CN111698768A

CN111698768A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111698768A
Application number: CN201910218491.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谢曦; 常俊仁; 张向东
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-15
Filing date: 2019-03-21
Publication date: 2020-09-22
Anticipated expiration: 2039-03-21
Also published as: WO2020187097A1; CN111698768B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a device thereof, and the method can comprise the following steps: when the monitoring time of the discontinuous receiving period is over, determining the length of the sleep time of the discontinuous receiving period and the length of the residual time of the deactivation timer of the auxiliary cell; determining that the length of the sleep time of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell; and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer. By adopting the embodiment of the application, the power consumption can be reduced, so that the power consumption speed of the user terminal is reduced.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method and a device thereof.

Background

In a wireless communication system, in order to save power consumption of a user equipment (e.g., a User Equipment (UE)) while ensuring effective data transmission, a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mechanism is introduced. When the DRX mechanism is not configured, the UE may continuously monitor a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and monitor whether Downlink Control Information (DCI) from a serving cell exists on the PDCCH. However, in practical applications, the UE does not always perform effective information interaction with the serving cell, and therefore if the UE continuously monitors the PDCCH, the power consumption of the UE is accelerated, and the power of the UE is wasted. Under the condition of configuring a DRX mechanism, the UE can periodically enter a sleep mode at certain time, the UE does not need to continuously monitor the PDCCH and wakes up from the sleep mode when monitoring is needed, and therefore the power of the UE can be effectively saved. One DRX cycle includes an on duration (on duration) in which the UE monitors the PDCCH, which is a duration period during which the UE is in an awake state, and a sleep time (sleep for DRX), which is a duration period in which the UE does not monitor the PDCCH in order to save power.

In a carrier aggregation scenario, a base station may manage one primary cell and several secondary cells. The primary cell is a cell where the UE performs initial connection establishment, or performs Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection re-establishment, or is a cell designated during handover. The primary cell is responsible for RRC communication with the UE. The secondary cell is added through RRC connection reconfiguration after the initial security activation procedure to provide additional radio resources for the UE. When the secondary cell is initially added, it is in a deactivated state, and then the base station activates the secondary cell using a secondary cell activation Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), or deactivates the MAC CE using the secondary cell to deactivate the secondary cell.

The secondary cell deactivation timer is a timer for deactivating the secondary cell. If a certain secondary cell is configured with a secondary cell deactivation timer, the secondary cell deactivation timer corresponding to the secondary cell is started/restarted when the secondary cell is activated. Restarting the secondary cell to deactivate the timer when the UE transmits data on the secondary cell. And in case that the secondary cell deactivation timer is overtime, deactivating a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer so that the secondary cell temporarily does not provide additional radio resources for the UE.

At present, a DRX mechanism and a deactivation timer of a secondary cell run independently, unnecessary power consumption exists, and therefore the power consumption rate of UE is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method and a device thereof, which can reduce power consumption.

A first aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the communication method includes:

when the monitoring time of the DRX period is finished, determining the sleep time length of the DRX period and the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer;

determining that the sleep time length of the DRX is greater than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell;

and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

The secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer refers to the secondary cell which is activated by the secondary cell deactivation timer.

In the first aspect of the embodiment of the present application, when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is finished and the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is longer than the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer is deactivated, so that the secondary cell does not continue to provide additional radio resources for the ue, which can prevent the ue from performing unnecessary radio resource management measurement under the condition, thereby reducing the overhead and power consumption of the ue and slowing down the power consumption rate of the ue.

In a possible implementation manner, when the DRX cycle enters a sleep state, the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer is immediately deactivated, so that unnecessary overhead and power consumption can be reduced to the maximum extent, thereby reducing the overhead and power consumption of the user terminal to the maximum extent and slowing down the power consumption rate of the user terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, if the user terminal executes the communication method provided in the first aspect, after or at the same time of deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer, the user terminal may send a first notification message to the access network device, where the first notification message is used to indicate that the user terminal has previously deactivated the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer. And the access network equipment executes deactivation of the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer under the condition of receiving the first notification message, so that the access network equipment also deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer in advance.

The access network device may also execute the communication method provided in the first aspect, and deactivate the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer in advance. The user terminal and the access network device may also each execute the communication method provided in the first aspect, so that the access network device and the user terminal synchronously deactivate the secondary cell.

In a possible implementation manner, when the DRX cycle is in a sleep state and it is determined that radio resource management measurement needs to be performed, the secondary cell deactivation timer is set to timeout or stop, and a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer is deactivated. In this case, when the radio resource management measurement needs to be performed, the secondary cell is deactivated to deactivate the secondary cell corresponding to the timer, so that the user terminal performs the radio resource management measurement after deactivating the secondary cell, thereby reducing the overhead and power consumption of the user terminal and slowing down the power consumption speed of the user terminal.

In a possible implementation, if the sleep time length of the DRX is less than or equal to the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, the additional operation is not performed temporarily, i.e., the step of deactivating the secondary cell is not performed temporarily.

In one possible implementation, if the sleep-time length of the DRX is less than or equal to the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, the sleep-time length of the DRX cycle and the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer are determined. If the sleep time length of the DRX period is greater than the residual time length of the BWP inactivity timer, immediately switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth when entering the sleep state in the DRX period; or when the DRX period is in a sleep state and the wireless resource management measurement is determined to be needed, setting the BWP inactivity timer to be overtime or stop, and switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth.

The bandwidth of the first part of bandwidth is greater than that of the second part of bandwidth, the first part of bandwidth is an active BWP, and the second part of bandwidth is a default BWP, an initial BWP or a dormant BWP.

In one possible implementation, if the user terminal performs the step of switching from the first fractional bandwidth to the second fractional bandwidth according to the sleep time length of the DRX cycle being greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer, the user terminal may send a second notification message to the access network device after or at the same time of the switching, where the second notification message is used to instruct the user terminal to switch from the first fractional bandwidth to the second fractional bandwidth in advance. And the access network equipment performs switching from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth under the condition of receiving the second notification message, so that the access network equipment performs partial bandwidth switching in advance.

The access network device may also perform a step of switching from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth according to the fact that the sleep time duration of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time duration of the BWP inactivity timer, and perform the partial bandwidth switching in advance. The user terminal and the access network device may also each perform the step of switching from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth according to the sleep time length of the DRX cycle being greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer, so that the access network device performs the partial bandwidth switching in synchronization with the user terminal.

A second aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device has a function of implementing the method provided in the first aspect. The communication device may be a user terminal or an access network device. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processing module and a transceiver module; the processing module is used for determining the sleep time length of the DRX period and the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell when the monitoring time of the DRX period is finished; determining that the sleep time length of the DRX is greater than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell; and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor, a transceiver, and a memory, where the memory stores a computer program comprising program instructions, the processor configured to invoke the program code to perform the following: when the monitoring time of the DRX period is finished, determining the sleep time length of the DRX period and the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer; determining that the sleep time length of the DRX is greater than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell; and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

Based on the same inventive concept, as the principle and the beneficial effects of the communication device for solving the problems can refer to the method and the beneficial effects brought by the method in the first aspect, the implementation of the apparatus can refer to the implementation of the method, and repeated details are not repeated.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method according to the first aspect.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to the first aspect.

A fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication method, where the communication method may include:

when the monitoring time of the DRX period is over, determining the sleep time length of the DRX period and the residual time length of a BWP (BWP) inactivity timer;

determining that the sleep time length of the DRX period is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer;

and switching the currently used part of the bandwidth from a first part of the bandwidth to a second part of the bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first part of the bandwidth is larger than that of the second part of the bandwidth.

In the sixth aspect of the embodiment of the present application, when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is finished and the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer, the currently used part of the bandwidth is switched from the first part of the bandwidth with the larger bandwidth to the second part of the bandwidth with the smaller bandwidth, so that the ue can be prevented from still using the larger bandwidth under the condition, thereby reducing the power consumption of the ue and slowing down the power consumption of the ue.

Wherein the first part of bandwidth is active BWP, and the second part of bandwidth is default BWP, initial BWP or dormant BWP.

In a possible implementation manner, when the DRX cycle enters the sleep state, the currently used partial bandwidth is immediately switched from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth, so that unnecessary power consumption can be reduced to the maximum extent, thereby reducing the power consumption of the ue to the maximum extent and slowing down the power consumption rate of the ue.

In one possible implementation, when the DRX cycle is in a sleep state and it is determined that the rrm measurement is required, the BWP inactivity timer is set to timeout or stop, and the currently used fractional bandwidth is switched from the first fractional bandwidth to the second fractional bandwidth. In this case, when the radio resource management measurement is required, the first bandwidth is switched to the second bandwidth, so that the radio resource management measurement is performed on the BWP with the smaller bandwidth, thereby reducing the power consumption of the ue and slowing down the power consumption of the ue.

If the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is less than or equal to the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer, no additional operation is performed for the time being, i.e., BWP handover is not performed for the time being.

In a possible implementation manner, if the user terminal performs the communication method of the fifth aspect, the user terminal may send a notification message to the access network device after or at the same time as the handover, where the notification message is used to instruct the user terminal to switch from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance. And the access network equipment performs switching from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth under the condition of receiving the notification message, so that the access network equipment performs partial bandwidth switching in advance.

The access network device may also execute the communication method of the fifth aspect to perform partial bandwidth switching in advance. The user terminal and the access network device may also each execute the communication method of the fifth aspect, so that the access network device and the user terminal perform partial bandwidth switching synchronously.

A sixth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides a communication device having a function of implementing the method provided in the fifth aspect. The communication device may be a user terminal or an access network device. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processing module and a transceiver module; a processing module, configured to determine, when the listening time of the DRX cycle ends, a sleep time length of the DRX cycle and a remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer; determining that the sleep time length of the DRX period is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer; and switching the currently used part of the bandwidth from a first part of the bandwidth to a second part of the bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first part of the bandwidth is larger than that of the second part of the bandwidth.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor, a transceiver, and a memory, where the memory stores a computer program comprising program instructions, the processor configured to invoke the program code to perform the following: when the monitoring time of the DRX period is over, determining the sleep time length of the DRX period and the residual time length of a BWP (BWP) inactivity timer; determining that the sleep time length of the DRX period is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer; and switching the currently used part of the bandwidth from a first part of the bandwidth to a second part of the bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first part of the bandwidth is larger than that of the second part of the bandwidth.

Based on the same inventive concept, as the principle and the beneficial effects of the communication device for solving the problems can refer to the method and the beneficial effects brought by the method in the fifth aspect, the implementation of the apparatus can refer to the implementation of the method, and repeated details are not repeated.

A seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method according to the fifth aspect.

An eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to the fifth aspect.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments or the background art of the present application, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments or the background art of the present application will be described below.

FIG. 1a is a diagram illustrating a DRX cycle configuration;

FIG. 1b is a diagram illustrating an exemplary operation mode of DRX;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of the BA technique introduced by the 5G NR system;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a carrier aggregation scenario;

fig. 4 is a diagram comparing DRX cycle, secondary cell deactivation timer and BWP inactivity timer;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which embodiments of the present application are applied;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6a is a diagram illustrating a comparison between the sleep time duration of a DRX cycle and the remaining time duration of a BWP inactivity timer;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7a is a diagram illustrating a comparison of the length of sleep time of a DRX cycle with the remaining length of time of a secondary cell deactivation timer;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a further schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Where in the description of the present application, "/" indicates a relationship where the objects associated before and after are an "or", unless otherwise stated, for example, a/B may indicate a or B; in the present application, "and/or" is only an association relationship describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. Also, in the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more than two unless otherwise specified. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple. In addition, in order to facilitate clear description of technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items having substantially the same functions and actions. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terms "first," "second," etc. do not denote any order or quantity, nor do the terms "first," "second," etc. denote any order or importance.

The DRX cycle, BWP and BWP inactivity timer, carrier aggregation and secondary cell deactivation timer, RRM measurement related to the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

(1) DRX cycle

Referring to fig. 1a, a diagram of a DRX cycle configuration is shown, where one DRX cycle includes duration (on duration) and sleep time (opportunity for DRX). The DRX mechanism has two cycle configurations of a DRX long cycle and a DRX short cycle, wherein the DRX short cycle is optional. The UE can configure a DRX long cycle and a DRX short cycle at the same time, and in this configuration, the DRX long cycle must be configured as an integer multiple of the DRX short cycle, that is, the duration of one DRX long cycle is equal to the duration of N DRX short cycles, where N is a positive integer. The DRX cycle configuration diagram shown in fig. 1a includes two configurations, DRX short cycle and DRX long cycle.

Please refer to fig. 1b, which is a diagram illustrating a typical operation mode of DRX. Under the condition that the UE configures the DRX mechanism, the UE enters the on-time, starts a DRX duration timer (DRX-on duration timer), and enters an awake state (also referred to as an active state) when each DRX cycle arrives. During the monitoring time, the UE continuously monitors the PDCCH, and if the DCI of the PDCCH is not received within the monitoring time (the first DRX cycle in fig. 1 b), after the DRX duration timer expires, the UE enters a sleep state and stops monitoring the PDCCH; if receiving the DCI of the PDCCH of the new transmission schedule within the monitoring time (the second DRX cycle in fig. 1 b), the UE immediately starts or restarts a DRX inactivity timer (DRX-inactivity timer), and before the DRX inactivity timer is not timed out, the UE continuously monitors the PDCCH and maintains the active state. Wherein, the DRX inactivity timer can also be referred to as a DRX inactivity timer, and the UE maintains an active state during the operation time of the DRX inactivity timer, i.e. the DRX inactivity timer is started but not overtime; and when the DRX static timer is overtime, the UE enters a sleep state.

If there is uplink or downlink data that needs to be retransmitted, the UE starts or restarts a DRX uplink retransmission timer (UL) and a DRX downlink retransmission timer (DRX downlink), which are configured for each hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process and are the maximum duration for the UE to wait for the retransmission operation. The UE remains active until these two timers have not expired.

In case the DRX inactivity timer expires and the DRX uplink/downlink retransmission timer is not started, or in case the UE receives a DRX command Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), the UE enters a sleep state. If the UE configures the DRX short cycle, using the DRX short cycle, and simultaneously starting or restarting a DRX short cycle timer (DRX-short cycle timer); otherwise, DRX long cycle is used. During the operation period of the DRX short cycle timer, the UE uses the DRX short cycle.

In case the DRX short cycle timer expires or in case the UE receives a long DRX command MAC CE, the UE uses the DRX long cycle. When the UE uses the DRX long cycle, if the UE receives DCI of a PDCCH to be newly transmitted and scheduled, the UE starts using the DRX short cycle from the next DRX cycle.

(2) BWP and BWP quiescent timer

The bandwidth of the 5G NR system can reach 400MHz at maximum. If all the UEs are required to support the maximum 400MHz, higher requirements are imposed on the performance of the UEs, which is not favorable for reducing the cost of the UEs. Meanwhile, a large bandwidth means a high sampling rate, and a high sampling rate means high power consumption, but actually, one UE cannot occupy the whole 400MHz bandwidth at the same time, and if the UE still adopts a sampling rate corresponding to the 400MHz bandwidth, it is a waste of performance.

Therefore, the 5G NR system introduces an adaptive Bandwidth Adaptation (BA) technique such that the transceiving bandwidth of a UE does not need to be as large as the bandwidth of its serving cell and can be adaptively adjusted, including: 1, the bandwidth width can be adjusted, for example, at low activityThe bandwidth width is reduced in the dynamic period to save power; 2, the position (i.e. the center frequency point of the bandwidth part (BWP)) can be moved in the frequency domain to increase the scheduling flexibility; 3, the subcarrier spacing configuration can be adjusted to accommodate different services. A subset of the total bandwidth of the serving cell is called partial bandwidth and the base station provides BWP configuration for the UE and informs the UE which configured BWP is the currently active BWP, thus implementing BA. For example, referring to fig. 2, an exemplary diagram of a BA technique introduced for a 5G NR system, a BWP configuration provided by a base station for a UE includes three different BWPs, BWPs₁The bandwidth is 40MHz, the subcarrier interval is 15 kHz; BWP₂The bandwidth is 10MHz, the subcarrier interval is 15 kHz; BWP₃The bandwidth is 20MHz, the subcarrier interval is 60 kHz; BWP₁Is the currently active BWP.

The fifth generation mobile communications (5) at present^thGeneration, 5G) New Radio (NR) system, there are three BWPs, which are active BWP, initial BWP (initial BWP) and default BWP (default BWP). The active BWP refers to the BWP currently being used by the UE, and may be an initial BWP, a default BWP, or a base station configured BWP. When a UE is performing data transmission and/or reception on an active BWP, the active BWP is typically a BWP with a larger bandwidth, while the bandwidth of the initial BWP and the default BWP may be relatively smaller. The initial BWP is the BWP used by the UE when making initial access on the serving cell. The default BWP is a BWP with a smaller bandwidth configured by the base station. The BWP inactivity timer (BWP-inactivity timer) is used for UE to switch BWP. The base station may configure a BWP inactivity timer associated with the active BWP of the UE and use the BWP inactivity timer when the active BWP of the UE is not the initial BWP or the default BWP. The BWP inactivity timer is started or restarted when the UE transmits data on an active BWP associated with the BWP inactivity timer. When the BWP static timer is overtime, if the base station configures the default BWP for the UE, the UE is switched from the active BWP to the default BWP; if the base station does not configure the default BWP for the UE, the UE is switched from the active BWP to the initial BWP.

Optionally, there is also a dormant bwp (dormant bwp). The UE does not perform data transmission and/or reception but performs Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement and reporting of measurement results according to a long measurement period on the dormant BWP.

The BWP inactivity timer (BWP-inactivity timer) is used for UE to switch BWP. The base station may configure a BWP inactivity timer associated with the active BWP of the UE and use the BWP inactivity timer when the active BWP of the UE is not the initial BWP or the default BWP. The BWP inactivity timer is started or restarted when the UE transmits data on an active BWP associated with the BWP inactivity timer. When the BWP static timer is overtime, if the base station configures the default BWP for the UE, the UE is switched from the active BWP to the default BWP; if the base station does not configure the default BWP for the UE, the UE is switched from the active BWP to the initial BWP. The UE does not transmit uplink/downlink scheduling on the dormant BWP, but performs RRM measurement and measurement result reporting according to a longer measurement period. The BWP inactivity timer may also be referred to as a BWP inactivity timer, and the UE does not perform BWP handover during the running time of the BWP inactivity timer, i.e. the BWP inactivity timer is started but not timed out; the BWP inactivity timer times out and the UE performs BWP handover.

(3) Carrier aggregation and secondary cell deactivation timer

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a Carrier Aggregation (CA) scenario. The base station shown in fig. 3 may manage several cells, where one cell serves as a primary cell (Pcell) of the UE, and the remaining cells serve as secondary cells (scells) of the UE.

The primary cell is a cell where the UE performs initial connection establishment, or performs Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection re-establishment, or is a cell designated during handover. The primary cell is responsible for RRC communication with the UE. A Component Carrier (CC) corresponding to the primary cell is referred to as a Primary Component Carrier (PCC). The secondary cell is added through RRC connection reconfiguration after the initial security activation procedure for providing additional radio resources. The component carrier corresponding to the secondary cell is referred to as a Secondary Component Carrier (SCC).

When the secondary cell is initially added, the secondary cell is in a deactivated state, and then the base station may activate the secondary cell by using the secondary cell activation MAC CE, or deactivate the secondary cell by using the secondary cell deactivation MAC CE.

The UE configured with CA may connect to 1 primary cell and up to 31 secondary cells, where the 1 primary cell and up to 31 secondary cells form a serving cell set of the UE, and the serving cell set includes up to 32 serving cells. Different UEs may have different primary cells, secondary cells, and serving cell sets. The same cell may be a primary cell for one UE, but a secondary cell for another UE.

The secondary cell deactivation timer (sceldeactivation timer) is a timer for deactivating the secondary cell. The secondary cell deactivation timer is configured independently for each secondary cell, i.e. different secondary cells have independent secondary cell deactivation timers. If a certain secondary cell is configured with a secondary cell deactivation timer, the secondary cell deactivation timer corresponding to the secondary cell is started/restarted when the secondary cell is activated. Restarting the secondary cell to deactivate the timer when the UE transmits data on the secondary cell. And in case that the secondary cell deactivation timer is overtime, deactivating a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer so that the secondary cell temporarily does not provide additional radio resources for the UE.

It can be appreciated that the secondary cell is activated such that the secondary cell provides additional radio resources for the UE; the secondary cell is deactivated so that the secondary cell temporarily does not provide additional radio resources for the UE.

(4) RRM measurements

Mobility management, which means that when the signal quality of a serving cell of a UE degrades to a certain degree, the serving cell of the UE is changed through cell switching or cell selection/reselection, that is, an adjacent cell with better communication quality is selected as a new serving cell of the UE, so as to ensure the continuity of the UE service. And mobility management is carried out, so that the communication link between the network and the UE can be ensured not to be interrupted due to the movement of the UE.

RRM measurement, which refers to the UE monitoring the communication quality of its serving cell and/or neighboring cells (non-serving cells) in real time. The cell handover, cell selection/reselection involved in the above mobility management operations all depend on the measurement results of RRM measurements.

Please refer to fig. 4, which is a diagram illustrating a DRX cycle, a secondary cell deactivation timer, and a BWP inactivity timer. If carrier aggregation is not considered, the secondary cell deactivation timer is not included in fig. 4.

For the secondary cell deactivation, in fig. 4, it is assumed that the UE needs to perform RRM measurement during the sleep time of the DRX cycle, and the secondary cell deactivation timer expires after the RRM measurement, that is, the UE performs RRM measurement during the sleep time of the DRX cycle, and then the secondary cell deactivation occurs, then the UE performs unnecessary measurement power consumption and overhead, thereby increasing the power consumption speed of the UE. Since the UE will eventually deactivate the secondary cell after the secondary cell deactivation timer expires, RRM measurements before deactivating the secondary cell are not necessary, but rather consume power and increase overhead for the UE.

When the secondary cell is deactivated, the measurement configuration related to the secondary cell will change, for example, the measurement period of the deactivated secondary cell increases, and then the measurement power consumption is correspondingly reduced.

For BWP handover, there is also unnecessary power consumption during the period from the sleep time of the DRX cycle until the BWP inactivity timer times out in fig. 4. Since the UE does not listen to the PDCCH on its current active BWP during the sleep time of the DRX cycle, i.e., is not scheduled to use active BWP for data transmission and/or reception, the UE does not need to remain on the active BWP with a larger bandwidth during the period from the sleep time of the DRX cycle until the BWP inactivity timer expires. However, when the UE switches from the BWP with larger bandwidth to the default BWP or the initial BWP with smaller bandwidth, the power consumption of the UE for other operations is reduced correspondingly on the smaller bandwidth, and then the power consumption of the UE on the active BWP with larger bandwidth is higher than that on the smaller bandwidth.

Since the current DRX mechanism and the BWP inactivity timer operate independently of each other, in the case shown in fig. 4, unnecessary power consumption exists during the period from the sleep time of the DRX cycle until the BWP inactivity timer times out, thereby speeding up the power consumption of the UE; in the case of considering carrier aggregation, the DRX mechanism and the secondary cell deactivation timer also operate independently of each other, and in the case shown in fig. 4, there is unnecessary overhead and power consumption, thereby speeding up the power consumption of the UE.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, where for a scenario in which carrier aggregation is considered, when a monitoring time of a DRX cycle is ended, it is determined whether a secondary cell deactivation timer is overtime within a sleep time of the DRX cycle, and if the determination result is yes, the secondary cell is deactivated in advance, so that overhead and power consumption are reduced, and a power consumption rate of a user terminal is slowed down; for the scenario without considering the carrier aggregation, when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is over, determining whether the BWP inactivity timer is overtime within the sleep time of the DRX cycle, and if the determination result is yes, switching the BWP in advance, thereby reducing power consumption and slowing down the power consumption of the ue.

Please refer to fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied, and the schematic diagram of the network architecture includes a user terminal 10 and an access network device 20.

User terminal 10 may include, among other things, various handheld devices having wireless communication capabilities, vehicle mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem; it may also include a UE, a subscriber unit (MS), a cellular phone (cellular phone), a smart phone (smart phone), a wireless data card, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) computer, a tablet computer, a wireless modem (modem), a handheld device (hand held), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a cordless telephone (cordlessphone) or Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal, a UE, a Mobile Station (MS), a terminal device (terminal device) or a relay user equipment, etc. The relay user equipment may be, for example, a 5G home gateway (RG). For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as a user equipment, and the user equipment is described by taking a UE as an example.

The access network device 20 may be an evolved Node base station (eNB or eNodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and may be upgradedeNB, i.e. next generation evolved node B (ng-eNB), fifth generation mobile communication (5)^th-generation, 5G) system, and may also be an access network device in a future communication system. In a scenario considering carrier aggregation, the access network device 20 may manage one primary cell and several secondary cells, that is, the base station in fig. 3.

The user terminal 10 accesses the core network 30 through the access network device 20, and if the access network device 20 is a base station in a 5G system, the core network 30 is a core network in the 5G system; if the access network device 20 is a base station in an LTE system, the core network 30 is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC).

In the embodiment of the present application, the ue 10 may determine whether to deactivate the relevant secondary cell in advance and switch to BWP in advance according to the determination when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is over. It is to be understood that the early deactivation of the secondary cell, the early handover BWP, is the scheduling of the UE, and the UE may feed back the result to the access network device 20 after the scheduling, for example, the UE deactivates the secondary cell in advance, and the user terminal 10 may inform the access network device 20 of the scheduling, so that the access network device 20 deactivates the secondary cell in advance.

In this embodiment, the access network device 20 may also determine whether to deactivate the relevant secondary cell in advance and to switch BWP in advance according to the determination when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle ends. It is to be understood that the access network device 20 may autonomously determine whether to deactivate the relevant secondary cell in advance, and whether to switch BWP in advance.

The user terminal 10 and the access network device 20 may each determine whether to deactivate the relevant secondary cell in advance and to switch BWP in advance according to the determination, so that the user terminal 10 and the access network device 20 operate synchronously.

The embodiment of the application can be applied to a carrier aggregation scene, wherein whether to deactivate the secondary cell in advance or not needs to be determined, and whether to switch BWP in advance or not can also be determined; it can also be applied to non-carrier aggregation scenarios where it is necessary to determine whether to switch BWP in advance.

In addition, the network architecture and the application scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and it can be known by a person skilled in the art that, along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new application scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

Reference will now be made in detail to terms or nouns with which embodiments of the application are referred.

The timer is overtime, which means that the running time of the timer reaches the rated time. For example, the DRX duration timer expires, which means that the time is up to the rated time of the DRX duration timer after the DRX duration timer is started. The timer times out, which can also be understood as the end of the running time of the timer.

The ending of the monitoring time may refer to that a DRX duration timer (DRX-on duration timer), a DRX inactivity timer (DRX-inactivity timer), a DRX uplink retransmission timer, or a DRX downlink retransmission timer expires or stops running, and the UE ends the PDCCH monitoring. The end of the listening time may also refer to the end of a DRX active time (active time).

Wherein, the DRX activation time may include one or more of the following conditions: 1, a time when a DRX duration timer, a DRX static timer, a DRX uplink retransmission timer, a DRX downlink retransmission timer or a random access contention resolution timer (ra-contention resolution timer) is running; 2, the UE transmits a Scheduling Request (SR) on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), which is a time for suspending the scheduling request; in the non-contention random access procedure, a time from when the UE successfully receives a Random Access Response (RAR) to when the PDCCH indicating the new transmission is received is up, that is, the UE does not receive the PDCCH indicating the new transmission after receiving the RAR.

The communication method according to the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below. It should be noted that the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be executed by a UE, or may be executed by an access network device, or may be executed by both the UE and the access network device. Embodiments one to three are described with an example of a UE performing a communication method.

Please refer to fig. 6, which is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication method is applied to a non-carrier aggregation scenario. The flow shown in fig. 6 may include, but is not limited to, the following steps:

step 101, when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is over, the UE determines the length of the sleep time of the DRX cycle and the remaining length of the BWP inactivity timer.

The UE is any UE within the coverage range of the access network equipment. The UE executes the procedure shown in fig. 6 when the listening time of any DRX cycle ends, where the DRX cycle in step 101 is any DRX cycle. The end of the monitoring time of the DRX cycle indicates that the UE ends the active state, i.e., is about to enter the sleep state.

And the UE determines the sleep time length of the DRX period and the residual time length of the BWP inactivity timer at the end of the monitoring time of the DRX period. The sleep time length of the DRX cycle may or may not be a fixed value. For example, if DCI of a PDCCH is not received within the duration of a DRX cycle, the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is a fixed value. For another example, if the DCI of the PDCCH to be newly transmitted and scheduled is received within the duration of the DRX cycle, the DRX inactivity timer is started or restarted, before the DRX inactivity timer expires, the UE is in an active state and continuously monitors, and the monitoring is finished at the time when the DRX inactivity timer expires, that is, the monitoring time is finished, so that the sleep time length of the DRX cycle at this time is not a fixed value.

Wherein, the ending of the monitoring time may refer to that a DRX duration timer, a DRX inactivity timer, a DRX uplink retransmission timer, or a DRX downlink retransmission timer is overtime or stops running, and the UE ends the PDCCH monitoring. The end of the listening time may also refer to the end of the DRX activation time.

The remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer refers to how long the BWP inactivity timer remains since the end of the listening time of the DRX cycle.

Referring to a graph illustrating a comparison of the length of sleep time of the DRX cycle with the remaining length of time of the BWP inactivity timer as shown in fig. 6a, it is assumed in fig. 6a that the DCI of the PDCCH is not received within the duration of the DRX cycle. In fig. 6a, the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer at the end of the listening time for the first DRX cycle is remaining time length 1, and the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer at the end of the listening time for the second DRX cycle is remaining time length 2.

Step 102, determining whether the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer.

And when the monitoring time of the DRX period is finished, the UE judges whether the sleeping time length of the DRX period is greater than the residual time length of the BWP inactivity timer. For example, in fig. 6a, at the end of the listening time of the first DRX cycle, it can be determined that the sleep time length of the first DRX cycle is less than the remaining time length 1 of the BWP inactivity timer; at the end of the listening time of the second DRX cycle, it may be determined that the sleep-time duration of the second DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time duration 2 of the BWP inactivity timer.

And step 103, if the judgment result in the step 102 is yes, switching from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth.

For the case that the sleep-time length of the second DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length 2 of the BWP inactivity timer in fig. 6a, the UE switches the currently used BWP from the first fractional bandwidth to the second fractional bandwidth. Wherein the bandwidth of the first part of bandwidth is larger than the bandwidth of the second part of bandwidth. It can be understood that the first part of bandwidth is a part of bandwidth currently used by the UE, and the second part of bandwidth is a part of bandwidth to be used by the UE. When the sleep time length of the DRX period is longer than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer, switching from the BWP with the larger bandwidth to the BWP with the smaller bandwidth can reduce the overhead and the power consumption, thereby slowing down the power consumption speed of the UE.

In a specific implementation, the first partial bandwidth is an active BWP, and the second partial bandwidth is a default BWP, an initial BWP, or a dormant BWP.

In one possible implementation, the UE immediately switches the currently used BWP from the first fractional bandwidth to the second fractional bandwidth when entering the sleep state in the DRX cycle. The UE enters the sleep state in the DRX cycle, which may be the UE entering the sleep state after the monitoring time is over, or the UE entering the sleep state when receiving the DRX command MAC CE within the monitoring time. In other words, when the UE enters the sleep state and the sleep time duration of the DRX cycle is longer than the remaining time duration of the BWP inactivity timer, the UE immediately switches from the first part of the bandwidth to the second part of the bandwidth, so as to reduce power consumption to the maximum and slow down the power consumption of the UE.

In one possible implementation, when the UE is in a sleep state in the DRX cycle and determines that RRM measurement is required, the BWP inactivity timer is set to timeout or stop, and the currently used BWP is switched from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth. In other words, in the process of the UE in the sleep state, if it is determined that RRM measurement is required, the BWP inactivity timer is set to timeout or stop, and the UE switches from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth. In this way, when the UE needs to perform RRM measurement, the BWP is switched, so that the UE performs RRM measurement on the BWP with the smaller bandwidth, thereby avoiding the UE performing RRM measurement on the BWP with the larger bandwidth, reducing power consumption, and slowing down the power consumption of the UE. And the UE determines when or under what conditions RRM measurement needs to be carried out according to the measurement configuration information sent by the access network equipment. RRM measurements by the UE may result in signal quality of the serving cell and/or the non-serving cell.

And step 104, if the judgment result of the step 102 is negative, the BWP switching is not carried out.

For the case that the sleep time length of the first DRX cycle in fig. 6a is less than the remaining time length 1 of the BWP inactivity timer, temporarily not performing additional operations, i.e. temporarily not performing BWP handover, and waiting until the listening time of the next DRX cycle is over and the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP inactivity timer, performing BWP handover; or waiting until the BWP inactivity timer times out for the BWP handover.

Optionally, step 103 is followed by step 105, where the UE sends a notification message to the access network device. Accordingly, the access network device receives the notification message from the UE.

The notification message is used to notify the access network device that the UE has switched from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance, so that the access network device performs corresponding adjustment according to the notification message, and the specific access network device also switches from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance, so that the UE and the access network device transmit on the same part of bandwidth.

The UE may also not send the notification message to the access network device, and the access network device may perform steps 101-103, so that the access network device switches from the first portion of bandwidth to the second portion of bandwidth in advance. In other words, the UE and the access network device may each perform steps 101-103, and may implement synchronous handover BWP.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 6, when the UE determines that the sleep time of the DRX cycle is longer than the remaining time of the BWP inactivity timer, the UE switches from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth, so as to avoid unnecessary power consumption, thereby reducing power consumption and slowing down the power consumption of the UE.

Please refer to fig. 7, which is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application, where the communication method is applied to a carrier aggregation scenario. The flow shown in fig. 7 may include, but is not limited to, the following steps:

in step 201, when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle ends, the UE determines the length of the sleep time of the DRX cycle and the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer.

The remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer refers to how long the secondary cell deactivation timer remains from the end of the monitoring time of the DRX cycle.

Referring to a graph illustrating a comparison of the length of sleep time of the DRX cycle with the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer as shown in fig. 7a, it is assumed in fig. 7a that DCI of a PDCCH is not received within the duration of the DRX cycle. In fig. 7a, the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer at the end of the listening time of the first DRX cycle is remaining time length 1, and the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer at the end of the listening time of the second DRX cycle is remaining time length 2.

Step 202, determining whether the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer.

And when the monitoring time of the DRX period is finished, the UE judges whether the sleeping time length of the DRX period is greater than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell. For example, in fig. 7a, at the end of the listening time of the first DRX cycle, it may be determined that the sleep time length of the first DRX cycle is less than the remaining time length 1 of the secondary cell deactivation timer; at the end of the on time of the second DRX cycle, it may be determined that the length of the sleep time of the second DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length 2 of the secondary cell deactivation timer.

In step 203, if the determination result in step 202 is yes, the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer is deactivated.

For the case that the sleep time length of the second DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length 2 of the secondary cell deactivation timer in fig. 7a, the UE deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer, i.e., deactivates the secondary cell in advance, so that the secondary cell temporarily does not provide additional radio resources for the UE.

In a possible implementation manner, when the UE enters the sleep state in the DRX cycle, the UE immediately deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer. In other words, when the UE enters the sleep state and the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is longer than the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, the UE immediately deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer, which can reduce overhead and power consumption to the maximum extent and slow down the power consumption rate of the UE.

In a possible implementation manner, when the UE is in a sleep state in the DRX cycle and determines that RRM measurement is required, the UE sets the secondary cell deactivation timer to timeout or stop, and deactivates a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer. In other words, in the process of the sleep state, if it is determined that RRM measurement needs to be performed, the UE sets the secondary cell deactivation timer to timeout or stop, and deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer. In this way, when the UE needs to perform RRM measurement, the secondary cell is deactivated, so that the secondary cell does not provide additional radio resources for the UE temporarily, and unnecessary RRM measurement by the UE is avoided in the run time of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell, thereby reducing overhead and power consumption and slowing down the power consumption rate of the UE.

In step 204, if the determination result in step 202 is negative, no additional operation is performed.

For the case that the sleep time length of the first DRX cycle in fig. 7a is less than the remaining time length 1 of the secondary cell deactivation timer, temporarily not performing an additional operation, that is, temporarily not performing an operation of deactivating the secondary cell, and waiting until the listening time of the next DRX cycle is over and the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, performing an operation of deactivating the secondary cell; or waiting until the secondary cell deactivation timer times out to execute the operation of deactivating the secondary cell.

Optionally, step 203 is followed by step 205 of sending, by the UE, a notification message to the access network device. Accordingly, the access network device receives the notification message from the UE.

The notification message is used to notify the access network device that the UE has deactivated the corresponding secondary cell in advance, so that the access network device performs corresponding adjustment according to the notification message, and the specific access network device also deactivates the corresponding secondary cell in advance, so that the secondary cell does not provide additional wireless resources for the UE temporarily.

The UE may also not send the notification message to the access network device, and the access network device may perform steps 201 to 203, so that the access network device deactivates the corresponding secondary cell. In other words, the UE and the access network device may perform steps 201 to 203, respectively, and may implement synchronous deactivation of the secondary cell.

It should be noted that the number of the secondary cell deactivation timers in the embodiment shown in fig. 7 is not limited to one, and there may be a plurality of secondary cell deactivation timers in practical applications, and the process of the embodiment shown in fig. 7 may be performed for each secondary cell deactivation timer. Optionally, the notification message is further configured to notify the access network device which one or more secondary cells are deactivated by the UE, that is, the UE carries the identification information of the deactivated secondary cells.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 7, when the UE finishes the monitoring time of the DRX cycle and determines that the sleep time of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell, the UE deactivates the corresponding secondary cell, which can avoid unnecessary overhead and power consumption, thereby reducing overhead and power consumption and slowing down the power consumption rate of the UE.

Please refer to fig. 8, which is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present application, where the communication method is applied to a carrier aggregation scenario. The process illustrated in FIG. 8 may include, but is not limited to, the following steps:

step 301, when the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is over, the UE determines the length of the sleep time of the DRX cycle and the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer.

Step 302, determining whether the sleep time length of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer.

Step 303, if the determination result in step 302 is yes, deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

Optionally, step 303 is followed by step 304, in which the UE sends a first notification message to the access network device. Accordingly, the access network device receives a first notification message from the UE.

The implementation process of step 301 to step 303 can refer to the detailed description of step 201 to step 203 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and is not described herein again.

The first notification message is used for notifying the access network device that the UE has deactivated the corresponding secondary cell in advance, so that the access network device performs corresponding adjustment according to the notification message. The first notification message is the notification message sent in step 105 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6.

In step 305, if the determination result in step 302 is negative, it is determined whether the sleep time duration of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time duration of the BWP inactivity timer.

The difference from the embodiment shown in fig. 7 is that the UE determines whether the sleep time duration of the DRX cycle is greater than the remaining time duration of the BWP inactivity timer when determining that the sleep time duration of the DRX cycle is less than or equal to the remaining time duration of the secondary cell inactivity timer, that is, step 102-step 104 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 are executed, which may specifically refer to the detailed description of step 102-step 104, and is not repeated here.

In step 306, if the determination result in step 305 is yes, the currently used BWP is switched from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth.

In step 307, if the determination result in step 305 is negative, BWP switching is not performed.

Optionally, step 306 is followed by step 308 of sending, by the UE, a second notification message to the access network device. Accordingly, the access network device receives a second notification message from the UE.

The second notification message is used for notifying the access network device that the UE switches from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance, so that the access network device performs corresponding adjustment according to the notification message. The first notification message is the notification message sent in step 205 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, when the UE determines that the sleep time of the DRX cycle is longer than the remaining time length of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell after the monitoring time of the DRX cycle is ended, the UE deactivates the corresponding secondary cell; when the sleep time of the DRX period is judged to be less than or equal to the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, whether the sleep time length of the DRX period is greater than the remaining time length of the BWP static timer is judged, whether to switch the BWP in advance is determined, the secondary cell can be activated in advance or the BWP can be switched in advance, unnecessary overhead and power consumption can be further avoided, the overhead and the power consumption are reduced, and the power consumption speed of the UE is slowed down.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described above, and the communication device provided by the embodiment of the present application is described below.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 50 provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device 50 includes a processing module 501 and a transceiver module 502;

for the scenario of carrier aggregation:

a processing module 501, configured to determine a sleep time length of a discontinuous reception cycle and a remaining time length of a secondary cell deactivation timer when a monitoring time of the discontinuous reception cycle ends; determining that the length of the sleep time of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining length of time of the deactivation timer of the secondary cell; and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 501 is specifically configured to immediately deactivate the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer when entering the sleep state in the discontinuous reception cycle.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 501 is specifically configured to set the secondary cell deactivation timer to timeout or stop when the secondary cell deactivation timer is in a sleep state in the discontinuous reception period and it is determined that radio resource management measurement needs to be performed, and deactivate the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

In a possible implementation manner, if the user terminal 50 is a user terminal, the transceiver module 502 is configured to send a first notification message to the access network device, where the first notification message is used to instruct the user terminal 50 to deactivate a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer in advance.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 501 is further configured to determine that the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is less than or equal to the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, and determine the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer; determining that the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer; and switching the currently used part of the bandwidth from a first part of the bandwidth to a second part of the bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first part of the bandwidth is larger than that of the second part of the bandwidth.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 501 is specifically configured to immediately switch the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth when entering the sleep state in the discontinuous reception cycle.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 501 is specifically configured to set the partial bandwidth inactivity timer to timeout or stop when it is determined that the radio resource management measurement needs to be performed while the discontinuous reception cycle is in the sleep state, and switch the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth.

In one possible implementation, the first part of bandwidth is an active part of bandwidth, and the second part of bandwidth is a default part of bandwidth, an initial part of bandwidth, or a dormant part of bandwidth.

In a possible implementation manner, if the user terminal 50 is a user terminal, the transceiver module 502 is configured to send a second notification message to the access network device, where the second notification message is used to instruct the user terminal 50 to switch from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance.

For non-carrier aggregation scenarios:

a processing module 501, configured to determine a sleep time length of a discontinuous reception cycle and a remaining time length of a partial bandwidth inactivity timer when a listening time of the discontinuous reception cycle ends; determining that the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer; and switching the currently used part of the bandwidth from a first part of the bandwidth to a second part of the bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first part of the bandwidth is larger than that of the second part of the bandwidth.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 501 is specifically configured to set the partial bandwidth inactivity timer to timeout or stop when it is determined that the radio resource management measurement needs to be performed while the discontinuous reception period is in the sleep state, and switch the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth.

In a possible implementation manner, if the user terminal 50 is a user terminal, the transceiver module 502 is configured to send a notification message to the access network device, where the notification message is used to instruct the user terminal 50 to switch from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance.

The communication device 50 may implement the functions of the UE in the first to third embodiments, and for the detailed process executed by each unit in the communication device 50, reference may be made to the execution steps of the UE in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not described herein again. The communication device 50 may also be an access network device.

It should be understood that the processing module 501 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, and the transceiver module 502 may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component.

As shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device 60, where the communication device 60 includes a processor 601, a memory 602 and a transceiver 603, where the memory 602 stores instructions or programs, and the processor 601 is configured to execute the instructions or programs stored in the memory 602. When the instructions or programs stored in the memory 602 are executed, the processor 601 is configured to perform the operations performed by the processing module 501 in the above embodiments, and the transceiver 603 is configured to perform the operations performed by the transceiver module 502 in the above embodiments.

It should be understood that the communication device 50 or the communication device 60 according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to a UE or an access network device in the embodiment of the present application, and operations and/or functions of respective modules in the communication device 50 or the communication device 60 are respectively for implementing corresponding flows of the respective methods in fig. 6, fig. 7, and fig. 8, and are not described herein again for brevity.

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

When the communication device is a user terminal, fig. 11 shows a simplified structure diagram of the user terminal. For easy understanding and convenience of illustration, in fig. 11, the user terminal is exemplified by a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 11, the user terminal 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 user terminal, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. 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 used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of user terminals may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the user terminal, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 11. In an actual user terminal 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 a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the rf circuit with transceiving function may be regarded as a transceiving module of the user terminal, and the processor with processing function may be regarded as a processing module of the user terminal. As shown in fig. 11, the user terminal includes a transceiving module 910 and a processing module 920. A transceiver module may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. A processing module may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing unit, a processing device, etc. Optionally, a device in the transceiver module 910 for implementing a receiving function may be regarded as a receiving module, and a device in the transceiver module 910 for implementing a transmitting function may be regarded as a transmitting module, that is, the transceiver module 910 includes a receiving module and a transmitting module. A transceiver module may also sometimes be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or the like. A receiving module may also be sometimes referred to as a receiver, or a receiving circuit, etc. The transmitting module may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver module 910 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the user terminal side in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 920 is configured to perform other operations besides the transceiving operation on the user terminal in the above method embodiments.

For example, the transceiver module 910 is used to perform the transmitting and receiving operations of the ue side in fig. 6, 7 and 8, and/or the transceiver module 910 is also used to perform other transceiving steps of the ue side in the embodiments of the present application. The processing module 920 is configured to perform steps 101 to 103 in fig. 6, and/or the processing module 920 is further configured to perform other processing steps at the user terminal side in this embodiment.

When the communication device is a chip, the chip includes a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module can be an input/output circuit and a communication interface; the processing module is a processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip.

When the communication device in this embodiment is a user terminal, reference may be made to the apparatus shown in fig. 12. As an example, the device may perform functions similar to processor 601 of FIG. 10. In fig. 12, the apparatus includes a processor 1210, a transmit data processor 1220, and a receive data processor 1230. The processing module 501 in the above embodiment may be the processor 1210 in fig. 12, and performs the corresponding functions. The transceiver module 502 in the above embodiments may be the transmit data processor 1220 and/or the receive data processor 1230 in fig. 12. Although fig. 12 shows a channel encoder and a channel decoder, it is understood that these blocks are not limitative and only illustrative to the present embodiment.

Fig. 13 shows another form of the present embodiment. The processing device 1300 includes modules such as a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, and peripheral subsystems. The communication device in this embodiment may serve as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 1303 and an interface 1304. The processor 1303 completes the functions of the processing module 501, and the interface 1304 completes the functions of the transceiver module 502. As another variation, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 1306, a processor 1303 and a program stored in the memory 1306 and executable on the processor, and the processor 1303, when executing the program, implements the method on the terminal device side in the foregoing method embodiments. It should be noted that the memory 1306 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located inside the modulation subsystem or in the processing device 1300 as long as the memory 1306 can be connected to the processor 1303.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method at the user terminal side in the above-described method embodiment.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions that, when executed, perform the method at the user terminal side in the above-described method embodiments.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to instructions of a computer program, which may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, may include the processes of the above method embodiments. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as ROM or RAM, magnetic or optical disks, etc.

Those of ordinary skill in the art would 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 implementation. 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 is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units 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, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed 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 can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing module, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wirelessly (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

when the monitoring time of a discontinuous reception cycle is finished, determining the length of the sleep time of the discontinuous reception cycle and the length of the remaining time of a deactivation timer of a secondary cell;

determining that a sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than a remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the deactivating the secondary cell deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the timer, comprising:

and immediately deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer when the secondary cell enters a sleep state in the discontinuous reception cycle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the deactivating the secondary cell deactivates the secondary cell corresponding to the timer, comprising:

and when the secondary cell is in a sleep state in the discontinuous reception period and the radio resource management measurement is determined to be needed, setting the secondary cell deactivation timer to be overtime or stopped, and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein if the method is performed by a user terminal, the method further comprises:

and sending a first notification message to an access network device, wherein the first notification message is used for indicating that the user terminal deactivates a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer in advance.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising:

determining that a sleep-time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is less than or equal to a remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer; determining the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer;

determining that the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer;

switching a currently used partial bandwidth from a first partial bandwidth to a second partial bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first partial bandwidth is greater than the bandwidth of the second partial bandwidth, and the bandwidth of the first partial bandwidth is greater than the bandwidth of the second partial bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth comprises:

and immediately switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth when the sleep state is entered in the discontinuous reception period.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth comprises:

and when the discontinuous reception period is in a sleep state and the radio resource management measurement is determined to be needed, setting the partial bandwidth quiescent timer to be overtime or stop, and switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the first portion of bandwidth is an active portion of bandwidth and the second portion of bandwidth is a default portion of bandwidth, an initial portion of bandwidth, or a sleep portion of bandwidth.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein if the method is performed by a user terminal, the method further comprises:

and sending a second notification message to access network equipment, wherein the second notification message is used for indicating that the user terminal is switched from the first part of bandwidth to the second part of bandwidth in advance.

10. A method of communication, comprising:

when the monitoring time of a discontinuous receiving period is finished, determining the length of the sleep time of the discontinuous receiving period and the length of the rest time of a partial bandwidth static timer;

and switching the currently used partial bandwidth from a first partial bandwidth to a second partial bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first partial bandwidth is larger than that of the second partial bandwidth.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth comprises:

12. The method of claim 10, wherein switching the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth comprises:

13. The method of any one of claims 10-12, wherein the first portion of bandwidth is an active portion of bandwidth and the second portion of bandwidth is a default portion of bandwidth, an initial portion of bandwidth, or a sleep portion of bandwidth.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10-12, further comprising:

sending a notification message to an access network device, wherein the notification message is used for indicating that the first part of bandwidth is switched to the second part of bandwidth in advance.

15. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises a processing module and a transceiver module;

the processing module is configured to determine a sleep time length of a discontinuous reception cycle and a remaining time length of a secondary cell deactivation timer when a monitoring time of the discontinuous reception cycle ends; determining that a sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than a remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer; and deactivating the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

16. The communications device according to claim 15, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to immediately deactivate the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer when entering a sleep state in the discontinuous reception cycle.

17. The communications device according to claim 15, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to set the secondary cell deactivation timer to timeout or stop when the secondary cell deactivation timer is in a sleep state in the discontinuous reception period and it is determined that radio resource management measurement needs to be performed, and deactivate the secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer.

18. The communication device according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein if the communication device is a user equipment, the transceiver module is configured to send a first notification message to an access network device, where the first notification message is used to instruct the user equipment to deactivate a secondary cell corresponding to the secondary cell deactivation timer in advance.

19. The communication device according to any of claims 15-17, wherein the processing module is further configured to determine that the sleep-time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is less than or equal to the remaining time length of the secondary cell deactivation timer, and determine the remaining time length of a partial bandwidth inactivity timer; determining that the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer; and switching the currently used partial bandwidth from a first partial bandwidth to a second partial bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first partial bandwidth is larger than that of the second partial bandwidth.

20. The communications device of claim 19, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to immediately switch the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth when entering the sleep state in the discontinuous reception cycle.

21. The communications device of claim 19, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to set the partial bandwidth inactivity timer to timeout or stop when it is determined that radio resource management measurement is required while the discontinuous reception cycle is in a sleep state, and switch a currently used partial bandwidth from a first partial bandwidth to a second partial bandwidth.

22. The communications device of claim 19, wherein the first portion of bandwidth is an active portion of bandwidth and the second portion of bandwidth is a default portion of bandwidth, an initial portion of bandwidth, or a dormant portion of bandwidth.

23. The communications device of claim 19, wherein if the communications device is a user terminal, the transceiver module is configured to send a second notification message to an access network device, and the second notification message is used to instruct the user terminal to switch from the first portion of bandwidth to the second portion of bandwidth in advance.

24. A communication device is applied to a non-carrier aggregation scene and comprises a processing module and a transceiving module;

the processing module is used for determining the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle and the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth quiescent timer when the monitoring time of the discontinuous reception cycle is finished; determining that the sleep time length of the discontinuous reception cycle is greater than the remaining time length of the partial bandwidth inactivity timer; and switching the currently used partial bandwidth from a first partial bandwidth to a second partial bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth of the first partial bandwidth is larger than that of the second partial bandwidth.

25. The communications device of claim 24, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to immediately switch the currently used partial bandwidth from the first partial bandwidth to the second partial bandwidth when entering the sleep state in the discontinuous reception cycle.

26. The communications device of claim 24, wherein the processing module is specifically configured to set the partial bandwidth inactivity timer to timeout or stop when it is determined that radio resource management measurement is required while the discontinuous reception cycle is in a sleep state, and switch a currently used partial bandwidth from a first partial bandwidth to a second partial bandwidth.

27. The communications device of any one of claims 24-26, wherein the first portion of bandwidth is an active portion of bandwidth and the second portion of bandwidth is a default portion of bandwidth, an initial portion of bandwidth, or a dormant portion of bandwidth.

28. The communications device according to any one of claims 24-26, wherein if the communications device is a user terminal, the transceiver module is configured to send a notification message to an access network device, where the notification message is used to instruct the user terminal to switch from the first portion of bandwidth to the second portion of bandwidth in advance.

29. A communication device comprising a memory, a processor and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the communication method according to any one of claims 1-9 or implements the communication method according to any one of claims 10-14 when executing the program.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when being executed by a processor, carries out a communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or carries out a communication method according to any one of claims 10 to 14.