CN111436099A

CN111436099A - Communication method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN111436099A
Application number: CN201910028824.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 铁晓磊; 周涵; 花梦
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-01-11
Filing date: 2019-01-11
Publication date: 2020-07-21
Also published as: WO2020143751A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method, which comprises the following steps: detecting a power saving signal; and determining whether a reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the detection result of the power consumption saving signal, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal. For example, when the network device needs the terminal device to report the channel quality, a power consumption saving signal may be sent to the terminal device, and after the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device receives a channel estimation reference signal on a transmission resource and performs channel estimation according to the channel estimation reference signal. Therefore, the terminal equipment executing the method can receive the reference signal when necessary, and the frequency of receiving the reference signal is reduced, so that the power consumption is reduced.

Description

Communication method and communication device

Technical Field

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

Background

In order to reduce power consumption, the terminal device usually enters a sleep state when in an idle state, and at intervals, the terminal device detects a wake-up signal, and if the wake-up signal is detected, the terminal device enters an awake state from the sleep state to perform related processing, such as synchronization, channel estimation, beam training, and the like.

In order to reduce resource consumption, a method for waking up a terminal device is to wake up the terminal device by a reference signal, which is a wake-up signal, and perform corresponding processing based on the reference signal while the terminal device is being woken up. However, in some scenarios, the terminal device does not necessarily need to perform reference signal related processing. For example, a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle is generally smaller than a transmission cycle of a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), and after the terminal device is awakened, synchronization may not be required until the next DRX cycle; however, the network device wakes up the terminal device through the TRS, so that the terminal device needs to synchronize within each DRX cycle, thereby causing an increase in power consumption of the terminal device.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, wherein a network device sends a power consumption saving signal which is associated with a reference signal, so that a terminal device can perform corresponding processing, such as synchronous processing, based on the reference signal when necessary, and the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including: detecting a power saving signal; and determining whether a reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the detection result of the power consumption saving signal, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal.

For example, when the network device needs the terminal device to report the channel quality, a power consumption saving signal may be sent to the terminal device, and after the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device receives a channel estimation reference signal on a transmission resource and performs channel estimation according to the channel estimation reference signal. Therefore, the terminal equipment executing the method can receive the reference signal when necessary, and the frequency of receiving the reference signal is reduced, so that the power consumption is reduced.

Optionally, the time domain length of the power consumption saving signal is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal, and/or the frequency domain width of the power consumption saving signal is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal.

Compared with the scheme that the whole TRS is used as the wake-up signal to wake up the terminal device in the prior art, the power consumption saving signal provided by the application can be used as the wake-up signal to reduce resource overhead. When the time-frequency region of the power consumption saving signal is partially overlapped with the time-frequency region of the reference signal, the power consumption saving signal can multiplex a partial sequence of the reference signal, and the complexity of detecting the power consumption saving signal by the terminal equipment can be reduced.

Optionally, determining whether a reference signal is present on the transmission resource according to whether the power saving signal is detected includes: determining that a reference signal exists on a transmission resource when a power saving signal is detected; alternatively, when the power saving signal is not detected, it is determined that the reference signal is not present on the transmission resource.

Based on the scheme, the terminal equipment only needs to determine whether the power consumption saving signal is detected or not, and does not need to determine whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource or not based on the content carried by the power consumption saving signal, so the scheme has the characteristics of simplicity and easiness in implementation.

Optionally, the communication method further includes: when it is determined that the reference signal is not present on the transmission resource, the sleep state is maintained.

In this scheme, the terminal device does not detect the power consumption saving signal, and therefore, the terminal device can be kept in a sleep state to reduce power consumption.

Optionally, determining whether a reference signal is present on the transmission resource according to whether the power saving signal is detected includes: when the power consumption saving signal is detected, determining whether a reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the attribute of the power consumption saving signal; alternatively, when the power saving signal is not detected, it is determined that the reference signal is not present on the transmission resource.

The above scheme enables the terminal device to perform more processing based on the power consumption saving signal, for example, after determining that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource based on the attribute of the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device may also monitor other channels (e.g., a physical downlink control channel) based on the power consumption saving signal.

Optionally, determining whether a reference signal is present on the transmission resource according to the attribute of the power saving signal includes: when the sequence carried by the power consumption saving signal is a first sequence, determining that a reference signal exists on transmission resources; or, when the sequence carried by the power saving signal is the second sequence, determining that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource.

Since the power saving signal may multiplex the sequence of the reference signal, determining whether the reference signal is present on the transmission resource based on the sequence may reduce the complexity of the terminal device in detecting the power saving signal.

Optionally, detecting a power saving signal comprises: the power consumption saving signal is detected for a preset period.

The network device may also configure (e.g., semi-statically configure) a transmission cycle of the reference signal, and the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal within a preset period based on the transmission cycle of the reference signal, so that the power consumption of the terminal device may be further reduced. The preset time period is a time period during which the network device transmits the reference signal.

In a second aspect, the present application provides another communication method, including: determining whether to transmit a reference signal, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal;

transmitting a power saving signal when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined not to transmit the reference signal, not transmitting the power consumption saving signal;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

transmitting a power saving signal of a first attribute when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined not to transmit the reference signal, transmitting a power consumption saving signal of the second attribute;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

transmitting a power saving signal of a first attribute when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined that the reference signal is not transmitted but the power consumption saving signal needs to be transmitted, transmitting the power consumption saving signal of the second attribute; alternatively, when it is determined that the reference signal is transmitted and the power saving signal does not need to be transmitted, the power saving signal is not transmitted.

The network equipment firstly determines whether a reference signal needs to be sent or not, and sends a power consumption saving signal to the terminal equipment when the reference signal needs to be sent so as to indicate the terminal equipment to receive the reference signal; when the reference signal does not need to be transmitted, the power saving signal may not be transmitted.

The network device may also send a power consumption saving signal of the first attribute to the terminal device when the reference signal needs to be sent, and send a power consumption saving signal of the second attribute to the terminal device when the reference signal does not need to be sent.

The scheme can reduce the information overhead and the power consumption of the network equipment.

Optionally, the power saving signal of the first attribute is a power saving signal carrying a first sequence, the power saving signal of the second attribute is a power saving signal carrying a second sequence, the first sequence is used to indicate that a reference signal exists on a transmission resource, and the second sequence is used to indicate that the reference signal does not exist on the transmission resource.

Optionally, the power saving signal is sent, comprising: transmitting a power consumption saving signal within a preset time period; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

transmitting a power consumption saving signal of a first attribute, comprising: the power consumption saving signal of the first attribute is transmitted for a preset period, or,

transmitting a power consumption saving signal of a second attribute, comprising: the power consumption saving signal of the second attribute is transmitted for a preset period.

The network device may configure (e.g., semi-statically configure) a transmission cycle of the reference signal so that the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal within a preset period based on the transmission cycle of the reference signal, whereby power consumption of the terminal device may be further reduced. The preset time period is a time period during which the network device transmits the reference signal.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device. The apparatus may include a processing unit and a transceiver unit. When the apparatus is a terminal device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiving unit may be a transceiver; the terminal device may further include a storage unit, which may be a memory; the storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage unit, so as to enable the terminal device to execute the method according to the first aspect. When the apparatus is a chip in a terminal device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiving unit may be an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like; the processing unit executes instructions stored in a storage unit (e.g., a register, a cache, etc.) within the chip or a storage unit (e.g., a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) external to the chip within the terminal device, so as to cause the terminal device to perform the method of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides another communication apparatus, which may be a network device or a chip in the network device. The apparatus may include a processing unit and a transceiver unit. When the apparatus is a network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiving unit may be a transceiver; the network device may further include a storage unit, which may be a memory; the storage unit is configured to store instructions, and the processing unit executes the instructions stored in the storage unit to enable the network device to execute the method according to the second aspect. When the apparatus is a chip within a network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the transceiving unit may be an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like; the processing unit executes instructions stored in a storage unit (e.g., a register, a cache, etc.) inside the chip or a storage unit (e.g., a read-only memory, a random access memory, etc.) outside the chip, so as to cause the network device to perform the method of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method of the second aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in the present application;

figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle suitable for use in the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided herein;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency resource occupied by a power saving signal according to the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another power saving signal occupying time-frequency resources according to the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a time-frequency resource occupied by another power saving signal provided in the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of a communication method provided herein;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided herein;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device provided in the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a network device provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

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

Referring first to the application scenario of the present application, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for the present application.

Communication system 100 includes network device 110 and terminal device 120. The terminal device 120 communicates with the network device 110 by electromagnetic waves.

In the present application, terminal device 120 may include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, having wireless communication capabilities, e.g., third generation partnership project (3)^rdgeneration partnership project, 3GPP), a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a soft terminal, a home gateway, a set-top box, etc.

The network device 110 may be a base station defined by 3GPP, e.g., a base station in a 5G communication system (gNB). The network device 110 may also be an access network device, such as an Access Gateway (AGF), that is not 3GPP (non-3 GPP). Network device 110 may also be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, and other types of devices.

The communication system 100 is only an example, and a communication system to which the present application is applied is not limited thereto, and for example, the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the communication system 100 may be other numbers.

The terminal device 120 in the connected state continuously attempts to receive a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and in order to reduce power consumption, the terminal device 120 may start an inactivity timer (inactivity timer), and once receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) carried by the PDCCH to schedule newly transmitted data, the terminal device 120 resets the inactivity timer.

In the DRX mechanism, if the terminal device is in an active state, the terminal device may continuously monitor the PDCCH, when any one of a DRX duration timer (DRX-onduration timer), a DRX inactivity timer (DRX-inactivity timer), a DRX downlink retransmission timer (DRX-retransmission timer L), and a DRX uplink retransmission timer (DRX-retransmission timer L) is running, the terminal device is in an active state, wherein the DRX-onduration timer is started when a certain condition is satisfied for the terminal device configuring a DRX cycle, and during the DRX-inactivity timer timing, the terminal device is in an active state, the DRX-inactivity timer indicates that downlink or uplink new transmission is started for the terminal device receiving the PDCCH, and during the DRX-inactivity timer, the terminal device is in an active state, when the terminal device finishes sending a HARQ feedback request (HARQ feedback request) to the network device, the terminal device may not monitor a downlink HARQ feedback channel (HARQ-uplink) for a time synchronization schedule (DRX-uplink retransmission timer) of the terminal device, and does not monitor a HARQ feedback time synchronization timer for a HARQ feedback time synchronization schedule of a downlink HARQ feedback schedule (DRX-uplink) of the terminal device, namely, the terminal device may not monitor uplink HARQ-uplink synchronization timer of a downlink synchronization schedule-uplink synchronization schedule of a downlink synchronization schedule, and a downlink synchronization schedule of the terminal device, the terminal device may not monitor a downlink synchronization schedule when a downlink synchronization schedule of the terminal device, the HARQ-inactivity timer of the HARQ-inactivity timer, and the terminal device may not monitor a downlink synchronization schedule of the HARQ-uplink synchronization schedule of the terminal device may not reach a downlink synchronization schedule of the HARQ uplink HARQ-uplink synchronization schedule of the terminal device of the HARQ-uplink synchronization schedule of the HARQ-uplink HARQ uplink synchronization schedule of the terminal device of the HARQ-inactivity timer of the terminal device of the HARQ-uplink synchronization schedule of the terminal device of the terminal.

The following is a downlink transmission procedure of a terminal device in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state under the DRX mechanism.

Step 1: during the DRX onDurationTimer timing, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH.

Step 2: and if the terminal equipment detects that the PDCCH indicates downlink new transmission during the time period of the DRX-onDurationTimer, starting the DRX-InactivetyTimer. A new transmission of data indicates the start of one HARQ process.

And step 3: the terminal apparatus decodes Downlink Control Information (DCI) in the PDCCH, and receives the PDSCH based on the DCI.

And 4, step 4: and the terminal equipment carries the HARQ feedback information in the PUCCH or PUSCH and sends the HARQ feedback information to the network equipment.

And 5, starting HARQ-RTT-TimerD L of the corresponding HARQ process by the terminal equipment at the first symbol after all symbols of the PUCCH or PUSCH carrying the HARQ feedback information are sent.

And 6, when the HARQ-RTT-TimerD L is overtime, if the previous PDSCH has a Transport Block (TB) with decoding failure, the terminal equipment starts DRX-retransmission TimerD L, and enters a step 7 during the DRX-retransmission TimerD L timing period, and if the previous PDSCH is decoded successfully, the terminal equipment does not start DRX-retransmission Time L.

And 7, during the DRX-retransmission TimerD L timing period, the terminal equipment is in an activated state and starts to detect the PDCCH in a blind mode, if the terminal equipment detects the retransmission DCI during the DRX-retransmission TimerD L timing period, the DRX-retransmission TimerD L is closed, the PDSCH is received based on the retransmission DCI, and after the PDSCH is decoded, the steps 4 to 7 are executed.

Specifically, the length of the HARQ-RTT-TimerD L is related to a time K3 when the network device processes HARQ feedback information, where K3 indicates that the HARQ feedback information of a certain HARQ process sent from the terminal device is processed after being received from the network device, and then the time for retransmitting data is determined.

The DRX cycle is shown in fig. 2. It should be noted that the terminal device 120 may be woken up for time-frequency synchronization within a period of time (e.g., several slots) before the DRX onDurationTimer starts up, so as to prevent the terminal device 120 from deviating in time and frequency domain due to long sleep; meanwhile, the UE may also attempt to receive the system message first, so as to prevent the system message of another cell from being different from the original cell after the terminal device 120 moves from one cell to another cell.

The terminal device 120 needs to periodically enter the wake-up state from the sleep state to monitor the signal sent by the network device 110, for example, monitor the TRS and perform time-frequency synchronization according to the received TRS, but not every wake-up phase needs to perform time-frequency synchronization. For this reason, the present application provides a communication method 300, and the communication method 300 may be applied to the communication system shown in fig. 1, for example, may be executed by the terminal device 120, and may also be executed by a chip in the terminal device 120. For the sake of brevity, "terminal device" and "network device" described below are not accompanied by reference numerals.

As shown in fig. 3, the method 300 includes:

s310, a power saving (power saving) signal is detected.

The power saving signal may be a wakeup signal (WUS) or a sleep signal (GTS).

And S320, determining whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the detection result of the power consumption saving signal, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal.

The DRX cycle duration is usually configured in a fixed or semi-static manner, and not every wake-up phase has a task to be processed by the terminal device, so that if the network device needs to instruct the terminal device to process the task (e.g., receive information) in the wake-up phase, the network device sends a power consumption saving signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device performs a corresponding operation after receiving the power consumption saving signal; if the terminal device is not required to process the task in the wakeup stage, the network device may not send the power consumption saving signal, and the terminal device may enter the sleep state if the power consumption saving signal is not received, so as to save power consumption.

For example, the power consumption saving signal and the reference signal have an association relationship, and if the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device determines that the reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and may receive the reference signal on the transmission resource, so as to perform a corresponding operation based on the reference signal; if the terminal device does not detect the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and may enter a sleep state to save power consumption, or may perform other operations, such as monitoring the PDCCH.

The association relationship between the power saving signal and the reference signal may be defined by a communication protocol or may be configured by a network device. Similarly, the transmission resource may be defined by a communication protocol or may be configured by a network device.

The reference signal may be a TRS, a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal.

When the network device determines that the terminal device needs to perform time-frequency synchronization, the network device may send a power consumption saving signal to the terminal device, and after detecting the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device receives the TRS on the transmission resource and performs time-frequency synchronization according to the TRS.

When the network device needs the terminal device to report the channel quality, the network device can send a power consumption saving signal to the terminal device, and after the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal, the terminal device receives a channel estimation reference signal on a transmission resource and carries out channel estimation according to the channel estimation reference signal.

When the network equipment needs the terminal equipment to train the beam, the power consumption saving signal can be sent to the terminal equipment, and after the terminal equipment detects the power consumption saving signal, the beam training reference signal is received on the transmission resource, and the beam training is carried out according to the beam training reference signal. For example, the reference signal is an example of a beam training signal, which is used for training the terminal device to obtain an optimal receiving beam, and when the terminal device detects the power saving signal, it is determined that the network device will transmit the beam training wave reference signal, so that the terminal device uses the beam training reference signal to find a receiving beam for receiving a subsequent signal or channel.

The specific methods of time-frequency synchronization, channel estimation, and beam training may be performed according to related methods in the prior art, and for brevity, are not described in detail herein.

It can be seen that the terminal device applying the method 300 can receive the reference signal when necessary, and the frequency of receiving the reference signal is reduced, thereby reducing power consumption.

For the network equipment, the network equipment firstly determines whether a reference signal needs to be sent or not, and sends a power consumption saving signal to the terminal equipment when the reference signal needs to be sent so as to indicate the terminal equipment to receive the reference signal; when the reference signal does not need to be transmitted, the power consumption saving signal may not be transmitted, thereby reducing information overhead and power consumption of the network device.

The above gives an example in which the terminal device determines whether or not the reference signal is present on the transmission resource according to whether or not the power consumption saving signal is detected, and the terminal device may also determine whether or not the reference signal is present on the transmission resource according to the attribute of the power consumption saving signal.

For example, when the network device determines that the terminal device needs to perform corresponding processing based on the reference signal and determines to transmit the reference signal, the network device may transmit a power saving signal carrying a first sequence; when the network device considers that the resource is insufficient and the reference signal cannot be sent or considers that the terminal does not need to use the reference signal currently, the network determines not to send the reference signal, and the network device may send a power consumption saving signal carrying the second sequence.

And after receiving the power consumption saving signal, the terminal equipment determines whether a reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to different sequences. If the sequence carried by the power consumption saving signal is the first sequence, the terminal equipment determines that the reference signal exists on the transmission resource and can receive the reference signal on the transmission resource; if the sequence carried by the power consumption saving signal is the second sequence, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and at this time, the terminal device may not receive the reference signal on the transmission resource, perform time-frequency synchronization or channel state estimation or receive beam training, but the terminal still needs to wake up and monitor the PDCCH, thereby reducing the frequency of receiving the reference signal and avoiding adverse effects on other services.

It should be noted that, with regard to the above-mentioned scheme, if the terminal device does not detect the power consumption saving signal carrying the first sequence or the second sequence, the terminal device may also determine that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and may enter a sleep state, and may also perform other operations, such as monitoring the PDCCH, so as to reduce the frequency of receiving the reference signal and avoid adverse effects on other services.

The attribute of the power consumption saving signal may also be a value of a bit field, and different values for the same bit field have different meanings, for example, when the value of the bit field is "0", it indicates that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource; when the bit field value is "1", it indicates that a reference signal exists on the transmission resource. The value of the bit field of the power saving signal may also be other values.

As an optional implementation, if the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal within a preset time period, the terminal device may determine that a reference signal exists on the transmission resource; if the terminal device does not detect the power saving signal within the preset time period, the terminal device may determine that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource. As an example, when the terminal device detects a power saving signal, the terminal needs to process the reference signal and detect PDCCH detection within a corresponding connected mode DRX (C-DRX) cycle and receive a corresponding PDSCH scheduling.

As another optional implementation, if the terminal device detects the power saving signal carrying the first sequence within a preset time period, the terminal device may determine that a reference signal exists on the transmission resource; if the terminal device detects the power consumption saving signal carrying the second sequence within a preset time period, the terminal device may determine that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource; if the terminal device does not detect the power saving signal carrying the first sequence within the preset time period, and does not detect the power saving signal carrying the second sequence, the terminal device may determine that no reference signal exists on the transmission resource. As an example, when the terminal detects sequence 1, the terminal wakes up and uses the reference signal for time-frequency tracking or channel state measurement or beam training, while the terminal processes the PDCCH within the C-DRX duration (on duration); when the terminal detects the sequence 2, the terminal determines that the network equipment does not send the reference signal, but the terminal determines that the network equipment can schedule data in the corresponding C-DRX cycle, so that the terminal can detect the PDCCH in the corresponding C-DRX cycle; when the terminal does not detect the power saving signal, the terminal determines that the network device does not send the reference signal, and does not schedule the terminal in the associated C-DRX cycle, and the terminal continues to sleep.

Having described in detail the examples of how a terminal device receives a reference signal based on a power saving signal, the present application also provides three new power saving signals.

Power consumption saving signal 1.

The time domain length of the power consumption saving signal 1 is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal. The frequency domain length of the power consumption saving signal 1 may be larger, smaller or equal to the time domain length of the reference signal. The time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 1 does not overlap or partially overlaps the time-frequency region occupied by the reference signal. As shown in fig. 4, the shaded portion is a time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 1, and the unshaded rectangle represents the time-frequency region occupied by the reference signal. Wherein the frequency domain of the power consumption saving signal 1 is partially overlapped or completely overlapped or not overlapped with the frequency domain of the reference signal, and the time domain start position of the power consumption saving signal 1 is located before the time domain start position of the reference signal or the two start time domain positions are the same.

It should be noted that the shaded portion represents the range of the time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 1, but the power saving signal 1 does not necessarily occupy the time-frequency region completely, for example, the power saving signal 1 only occupies a few Resource Elements (REs) of the time-frequency region. Similarly, the reference signal may occupy only a few REs.

The power saving signal 1 may multiplex a partial reference signal, and thus, in this case, the power saving signal 1 may also be referred to as a partial reference signal, and the reference signal occupying the area 2 may be referred to as a full reference signal. In this application, a "reference signal" refers to a "complete reference signal" unless otherwise specified.

For example, the time domain range of the region 1 is from the symbol 0 to the symbol 6, the time domain range of the region 2 is from the symbol 0 to the symbol 13, and the power saving signal and the reference signal may be Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or code division multiplexing on the OFDM symbol from the symbol 0 to the symbol 6. If the terminal device detects a part of the reference signals on symbols 0 to 6, the terminal device determines that the power saving signal 1 is received, and the terminal device may continue to receive the remaining reference signals on symbols 7 to 13, and perform corresponding operations after combining the remaining reference signals and the previously stored part of the reference signals, for example, performing time-frequency offset tracking, channel state estimation, or beam training. If the terminal device does not detect a part of the reference signals on symbols 0 to 6, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists on symbols 0 to 13 (i.e., the transmission resources described in S320). Wherein the sequence of power saving signal 1 over symbol 0 to symbol 6 may multiplex a partial sequence of reference signals.

For another example, the time domain range of region 1 is from symbol 0 to symbol 6, and the time domain range of region 2 is from symbol 2 to symbol 13. If the terminal device detects a part of the reference signals on the symbols 0 to 6, the terminal device determines that the power saving signal 1 is received, and the terminal device may continue to receive the remaining reference signals on the symbols 7 to 13, and perform corresponding operations after combining the remaining reference signals with the previously stored part of the reference signals. If the terminal device does not detect a part of the reference signals on the symbols 0 to 6, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists on the symbols 2 to 13. Wherein the sequence of power saving signal 1 over symbols 2 to 6 may multiplex a partial sequence of reference signals.

In the above examples, whether the power saving signal 1 is detected is used as a basis for determining whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and the terminal device may further determine whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the sequence of the power saving signal 1.

As can be seen from the above example, compared to the prior art that wakes up the terminal device using the entire TRS as the wake-up signal, the power consumption saving signal 1 as the wake-up signal can reduce the resource overhead. When the time-frequency region of the power consumption saving signal 1 is partially overlapped with the time-frequency region of the reference signal, the power consumption saving signal 1 can multiplex a partial sequence of the reference signal, and the complexity of detecting the power consumption saving signal 1 by the terminal equipment can be reduced.

Optionally, the terminal device may also determine whether a reference signal is present on the transmission resource without waiting for the power saving signal 1 to be fully decoded.

For example, the terminal device detects and analyzes a partial sequence from symbol 0 to symbol 2, and if the partial sequence belongs to the sequence of the power saving signal 1, the terminal device may determine that the power saving signal 1 is received; if the partial sequence does not belong to the sequence of the power saving signal 1, the terminal device may determine that the power saving signal 1 is not received, so as to enter a sleep state in advance and reduce power consumption.

Power consumption saving signal 2.

The frequency domain width of the power consumption saving signal 2 is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal. The time domain width of the power consumption saving signal 2 may be larger, smaller or equal to the time domain width of the reference signal. The time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 2 does not overlap or partially overlaps the time-frequency region occupied by the reference signal. As shown in fig. 5, the hatched portion is the time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 2, and the unshaded rectangle represents the time-frequency region occupied by the reference signal. Wherein the frequency domain of the power consumption saving signal 2 is partially overlapped or not overlapped with the frequency domain of the reference signal, the time domain of the power consumption saving signal 2 is partially overlapped or not overlapped with the time domain of the reference signal, and the time domain start position of the power consumption saving signal 2 is located before the time domain start position of the reference signal.

It should be noted that the shaded portion represents the range of the time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 2, but the power saving signal 2 does not necessarily occupy the time-frequency region completely, for example, the power saving signal 2 only occupies a few REs of the time-frequency region. Similarly, the reference signal may occupy only a few REs.

The power saving signal 2 may multiplex a partial reference signal, and thus, in this case, the power saving signal 2 may also be referred to as a partial reference signal, and the reference signal occupying the area 2 may be referred to as a full reference signal.

For example, the frequency domain size of the region 1 is a bandwidth corresponding to 24 Resource Blocks (RBs), and the frequency domain size of the region 2 is a bandwidth corresponding to 72 RBs. If the terminal device detects a part of the reference signals in the bandwidth corresponding to the 24 RBs, the terminal device determines that the power saving signal 2 is received, and the terminal device may continue to receive the remaining reference signals in the bandwidth corresponding to the 72 RBs. If the terminal device does not detect a part of the reference signals in the bandwidth corresponding to the 24 RBs, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists in the bandwidth corresponding to the 72 RBs (i.e., the transmission resource described in S320). If the time-frequency region of the power consumption saving signal 2 is partially overlapped with the time-frequency region of the reference signal, the sequence of the power consumption saving signal 2 in the bandwidth corresponding to the above 24 RBs may multiplex a partial sequence of the reference signal.

In the above example, whether the power saving signal 2 is detected is used as a basis for determining whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and the terminal device may further determine whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the sequence of the power saving signal 2.

As can be seen from the above example, compared with the prior art that the whole TRS is used as the wake-up signal to wake up the terminal device, the power consumption of detecting the power consumption saving signal can be reduced by using the power consumption saving signal 2 as the wake-up signal, and the resource overhead is reduced. When the time-frequency region of the power consumption saving signal 2 is partially overlapped with the time-frequency region of the reference signal, the power consumption saving signal 2 can multiplex a partial sequence of the reference signal, and the complexity of detecting the power consumption saving signal 2 by the terminal equipment can be reduced.

Power consumption saving signal 3.

The time domain length of the power consumption saving signal 3 is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal, and the frequency domain width of the power consumption saving signal 3 is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal. The time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 3 does not overlap or partially overlaps the time-frequency region occupied by the reference signal. As shown in fig. 6, the hatched portion is a time-frequency region occupied by the power consumption saving signal 3, and the unshaded rectangle represents the time-frequency region occupied by the reference signal. Wherein the frequency domain of the power consumption saving signal 3 is partially overlapped or not overlapped with the frequency domain of the reference signal, the time domain of the power consumption saving signal 3 is partially overlapped or not overlapped with the time domain of the reference signal, and the time domain starting position of the power consumption saving signal 3 is located before the time domain starting position of the reference signal or the two time domain starting positions are the same.

It should be noted that the shaded portion represents the range of the time-frequency region occupied by the power saving signal 3, but the power saving signal 3 does not necessarily occupy the time-frequency region completely, for example, the power saving signal 3 only occupies a few REs of the time-frequency region. Similarly, the reference signal may occupy only a few REs.

The power saving signal 3 may multiplex a partial reference signal, and thus, in this case, the power saving signal 3 may also be referred to as a partial reference signal, and the reference signal occupying the area 2 may be referred to as a full reference signal.

For example, the time domain of region 1 is from symbol 0 to symbol 6, the time domain of region 2 is from symbol 2 to symbol 13, the frequency domain size of region 1 is the bandwidth corresponding to 24 RBs, and the frequency domain size of region 2 is the bandwidth corresponding to 72 RBs. If the terminal device detects and analyzes the partial sequence from symbol 0 to symbol 1, and the partial sequence belongs to the sequence of the power saving signal 3, the terminal device may determine that the power saving signal 3 is received, and the terminal device may continue to receive the reference signal from symbol 2 to symbol 13 and over the bandwidth corresponding to 72 RBs. If the terminal device detects and analyzes a partial sequence from symbol 0 to symbol 1, and the partial sequence does not belong to the sequence of the power saving signal 3, or if the terminal device does not detect a partial reference signal from symbol 0 to symbol 6, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists from symbol 2 to symbol 13. Wherein the sequence of the power saving signal 3 over symbols 2 to 6 may multiplex a partial sequence of the reference signal.

The above example is based on whether the power saving signal 3 is detected or not as a basis for determining whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource, and the terminal device may further determine whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the sequence of the power saving signal 3.

As can be seen from the above example, compared to the prior art that uses the TRS as the wake-up signal to wake up the terminal device, the power consumption saving signal 3 as the wake-up signal can reduce the resource overhead. When the power saving signal 3 multiplexes the partial sequence of the reference signal, the complexity of the terminal device detecting the power saving signal 3 can also be reduced.

Based on the method 300, fig. 7 shows another example of the communication method provided herein.

Figure 7 shows 4 connected mode DRX (C-DRX) cycles, the network device configuring in advance the length of the DRX-onDurationTimer, DRX-inactivity timer for each C-DRX cycle. In fig. 7, a large dotted line frame represents a time-frequency region occupied by a reference signal, and the network device does not transmit the reference signal in the time-frequency region; the small dotted line box represents a time-frequency area occupied by the wake-up signal, and the network device does not send the wake-up signal in the time-frequency area; the shadow area represents a time-frequency area occupied by the wake-up signal, and the network device sends the wake-up signal in the time-frequency area; the solid box containing the shaded area represents the time-frequency area occupied by the reference signal, and the network device transmits the reference signal in this time-frequency area.

The network device configures 4 wakeup signal transmission occasions (occasions) and 1 reference signal transmission occasion, and the terminal device needs to detect a wakeup signal according to a pattern (pattern) of a part of reference signals at each wakeup signal transmission occasion.

For example, the terminal device detects a wake-up signal at a wake-up signal transmission timing before C-DRX cycle 1, and a sequence carried by the wake-up signal is a second sequence, the terminal device determines that no reference signal exists at the reference signal transmission timing before C-DRX cycle 1, and the terminal device may monitor a PDCCH and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in a wake-up phase of C-DRX cycle 1 according to the wake-up signal.

The terminal device does not detect the wake-up signal in the sleep stage of the C-DRX cycle 2, and then the terminal device determines to remain in the sleep state, does not detect the reference signal, and does not monitor the PDCCH and the PDSCH.

In the sleep phase before the C-DRX cycle 4, when there is a transmission opportunity of the reference signal, the terminal device may detect the wake-up signal according to the pattern of the complete reference signal, and perform operations such as time-frequency synchronization, channel estimation, or beam training based on the reference signal after detecting the wake-up signal.

The respective wake-up signals shown in fig. 7 are power saving signals 3, alternatively, power saving signals 1 and 2 may be used as wake-up signals.

In addition, a plurality of terminal devices may multiplex the same sequence by code division, frequency shift, or the like.

The communication method provided by the present application is mainly described above from the perspective of the terminal device, and the processing procedure of the network device and the processing procedure of the terminal device have a corresponding relationship, for example, the terminal device receives information from the network device, which means that the network device sends the information; the terminal device sends information to the network device, meaning that the network device receives the information from the terminal device. Therefore, even if the processing procedure of the network device is not explicitly written in the above individual places, the processing procedure of the network device can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art based on the processing procedure of the terminal device.

Examples of the communication methods provided herein are described in detail above. It is to be understood that the communication device includes hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions in order to realize the above functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware 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.

The communication device may be divided into functional units according to the above method examples, for example, each function may be divided into each functional unit, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit. It should be noted that the division of the units in the present application is schematic, and is only one division of logic functions, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in the present application. The communication device 800 may be used to implement the methods described in the method embodiments above. The communication apparatus 800 may be a chip, a network device or a terminal device.

The communication device 800 includes one or more processors 801, and the one or more processors 801 may support the communication device 800 to implement the method in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 3. The processor 801 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor. For example, the processor 801 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be used to process communication data (e.g., the power saving signal described above), and the CPU may be used to control a communication apparatus (e.g., a network device, a terminal device, or a chip), execute a software program, and process data of the software program. The communication apparatus 800 may further include a transceiving unit 805 to enable input (reception) and output (transmission) of signals.

For example, the communication apparatus 800 may be a chip, and the transceiver unit 805 may be an input and/or output circuit of the chip, or the transceiver unit 805 may be a communication interface of the chip, and the chip may be a component of a terminal device or a network device or other wireless communication device.

One or more memories 802 may be included in the communications apparatus 800, on which programs 804 are stored, the programs 804 being executable by the processor 801 to generate instructions 803, so that the processor 801 executes the methods described in the above method embodiments according to the instructions 803. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory 802. Alternatively, processor 801 may also read data stored in memory 802, which may be stored at the same memory address as program 804, or at a different memory address than program 804.

The processor 801 and the memory 802 may be provided separately or integrated together, for example, on a single board or a System On Chip (SOC).

The communication device 800 may also include a transceiver unit 805 and an antenna 806. The transceiver unit 805 may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit or a transceiver, and is used for implementing the transceiving function of the communication device through the antenna 806.

In one possible design, processor 801 may be configured to send a power saving signal to a terminal device via transceiver unit 805 and antenna 806.

In another possible design, the processor 801 may be configured to receive a power saving signal from a network device via the transceiver unit 805 and the antenna 806.

The specific manner of receiving or transmitting the power saving signal may be as described in the above method embodiment.

It should be understood that the steps of the above-described method embodiments may be performed by logic circuits in the form of hardware or instructions in the form of software in the processor 801. The processor 801 may be a CPU, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, such as a discrete gate, a transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component.

The application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by the processor 801, implements the communication method according to any of the method embodiments of the application.

The computer program product may be stored in the memory 802, for example, as a program 804, and the program 804 may be pre-processed, compiled, assembled, and linked to obtain an executable object file capable of being executed by the processor 801.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a computer, implements the communication method described in any of the method embodiments of the present application. The computer program may be a high-level language program or an executable object program.

The computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, a memory 802. the memory 802 may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or the memory 802 may include both volatile and non-volatile memories.A non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory.

In the case that the communication apparatus 800 is a terminal device, fig. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in the present application. The terminal device 900 may be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and implement the functions of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments. For convenience of explanation, fig. 9 shows only main components of the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 9, the terminal apparatus 900 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data and controlling the whole terminal equipment. For example, the processor receives a power saving signal through the antenna and the control circuit. The memory is mainly used for storing programs and data, such as communication protocols and data to be transmitted. The control circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The control circuit and the antenna together, which may also be called a transceiver, are mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. The input/output device is, for example, a touch screen or a keyboard, and is mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

When the terminal device is turned on, the processor can read the program in the memory, interpret and execute the instructions contained in the program, and process the data in the program. When information needs to be sent through the antenna, the processor carries out baseband processing on the information to be sent and then outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, the radio frequency circuit carries out radio frequency processing on the baseband signals to obtain radio frequency signals, and the radio frequency signals are sent out in an electromagnetic wave mode through the antenna. When an electromagnetic wave (i.e., a radio frequency signal) carrying information reaches a terminal device, a radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through an antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to a processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into information and processes the information.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fig. 9 shows only one memory and one processor for ease of illustration. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, and the present application is not limited thereto.

As an alternative implementation, the processor in fig. 9 may integrate functions of a baseband processor and a CPU, and those skilled in the art will understand that the baseband processor and the CPU may also be independent processors, and are interconnected through a bus or the like. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal device may include a plurality of baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, the terminal device may include a plurality of CPUs to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device may be connected by various buses. The baseband processor may also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or baseband processing chip. The CPU may also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the memory in the form of a program, and the processor executes the program in the memory to realize the baseband processing function.

In this application, an antenna and a control circuit having a transceiving function may be regarded as the transceiving unit 901 of the terminal device 900, for supporting the terminal device to implement a receiving function in the method embodiment, or for supporting the terminal device to implement a transmitting function in the method embodiment. A processor having processing functionality is considered to be the processing unit 902 of the terminal device 900. As shown in fig. 9, the terminal apparatus 900 includes a transceiving unit 901 and a processing unit 902. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Alternatively, a device for implementing a receiving function in the transceiver 901 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a sending function in the transceiver 901 may be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the transceiver 901 includes a receiving unit and a sending unit, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, and the like, and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a sending circuit, and the like.

The processor 902 is configured to execute the program stored in the memory to control the transceiver 901 to receive and/or transmit signals, so as to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. As an implementation manner, the function of the transceiver 901 may be implemented by a transceiver circuit or a transceiver chip.

In the case that the communication apparatus 800 is a network device, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided in the present application, and the network device may be a base station, for example. As shown in fig. 10, the base station may be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and implement the functions of the network device in the foregoing method embodiments. The base station 1000 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 1001 and at least one baseband unit (BBU) 1002. The BBU1002 may include a Distributed Unit (DU), or may include a DU and a Central Unit (CU).

The RRU1001 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, which may include at least one antenna 10011 and a radio frequency unit 10012. The RRU1001 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals and baseband signals, for example, to support a transmitting function and a receiving function in the base station implementation method embodiment. The BBU1002 is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU1001 and the BBU1002 may be physically located together or may be physically located separately, i.e., distributed base stations.

The BBU1002, which may also be referred to as a processing unit, is primarily used to perform baseband processing functions such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and so on. For example, the BBU1002 can be used to control a base station to perform the operational procedures described above with respect to the network device in the method embodiments.

The BBU1002 may be formed by one or more boards, where the boards may collectively support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., a long term evolution (L TE) network), and may also respectively support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., a L TE network and an NR network), the BBU1002 further includes a memory 10021 and a processor 10022, where the memory 10021 is configured to store necessary instructions and data, for example, the memory 10021 stores a power consumption saving signal in the foregoing method embodiment, the processor 10022 is configured to control the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, to control the base station to perform an operation flow in the foregoing method embodiment, and the memory 10021 and the processor 10022 may serve the one or more boards.

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

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, the disclosed system, apparatus and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, some features of the method embodiments described above may be omitted, or not performed. The above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely exemplary, the division of the unit is only one logical function division, and there may be other division ways in actual implementation, and a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system. In addition, the coupling between the units or the coupling between the components may be direct coupling or indirect coupling, and the coupling includes electrical, mechanical or other connections.

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

Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

In short, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

detecting a power saving signal;

and determining whether a reference signal exists on a transmission resource according to the detection result of the power consumption saving signal, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal.

2. Communication method according to claim 1, wherein the time domain length of the power saving signal is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal and/or wherein the frequency domain width of the power saving signal is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal.

3. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining whether a reference signal is present on a transmission resource according to whether the power saving signal is detected comprises:

determining that the reference signal is present on the transmission resource when the power saving signal is detected; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

determining that the reference signal is not present on the transmission resource when the power saving signal is not detected.

4. The communication method according to claim 3, further comprising:

maintaining a sleep state when it is determined that the reference signal is not present on the transmission resource.

5. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the determining whether a reference signal is present on a transmission resource according to whether the power saving signal is detected comprises:

when the power saving signal is detected, determining whether the reference signal exists on the transmission resource according to the attribute of the power saving signal; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

6. The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the determining whether the reference signal is present on the transmission resource according to the property of the power saving signal comprises:

when the sequence carried by the power saving signal is a first sequence, determining that the reference signal exists on the transmission resource; or

And when the sequence carried by the power saving signal is a second sequence, determining that the reference signal does not exist on the transmission resource.

7. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the detecting a power consumption saving signal includes:

the power consumption saving signal is detected for a preset period of time.

8. A method of communication, comprising:

determining whether to transmit a reference signal, wherein the reference signal is a tracking reference signal, or a channel estimation reference signal, or a beam training reference signal;

transmitting a power saving signal when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined not to transmit the reference signal, not transmitting a power consumption saving signal;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

transmitting a power saving signal of a first attribute when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined not to transmit the reference signal, transmitting a power consumption saving signal of a second attribute;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

transmitting a power saving signal of a first attribute when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined that the reference signal is not transmitted but the power saving signal needs to be transmitted, transmitting a power saving signal of a second attribute; alternatively, when it is determined that the reference signal is transmitted and the power saving signal does not need to be transmitted, the power saving signal is not transmitted.

9. Communication method according to claim 8, wherein the time domain length of the power saving signal is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal and/or wherein the frequency domain width of the power saving signal is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal.

10. The communication method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the power saving signal of the first attribute is a power saving signal carrying a first sequence, and the power saving signal of the second attribute is a power saving signal carrying a second sequence, the first sequence indicating the presence of the reference signal on the transmission resource, and the second sequence indicating the absence of the reference signal on the transmission resource.

11. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 10,

the transmitting a power saving signal includes: transmitting the power consumption saving signal for a preset time period; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the transmitting a power consumption saving signal of a first attribute includes: transmitting a power consumption saving signal of the first attribute for a preset period of time; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the transmitting a power consumption saving signal of a second attribute includes: transmitting a power consumption saving signal of the second attribute for a preset period.

12. A communication apparatus, comprising a processing unit and a receiving unit, the processing unit configured to:

controlling the receiving unit to detect a power saving signal;

13. The communication apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the time domain length of the power saving signal is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal and/or the frequency domain width of the power saving signal is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal.

14. The communication device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

15. The communications apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

16. The communication device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

17. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

18. The communication device according to any of claims 12 to 17, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

controlling the receiving unit to detect the power consumption saving signal within a preset time period.

19. A communication apparatus, comprising a processing unit and a transmitting unit, the processing unit configured to:

controlling the transmitting unit to transmit a power consumption saving signal when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined not to transmit the reference signal, not transmitting a power consumption saving signal;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

controlling the transmitting unit to transmit a power consumption saving signal of a first attribute when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined not to transmit the reference signal, controlling the transmitting unit to transmit a power consumption saving signal of a second attribute;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

controlling the transmitting unit to transmit a power consumption saving signal of a first attribute when it is determined to transmit the reference signal; or, when it is determined that the reference signal is not transmitted but the power saving signal needs to be transmitted, controlling the transmitting unit to transmit the power saving signal of the second attribute; alternatively, when it is determined that the reference signal is transmitted and the power saving signal does not need to be transmitted, the power saving signal is not transmitted.

20. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the time domain length of the power saving signal is smaller than the time domain length of the reference signal and/or the frequency domain width of the power saving signal is smaller than the frequency domain width of the reference signal.

21. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 19 or 20, wherein the power saving signal of the first attribute is a power saving signal carrying a first sequence indicating the presence of the reference signal on the transmission resource, and the power saving signal of the second attribute is a power saving signal carrying a second sequence indicating the absence of the reference signal on the transmission resource.

22. The communications device of any of claims 19-21, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and controlling the sending unit to send the power consumption saving signal or the power consumption saving signal of the first attribute or the power consumption saving signal of the second attribute within a preset time period.

23. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method of any one of claims 1 to 7.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method of any one of claims 8 to 11.