the terminal device within the N POs. For example, if the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the terminal device may monitor paging control information in a first PO after the WUS, or monitor paging control information and paging messages; or if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the terminal device does not need to monitor paging control information or paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. Equivalently, if the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the first indication information and the N POs are regarded as having no association relationship, and the terminal device only needs to monitor normally in the PO located after the first indication information; and if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the first indication information and the N POs are considered to have an association relation, and the terminal equipment does not need to monitor paging control information or paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. By the method, the first indication information only indicates the dormancy of the terminal equipment in the N POs, so that the purpose of saving the power consumption of the terminal equipment is achieved.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the eleventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a twelfth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

and determining that the first indication information corresponds to a first packet to which the terminal equipment belongs, wherein the first packet comprises one or more terminal equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can be divided into different groups, and the dividing factors can comprise one or more kinds. For example, a dividing factor is a paging cycle of the terminal device, for example, a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, or may be a paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device, where the paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device is a smaller value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and a default paging cycle of the system. The paging cycle may then be divided into one or more ranges, each of which corresponds to a packet, and if the paging cycle of a terminal device is within one of the ranges, the terminal device belongs to the packet to which the range corresponds. After the terminal device is divided into one or more packets, each of the one or more packets may be made to correspond to one of the indication information. By grouping the terminal devices, the terminal devices can be indicated in a grouping manner when the indication is performed through the indication information, and for one terminal device, if the indication information is determined not to correspond to the grouping to which the terminal device belongs, the terminal device can not respond to the indication information, so that the false alarm probability of the terminal device can be reduced. Moreover, the grouping of the terminal equipment is divided through the paging cycle, so that the division result is more reasonable, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the twelfth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a thirteenth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

transmitting first information, wherein the first information is used for indicating one or more of the following:

whether the terminal equipment supports the indication information;

whether the terminal equipment supports a plurality of POs of the terminal equipment associated with the indication information or not;

energy-saving requirements; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and requesting to associate the indication information with a plurality of POs of the terminal equipment.

The terminal equipment can inform the core network equipment of the capability of the terminal equipment or the requirement of the terminal equipment through the first information, so that the paging mode of the subsequent network to the terminal equipment can meet the capability or the requirement of the terminal equipment as much as possible.

In a second aspect, there is provided a second communication method, the method comprising: transmitting a first message, wherein the first message is used for indicating a plurality of paging occasions PO of an indication information associated terminal equipment from the network equipment, and the indication information is used for waking up the terminal equipment or not waking up the terminal equipment; determining the value of N, wherein N is the number of PO (potential oxygen) of the terminal equipment associated with one indication message, the value of N is related to a special paging cycle of the terminal equipment, and N is a positive integer; and sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information is associated with N POs.

The method may be performed by a second communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a chip, capable of supporting the functions required by the communication apparatus to implement the method. The second communication device is a network device, or a chip provided in the network device for implementing a function of the network device, or another component for implementing a function of the network device. In the following description, the second communication apparatus is exemplified as a network device. Illustratively, the network device is an access network device, such as a base station.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, determining the value of N includes:

and determining the value of N according to the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second optional implementation manner of the second aspect, determining the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device includes:

the special paging cycle is smaller than or equal to a default paging cycle of the system, N is determined to be a second value, and the second value is determined according to the special paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system.

With reference to the second optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the second value is a value determined according to the dedicated paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system, and includes:

the second value = the dedicated paging cycle/the system default paging cycle.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, determining the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device includes:

the special paging cycle is smaller than or equal to a default paging cycle of a system, and N is determined to be a second value;

wherein the first value and the second value are both preconfigured values.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, determining the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device includes:

and determining the value of N according to the value range of the special paging cycle, wherein different value ranges correspond to different values, and the number of the value ranges is more than or equal to 3.

With reference to any one of the second optional implementation manner of the second aspect to the fifth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a sixth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

transmitting a third message, wherein the third message is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the value of N and the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first optional embodiment to the sixth optional embodiment of the second aspect, in a seventh optional embodiment of the second aspect,

the first wake-up information is included in paging control information, and is used for indicating to monitor paging information or not monitoring the paging information, and the paging control information is used for scheduling the paging information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the first wake-up information is included in downlink control information before the PO, where the first wake-up information is used to instruct to monitor paging, or instruct not to monitor paging.

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the seventh optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in an eighth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

receiving first information from a terminal device or a core network device, the first information being used to indicate one or more of:

whether the terminal equipment supports the indication information;

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the eighth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a ninth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the first indication information corresponds to a first packet to which the terminal device belongs, where the first packet includes one or more terminal devices.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or the various alternative embodiments of the second aspect, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or the corresponding embodiments.

In a third aspect, a third communication method is provided, the method comprising: receiving a first message from an access network device, the first message comprising first packet information, the first packet information being indicative of a first packet, the first packet comprising one or more terminal devices; determining that the first terminal equipment belongs to the first packet, wherein the first packet is divided according to a paging cycle of the terminal equipment; and monitoring paging in the PO associated with the first message.

The method may be performed by a third communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a chip, capable of supporting the functions required by the communication apparatus to implement the method. The third communication means is, for example, a terminal device, or a chip provided in the terminal device for realizing the functions of the terminal device, or other components for realizing the functions of the terminal device. In the following description, the third communication device is taken as an example of a terminal device, for example, the terminal device is a first terminal device.

The embodiment of the application groups the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can be paged in a grouping mode. For a terminal device, if it is determined that packet information (e.g., first packet information) from the access network device is not information of a packet to which the terminal device belongs, the terminal device may not monitor at a corresponding PO, so that a false alarm probability of the terminal device may be reduced. In addition, the embodiment of the application can divide the grouping of the terminal equipment by adopting the paging cycle, the grouping mode is more reasonable, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced better.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the third aspect, the paging cycle of the terminal device is a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device or is a paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device, where the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device is a smaller value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and a default paging cycle of the system.

When the terminal devices are grouped according to the paging cycle, the paging cycle may refer to a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, or may refer to a paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device, which is not particularly limited.

With reference to the third aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second optional implementation manner of the third aspect, the first message is downlink control information located before the PO, and monitoring paging in the PO associated with the first message includes:

and monitoring paging control information or monitoring paging control information and paging information in the PO associated with the downlink control information.

The first message may be DCI, e.g. WUS, preceding the first PO of a paging cycle. The PO associated with the first message may refer to one or more POs located after the WUS, which may be consecutive POs in the time domain, may be discontinuous POs, and may be located within one paging cycle, or may be located within multiple paging cycles. Then, if the first terminal device belongs to the first packet, indicating that the packet in which the first terminal device is located is paged, the first terminal device may listen for paging control information in one or more POs located after the WUS.

With reference to the third aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third optional implementation manner of the third aspect, the first message is paging control information, and monitoring paging in a PO associated with the first message includes:

and monitoring paging information in the PO where the paging control information is located.

The first message may also be paging control information. Then the first message may be associated with one or more POs, if the first message is associated with one PO, such as the PO where the paging control information is located; alternatively, if the first message associates a plurality of POs, the plurality of POs may include a PO where the paging control information is located and include at least one PO located after the PO where the paging control information is located, or the plurality of POs associated with the first message may not include a PO where the paging control information is located but include only at least one PO located after the PO where the paging control information is located. Wherein the first message, if associated with a plurality of POs, may be consecutive POs in the time domain, or may be discontinuous POs, and the one or more POs may be located in one paging cycle, or may be located in a plurality of paging cycles. For example, the PO associated with the first message refers to the PO where the paging control information is located, and if the first terminal device belongs to the first packet, which indicates that the packet where the first terminal device is located is paged, the first terminal device may monitor the PO for the paging message.

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner of the third aspect to the third optional implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth optional implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes:

receiving a second message from the access network device, the second message being for enabling grouping of terminal devices by paging cycle; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

receiving a second message from the access network device, wherein the second message comprises grouping rule information, the grouping rule information comprises information of at least one grouping, and a value range of a paging cycle corresponding to each grouping in the at least one grouping; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

a second message is received from the access network device, the second message being used to indicate a packet to which the first terminal device belongs.

When the terminal devices are grouped, different dividing factors can be adopted, and under the different dividing factors, the terminal devices can respectively have corresponding grouping modes, for example, the first terminal devices are grouped according to paging periods and paging probability, and obviously, the grouping modes are different, and the grouping modes to which the first terminal devices belong are also different. For this purpose, the second message may enable the terminal device to be grouped by the paging cycle, that is, the access network device may instruct, by means of the second message, that the terminal device may enable the terminal device to be grouped by the paging cycle, and then the first terminal device may determine that the packet to which the first terminal device belongs is the packet corresponding to the case of grouping by the paging cycle.

Alternatively, if the packet rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may not have to enable the manner in which the terminal device is grouped by paging cycle by a dedicated message. For example, the access network device may also send the second message, but the second message includes packet rule information, which corresponds to the access network device implicitly indicating the manner in which the terminal device is enabled to be grouped by the paging cycle by sending the packet rule information. After the first terminal device receives the grouping rule information, the first terminal device can determine the grouping to which the first terminal device belongs according to the grouping rule information and the corresponding dividing factors (such as the paging cycle of the first terminal device).

Alternatively, if the packet rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may not have to enable the terminal device to be grouped by paging cycle through a dedicated message, or may not have to send the packet rule information to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may send a second message to the first terminal device, where the second message is a unicast message, and the second message may indicate a packet to which the first terminal device belongs. That is, the access network device may determine the packet to which the first terminal device belongs and inform the first terminal device of information of the packet to which the first terminal device belongs, so that the first terminal device does not need to determine the packet to which the first terminal device belongs by itself. The access network device indicates the packet to which the first terminal device belongs, and implicitly indicates the manner in which the terminal device can be grouped by the paging cycle. In this way, signaling overhead can be saved and the workload of the terminal device is reduced.

With reference to the third aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fourth optional implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth optional implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes:

and sending the special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment to the access network equipment or the core network equipment.

For example, the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle to the core network device through a NAS message, where the NAS message is, for example, a registration request message, or may be another NAS message in the registration process, or may be a corresponding NAS message after the registration is completed.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a fourth communication method, the method comprising: transmitting a first message, wherein the first message comprises first packet information, and the first packet information is used for indicating a first packet, and the first packet comprises one or more terminal devices; determining that a first terminal device belongs to the first packet, wherein the first packet is divided according to a paging cycle of the terminal device; paging the first terminal device in the PO associated with the first message.

The method may be performed by a fourth communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a chip, capable of supporting the functions required by the communication apparatus to implement the method. The fourth communication means is a network device, or a chip provided in the network device for implementing a function of the network device, or other components for implementing a function of the network device, for example. In the following description, the fourth communication device is exemplified as a network device. Illustratively, the network device is an access network device, such as a base station.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the paging cycle of the terminal device is a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device or is a paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device, where the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device is a smaller value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and a default paging cycle of the system.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second optional implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

transmitting a second message for enabling grouping of terminal devices through a paging cycle; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

transmitting a second message, wherein the second message comprises grouping rule information, the grouping rule information comprises information of at least one grouping, and a value range of a paging cycle corresponding to each grouping in the at least one grouping; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and sending a second message to the first terminal equipment, wherein the second message is used for indicating a packet to which the first terminal equipment belongs.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the second optional implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third optional implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

A dedicated paging cycle for the first terminal device is received from the first terminal device.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the fourth aspect or the various alternative embodiments of the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the third aspect or the corresponding embodiments.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device is for performing the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, e.g. the communication device is the first communication device as described above; or for performing the method of the third aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the third aspect, e.g. the third communication device as described above. In particular, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, e.g. comprising a processing module and a transceiver module; alternatively, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the third aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the third aspect, e.g. comprising a processing means and a transceiver means. The transceiver module may include a transmitting module and a receiving module, which may be different functional modules or may be the same functional module, but may implement different functions. The communication means is, for example, a communication device or a chip or other component provided in a communication device. The communication device is illustratively a terminal device. For example, the transceiver module may also be implemented by a transceiver, and the processing module may also be implemented by a processor. Alternatively, the transmitting module may be implemented by a transmitter, and the receiving module may be implemented by a receiver, which may be different functional modules, or may be the same functional module, but may implement different functions. If the communication device is a communication apparatus, the transceiver is implemented, for example, by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in the communication apparatus. Alternatively, if the communication apparatus is a chip provided in the communication device, the transceiver (or the transmitter and the receiver) is, for example, a communication interface in the chip, and the communication interface is connected to a radio frequency transceiver component in the communication device, so as to implement the transmission and reception of information through the radio frequency transceiver component.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device is for performing the method of the second aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the second aspect, e.g. the communication device is the second communication device as described above; or, the communication device is configured to perform the method according to any of the possible embodiments of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect, for example, the communication device is a fourth communication device as described above. In particular, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the second aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the second aspect, e.g. comprising a processing means and a transceiver means; alternatively, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the fourth aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the fourth aspect, e.g. comprising a processing means and a transceiver means. The transceiver module may include a transmitting module and a receiving module, which may be different functional modules or may be the same functional module, but may implement different functions. The communication means is, for example, a communication device or a chip or other component provided in a communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is a network device. Illustratively, the network device is an access network device, such as a base station. For example, the transceiver module may also be implemented by a transceiver, and the processing module may also be implemented by a processor. Alternatively, the transmitting module may be implemented by a transmitter, and the receiving module may be implemented by a receiver, which may be different functional modules, or may be the same functional module, but may implement different functions. If the communication device is a communication apparatus, the transceiver is implemented, for example, by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in the communication apparatus. Alternatively, if the communication apparatus is a chip provided in the communication device, the transceiver (or the transmitter and the receiver) is, for example, a communication interface in the chip, and the communication interface is connected to a radio frequency transceiver component in the communication device, so as to implement the transmission and reception of information through the radio frequency transceiver component.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication means comprises one or more processors and optionally may also comprise a communication interface operable to communicate with other devices or apparatus. Optionally, the communication device may further include one or more memories for storing computer instructions. The one or more processors and the one or more memories are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the first aspect or various possible implementations of the first aspect, for example the communication device is the first communication device described above; or for implementing the method described in the third aspect or various possible embodiments of the third aspect, for example the communication device is a third communication device as described above. Alternatively, the communication device may not include a memory, and at least one memory may be located external to the communication device. The one or more processors, the one or more memories and the communication interface are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the above-described first aspect or the various possible implementations of the first aspect or for implementing the method described in the above-described third aspect or the various possible implementations of the third aspect. For example, the communications apparatus can further comprise one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs stored in one or more memories, the one or more computer programs comprising computer instructions. The computer instructions stored in the one or more memories, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of the third aspect or any of the possible implementations of the third aspect. The communication means is, for example, a communication device or a chip or other component provided in a communication device. The communication device is illustratively a terminal device.

Wherein if the communication means is a communication device, the communication interface is for example realized by a transceiver (or a transmitter and a receiver) in said communication device, for example realized by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in said communication device. Alternatively, if the communication device is a chip provided in the communication apparatus, the communication interface is, for example, an input/output interface of the chip, such as an input/output pin or the like, and the communication interface is connected to a radio frequency transceiver component in the communication apparatus to enable the transmission and reception of information through the radio frequency transceiver component.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication means comprises one or more processors and optionally may also comprise a communication interface operable to communicate with other devices or apparatus. Optionally, the communication device may further comprise a memory for storing computer instructions. The one or more processors and the one or more memories are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the second aspect or various possible embodiments of the second aspect, for example, the communication device is a second communication device as described above; or, a method as described for implementing the fourth aspect or various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect, for example, the communication device is a fourth communication device as described above. Alternatively, the communication device may not include a memory, and one or more memories may be located external to the communication device. The one or more processors, the one or more memories and the communication interface are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the above second aspect or the various possible embodiments of the second aspect, or for implementing the method described in the above fourth aspect or the various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect. For example, the communications apparatus can further comprise one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs stored in one or more memories, the one or more computer programs comprising computer instructions. The computer instructions stored in the one or more memories, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the second communication device to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect, or cause the communication device to perform the method of the fourth aspect or any of the possible implementations of the fourth aspect. The communication means is, for example, a communication device or a chip or other component provided in a communication device. Illustratively, the communication device is a network device. Illustratively, the network device is an access network device, such as a base station.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising the communication device of the fifth aspect or the communication device of the seventh aspect, and comprising the communication device of the sixth aspect or the communication device of the eighth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in the above first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or causes the computer to perform the method as described in the above third aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect.

An eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in the second aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the second aspect, or causes the computer to perform the method as described in the fourth aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect.

A twelfth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions for storing a computer program for causing a computer to carry out the method as described in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect or causing a computer to carry out the method as described in the third aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect when the computer program is run on a computer.

A thirteenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions for storing a computer program for causing a computer to carry out the method as described in the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect or causing a computer to carry out the method as described in the fourth aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the fourth aspect when the computer program is run on a computer.

In the embodiment of the application, even if the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal equipment is smaller, the terminal equipment can monitor only a part of the POs in the paging cycle, and the rest POs in the paging cycle do not need to monitor. Since the number of POs to be monitored is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a first communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the time domain positional relationship between WUS and PO;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is another schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a PO monitored by a terminal device after the method according to the embodiment of the present application is adopted;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a second communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a third communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a fourth communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is another schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is another schematic block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 18 is yet another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a further schematic block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained for easy understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) Terminal devices, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user, specifically, devices that provide voice to a user, or devices that provide data connectivity to a user, or devices that provide voice and data connectivity to a user. For example, may include a handheld device having wireless connectivity, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), exchange voice or data with the RAN, or interact voice and data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a device-to-device (D2D) terminal device, a vehicle-to-device (V2X) terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (internet of things, ioT) terminal device, a subscription unit (subscriber unit), a subscription station (subscriber station), a mobile station (mobile station), a remote station, an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal (remote terminal), an access terminal (access terminal), a user terminal (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), or a user equipment (user device), etc. For example, mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones) computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built mobile devices, and the like may be included. Such as personal communication services (personal communication service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistant, PDAs), and the like. But also limited devices such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited memory capabilities, or devices with limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples include bar codes, radio frequency identification (radio frequency identification, RFID), sensors, global positioning systems (global positioning system, GPS), laser scanners, and other information sensing devices.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device or an intelligent wearable device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes, and the like, by applying wearable technology. 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 helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

While the various terminal devices described above, if located on a vehicle (e.g., placed in a vehicle or mounted in a vehicle), may be considered as in-vehicle terminal devices, for example, also referred to as in-vehicle units (OBUs).

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can also comprise a relay. Or it is understood that all that is capable of data communication with a base station can be seen as a terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the device may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal is a terminal device, which is described in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application.

2) A network device, for example comprising AN Access Network (AN) device, such as a base station (e.g. AN access point), may refer to a device in the access network that communicates over the air with a wireless terminal device through one or more cells, or a network device in a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) technology, for example, is a Road Side Unit (RSU). The base station may be configured to inter-convert the received air frames with IP packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The RSU may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting V2X applications, which may exchange messages with other entities supporting V2X applications. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in an LTE system or advanced long term evolution (long term evolution-advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation node B (next generation node B, gNB) in a fifth generation mobile communication technology (the 5th generation,5G) NR system (also simply referred to as an NR system) or may also include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a Cloud access network (Cloud radio access network, cloud RAN) system, and embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The network device may also comprise a core network device, which in an embodiment of the application comprises for example an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) or a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) etc. in a 5G system or a mobility management entity (mobility management entity, MME) etc. in a 4G system.

In the embodiment of the present application, the means for implementing the function of the network device may be the network device, or may be a means capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the apparatus may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is exemplified by the network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

3) In short, the terminal device may periodically enter a sleep state under the DRX mechanism without listening to the physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH).

4) RRC state, the terminal device has 3 RRC states: RRC connected (connected) state, RRC idle state, and RRC inactive state.

The "connected state" and "RRC connected state" are the same concept, and the two designations are interchangeable herein): the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with the network, and can perform data transmission.

Herein, "idle state" and "RRC idle state", are the same concept, and the two designations are interchangeable): the terminal device does not establish an RRC connection with the network and the base station does not store the context of the terminal device. If the terminal device needs to enter the RRC connected state from the RRC idle state, an RRC connection establishment procedure needs to be initiated.

Herein, "deactivated state", "inactive state", "RRC inactive state" or "RRC inactive state", etc., are the same concept, and these several designations are interchangeable): the terminal device enters an RRC connection state at the anchor base station before, and then the anchor base station releases the RRC connection, but the anchor base station saves the context of the terminal device. If the terminal device needs to re-enter the RRC connected state from the RRC inactive state, an RRC connection recovery procedure (alternatively referred to as an RRC connection re-establishment procedure) needs to be initiated at the currently camped base station. Because the terminal device may be in a mobile state, the base station where the terminal device currently resides may be the same base station as the anchor base station of the terminal device, or may be a different base station. Compared with the RRC establishment process, the RRC recovery process has shorter time delay and smaller signaling overhead. However, the base station needs to save the context of the terminal device, which occupies the storage overhead of the base station.

5) The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c may represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

And, unless otherwise indicated, the terms "first," "second," and the like according to the embodiments of the present application are used for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and are not used for limiting the size, content, order, timing, priority, importance, or the like of the plurality of objects. For example, the first value and the second value may be the same or different. The terms "first" and "second" are used for convenience of description, and do not denote any difference in value, priority, or importance of the two features.

The foregoing has described some of the concepts related to the embodiments of the present application, and the following describes some of the features related to the embodiments of the present application.

The 5G NR technology has followed the DRX mechanism in LTE systems. The DRX mechanism includes a DRX cycle, in which the terminal device in the RRC connected state periodically "wakes up" for a period of time, which is called an on duration (on duration) period, and in which the terminal device may remain in a "sleep" state for reducing power consumption, other than the on duration period. In addition, when the terminal device is in RRC idle state or RRC inactive state, if the core network device or the base station needs to send downlink data to the terminal device, for example, there is a call to call into the terminal device, or there is downlink data to send to the terminal device, the core network or the base station will send a paging message to the terminal device first, so as to page the terminal device. After receiving the paging message, the terminal device initiates an RRC connection establishment procedure to receive downlink data. The paging mechanism may be further specifically divided into Core Network (CN) paging and radio access network (radio access network, RAN) paging, where for RRC idle state terminal devices, the corresponding paging mechanism is CN paging, and for RRC inactive state terminal devices, the corresponding paging mechanism is RAN paging.

The terminal device in RRC idle state or RRC inactive state "wakes up" only at its Paging Occasion (PO) to receive paging messages. The terminal device first receives, at its PO, downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) for indicating a paging message, which may also be referred to as paging control information, for indicating the time-frequency resource location at which the paging message is transmitted. After receiving the paging control information, the terminal device receives a paging message (paging message) according to the scheduling of the paging control information. If the paging message carries the identifier of the terminal equipment (for example, the identity number (ID) of the terminal equipment), it indicates that the terminal equipment is paged, and the terminal equipment needs to initiate an RRC connection establishment procedure to access the base station; alternatively, if the paging message does not carry the ID of the terminal device, indicating that the terminal device is not being paged, the terminal device may continue to "sleep" until the next PO "wakes up" again to listen for paging control information. Wherein paging control information is transmitted on a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) and paging messages are transmitted on a physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH).

In the paging mechanism, for terminal devices in the RRC idle state or RRC inactive state, the DRX cycle is also called paging cycle. The base station may broadcast a cell-common paging cycle, referred to as a default paging cycle (default paging cycle), and in addition, the terminal device may determine a terminal device-specific paging cycle, referred to as a UE-specific paging cycle (UE specific paging cycle). The paging cycle values defined in the existing standard include 0.32s,0.64s,1.28s,2.56s, i.e., the UE-specific paging cycle may be one of these several values, or the default paging cycle may be one of these several values. The existing standard specifies that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal device is a default paging cycle and a smaller value in the UE-specific paging cycle. The paging cycle special for the UE is generally determined by the terminal equipment according to the service condition, and is more in line with the actual working condition of the terminal equipment. However, even if the terminal device determines a UE-specific paging cycle (e.g., 2.56 s) with a larger value according to the delay requirement of the service of the terminal device, the terminal device still uses the default paging cycle (e.g., 1.28 s) because the default paging cycle is smaller (e.g., 1.28 s), so that the frequency at which the terminal device actually wakes up is faster than the frequency at which the terminal device expects to wake up, which is disadvantageous for energy saving of the terminal device.

To solve the above problem, consider a determination rule to introduce a new paging cycle, for example:

rule 1, paging cycle actually used by terminal equipment is a UE dedicated paging cycle;

rule 2, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is a default paging cycle and a larger value in the UE special paging cycle;

rule 3, terminal device and network negotiation determine the paging cycle value actually used by the terminal device.

Whether one of the above three rules is selected, the determining rule of the paging cycle in the existing standard mechanism is changed, so that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment may be larger than the default paging cycle, and the mechanism of changing the system information in the network is affected, thereby having a larger influence on the network. In the LTE system, a concept of a change period (modification period, MP) of system information is defined, and the system information may be transmitted multiple times in one MP, but the content of the system information (e.g., the system information including the paging configuration) is not changed in the same MP. When the base station wants to modify some of the system information, the base station will first notify the terminal device in one MP by a paging message that the system information is about to change (but the base station does not send and use new system information in the current MP), and at the boundary where the next MP starts, the base station will use the new system information, and in the next MP, the base station will send the new system information. In the existing standard mechanism, the MP has an association relationship with the default paging cycle, and the base station needs to ensure that the PO of each terminal device must appear at least once in one MP for notifying the change condition of the system information. Then, if the paging cycle actually used by the terminal device may be greater than the default paging cycle, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal device may be greater than the MP, and then in one MP, it is likely that the PO of the terminal device will not occur at a time, which may affect the mechanism of system information change, so that the network cannot notify the terminal device of the change condition of the system information.

For this reason, the original determination rule of continuing to follow the paging cycle is still considered. However, according to the analysis, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal device is likely to be smaller than the paging cycle actually required by the terminal device according to the original determination rule, which is not beneficial to energy saving of the terminal device.

In view of this, a technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is provided. In the embodiment of the application, the original determination rule of the paging cycle can be continuously used so as to reduce the influence on the network and be better compatible with the prior art. However, in the embodiment of the present application, the indication information may be associated with a plurality of paging occasions, that is, even if the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device is small, the terminal device may monitor only a portion of the POs in the paging cycle, and the remaining POs in the paging cycle need not monitor. Since the number of POs to be monitored is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a fourth-generation mobile communication technology (the 4th generation,4G) system, such as an LTE system, or a 5G system, such as an NR system, or a next-generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, and is particularly not limited.

Fig. 1 is an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application. Fig. 1 includes an access network device, a core network device, and a terminal device. For example, the terminal device is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state. The access network device may page the terminal device if the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, and the core network device may page the terminal device if the terminal device is in an RRC idle state.

The access network device and the core network device operate, for example, in an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access (evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access, E-UTRA) system, or in an NR system, or in a next generation communication system or other communication system.

The core network device in fig. 1 is for example an MME in a 4G system, or an AMF in a 5G system, or may be a corresponding core network device in a next generation communication system or other communication systems.

The access network device in fig. 1 is for example a base station. The access network device corresponds to different devices in different systems, for example, may correspond to an eNB in a 4G system, and corresponds to an access network device in 5G in a 5G system, for example, a gNB. Of course, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to a future mobile communication system, so that the access network device in fig. 1 may also correspond to a network device in a future mobile communication system. In fig. 1, the access network device is a base station, and in fact, referring to the foregoing description, the access network device may also be an RSU or the like. In addition, the terminal device in fig. 1 is taken as an example of a mobile phone, and as can be seen from the foregoing description of the terminal device, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the mobile phone.

The method provided by the embodiment of the application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In various embodiments of the present application, listening to a page may be understood as listening to a PO, i.e. listening to messages sent by the network in the PO, the messages sent by the network in the PO for example comprising paging control information, or paging control information and paging messages.

The embodiment of the application provides a first communication method, by which the power consumption of terminal equipment can be reduced. Please refer to fig. 2, which is a flowchart of the method. In the following description, this method is taken as an example applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, for example, and the paging described below may be regarded as paging initiated by the core network device.

For ease of description, hereinafter, the method is exemplified by the core network device, the access network device, and the terminal device. Because the embodiment of the present application is exemplified by the network architecture shown in fig. 1. Thus, the core network device described hereinafter may be a core network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1, the access network device described hereinafter may be an access network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1, and the terminal device described hereinafter may be a terminal device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1.

S21, the terminal equipment sends first information to the core network equipment, and the core network equipment receives the first information from the terminal equipment.

The first information may indicate one or more of the following: whether the terminal device supports the indication information, whether the terminal device supports one or more POs associated with the terminal device by the indication information, a power saving requirement, or a request to associate the indication information with a plurality of POs of the terminal device. For example, the first information may indicate that the terminal device supports the indication information or does not support the indication information; alternatively, the first information may indicate that the terminal device supports one PO with which the indication information is associated, or indicate that the terminal device supports a plurality of POs with which the indication information is associated; alternatively, the first information may indicate that the terminal device has a power saving requirement; alternatively, the first information may request that the indication information be associated with one or more POs of the terminal device; alternatively, the first information may indicate whether the terminal device supports the indication information, whether the terminal device supports one or more POs associated with the terminal device by the indication information, and so on.

The indication information may be sent by a network device, e.g. an access network device, or a core network device, or the access network device and the core network device may be combined into the same network device in future communication systems, which may be referred to as the network device. For example, the indication information may or may not wake up the terminal device. Further content of the indication information will be described later.

For example, a function of the terminal device supporting indication information is referred to as a first function, and a function of the terminal device supporting indication information associating a plurality of POs of the terminal device is referred to as a second function. The terminal device is generally capable of supporting a PO in which the indication information is associated with the terminal device, and thus this functionality is not discussed here. Then, the first function and the second function may have an association relationship, i.e., supporting the first function indicates supporting the second function, or supporting the second function indicates supporting the first function; similarly, the failure to support the first function indicates that the second function is not supported, or the failure to support the second function indicates that the first function is not supported. If this is the case, the first information may indicate whether the terminal device supports the indication information, if the first information indicates that the terminal device supports the indication information, it implicitly indicates that the terminal device supports a plurality of POs associated with the terminal device by the indication information, and if the first information indicates that the terminal device does not support the indication information, it implicitly indicates that the terminal device does not support the indication information and associates a plurality of POs associated with the terminal device by the indication information; or, the first information may indicate whether the terminal device supports the multiple POs of the terminal device associated with the indication information, if the first information indicates that the terminal device supports the multiple POs of the terminal device associated with the indication information, the terminal device supports the indication information implicitly, and if the first information indicates that the terminal device does not support the multiple POs of the terminal device associated with the indication information, the terminal device does not support the indication information implicitly. That is, the first information only needs to indicate whether the terminal device supports one function (the first function or the second function), and does not need to indicate excessive content, thereby contributing to saving signaling overhead.

Alternatively, the first function and the second function may not have an association relationship. If this is the case, the first information may be indicated for the first function and the second function, respectively. For example, the first information may indicate whether the terminal device supports the indication information, or indicate whether the terminal device supports a plurality of POs to which the indication information is associated, or indicate whether the terminal device supports the indication information, and indicate whether the terminal device supports a plurality of POs to which the indication information is associated. Therefore, different functions can be indicated respectively, so that the indication is more clear, and the two functions can be decoupled, so that the respective control is facilitated. Wherein if the first function and the second function do not have an association relationship, a situation may occur that the terminal device supports the first function but does not support the second function, and if this is the case, the terminal device supports the indication information, which may indicate that the terminal device supports one PO of the terminal device to which the indication information is associated, but since the terminal device does not support the second function, the terminal device does not support a plurality of POs of the terminal device to which the indication information is associated. But if the terminal device supports the second function, the terminal device should also support the first function.

For example, the terminal device may send the first information to the core network device in a non-access stratum (NAS) message, where the NAS message is, for example, a registration request (registeration request) message, or may be another NAS message in the registration process, or is another NAS message after the registration is completed.

S22, the core network equipment sends the first information to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the first information from the core network equipment.

There may be a plurality of terminal devices that may all send the first information to the core network device, S21 to S22 correspond to the case where one of the terminal devices is described.

Alternatively, S21 to S22 may be replaced by the terminal device sending the first information to the access network device, and the access network device receiving the first information from the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may send the first information to the access network device during the random access procedure, e.g. the first information may be sent to the access network device in a third message (Msg 3) carried during the random access procedure; alternatively, the terminal device may send the first information to the access network device after the random access is successful, for example, the first information may be carried in an RRC message (e.g., a UE capability information message) and sent to the access network device. Optionally, after receiving the first information, the access network device may send the first information to the core network device. Similarly, there may be a plurality of terminal devices that may all send the first information to the access network device, which corresponds to the case where one of the terminal devices is described.

Alternatively, S21 to S22 may not be performed, nor replaced by other steps, i.e. the terminal device does not send the first information, nor the access network device and the core network device receive the first information. It can be seen that S21 to S22 are optional steps, indicated by dashed lines in fig. 2.

S23, the access network equipment sends a first message, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first message from the access network equipment. The first message may indicate that the second function is enabled, or the first message may indicate one indication information from the access network device to associate a plurality of POs of the terminal device.

For example, the access network device obtains the first information of the one or more terminal devices, and the access network device may determine whether to enable the second function according to the first information of the one or more terminal devices, in combination with other corresponding factors. The first information of the terminal equipment is combined to determine whether the second function is enabled, so that the determination result of the access network equipment is consistent with the requirement of the terminal equipment as much as possible. For example, the access network device may enable the second function if more than half of the first information obtained by the access network device indicates that the corresponding terminal device supports the second function, and the access network device may not enable the second function if more than half of the first information obtained by the access network device indicates that the corresponding terminal device does not support the second function. If the access network device does not enable the second function, the access network device may not send the first message, i.e. not perform S23; alternatively, if the second function is not enabled by the access network device, the access network device may also send the first message, but the first message at this time indicates that the second function is not enabled, or the first message indicates that one indication information from the access network device cannot be associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device, or the first message indicates that one indication information from the access network device is associated with one PO of the terminal device.

Or, if the access network device does not obtain the first information of the terminal device, the access network device may also determine whether to enable the second function according to a related policy of the access network device. If it is determined that the second function is enabled, the access network device transmits the first message, and if it is determined that the second function is not enabled, the access network device may not transmit the first message, i.e., does not perform S23; alternatively, if the second function is not enabled by the access network device, the access network device may also send the first message, but the first message at this time indicates that the second function is not enabled, or the first message indicates that one indication information from the access network device cannot be associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device, or the first message indicates that one indication information from the access network device is associated with one PO of the terminal device.

For example, the access network device may send the first message by broadcast, or the first message may be a broadcast message. For example, the first message may be a system message (system information), or the first message may be a broadcast message other than a system message.

Alternatively, it is possible that the access network device and the terminal device have been negotiated in advance, the terminal device may enable the second function, or the protocol specifies that the terminal device may enable the second function, and the access network device may not send the first message, i.e. S23 may not be executed. Thus, S23 is an optional step, represented by the dashed line in fig. 2.

As an alternative embodiment of the first message, the first message comprises a 1-bit field, indicating that one indication information from the access network device is associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device if the 1-bit field is present or included in the first message, and indicating that one indication information from the access network device is not associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device if the 1-bit field is not present or included in the first message.

As another alternative embodiment of the first message, the first message includes a 1-bit field, and if the 1-bit field has a value of "1", it indicates that one indication information from the access network device is associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device, and if the 1-bit field has a value of "0", it indicates that one indication information from the access network device is not associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device.

S24, the terminal equipment determines the value of N, wherein N is the number of PO (potential oxygen) of the terminal equipment associated with the indication information. Wherein if the terminal device receives the first message and the first message indicates that the second function is enabled or indicates that one indication information from the access network device is associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device, the terminal device may perform S24; alternatively, the terminal device may not have to perform S24 if the terminal device does not receive the first message, or the received first message indicates that the second function is not enabled, or that one indication from the access network device cannot associate a plurality of POs of the terminal device, or that one indication from the access network device associates a PO of the terminal device.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can determine the value of N according to the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment. The specific paging cycle of the terminal device may have a correspondence with the value of N, and the correspondence may have different implementation manners, which will be described by way of example below.

1. A first implementation of the correspondence.

The first implementation relationship of the corresponding relationship is: the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, and N is a first value; or, the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, and N is a second value.

For example, the first value is 1, or may be another value, as long as the first value is a positive integer; the second value may be a value determined from the dedicated paging cycle and a default paging cycle of the system, the second value also being a positive integer. For example, the second value is larger than the first value, or the magnitude relation of the first value and the second value is not limited.

For example, the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is 1.28s, the default paging cycle of the system (i.e. the default paging cycle of the access network device indicated by broadcasting) is 2.56s, and N is a first value, for example N is 1, indicating that one indication information is associated with one PO. For another example, the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is 1.28s, the default paging cycle of the system (i.e., the default paging cycle indicated by the access network device by broadcasting) is 0.64s, and then N is the second value. For example, the second value=dedicated paging cycle/system default paging cycle, then the second value=2, i.e. one indication information associates two POs. Where "/" herein indicates a division relationship, i.e., a second value is equal to a value obtained by dividing the dedicated paging cycle by the default paging cycle of the system.

If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment, so that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is more in line with the service requirement of the terminal equipment. At this time, N may be 1, which indicates that the granularity of paging of the network to the terminal device is refined to each PO, so that the probability of missing paging of the terminal device may be reduced. If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is the default paging cycle of the system, so that the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than the cycle required by the service of the terminal equipment. At this time, N may be determined according to the dedicated paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system, so that the value of N (i.e., the second value) may not only meet the service requirement of the terminal device, but also reduce the power consumption of the terminal device as much as possible.

For example, the first implementation of the correspondence may be specified by a protocol, and then the terminal device may determine, according to predefined information, a correspondence between the value of N and a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device; alternatively, the first implementation manner of the correspondence relationship may be stored in the terminal device in advance; alternatively, the first implementation of the correspondence relationship may be configured by a network device (e.g., an access network device) and sent to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may send a third message, which may indicate the first implementation of the correspondence, e.g. a broadcast message. In summary, the terminal device can obtain the first implementation manner of the correspondence relationship, so that the terminal device can determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device.

2. A second implementation of the correspondence.

The second implementation manner of the corresponding relation is as follows: the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, and N is a first value; or, the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, and N is a second value. Wherein the first value and the second value are both preconfigured values. For example, the first value is 1, or may be another value, as long as the first value is a positive integer; the second value may be 2, or may be another value as long as the second value is a positive integer. For example, the second value is larger than the first value, or the magnitude relation of the first value and the second value is not limited.

For example, the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is 1.28s, the default paging cycle of the system (i.e. the default paging cycle of the access network device indicated by broadcasting) is 2.56s, and N is a first value, for example N is 1, indicating that one indication information is associated with one PO. For another example, the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is 1.28s, the default paging cycle of the system (i.e., the default paging cycle indicated by the access network device by broadcasting) is 0.64s, and then N is the second value. For example, the second value is 2, i.e., one indication associates two POs.

If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment, so that the paging cycle actually used by the terminal equipment is more in line with the service requirement of the terminal equipment. At this time, N may be 1, which indicates that the granularity of paging of the network to the terminal device is refined to each PO, so that the probability of missing paging of the terminal device may be reduced. If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is larger than the default paging cycle of the system, the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is the default paging cycle of the system, so that the actual paging cycle of the terminal equipment is smaller than the cycle required by the service of the terminal equipment. In this case, N may be a second value, for example, the second value is greater than the first value, and by applying the second value, the power consumption of the terminal device may be reduced as much as possible.

It should be noted that if the dedicated paging cycle is small and the second value is large, the terminal device may risk missing a page. For example, the specific paging cycle is 1.28s, the default paging cycle of the system is 0.64s, and then the second value is 2, if the second value is set to be greater than 2, for example, 3, an indication message is associated with 3 POs, if the indication message indicates that the terminal device is not to be awakened, the terminal device does not monitor in the 3 POs, however, the specific paging cycle of the terminal device is 1.28s, and it is possible that the first PO or the third PO in the 3 POs will have the paging of the terminal device, and the terminal device may miss the paging. Therefore, if the second implementation manner of the correspondence is adopted, it is reasonable to set the second value to 2, so that if the dedicated period is larger, the terminal device may consume more power to monitor, but the probability that the terminal device misses the paging can be reduced. And, even if the terminal equipment consumes more power to monitor, the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced compared with the existing paging mechanism.

For example, the second implementation of the correspondence may be specified by a protocol, and then the terminal device may determine, according to the predefined information, the correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device; alternatively, the second implementation manner of the correspondence relationship may be stored in the terminal device in advance; alternatively, the second implementation of the correspondence may be configured by a network device (e.g., an access network device) and sent to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may send a third message, which may indicate a second implementation of the correspondence, e.g. a broadcast message. In summary, the terminal device can obtain the second implementation manner of the correspondence relationship, so that the terminal device can determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device.

3. And a third implementation of the correspondence.

The third implementation manner of dividing the multiple value ranges of the paging cycle and the corresponding relation is as follows: each of the divided multiple value ranges corresponds to one value of N, and different value ranges may correspond to different values of N. For example, the number of divided value ranges may be greater than or equal to 3. For example, 3 value ranges may be divided, and these 3 value ranges may be referred to in table 1.

TABLE 1

The first range refers to a range in which the dedicated paging cycle is less than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, or it is understood that the first range refers to a range in which the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is less than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system, and the dedicated paging cycle belongs to the first range.

The second range may include one or more values, and if the second range includes one value, the value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is indicated to belong to the second range if the value of the dedicated paging cycle is equal to the value; if the second range includes a plurality of values, then if the value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is equal to any of the plurality of values, it is indicated that the value of the dedicated paging cycle belongs to the second range. For example, the second range is {1.28s }, if the dedicated paging cycle is 1.28s, it indicates that the value of the dedicated paging cycle belongs to the second range, otherwise the dedicated paging cycle does not belong to the second range. For another example, the second range is {1.28s,2.56s }, if the dedicated paging cycle is 1.28s or 2.56s, the value of the dedicated paging cycle is indicated as belonging to the second range, otherwise, if the dedicated paging cycle is neither 1.28s nor 2.56s, the dedicated paging cycle is indicated as not belonging to the second range.

Similarly, the third range may also include one or more values, if the third range includes one value, then if the value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is equal to the value, it indicates that the value of the dedicated paging cycle belongs to the third range; if the third range includes a plurality of values, then if the value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is equal to any of the plurality of values, it is indicated that the value of the dedicated paging cycle belongs to the third range. For example, the second range and the third range may not have an intersection.

For example, the second range is {1.28s }, and the third range is {2.56s }. If the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is 1.28s and is greater than the default paging cycle of the system, the special paging cycle belongs to the second range, and the value of N is 2; or if the special paging cycle of the terminal equipment is 2.56s and is greater than the default paging cycle of the system, the special paging cycle belongs to the second range, and the value of N is 4; alternatively, if the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device is less than or equal to the default paging cycle of the system (e.g., the dedicated paging cycle is 0.64s and the default paging cycle of the system is 0.64 s), the dedicated paging cycle belongs to the first range, and the value of N is 1.

For example, the third implementation manner of the correspondence may be specified by a protocol, and then the terminal device may determine, according to predefined information, the correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device; alternatively, the third implementation manner of the correspondence relationship may be stored in the terminal device in advance; alternatively, the third implementation of the correspondence relationship may be configured by a network device (e.g., an access network device) and sent to the terminal device. For example, the access network device may send a third message, which may indicate a third implementation of the correspondence, e.g. a broadcast message. In summary, the terminal device can obtain the third implementation manner of the correspondence relationship, so that the terminal device can determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device.

Note that the values of N in table 1 are only examples, and further, the division of the value ranges is also only an example, and more or fewer value ranges may be divided in practice.

As described above, the embodiments of the present application are only examples of the correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle and the value of N, and there may be other correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle and the value of N. For the above three correspondence relations, one of them may be selected for use, which may be specified by a protocol, or may be selected by a network, for example, by an access network device, and the terminal device may be notified.

S25, when downlink data of the terminal equipment arrives, the core network equipment sends a paging message, such as a first paging message, to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the first paging message from the core network equipment.

The first paging message may include paging information and may include a dedicated paging cycle for the terminal device. The dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device may be sent by the terminal device to the core network device, e.g. the terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle to the core network device via a registration request message. The access network device does not know the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, and therefore the core network device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device to the access network device. For the access network device, the value of N is also determined according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, and the manner of determining the value of N by the access network device is similar to that of determining the value of N by the terminal device, which is not repeated.

Alternatively, if S21 is performed but S22 is not performed, the core network device may also send the first information of the terminal device to the access network device, e.g. the core network device may send the first information to the access network device included in the first paging message. The indication information is sent by the access network device and is irrelevant to the core network device, so that the core network device pages the terminal device according to a normal mechanism.

S26, the access network equipment sends first indication information, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first indication information from the access network equipment.

If the access network device indicates to enable the second function through the first message, and the access network device determines that the terminal device supports the second function according to the first information of the terminal device, the first indication information sent by the access network device may be associated with N POs, where the access network device may also determine the value of N in the same manner as the terminal device. Alternatively, if the first message of the access network device indicates that the second function is enabled, but the access network device determines that the terminal device does not support the second function according to the first information of the terminal device, the first indication information sent by the access network device may be associated with a PO. Alternatively, if the access network device does not support enabling the second function, the first indication information sent by the access network device may be associated with a PO, i.e. the second function is not enabled, regardless of whether the access network device determines from the first information of the terminal device whether the terminal device supports the second function or does not support the second function.

In the 5G technology, to further save the power consumption of the terminal device, it is proposed to introduce a wake-up signal (WUS). WUS is used to indicate whether the terminal device needs to wake up to listen for paging control information and paging messages in the PO corresponding to the WUS. The time domain position of WUS may be: the position of an offset (offset) before the first PO in a paging cycle. WUS and POs may be in one-to-one correspondence, or one WUS may correspond to a plurality of POs. For example, referring to fig. 3, one WUS may correspond to two POs, wherein the horizontal axis of fig. 3 represents time. If the WUS indicates that the terminal equipment needs to monitor, the terminal equipment monitors paging control information in the two POs, or monitors the paging control information and the paging message; or if WUS indicates that the terminal device does not need to monitor, the terminal device does not need to monitor paging control information and paging messages in the two POs.

Then, as an alternative embodiment of the first indication information, the first indication information may be included in downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) before the first PO of one paging cycle, for example WUS. In this way, the location where the terminal device receives WUS may be configured to be a narrower time-frequency location, so receiving WUS consumes less power than receiving other DCI, which is more beneficial to the energy saving of the terminal device. The first indication information may indicate to monitor for a page or indicate not to monitor for a page. In the embodiment of the application, the monitoring of paging refers to monitoring paging control information or monitoring paging control information and paging information; non-listening to paging refers to neither paging control information nor paging messages. At this time, the N POs associated with the first indication information may include N consecutive POs starting from the first PO after the WUS; alternatively, the N POs associated with the first indication information may be any N POs included in the paging cycle, where the N POs may be continuous or discontinuous in the time domain; alternatively, the N POs associated with the first indication information may also include N POs in a plurality of paging cycles. In addition, the WUS may be associated with one or more POs when the WUS does not include the first indication information, so in an embodiment of the present application, the POs associated with the WUS is consistent with the POs associated with the first indication information, that is, the WUS and the first indication information are both associated with the N POs, so as to avoid misunderstanding of the terminal device caused by inconsistent association.

As another alternative embodiment of the first indication information, the first indication information may be included in the paging control information instead of the WUS. By using the method, other signals (such as WUS) do not need to be introduced, and paging control information in a paging mechanism is directly multiplexed, so that the terminal equipment and the network equipment are less changed, and the realization is easier. Then, the first indication information may indicate to monitor for a page, or indicate not to monitor for a page. In the embodiment of the application, the monitoring of paging refers to monitoring paging control information or monitoring paging control information and paging information; non-listening to paging refers to neither paging control information nor paging messages. In this case, since the first indication information is included in the paging control information, the first indication information indicates whether to monitor the paging message for the current PO (i.e., the PO in which the paging control information including the first indication information is located), and indicates whether to monitor the paging control information for other POs than the current PO among the N POs, or whether to monitor the paging control information and the paging message. At this time, the N POs associated with the first indication information may include a PO in which the DCI is located, and include N-1 POs located continuously after the PO; or, the N POs associated with the first indication information may also include any N POs in the paging cycle, where the N POs may be continuous or discontinuous in the time domain, and the N POs may include a PO where the DCI is located, or may not include a PO where the DCI is located; alternatively, the N POs associated with the first indication information may also include N POs in a plurality of paging periods, where the N POs may include a PO in which the DCI is located, or may not include a PO in which the DCI is located.

In addition, optionally, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be divided into different groups, and the dividing factors may include one or more kinds. For example, a dividing factor is a paging cycle of the terminal device, for example, a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, or may be a paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device, where the paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device is a smaller value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and a default paging cycle of the system. The paging cycle may then be divided into one or more ranges, each of which corresponds to a packet, and if the paging cycle of a terminal device is within one of the ranges, the terminal device belongs to the packet to which the range corresponds. Alternatively, another dividing factor is the ID of the terminal device, where the ID of the terminal device may be divided into one or more ranges, where each range corresponds to a packet, and if the paging cycle of a terminal device is located in one of the ranges, the terminal device belongs to the packet corresponding to the range. Alternatively, the further dividing factor is the value of N corresponding to the terminal device, for example, the terminal devices with the same value of N are divided into one group. Alternatively, the dividing factor may also include multiple types, for example, the dividing factor may include a paging cycle of the terminal device and an ID of the terminal device, for example, the paging cycle of the terminal device is divided into one or more ranges, where a part of or all of the ranges may be divided into one or more sub-ranges according to the ID of the terminal device, and then each sub-range may correspond to one packet. For another example, the dividing factor includes a paging cycle of the terminal device and a value of N corresponding to the terminal device, for example, the paging cycle of the terminal device is first divided into one or more ranges, where in each of a part of or all of the ranges, one or more sub-ranges may be further divided according to the value of N corresponding to the terminal device, and then each sub-range may correspond to one packet. The embodiments of the present application are not limited to other division factors and division modes.

Wherein the division rule information (or called grouping rule information) may be specified by a protocol, the terminal device may determine a grouping to which the terminal device belongs according to the protocol. Alternatively, the packet rule information may be configured by a network device (e.g., an access network device). If configured by the access network device, the access network device may inform the terminal device, e.g. the access network device may send packet rule information via a broadcast message. The packet rule information may include information of one or more packets, and a range (e.g., a range of values of a paging cycle, or a range of other corresponding dividing factors) to which each of the one or more packets corresponds.

After the terminal device is divided into one or more packets, each of the one or more packets may be made to correspond to one of the indication information. For example, the indication information may occupy one or more bits, and different values (or different states) of the one or more bits correspond to different packets; for another example, the indication information may be a bitmap (bitmap), where the bitmap includes one or more bits, each bit in the one or more bits represents a packet, if a value of a certain bit in the bitmap sent by the access network device is "1", it indicates that the indication information corresponds to the packet corresponding to the bit, and if a value of a certain bit in the bitmap sent by the access network device is "0", it indicates that the indication information does not correspond to the packet corresponding to the bit. If the packet rule information is specified by a protocol, the correspondence between the packet and the indication information may also be specified by the protocol, or the correspondence between the packet and the indication information may be configured by the access network device, which may inform the terminal device, for example, the access network device may send the correspondence between the packet and the indication information by a broadcast message. Alternatively, if the packet rule information is specified by a protocol, the correspondence between the packet and the indication information may also be specified by a protocol, or the correspondence between the packet and the indication information may be configured by the access network device, the access network device may inform the terminal device, for example, the access network device may send the correspondence between the packet and the indication information by a broadcast message, in which case the correspondence between the packet and the indication information may be included in the packet rule information.

By grouping the terminal devices, the terminal devices can be indicated in a grouping manner when the indication is performed through the indication information, and for one terminal device, if the indication information is determined not to correspond to the grouping to which the terminal device belongs, the terminal device can not respond to the indication information, so that the false alarm probability of the terminal device can be reduced.

For example, the first indication information corresponds to a first packet including one or more terminal devices.

S27, the terminal equipment determines monitoring conditions of N POs of the terminal equipment according to the first indication information.

If the terminal device is not divided into groups, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the monitoring condition of the N POs according to the first indication information. Alternatively, if the terminal device is divided into packets, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device may determine whether the first indication information is indication information corresponding to a packet to which the terminal device belongs. If the first indication information is the indication information corresponding to the packet to which the terminal device belongs, the terminal device may determine the monitoring condition of the N POs of the terminal device according to the first indication information, otherwise, the terminal device may not respond to the first indication information. For example, the terminal device belongs to the first packet, and the first indication information corresponds to the first packet, so the terminal device determines that the first indication information is the indication information corresponding to the packet to which the terminal device belongs. The terminal device may determine, according to the first indication information, monitoring conditions of the N POs of the terminal device.

If the first indication information is included in DCI (e.g., WUS) located before the POs, the terminal device may determine a listening situation for the N POs according to the first indication information included in the WUS.

As an alternative embodiment, the first indication information may affect the "dormancy" and "wakeup" of the terminal device within the N POs. Then, for example, the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the terminal device may monitor paging control information within N POs associated with the first indication information, or monitor paging control information and paging messages (e.g., each of the N POs to which the terminal device monitors may monitor paging control information, if the paging control information monitored in some POs includes scheduling information for paging messages, the terminal device continues to monitor paging messages at the POs, then the terminal device monitors paging control information and paging messages at the POs, and if the paging control information monitored in some POs does not include scheduling information for paging messages, then the terminal device does not have to monitor paging messages again at the PO, then the terminal device monitors paging control information at the PO, instead of monitoring paging messages); or if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the terminal device does not need to monitor paging control information or paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. For the access network device, if the terminal device needs to be paged, the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, and then a paging message including the identifier of the terminal device is sent in one or more of the N POs; and if the terminal equipment does not need to be paged, the first indication information can indicate that paging is not monitored. By the method, the first indication information can indicate the dormancy of the terminal equipment in the N POs, and also can indicate the awakening of the terminal equipment in the N POs, so that the indication is more comprehensive.

For example, reference may be made to fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs, fig. 4 is an example of n=2, and the two POs include a first PO and a second PO after WUS, where the horizontal axis of fig. 4 represents time. In fig. 4, a diagonally hatched rectangular box located before PO represents WUS. For example, for the first PO from left to right in fig. 4, the terminal device receives WUS before the first PO, the WUS including first indication information, and the first indication information indicating listening for a page. Then the first PO (i.e., the first PO from left to right) and the second PO (i.e., the second PO from left to right) of the terminal device after the WUS both monitor paging control information, if the paging control information monitored in one PO includes scheduling information of a paging message, the terminal device continues to monitor the paging message in the PO, after receiving the paging message, if the paging message includes an identity of the terminal device (e.g., an ID of the terminal device), the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with an access network device, etc., or if the paging message does not include the identity of the terminal device, the terminal device is not paged; alternatively, if the paging control information monitored by the terminal device in a PO does not include the scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device does not need to monitor the paging message in the PO. For another example, for the third PO from left to right in fig. 4, the terminal device received WUS before the third PO, the WUS including the first indication information, and the first indication information indicating not to monitor for pages. Then neither the first PO (i.e., the third PO from left to right) nor the second PO (i.e., the fourth PO from left to right) after the WUS listens for paging control information nor paging messages.

As another alternative, the first indication information may affect the "dormancy" of the terminal device within the N POs, but not the "wake-up" of the terminal device within the N POs. Then, for example, the first indication information indicates to monitor for paging, the terminal device may monitor for paging control information in the first PO after the WUS, or monitor for paging control information and paging messages; or if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the terminal device does not need to monitor paging control information or paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. Equivalently, if the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the first indication information and the N POs are regarded as having no association relationship, and the terminal device only needs to monitor normally in the PO located after the first indication information; and if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the first indication information and the N POs are considered to have an association relation, and the terminal equipment does not need to monitor paging control information or paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. For the access network device, if the terminal device needs to be paged, the first indication information indicates to monitor the paging message, and then the paging message including the identifier of the terminal device is sent in the first PO located after the first indication information; and if the paging terminal equipment is not needed, the paging message is not monitored through the first indication information. By the method, the first indication information only indicates the dormancy of the terminal equipment in the N POs, so that the purpose of saving the power consumption of the terminal equipment is achieved.

For example, reference may be made to fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs, fig. 5 is an example of n=2, and the two POs include the first PO and the second PO after WUS, where the horizontal axis of fig. 5 represents time. In fig. 5, a hatched rectangular box located before PO represents WUS. For example, for the first PO from left to right in fig. 5, the terminal device receives WUS before the first PO, the WUS including first indication information, and the first indication information indicating listening for a page. The first PO (i.e., the first PO from left to right) of the terminal device after the WUS listens for paging control information, if the paging control information monitored in the PO includes scheduling information of a paging message, the terminal device continues to monitor the paging message in the PO, after receiving the paging message, if the paging message includes an identity of the terminal device (e.g., an ID of the terminal device), the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with an access network device, etc., or if the paging message does not include the identity of the terminal device, the terminal device is not paged; or if the paging control information monitored by the terminal equipment in the PO does not comprise the scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal equipment does not need to monitor the paging message in the PO. For another example, for the second PO from left to right in fig. 5, the terminal device received WUS before the second PO, the WUS including first indication information, and the first indication information indicating not to monitor for pages. Then neither the first PO (i.e., the second PO from left to right) nor the second PO (i.e., the third PO from left to right) of the terminal device after the WUS listens for paging control information nor paging messages.

If the first indication information is included in the paging control information, the terminal device may determine a listening situation for the N POs according to the first indication information included in the paging control information. In this case, since the first indication information is included in the paging control information, the first indication information indicates whether to monitor the paging message for the current PO (i.e., the PO in which the paging control information including the first indication information is located), and indicates whether to monitor the paging control information for other POs than the current PO among the N POs, or whether to monitor the paging control information and the paging message.

As an alternative embodiment, the first indication information may affect the "dormancy" and "wakeup" of the terminal device within the N POs. Then, for example, the first indication information indicates to monitor for pages, the terminal device may monitor for pages within the N POs associated with the first indication information. The terminal device may monitor the paging control information in the N POs, or may not monitor the paging control information, but for the access network device, the paging control information may be sent in the N POs, because, besides paging the terminal device, the access network device may also page other terminal devices, where the value of N corresponding to other terminal devices may be different from the value of N corresponding to the terminal device, so that it is preferable that the access network device sends the paging control information in each PO, so as to avoid that some terminal devices cannot receive the paging control information. Or if the first indication information indicates that the paging message is not monitored, the terminal device does not monitor the paging message in the N POs associated with the first indication information. In this case, since the terminal device does not need to monitor the paging message in the N POs, it does not need to monitor the paging control information, but in the same way, the access network device may send the paging control information in the N POs. For the access network device, if the terminal device needs to be paged, the first indication information indicates to monitor the paging message, and then the paging message including the identifier of the terminal device is sent in one or more of the N POs; and if the paging terminal equipment is not needed, the paging message is not monitored through the first indication information. By the method, the first indication information can indicate the dormancy of the terminal equipment in the N POs, and also can indicate the awakening of the terminal equipment in the N POs, so that the indication is more comprehensive.

For example, referring to fig. 6, a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs is shown in fig. 6, where n=2, and the two POs include a PO where paging control information is located and a first PO after the PO and adjacent to the PO, and the horizontal axis of fig. 6 represents time. In fig. 6, a hatched rectangular box located in the PO represents paging control information. For example, for the first PO from left to right in fig. 6, the terminal device receives paging control information in the first PO, the paging control information includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates listening to the page. Then, if the paging control information includes scheduling information for scheduling paging messages in addition to the first indication information, the terminal device listens for the paging messages at the PO where the paging control information is located (i.e., the first PO from left to right), and after receiving the paging messages, if the paging messages include the identity of the terminal device (e.g., the ID of the terminal device), the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device, etc., or if the paging messages do not include the identity of the terminal device, the terminal device is not paged; or if the paging control information comprises the first indication information but does not comprise the scheduling information for scheduling the paging message, the terminal equipment does not monitor the paging message at the PO where the paging control information is located. Then, if the terminal device determines that it is scheduled (e.g., the paging message includes the identifier of the terminal device) in the PO in which the paging control information is located, the terminal device may not need to monitor the subsequent POs any more, but may establish an RRC connection with the access network device, etc., whereas if the terminal device is not scheduled (e.g., the paging message does not include the identifier of the terminal device, or the paging control information does not include the scheduling information) in the PO in which the paging control information is located, the terminal device monitors the paging control information in a first PO (i.e., a second PO from left to right) that is subsequent to the PO in which the paging control information is located, if the paging control information monitored in the PO includes the scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device continues to monitor the paging message in the PO, after receiving the paging message, if the paging message includes the identifier of the terminal device (e.g., the ID of the terminal device), the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device, etc., or if the paging message does not include the identifier of the terminal device, the terminal device is not paged; or if the paging message monitored by the terminal equipment in one PO does not comprise the identification of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment is not paged; alternatively, if the paging control information monitored by the terminal device in a PO does not include the scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device does not need to monitor the paging message in the PO. For another example, for the third PO from left to right in fig. 4, the terminal device receives paging control information in the third PO, the paging control information includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored. The terminal device does not monitor the paging control information at the PO where the paging control information is located (i.e., the third PO from left to right) and at the first PO after and adjacent to the PO (i.e., the fourth PO from left to right). While it was described above that the terminal device may not need to monitor paging control information at some POs, paging control information may be sent within each of the N POs for the access network device, and fig. 6 does not show paging control information within each PO to indicate the behavior of the terminal device, but does not indicate the behavior of the access network device.

As another alternative, the first indication information may affect the "dormancy" of the terminal device within the N POs, but not the "wake-up" of the terminal device within the N POs. Then, for example, the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the terminal device may monitor paging control information in a PO where the paging control information is located, if the received paging control information includes scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device monitors the paging message in the PO, after receiving the paging message, if the paging message includes an identity of the terminal device, the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device, or the like, or if the paging message does not include the identity of the terminal device, the terminal device is not paged, or if the paging control information does not include scheduling information of the paging message, the terminal device does not monitor the paging message in the PO. Or if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the terminal equipment does not monitor paging messages in N POs associated with the first indication information. Wherein the terminal device does not need to monitor the paging control information since it does not need to monitor the paging message in the N POs, but can also transmit the paging control information in the N POs for the access network device. Equivalently, if the first indication information indicates to monitor paging, the first indication information and the N POs are regarded as having no association relationship, and the terminal device only needs to monitor normally in the PO where the first indication information is located; and if the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored, the first indication information is considered to have an association relationship with N POs, and the terminal equipment does not monitor paging messages in the N POs associated with the first indication information. For the access network equipment, if the terminal equipment needs to be paged, the first indication information indicates to monitor the paging message, and then the paging message including the identifier of the terminal equipment is sent in the PO where the paging control information is located; and if the paging terminal equipment is not needed, the paging message is not monitored through the first indication information. By the method, the first indication information only indicates the dormancy of the terminal equipment in the N POs, so that the purpose of saving the power consumption of the terminal equipment is achieved.

For example, referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device monitoring N POs, where n=2 is taken as an example in fig. 7, and the two POs include a PO where paging control information is located and a first PO located after the PO in a time domain and adjacent to the PO. In fig. 7, a hatched rectangular box located in PO represents paging control information. For example, for the first PO from left to right in fig. 7, the terminal device receives paging control information in the first PO, the paging control information includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates listening to the page. Then, if the paging control information includes scheduling information for scheduling paging messages in addition to the first indication information, the terminal device listens for the paging messages at the PO where the paging control information is located (i.e., the first PO from left to right), and after receiving the paging messages, if the paging messages include the identity of the terminal device (e.g., the ID of the terminal device), the terminal device is paged, the terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device, etc., or if the paging messages do not include the identity of the terminal device, the terminal device is not paged; or if the paging control information comprises the first indication information but does not comprise the scheduling information for scheduling the paging message, the terminal equipment does not monitor the paging message at the PO where the paging control information is located. For another example, for the second PO from left to right in fig. 7, the terminal device receives paging control information in the second PO, the paging control information includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that paging is not monitored. The terminal device does not monitor for paging messages at both the PO where the paging control information is located (i.e., the second PO from left to right) and the first PO that is adjacent to and after the PO in the time domain (i.e., the third PO from left to right). While the terminal device may not need to monitor paging control information at some of the POs, paging control information may be sent within each of the N POs for the access network device, and fig. 7 does not show paging control information within each of the POs to indicate the behavior of the terminal device, but does not indicate the behavior of the access network device.

Referring to fig. 8, a schematic diagram of a PO monitored by a terminal device after the method according to the embodiment of the present application is shown, and a portion with diagonal lines in fig. 8 represents paging control information. For example, the default period of the system is 1.28 seconds, the dedicated paging period of the terminal device is 0.64 seconds, and then the paging period actually applied by the terminal device is 0.64 seconds. If the terminal device listens to the POs in accordance with the present technique with a paging cycle of 0.64 seconds, the terminal device needs to listen for each PO in one paging cycle, as shown in the first row in fig. 8. For another example, the default period of the system is 1.28 seconds, and the dedicated paging period of the terminal device is also 1.28 seconds, so that the paging period actually applied by the terminal device is 1.28 seconds. If the terminal device listens to the POs with a paging cycle of 1.28 seconds according to the present technology, the terminal device needs to listen to each PO in one paging cycle, but because the paging cycle interval of 1.28 seconds is long, the number of POs that the terminal device needs to listen to is reduced by half compared to the paging cycle of 0.64 seconds, as shown in the second row in fig. 8. For another example, the default period of the system is 1.28 seconds, the dedicated paging period of the terminal device is 2.56 seconds, and then the paging period actually applied by the terminal device is 1.28 seconds, where the paging period actually applied by the terminal device is smaller than the paging period (i.e. the dedicated paging period) required by the service of the terminal device, and if listening is performed according to 1.28 seconds, more power is required for the terminal device. Therefore, the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be adopted, so that the indication information is associated with one or more POs, if the access network device does not page the terminal device, the indication information sent by the access network device can indicate that the paging message is not monitored, for example, the third row in fig. 8, and the POs indicated by the rectangle box drawn with a dotted line refers to the POs that the terminal device does not need to monitor. Therefore, by the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the number of POs monitored by the terminal equipment is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced on the basis of not changing the determination rule of the paging cycle of the terminal equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the indication information can be associated with a plurality of paging occasions, and if the indication information indicates that paging does not need to be monitored (or paging messages do not need to be monitored), the terminal equipment does not need to monitor the paging in the PO associated with the indication information, but can sleep. That is, even though the paging cycle actually applied by the terminal device is small, the terminal device may monitor only a portion of the POs in the paging cycle, and the remaining POs in the paging cycle need not monitor. Since the number of POs to be monitored is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

When the terminal device (such as a smart phone, a smart watch or a smart bracelet) is under the condition of no communication service, for example, under the standby condition, the terminal device still consumes battery power, for example, the terminal device can continue to execute the paging function in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, so that the terminal device still has power consumption. After the method provided by the embodiment of the application is adopted, the power consumption caused by the paging function of the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state can be reduced, so that the consumed battery power is reduced, and the standby time of the terminal equipment is prolonged.

In order to solve the same technical problems, the embodiment of the application provides a second communication method, by which the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced. Please refer to fig. 9, which is a flowchart of the method. In the following description, this method is taken as an example applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, for example, and the paging described below may be regarded as paging initiated by the access network device.

S91, the terminal equipment sends first information to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the first information from the terminal equipment.

For example, the terminal device may send first information to the access network device in a random access procedure, e.g. the first information may be carried in a third message (Msg 3) or message B (MsgB) of the random access procedure. Alternatively, the terminal device may also send the first information to the access network device after the random access is completed, e.g. the first information may be carried in an RRC message (e.g. a UE capability information message) or other type of message.

For more on S91, reference is made to the description of S21 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

S92, the access network equipment sends a first message, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first message from the access network equipment. The first message may indicate that the second function is enabled, or the first message may indicate one indication information from the access network device to associate a plurality of POs of the terminal device.

For example, the access network device may send the first message by broadcast, or the first message may be a broadcast message. For example, the first message may be a system message, or the first message may be a broadcast message other than the system message. Alternatively, the first message may also be a unicast message, for example, the first message may be an RRC message (e.g., an RRC release message for releasing the terminal device to an RRC inactive state, or other RRC message) or a media access control (media access control, MAC) Control Element (CE), etc. The first message may also include a paging cycle actually applied by the access network device if the first message is a unicast message.

For more on S92, reference is made to the description of S23 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

S93, the terminal equipment determines the value of N, wherein N is the number of PO of the terminal equipment associated with the indication information. Wherein if the terminal device receives the first message and the first message indicates that the second function is enabled or indicates that one indication information from the access network device is associated with a plurality of POs of the terminal device, the terminal device may perform S24; alternatively, the terminal device may not have to perform S24 if the terminal device does not receive the first message, or the received first message indicates that the second function is not enabled, or that one indication from the access network device cannot associate a plurality of POs of the terminal device, or that one indication from the access network device associates a PO of the terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, and regarding the correspondence between the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and the value of N, the manner in which the terminal device determines the value of N, and the like, reference may be made to the description related to S24 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2. If the terminal device determines the value of N in this way, the access network device may also determine the value of N in the same way, which is not repeated.

Alternatively, the terminal device may determine the value of N in another way. For example, the network device (e.g., access network device) sends a second message to the terminal device, which receives the second message from the access network device, which may indicate the value of N. The access network device can determine the value of N and inform the terminal device of the value of N, so that the terminal device does not need to determine the value of N by itself. The manner in which the access network device determines the value of N is similar to the manner in which the terminal device determines the value of N, and will not be repeated. For example, the first message and the second message may be the same message, or may be different messages.

And S94, when the downlink data of the terminal equipment arrives, the core network equipment sends a notification message to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the notification message from the core network equipment. The notification message is used to indicate that downlink data arrives from the terminal device.

S95, the access network equipment sends first indication information, and correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first indication information from the access network equipment.

For more on S95, reference is made to the description of S26 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

S96, the terminal equipment determines monitoring conditions of N POs of the terminal equipment according to the first indication information.

For more on S96, reference is made to the description of S27 in the embodiment shown in fig. 2.

Next, another problem is considered. According to the current paging mechanism, even if a terminal device is not paged, the PO of the terminal device needs to monitor paging control information and paging messages, so that power is wasted. Therefore, the embodiment of the application provides that the terminal equipment can be divided into one or more groups by adopting a grouping paging mechanism, the access network equipment can page according to the groups during paging, and the terminal equipment in the non-paged groups does not need to receive paging messages, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced.

The embodiment of the application provides a third communication method, through which packet paging can be realized, and the power consumption of terminal equipment is reduced. Referring to fig. 10, a flow chart of the method is shown. In the following description, this method is taken as an example applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, for example, and the paging described below may be regarded as paging initiated by the access network device.

For ease of description, hereinafter, the method is exemplified by the core network device, the access network device, and the terminal device. Because the embodiment of the present application is exemplified by the network architecture shown in fig. 1. Thus, the core network device described hereinafter may be a core network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1, the access network device described hereinafter may be an access network device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1, and the first terminal device described hereinafter may be a terminal device in the network architecture shown in fig. 1.

S101, a first terminal device sends a special paging cycle of the first terminal device to a core network device, and the core network device receives the special paging cycle from the first terminal device. The core network device thus obtains the dedicated paging cycle for the first terminal device.

S102, when downlink data of the first terminal equipment arrives, the core network equipment sends a paging message, such as a first paging message, to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the first paging message from the core network equipment.

The first paging message may include paging information and may include a dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device. The access network device does not know the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device, and therefore the core network device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device.

S103, the access network equipment sends a second message, and correspondingly, the first terminal equipment receives the second message from the access network equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment can be divided into different groups, and the dividing factors can comprise one or more kinds. For example, a dividing factor is a paging cycle of the terminal device, for example, a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, or may be a paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device, where the paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device is a smaller value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and a default paging cycle of the system. The paging cycle may then be divided into one or more ranges, each of which corresponds to a packet, and if the paging cycle of a terminal device is within one of the ranges, the terminal device belongs to the packet to which the range corresponds. Alternatively, another dividing factor is the ID of the terminal device, where the ID of the terminal device may be divided into one or more ranges, where each range corresponds to a packet, and if the paging cycle of a terminal device is located in one of the ranges, the terminal device belongs to the packet corresponding to the range. Alternatively, the further dividing factor is the value of N corresponding to the terminal device, for example, the terminal devices with the same value of N are divided into one group. Alternatively, the dividing factor may also include multiple types, for example, the dividing factor may include a paging cycle of the terminal device and an ID of the terminal device, for example, the paging cycle of the terminal device is divided into one or more ranges, where a part of or all of the ranges may be divided into one or more sub-ranges according to the ID of the terminal device, and then each sub-range may correspond to one packet. For another example, the dividing factor includes a paging cycle of the terminal device and a value of N corresponding to the terminal device, for example, the paging cycle of the terminal device is first divided into one or more ranges, where in each of a part of or all of the ranges, one or more sub-ranges may be further divided according to the value of N corresponding to the terminal device, and then each sub-range may correspond to one packet. The embodiments of the present application are not limited to other division factors and division modes.

Wherein the division rule information (or called grouping rule information) may be specified by a protocol, the terminal device may determine a grouping to which the terminal device belongs according to the protocol. Alternatively, the grouping rule information may be stored in the terminal device in advance, and the terminal device may determine the grouping to which the terminal device belongs according to the pre-stored information. Alternatively, the packet rule information may be configured by a network device (e.g., an access network device). The packet rule information may include information of one or more packets, and a value range (e.g., a value range of a paging cycle, or a value range of other corresponding dividing factors) corresponding to each of the one or more packets.

As described above, different dividing factors may be used when grouping the terminal devices, and under the different dividing factors, the terminal devices may have respective grouping modes, for example, for the first terminal device, grouping according to paging periods, and grouping according to paging probabilities, and obviously, grouping modes are different, and grouping to which the first terminal device belongs is also different. For this purpose, the second message may enable the terminal device to be grouped by the paging cycle, that is, the access network device may instruct, by means of the second message, that the terminal device may enable the terminal device to be grouped by the paging cycle, and then the first terminal device may determine that the packet to which the first terminal device belongs is the packet corresponding to the case of grouping by the paging cycle. If the grouping rule information is specified by the protocol, or the grouping rule information is pre-stored in the terminal device, or the grouping rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may send a second message to enable grouping of the terminal device by the paging cycle. The second message is for example a broadcast message. After the first terminal device receives the second message, it can determine that the terminal device can apply the manner of grouping through the paging cycle.

If the packet rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may send a third message in addition to the second message to enable grouping of the terminal devices by paging cycle, the third message may include the packet rule information. After the first terminal device receives the grouping rule information, the first terminal device can determine the grouping to which the first terminal device belongs according to the grouping rule information and the corresponding dividing factors (such as the paging cycle of the first terminal device). The second message and the third message are for example both broadcast messages, there may be a plurality of terminal devices which are capable of receiving the second message and/or the third message, for example the first terminal device is one of the terminal devices which received the second message and the third message.

Alternatively, if the packet rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may not have to enable the manner in which the terminal device is grouped by paging cycle by a dedicated message. For example, the access network device may also send the second message, but the second message includes packet rule information, which corresponds to the access network device implicitly indicating the manner in which the terminal device is enabled to be grouped by the paging cycle by sending the packet rule information. After the first terminal device receives the grouping rule information, the first terminal device can determine the grouping to which the first terminal device belongs according to the grouping rule information and the corresponding dividing factors (such as the paging cycle of the first terminal device). The second message is, for example, a broadcast message, and there may be a plurality of terminal devices that are capable of receiving the second message, for example, the first terminal device is one of the terminal devices that received the second message.

Alternatively, different groupings may also correspond to different values of N, and reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 with respect to the meaning of the values of N. For example, when the paging cycle is divided, the value of N corresponding to the first packet is 1, which indicates that for the terminal device of the first packet, the indication information may be associated with 1 PO; for another example, the value of N for the second packet is 2, indicating that for the terminal device of the second packet, the indication information may be associated with 2 POs, and so on. For this part, reference is made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2. Then, the packet has a correspondence with the value of N, where the correspondence may be specified by a protocol, or the terminal device may be stored in advance, or may be configured by the access network device. The correspondence may be included in the packet rule information if configured by the access network device. If the access network device sends the packet rule information, the corresponding relationship is sent together.

S104, the access network equipment sends a first message, and correspondingly, the first terminal equipment receives the first message from the access network equipment. The first message may include first packet information, which may indicate a first packet, which may include one or more terminal devices.

As an alternative embodiment of the first message, the first message may be DCI, for example WUS, located before the first PO of one paging cycle. The first message includes first packet information indicating that the first packet is a paged packet, and the first terminal device can determine whether the first terminal device is paged according to WUS. Since WUS is sent before the PO, if the terminal device determines not to be paged, the first terminal device does not need to monitor within the PO with which the WUS is associated, so that power consumption of the terminal device can be saved to a greater extent.

Alternatively, as another alternative embodiment of the first message, the first message may also be paging control information. The first message includes first packet information, and the first packet indicated by the first packet information is a paged packet, so that the first terminal device can determine whether the first terminal device is paged according to the paging control information. If the first terminal equipment determines that the paging is not carried out, the first terminal equipment can not monitor the paging message continuously in the PO where the paging control information is located, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment is saved.

The embodiment of the application groups the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can be paged in a grouping mode. The first packet indicated by the first packet information indicates the packet being paged. For a terminal device, if it is determined that packet information (e.g., first packet information) from the access network device is not information of a packet to which the terminal device belongs, the terminal device may not monitor at a corresponding PO, so that a false alarm probability of the terminal device may be reduced. Moreover, the embodiment of the application can divide the grouping of the terminal devices by adopting the paging cycle, for example, the terminal devices with larger paging cycle can be divided into a group, for example, called group 1, and the terminal devices with smaller paging cycle can be divided into a group, for example, called group 2, if the network needs to page the group 2, the terminal devices in the group 1 can know that the network does not page the group 1 according to the grouping information from the network, the terminal devices in the group 1 do not need to respond, but can continue to sleep, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal devices in the group 1. Therefore, the embodiment of the application groups according to the paging cycle, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced better.

S105, the first terminal device determines whether the first terminal device belongs to the first packet.

The packet rule information, if specified by the protocol, the terminal device may determine the packet to which the terminal device belongs according to the protocol. Alternatively, the grouping rule information may be stored in the terminal device in advance, and the terminal device may determine the grouping to which the terminal device belongs according to the pre-stored information. Alternatively, the packet rule information may be configured by the access network device, and the access network device may send the packet rule information, and the first terminal device may determine the packet to which the first terminal device belongs after receiving the packet rule information.

The first terminal device determines a packet to which the first terminal device belongs, and the first terminal device also receives the first packet information, the first terminal device may determine whether the packet to which the first terminal device belongs is the first packet.

If the first terminal device belongs to the first packet, S106 is continued, whereas if the first terminal device does not belong to the first packet, S106 is not necessarily performed, and the flow ends.

S106, the first terminal equipment monitors paging in the PO associated with the first message.

The first message may be DCI, e.g. WUS, preceding the first PO of a paging cycle. The PO associated with the first message may refer to one or more POs located after the WUS, which may be consecutive POs in the time domain, may be discontinuous POs, and may be located within one paging cycle, or may be located within multiple paging cycles. Then, if the first terminal device belongs to the first packet, which indicates that the packet in which the first terminal device is located is paged, the first terminal device may monitor paging control information in one or more POs located after the WUS, and for the access network device, if the terminal device in the first packet needs to be paged, the access network device may page in one or more POs associated with the first message. For example, if the first terminal device monitors paging control information in one of the POs and the paging control information includes scheduling information for scheduling paging messages, the first terminal device may continue to monitor the paging messages in the PO, after receiving the paging messages, if the paging messages include an ID of the first terminal device, indicating that the first terminal device is paged, the first terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device, etc., and if the paging messages do not include an ID of the first terminal device, indicating that the first terminal device is not paged, the first terminal device does not monitor in the PO, and waits for the next PO associated with the WUS to arrive; or if the first terminal equipment monitors paging control information in one of the POs, but the paging control information does not comprise scheduling information for scheduling paging messages, which indicates that the first terminal equipment is not paged, the first terminal equipment does not monitor in the PO, and monitors until the next PO associated with the WUS arrives.

Alternatively, the first message may be paging control information. Then the first message may be associated with one or more POs, if the first message is associated with one PO, such as the PO where the paging control information is located; alternatively, if the first message associates a plurality of POs, the plurality of POs may include a PO where the paging control information is located and include at least one PO located after the PO where the paging control information is located, or the plurality of POs associated with the first message may not include a PO where the paging control information is located but include only at least one PO located after the PO where the paging control information is located. Wherein the first message, if associated with a plurality of POs, may be consecutive POs in the time domain, or may be discontinuous POs, and the one or more POs may be located in one paging cycle, or may be located in a plurality of paging cycles. For example, the PO associated with the first message refers to the PO in which the paging control information is located, and if the first terminal device belongs to the first packet, which indicates that the packet in which the first terminal device is located is paged, the first terminal device may monitor the PO for paging messages, and for the access network device, if the terminal device in the first packet needs to be paged, the access network device may page in one or more POs associated with the first message. After receiving the paging message, the first terminal device may further establish an RRC connection with the access network device if the paging message includes the ID of the first terminal device, indicating that the first terminal device is paged, and the like, and may not monitor the PO if the paging message does not include the ID of the first terminal device, indicating that the first terminal device is not paged, and monitor the PO when the next PO arrives.

In order to solve the same technical problems as those solved by the third communication method, the embodiment of the application provides a fourth communication method, by which packet paging can be realized, and power consumption of terminal equipment is reduced. Please refer to fig. 11, which is a flowchart of the method. In the following description, this method is taken as an example applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is in an RRC inactive state, for example, and the paging described below may be regarded as paging initiated by the access network device.

S111, the first terminal equipment sends a special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment to the core network equipment, and the core network equipment receives the special paging cycle from the first terminal equipment.

For more on S111, reference is made to the description of S101 in the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

S112, the core network device sends a special paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device, and the access network device receives the special paging cycle from the core network device.

For the terminal device in the RRC inactive state, the access network device performs paging, so the access network device needs to know the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device, and then the core network device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device.

S113, the first terminal equipment sends a special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the special paging cycle from the first terminal equipment.

Wherein, S111-S112 and S113 are two parallel schemes, and only one scheme is needed to be executed. That is, the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the core network device, and the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device by the core network device, or the first terminal device may directly send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device, without forwarding by the core network device.

For example, the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device in the random access procedure, e.g., the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device through Msg3 or MsgB in the random access procedure; alternatively, the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device after the random access is successful, for example, the first terminal device may send the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device to the access network device through an RRC message or other type of message.

S114, the access network equipment sends a second message, and correspondingly, the first terminal equipment receives the second message from the access network equipment.

If the grouping rule information is specified by the protocol, or the grouping rule information is pre-stored in the terminal device, or the grouping rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may send a second message to enable grouping of the terminal device by the paging cycle. The second message is, for example, a broadcast message, or may be a unicast message (e.g., an RRC release message). After the first terminal device receives the second message, it can determine that the terminal device can apply the manner of grouping through the paging cycle.

If the packet rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may send a third message in addition to the second message to enable grouping of the terminal devices by paging cycle, the third message may include the packet rule information. After the first terminal device receives the grouping rule information, the first terminal device can determine the grouping to which the first terminal device belongs according to the grouping rule information and the corresponding dividing factors (such as the paging cycle of the first terminal device). The second message is for example a broadcast message or a unicast message. The third message is for example a broadcast message or a unicast message.

Alternatively, if the packet rule information is configured by the access network device, the access network device may not have to enable the manner in which the terminal device is grouped by paging cycle by a dedicated message. For example, the access network device may also send the second message, but the second message includes packet rule information, which corresponds to the access network device implicitly indicating the manner in which the terminal device is enabled to be grouped by the paging cycle by sending the packet rule information. After the first terminal device receives the grouping rule information, the first terminal device can determine the grouping to which the first terminal device belongs according to the grouping rule information and the corresponding dividing factors (such as the paging cycle of the first terminal device). The second message is for example a broadcast message or a unicast message.

Alternatively, different groupings may correspond to different values of N, and reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 with respect to the meaning of the values of N. For example, when the paging cycle is divided, the value of N corresponding to the first packet is 1, which indicates that for the terminal device of the first packet, the indication information may be associated with 1 PO; for another example, the value of N for the second packet is 2, indicating that for the terminal device of the second packet, the indication information may be associated with 2 POs, and so on. For this part, reference is made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2. Then, the packet has a correspondence with the value of N, where the correspondence may be specified by a protocol, or the terminal device may be stored in advance, or may be configured by the access network device. The correspondence may be included in the packet rule information if configured by the access network device. If the access network device sends the packet rule information, the corresponding relationship is sent together. Alternatively, if the access network device does not send packet rule information, for example, the access network device sends a second message to the first terminal device, where the second message indicates a packet to which the first terminal device belongs, and optionally, the second message may also indicate a value of N corresponding to the packet to which the first terminal device belongs.

For more on S114, reference is made to the description of S103 in the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

And S115, when the downlink data of the first terminal equipment arrives, the core network equipment sends a notification message to the access network equipment, and the access network equipment receives the notification message from the core network equipment. The notification message may indicate that there is a downlink data arrival for the first terminal device.

S116, the access network equipment sends a first message, and correspondingly, the first terminal equipment receives the first message from the access network equipment. The first message may include first packet information, which may indicate a first packet, which may include one or more terminal devices.

For more on S116, reference is made to the description of S104 in the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

S117, the first terminal device determines whether the first terminal device belongs to the first packet.

The packet rule information, if specified by the protocol, the terminal device may determine the packet to which the terminal device belongs according to the protocol. Alternatively, the grouping rule information may be stored in the terminal device in advance, and the terminal device may determine the grouping to which the terminal device belongs according to the pre-stored information. Alternatively, the packet rule information may be configured by the access network device, and the access network device may send the packet rule information, and the first terminal device may determine the packet to which the first terminal device belongs after receiving the packet rule information. Or the access network device indicates the packet to which the first terminal device belongs through the second message, and the first terminal device can determine the packet to which the first terminal device belongs according to the second message.

If the first terminal device belongs to the first packet, S117 is continued, whereas if the first terminal device does not belong to the first packet, S117 is not necessarily performed and the flow ends.

S118, the first terminal equipment monitors paging in the PO associated with the first message.

For more on S118, reference is made to the description of S106 in the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

The apparatus for implementing the above method in the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the above contents can be used in the following embodiments, and repeated contents are not repeated.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus 1200 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1200 is illustratively a terminal device 1200. Illustratively, the terminal device 1200 is capable of implementing the functions of the terminal device described in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

The terminal device 1200 includes a processing module 1210 and a transceiver module 1220. The terminal device 1200 may be a terminal device, or may be a chip applied to the terminal device or other combination device, component, etc. having the functions of the terminal device. When the terminal device 1200 is a terminal device, the transceiver module 1220 may include a transmitter and/or a receiver, the transmitter may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, etc., and the receiver may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, etc. The transmitter and the receiver may be integrally formed into a transceiver, and the transceiver may implement functions of the transmitter and the receiver, or the transmitter and the receiver may be two functional modules that are separately deployed. The processing module 1210 may include a processor, such as a baseband processor, which may include one or more central processing units (central processing unit, CPU) therein. When the terminal device 1200 is a component having the above-described terminal device functions, the transceiver module 1220 may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module 1210 may be a processor, for example, a baseband processor. When the terminal device 1200 is a chip system, the transceiver module 1220 may be an input/output interface of a chip (e.g., a baseband chip), and the processing module 1210 may be a processor of the chip system and may include one or more central processing units. It is to be appreciated that the processing module 1210 in embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit component and the transceiver module 1220 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuit component.

For example, the processing module 1210 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 2, except for transceiving operations, such as S24 and S27, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. The transceiver module 1220 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, e.g., S21, S23, and S26, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

As another example, the processing module 1210 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 9, except for transceiving operations, such as S93 and S96, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. The transceiver module 1220 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, e.g., S91, S92, and S95, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In addition, the transceiver module and the receiving module may be one functional module, which is called a transceiver module 1220, and the transceiver module 1220 can perform both a transmitting operation and a receiving operation, for example, the transceiver module 1220 may be used to perform all the transmitting operation and the receiving operation performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9, for example, the transceiver module 1220 may be considered to be a transmitting module when the transmitting operation is performed and the transceiver module 1220 may be considered to be a receiving module when the receiving operation is performed; alternatively, the transmitting module and the receiving module may be two functional modules, and the transceiver module 1220 may be regarded as a generic term of the two functional modules, where the transmitting module is used to perform a transmitting operation, for example, the transmitting module may be used to perform all transmitting operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9, and the receiving module is used to perform a receiving operation, for example, the receiving module may be used to perform all receiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

Wherein, the transceiver module 1220 is configured to receive a first message from a network device, where the first message is used to indicate one indication information from the network device to associate a plurality of paging occasions PO of a terminal device, and the indication information is used to wake up the terminal device or not wake up the terminal device;

a processing module 1210, configured to determine a value of N, where N is a number of POs of the terminal device 1200 associated with one indication information, the value of N is related to a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1200, and N is a positive integer;

the transceiver module 1220 is further configured to receive first indication information from the network device;

the processing module 1210 is further configured to determine a listening situation of N POs of the terminal device 1200 according to the first indication information.

As an alternative embodiment, the processing module 1210 is configured to determine the value of N by:

determining the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1200; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

As an alternative embodiment, the processing module 1210 is configured to determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1200 by:

As an alternative embodiment, the second value is a value determined according to the dedicated paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system, including:

the second value = the dedicated paging cycle/the system default paging cycle.

wherein the first value and the second value are both preconfigured values.

As an alternative to this embodiment of the present invention,

the transceiver module 1220 is further configured to receive a third message from the network device, where the third message is used to indicate a correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1200; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 1210 is further configured to determine, according to the predefined information, a correspondence between the value of N and a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1200; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 1210 is further configured to pre-store a correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1200.

As an alternative to this embodiment of the present invention,

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information is included in the paging control information, and the processing module 1210 is configured to determine listening situations of N POs of the terminal device 1200 according to the first indication information by:

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information is included in the downlink control information before the POs, and the processing module 1210 is configured to determine the listening situation of N POs to the terminal device 1200 according to the first indication information by:

As an optional implementation manner, the processing module 1210 is further configured to determine that the first indication information corresponds to a first packet to which the terminal device 1200 belongs, where the first packet includes one or more terminal devices.

As an alternative embodiment, the transceiver module 1220 is further configured to send first information, where the first information is used to indicate one or more of the following:

whether the terminal device 1200 supports the instruction information;

whether the terminal device 1200 supports the multiple POs of the indication information association terminal device 1200;

requests to associate the indication information with a plurality of POs of the terminal apparatus 1200.

The functions that can be implemented by the processing module 1210 and the transceiver module 1220 may be described with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9, which will not be repeated.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1300 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1300 is illustratively a network device 1300. Illustratively, the network device 1300 is capable of implementing the functionality of the access network device described in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

The network device 1300 includes a processing module 1310 and a transceiver module 1320. With respect to the implementation of the network device 1300, reference may be made to the description of the implementation of the terminal device 1200.

For example, the processing module 1310 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, except for the transceiving operations, such as determining the value of N, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 1320 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, e.g., S21-S23 and S25-S26, and/or to support other processes for the techniques described herein.

As another example, the processing module 1310 may be configured to perform all operations in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, except for the transceiving operations performed by the access network device, such as determining the value of N, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 1320 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, e.g., S91-S92 and S94-S95, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In addition, with respect to the implementation of transceiver module 1320, reference may be made to the description of the implementation of transceiver module 1220.

Wherein, the transceiver module 1320 is configured to send a first message, where the first message is used to indicate a plurality of paging occasions PO of an indication information associated terminal device from the network device, and the indication information is used to wake up the terminal device or not wake up the terminal device;

a processing module 1310, configured to determine a value of N, where N is a number of POs of the terminal device associated with one indication information, the value of N is related to a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device, and N is a positive integer;

the transceiver module 1320 is further configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information is associated with N POs.

As an alternative embodiment, the processing module 1310 is configured to determine the value of N by:

As an optional implementation manner, the processing module 1310 is configured to determine the value of N according to the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device by:

the second value = the dedicated paging cycle/the system default paging cycle.

wherein the first value and the second value are both preconfigured values.

As an alternative to this embodiment of the present invention,

the transceiver module 1320 is further configured to send a third message, where the third message is used to indicate a correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 1310 is further configured to determine, according to predefined information, a correspondence between the value of N and a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the processing module 1310 is further configured to pre-store a correspondence between the value of N and the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device.

As an alternative to this embodiment of the present invention,

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 1320 is further configured to receive first information from a terminal device or a core network device, where the first information is used to indicate one or more of the following:

Whether the terminal equipment supports the indication information;

As an alternative embodiment, the first indication information corresponds to a first packet to which the terminal device belongs, and the first packet includes one or more terminal devices.

The functions that can be implemented by the processing module 1310 and the transceiver module 1320 may be described with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9, which are not repeated.

Fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1400 is illustratively a terminal device 1400. Illustratively, the terminal device 1400 is capable of implementing the functionality of the first terminal device described in the embodiment shown in fig. 10 or the embodiment shown in fig. 11.

Terminal device 1400 includes a processing module 1410 and a transceiver module 1420. With respect to the implementation of terminal device 1400, reference may be made to the description of the implementation of terminal device 1200.

For example, the processing module 1410 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 10, except for the transceiving operations, such as S105, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 1420 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 10, e.g., S101, S103, S104, and S106, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

As another example, the processing module 1410 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 11, except for the transceiving operations, such as S117, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. The transceiver module 1420 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 11, e.g., S111, S113, S114, S116, and S118, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In addition, with respect to the implementation of transceiver module 1420, reference may be made to the description of the implementation of transceiver module 1220.

Wherein the transceiver module 1420 is configured to receive a first message from an access network device, where the first message includes first packet information, where the first packet information is used to indicate a first packet, and the first packet includes one or more terminal devices;

a processing module 1410, configured to determine that the terminal device 1400 belongs to the first packet, where the first packet is divided according to a paging cycle of the terminal device;

transceiver module 1420 is also configured to monitor for pages within the PO associated with the first message.

As an alternative implementation manner, the paging cycle of the terminal device is a dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device or a paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device, wherein the paging cycle actually applied to the terminal device is a smaller value of the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device and a default paging cycle of the system.

As an alternative embodiment, the first message is downlink control information located before the PO, and the transceiver module 1420 is configured to monitor for a page in the PO associated with the first message by:

As an alternative embodiment, the first message is paging control information, and the transceiver module 1420 is configured to monitor for a page in a PO associated with the first message by:

As an alternative embodiment, the transceiver module 1420 is further configured to:

a second message is received from the access network device, the second message being used to indicate the packet to which the terminal device 1400 belongs.

As an alternative embodiment, the transceiver module 1420 is further configured to send the dedicated paging cycle of the terminal device 1400 to the access network device or the core network device.

The specific functions that can be implemented by the processing module 1410 and the transceiver module 1420 may be described with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 10 or the embodiment shown in fig. 11, which will not be repeated.

Fig. 15 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1500 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Illustratively, the communications apparatus 1500 is, for example, a network device 1500. Illustratively, the network device 1500 is capable of implementing the functionality of the access network device described in the embodiment shown in fig. 10 or the embodiment shown in fig. 10.

The network device 1500 includes a processing module 1510 and a transceiver module 1520. With respect to the implementation of network device 1500, reference may be made to the description of the implementation of terminal device 1200.

For example, the processing module 1510 may be used to perform all but the transceiving operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 10, and/or to support other procedures for the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 1520 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 10, e.g., S102, S103, and S104, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

As another example, the processing module 1510 may be used to perform all but the transceiving operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and/or other procedures to support the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 1520 may be used to perform all of the receive and transmit operations performed by the access network device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 11, e.g., S112, S113, S114, and S116, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In addition, with respect to the implementation of the transceiver module 1520, reference may be made to the description of the implementation of the transceiver module 1220.

A transceiver module 1520, configured to send a first message, where the first message includes first packet information, where the first packet information is used to indicate a first packet, and the first packet includes one or more terminal devices;

a processing module 1510, configured to determine that a first terminal device belongs to the first packet, where the first packet is divided according to a paging cycle of the terminal device;

the transceiver module 1520 is further configured to page the first terminal device in the PO associated with the first message.

As an alternative embodiment, the transceiver module 1520 is further configured to:

As an alternative embodiment, the transceiver module 1520 is further configured to receive a dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device from the first terminal device.

The specific functions that can be implemented by the processing module 1510 and the transceiver module 1520 may be described with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 10 or the embodiment shown in fig. 11, which will not be repeated.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device which can be a terminal device or a circuit. The communication means may be adapted to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the various method embodiments described above.

Fig. 16 shows a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device when the communication device is a terminal device. For easy understanding and convenient illustration, in fig. 16, a mobile phone is taken as an example of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 16, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal apparatuses may not have an input/output device.

When data need to be sent, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be sent and then outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit carries out radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then sends the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor is shown in fig. 16. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc. The memory may be provided separately from the processor or may be integrated with the processor, as the embodiments of the application are not limited in this respect.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit with the transmitting and receiving functions may be regarded as a transmitting and receiving unit of the terminal device (the transmitting and receiving unit may be one functional unit capable of implementing the transmitting function and the receiving function, or the transmitting and receiving unit may also include two functional units, that is, a receiving unit capable of implementing the receiving function and a transmitting unit capable of implementing the transmitting function, respectively), and the processor with the processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 15, the terminal device includes a transceiving unit 1610 and a processing unit 1620. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver device, etc. The processing unit may also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. Alternatively, the device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 1610 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 1610 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver 1610 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver circuitry, or the like. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, or receiving circuit, among others. The transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver unit 1610 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9, and the processing unit 1620 is configured to perform all or part of the other operations except the transmitting operation on the terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 2 or the embodiment shown in fig. 9. Alternatively, the transceiver unit 1610 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the first terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 10 or the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and the processing unit 1620 is configured to perform all or part of the other operations except the transmitting operation on the first terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 10 or the embodiment shown in fig. 11.

When the communication device is a chip-like device or circuit, the device may comprise a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The receiving and transmitting unit can be an input and output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

When the communication apparatus in this embodiment is a terminal device, reference may be made to the device shown in fig. 17. As an example, the device may perform functions similar to the processing module 1210 of fig. 12. As yet another example, the device may perform functions similar to those of processing module 1410 in FIG. 14. In fig. 17, the apparatus includes a processor 1710, a transmit data processor 1720, and a receive data processor 1730. The processing module 1210 in the above embodiment may be the processor 1710 in fig. 16, and perform the corresponding functions; the transceiver module 1220 in the above embodiment may be the transmit data processor 1720 and/or the receive data processor 1730 in fig. 16, and perform corresponding functions. Alternatively, the processing module 1410 in the above embodiment may be the processor 1710 in fig. 16, and perform the corresponding functions; the transceiver module 1420 in the above embodiment may be the transmit data processor 1720 and/or the receive data processor 1730 in fig. 16 and perform corresponding functions. Although a channel encoder, a channel decoder are shown in fig. 16, it is to be understood that these modules are not limiting illustrations of the present embodiment, but are merely schematic.

Fig. 18 shows another form of the present embodiment. The processing device 1800 includes a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, peripheral subsystems, and the like. The communication device in this embodiment may act as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 1803, an interface 1804. Wherein the processor 1803 performs the functions of the processing module 1210, and the interface 1804 performs the functions of the transceiver module 1220. Alternatively, the processor 1803 performs the functions of the processing module 1410, and the interface 1804 performs the functions of the transceiver module 1420. As another modification, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 1806, a processor 1803, and a program stored in the memory 1806 and executable on the processor, and the processor 1803 implements the method on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment when executing the program. It is noted that the memory 1806 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located within the modulation subsystem or within the processing device 1800, as long as the memory 1806 is coupled to the processor 1803.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the device is a network device, the device may be as shown in fig. 19. The apparatus 1900 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a remote radio frequency unit (remote radio unit, RRU) 1910 and one or more baseband units (BBU) (also referred to as digital units, DUs) 1920. The RRU 1910 may be referred to as a transceiver module, which may include a transmitting module and a receiving module, or may be a module capable of implementing transmitting and receiving functions. The transceiver module may correspond to transceiver module 1320 in fig. 13. Alternatively, the transceiver module may correspond to the transceiver module 1520 in fig. 15. Alternatively, the transceiver module may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, etc., which may include at least one antenna 1911 and a radio frequency unit 1912. The RRU 1910 is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals into baseband signals, for example, for sending indication information to a terminal device. The BBU 1920 portion is mainly configured to perform baseband processing, control a base station, and the like. The RRU 1910 and BBU 1920 may be physically located together or may be physically separate, i.e., distributed base stations.

The BBU1920 is a control center of the base station, and may also be referred to as a processing module, and may correspond to the processing module 1310 in fig. 13, or may correspond to the processing module 1510 in fig. 15, where the BBU1920 (processing module) is mainly configured to perform baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and so on. For example, the BBU (processing module) may be configured to control the base station to perform the operation procedure related to the network device in the above method embodiment, for example, generate the above indication information, etc.

In one example, the BBU1920 may be configured by one or more boards, where the boards may support a single access radio access network (e.g., an LTE network) together, or may support different access radio access networks (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks) respectively. The BBU1920 further includes a memory 1921 and a processor 1922. The memory 1921 is used to store the necessary instructions and data. The processor 1922 is configured to control the base station to perform the necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform the operation procedure of the above-described method embodiment with respect to the network device. The memory 1921 and processor 1922 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and the processor may be separately provided on each board. It is also possible that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

It should be appreciated that the processor referred to in embodiments of the present application may be a 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), off-the-shelf programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It should also be understood that the memory referred to in embodiments of the present application may be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

Note that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, the memory (storage module) is integrated into the processor.

It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

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 by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments 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.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: the computer readable medium may include random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read only memory, EEPROM), compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), universal serial bus flash disk (universal serial bus flash disk), removable hard disk, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

The foregoing is merely a specific implementation of the present application, but the scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art may easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the embodiments of the present application, and all changes and substitutions are included in the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method applied to a first terminal device, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a network device, wherein the first message indicates a plurality of paging occasions PO of each indication information associated terminal device from the network device, the indication information is used for waking up the terminal device or not waking up the terminal device, and the first terminal device is one of the terminal devices;

determining the plurality of POs as N POs, wherein N is related to a special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

receiving first indication information from the network device;

and determining monitoring conditions of the N POs according to the first indication information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the plurality of POs as N POs comprises:

Determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

a second message is received from the network device, the second message indicating that the plurality of POs is the N POs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device comprises:

the special paging cycle is smaller than or equal to a default paging cycle of a system, and the plurality of POs are determined to be the N POs, wherein N is a first value; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the special paging cycle is greater than a default paging cycle of a system, the plurality of POs are determined to be the N POs, wherein N is a second value, and the second value is a value determined according to the special paging cycle and the default paging cycle of the system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second value is a value determined from the dedicated paging cycle and the system default paging cycle, comprising:

the second value is equal to a quotient of the dedicated paging cycle divided by the system default paging cycle.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device comprises:

The special paging cycle is smaller than or equal to a default paging cycle of a system, the plurality of POs are determined to be the N POs, N is a first value, and the first value is a preconfigured value; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the special paging cycle is larger than a default paging cycle of the system, the plurality of POs are determined to be the N POs, N is a second value, and the second value is a preconfigured value.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device comprises:

and determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the value ranges of the special paging cycle, wherein different value ranges correspond to different N, and the number of the value ranges is more than or equal to 3.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, further comprising:

receiving a third message from the network device, wherein the third message is used for indicating the corresponding relation between N and the special paging cycle of the first terminal device; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

according to predefined information, determining a corresponding relation between N and a special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

And pre-storing the corresponding relation between N and the special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein,

the first indication information is included in downlink control information before a first PO in the N POs, and is used for indicating to monitor paging or not to monitor paging.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first indication information is included in paging control information, and wherein determining the listening situation for the N POs according to the first indication information includes:

the first indication information is used for indicating to monitor paging messages, and then the paging messages from the network equipment are monitored in the current PO, and the paging messages from the network equipment are monitored in the rest POs except the current PO in the N POs; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first indication information is included in downlink control information before a first PO of the N POs, and determining a listening situation of the N POs according to the first indication information includes:

and the first indication information is used for indicating that paging is not monitored, and paging control information and/or paging information is not monitored in the N POs.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first indication information is included in paging control information, and wherein determining the listening situation for the N POs according to the first indication information includes:

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first indication information is included in downlink control information before a first PO of the N POs, and determining a listening situation of the N POs according to the first indication information includes:

the first indication information is used for indicating to monitor paging, and then monitors paging control information or monitors paging control information and paging information in a first PO after the downlink control information; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the first indication information is used for indicating that paging is not monitored, and paging control information and paging information are not monitored in the N POs.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising:

and determining that the first indication information corresponds to a first packet to which the first terminal equipment belongs, wherein the first packet comprises one or more terminal equipment.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising:

whether the first terminal equipment supports the indication information;

whether the first terminal equipment supports a plurality of POs of which the indication information is associated with the first terminal equipment or not;

and requesting to associate the indication information with a plurality of POs of the first terminal equipment.

15. A communication method applied to a network device, the method comprising:

transmitting a first message, wherein the first message indicates a plurality of paging occasions PO of each indication information associated terminal equipment from the network equipment, and the indication information is used for waking up the terminal equipment or not waking up the terminal equipment;

determining the plurality of POs as N POs, wherein N is related to a special paging cycle of first terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment is one of the terminal equipment, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

and sending first indication information, wherein the first indication information is associated with the N POs.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the plurality of POs as N POs comprises:

and determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device comprises:

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second value is a value determined from the dedicated paging cycle and the system default paging cycle, comprising:

19. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device comprises:

20. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the plurality of POs as the N POs according to the dedicated paging cycle of the first terminal device comprises:

21. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 20, further comprising:

transmitting a third message, wherein the third message is used for indicating the corresponding relation between N and the special paging cycle of the first terminal equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

22. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 21, wherein,

23. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 22, further comprising:

receiving first information from the first terminal device or core network device, the first information being used to indicate one or more of:

whether the first terminal equipment supports the indication information;

24. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 23, wherein,

the first indication information corresponds to a first packet to which the first terminal device belongs, and the first packet includes one or more terminal devices.

25. A terminal device, comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories;

and one or more computer programs, wherein the one or more computer programs are stored in the one or more memories, the one or more computer programs comprising instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors of the terminal device, cause the terminal device to perform the method of any of claims 1-14.

26. A network device, comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories;

and one or more computer programs, wherein the one or more computer programs are stored in the one or more memories, the one or more computer programs comprising instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors of the network device, cause the network device to perform the method of any of claims 15-24.

27. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14 or causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 15 to 24.

28. A chip comprising one or more processors and a communication interface, the one or more processors configured to read instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 1-14 or to perform the method of any one of claims 15-24.