CN114599075A

CN114599075A - Method and device for monitoring physical downlink control channel

Info

Publication number: CN114599075A
Application number: CN202110053613.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 薛祎凡; 薛丽霞; 铁晓磊
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-03
Filing date: 2021-01-15
Publication date: 2022-06-07
Also published as: WO2022116965A1

Abstract

A method and a device for monitoring a physical downlink control channel are used for determining how a terminal device monitors a PDCCH. The network equipment determines DCI and sends the DCI to terminal equipment in a time slot n, wherein the DCI comprises a first value k of a first time slot difference, and the k is used for determining a first time domain position; the k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data are transmitted and the time slot n, and the first data are data scheduled by the DCI; and the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH at the first time domain position. Therefore, the terminal equipment can clearly monitor the PDCCH, the PDCCH monitoring is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced.

Description

Method and device for monitoring physical downlink control channel

The present application claims priority from a chinese patent application entitled "a method for indicating PDCCH skiping" filed by the chinese patent office at 03.12 months 12/2020, application number 202011412517.3, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

Background

Before the network device and the terminal device perform data transmission, the network device may send data scheduling information, such as a PDCCH, to the terminal device, and in order to avoid losing the scheduling information, the terminal device needs to frequently monitor the PDCCH according to the configuration of the network device. And the behavior of the terminal device to frequently monitor the PDCCH may result in higher power consumption of the terminal device. At present, research on power consumption saving of terminal equipment is more and more common, and a detailed optimization scheme for reducing the power consumption of the terminal equipment becomes a research direction in the industry.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for monitoring a PDCCH, which are used for determining how a terminal device monitors the PDCCH.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for PDCCH monitoring, which may include: a terminal device receives Downlink Control Information (DCI) from a network device at a time slot n, where the DCI includes a first value k of a first time slot difference, and the k is used to determine a first time domain position; and then the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH at the first time domain position, wherein k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data are transmitted and the time slot n, and the first data are data scheduled by the DCI.

By the method, the terminal equipment can clearly determine how to monitor the PDCCH through the first time domain position determined based on the k, so that PDCCH monitoring is reduced, and power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced. And the network device multiplexes k in the existing DCI to indicate the terminal device to monitor the first time domain position of the PDCCH, so that higher signaling overhead is avoided while PDCCH monitoring is reduced, that is, while power consumption of the terminal device is reduced, the signaling overhead is reduced.

In one possible design, the first time domain position may be a time slot n + k, k not equal to 0. Therefore, the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH in the time slot with data transmission, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be saved. Specifically, two work of monitoring the PDCCH and data transmission are completed in the same time slot, so that the switching times of the terminal equipment between the 'sleep mode' and the 'working mode' can be reduced, and the power consumption caused by state conversion is reduced.

In one possible design, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH during time slot n +1 through time slot n + k-1. Therefore, the terminal equipment does not monitor the PDCCH in the time slot without data transmission, the monitoring of the PDCCH can be reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be further reduced.

In one possible design, the first time domain position may be a time slot n + k + 1. Therefore, the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH in the next time slot with data transmission, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced. At this time, the terminal device performs data transmission in the time slot n + k, monitors the PDCCH in the time slot n + k +1, and can also finish the two operations of monitoring the PDCCH and performing data transmission in a similar time, thereby reducing the switching times of the terminal device between the "sleep mode" and the "working mode" and reducing the power consumption caused by state conversion.

In one possible design, the first time domain position may include slots n + k-m1 through n + k + m 2; or the first time domain location may include time slot n + k through time slot n + k + m 3; or the first time domain location may include time slots n + k + m4 through n + k + m 5; or the first time domain location may include time slot n + k-m6 through time slot n + k; wherein m1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and m6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0. Therefore, the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH in a time slot interval related to the time slot with data transmission, and can finish the monitoring of the PDCCH and the data transmission in a similar time, thereby saving the power consumption of the terminal equipment. And compared with the method for monitoring the PDCCH only in one time slot, the method for monitoring the PDCCH in one time slot interval can improve the scheduling flexibility of the network equipment.

In one possible design, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain location, the terminal device may monitor the PDCCH according to a first search space group after the first time domain location; wherein the terminal device is configured with a set of search spaces, the set of search spaces being the first set of search spaces; or the terminal device is configured with two groups of search spaces, wherein the two groups of search spaces comprise the first search space group and the second search space group; or the terminal device is configured with at least three groups of search spaces, including the first search space group; the first set of search spaces includes the first time domain location.

By the method, when the terminal equipment does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, how to monitor the PDCCH can be determined.

In one possible design, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH in the first time domain location, the terminal device may determine a first time domain symbol and a first frequency domain location according to configuration information of a search space; and the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH on the first time domain symbol and the first frequency domain position. Thus, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH in the first time domain position, how to monitor the PDCCH can be determined.

In one possible design, the DCI may further include first indication information indicating whether to monitor the PDCCH in a first time slot, where the first time slot is a time slot from the time slot n to a second time domain position, and the second time domain position is a previous time domain position to the first time domain position. This may allow the network device to dynamically instruct the terminal device how to monitor the PDCCH, thereby increasing the scheduling flexibility of the network device.

In one possible design, the DCI may further include second indication information indicating that the PDCCH is monitored at the first time domain location. This may allow the network device to dynamically instruct the terminal device how to monitor the PDCCH, thereby increasing the scheduling flexibility of the network device.

In one possible design, when the terminal device is configured with the minimum scheduling slot interval and the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, the terminal device monitors that the slot interval between the time domain position of the PDCCH and the first time domain position is not less than a first value next time. When the terminal device is configured with the minimum scheduling time slot interval, the terminal device can reduce the processing speed of the terminal device on the PDCCH, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. By limiting the time slot interval between the time domain position of the PDCCH which is monitored by the terminal equipment for the next time and the first time domain position to be not less than the first value, the terminal equipment can be ensured to finish the decoding of the PDCCH before the time domain position of the PDCCH which is monitored for the next time.

In one possible design, when the terminal device is configured with a minimum scheduled time slot interval and the minimum scheduled time slot interval is greater than 0, the m1 is less than or equal to the difference of k minus the minimum scheduled time slot interval. When the terminal device is configured with the minimum scheduling time slot interval, the terminal device can reduce the processing speed of the terminal device on the PDCCH, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device. By limiting m1 to be less than or equal to k minus the minimum scheduling slot interval, it may be ensured that the terminal device is able to complete decoding of the PDCCH before slot n + k-m1, thereby determining whether to monitor the PDCCH during slot n + k-m 1.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for PDCCH monitoring, which may include: the network equipment determines DCI and sends the DCI to terminal equipment in the time slot n, wherein the DCI comprises a first value k of a first time slot difference, and the k is used for determining a first time domain position; and k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data is transmitted and a time slot n, and the first data is data scheduled by the DCI.

By the method, the terminal equipment can determine how to monitor the PDCCH through the first time domain position determined based on the k, so that PDCCH monitoring is reduced, and power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced. And the network device multiplexes k in the existing DCI to indicate the terminal device to monitor the first time domain position of the PDCCH, so that higher signaling overhead is avoided while PDCCH monitoring is reduced, that is, while power consumption of the terminal device is reduced, the signaling overhead is reduced.

In one possible design, the first time domain position may be a time slot n + k, k not equal to 0. Therefore, the terminal equipment can monitor the PDCCH in the time slot with data transmission, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be saved. Specifically, two work of monitoring the PDCCH and data transmission are completed in the same time slot, so that the switching times of the terminal equipment between the 'sleep mode' and the 'working mode' can be reduced, and the power consumption caused by state conversion is reduced.

In one possible design, the first time domain location includes time slots n + k-m1 through time slots n + k + m 2; or the first time domain location comprises time slots n + k through n + k + m 3; or the first time domain location comprises time slots n + k + m4 through n + k + m 5; or the first time domain location comprises time slot n + k-m6 through time slot n + k; wherein m1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and m6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0. Therefore, the terminal equipment can monitor the PDCCH in a time slot interval related to the time slot with data transmission, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be saved. And compared with monitoring the PDCCH only in one time slot, monitoring the PDCCH in one time slot interval can improve the scheduling flexibility of the network equipment.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a method for PDCCH monitoring, where the method may include: the terminal equipment receives third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating that the PDCCH is not monitored in at least one time slot; receiving downlink control information DCI from the network equipment, wherein the DCI indicates that data is transmitted in a time slot x; when the time slot x is within the at least one time slot, the terminal device determines that the PDCCH can be monitored in a third time domain position; wherein the third time domain position is the time slot x; or the third time domain position is a time slot x + 1; or the third time domain position comprises slot x-y1 through slot x + y 2; or the third time domain position comprises time slot x through time slot x + y 3; or the third time domain position comprises slot x + y4 through slot x + y 5; or the third time domain position comprises time slot x-y6 through time slot x; wherein y1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and y6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

By the method, under the condition that the network equipment indicates to skip the PDCCH monitoring at some positions, the terminal equipment increases some other positions for monitoring the PDCCH based on the position needing data transmission, so that more opportunities for monitoring the PDCCH can be obtained while the power consumption of the terminal equipment is saved, and the network equipment can obtain more opportunities for scheduling the terminal equipment, thereby increasing the scheduling flexibility of the network equipment.

In a fourth aspect, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device, and the communication apparatus has a function of implementing the terminal device in the first aspect or each possible design example of the first aspect. 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 a possible design, the structure of the communication apparatus includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit, and these units may perform corresponding functions of the terminal device in the first aspect or each possible design example of the first aspect, for which specific reference is made to detailed descriptions in method examples, which are not described herein again.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver and a processor, and optionally a memory, in its structure, the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data and is configured to perform communication interaction with other devices in the communication system, and the processor is configured to support the communication apparatus to perform corresponding functions of the terminal device in the first aspect or each possible design example of the first aspect. The memory is coupled to the processor and retains program instructions and data necessary for the communication device.

In a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device, and the communication apparatus has a function of implementing the network device in the second aspect or each possible design example of the second aspect. 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 a possible design, the structure of the communication apparatus includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit, and these units may execute the corresponding functions of the network device in the second aspect or each possible design example of the second aspect, specifically refer to the detailed description in the method example, which is not described herein again.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver and a processor, and optionally a memory, in its structure, the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data and to perform communication interaction with other devices in the communication system, and the processor is configured to support the communication apparatus to perform corresponding functions of the network device in the second aspect or each possible design example of the second aspect. The memory is coupled to the processor and retains program instructions and data necessary for the communication device.

In a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device, and the communication apparatus has a function of implementing the terminal device in the third aspect or each possible design example of the third aspect. 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 a possible design, the structure of the communication apparatus includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit, and these units may execute corresponding functions of the terminal device in the third aspect or each possible design example of the third aspect, for which specific reference is made to detailed description in the method example, which is not described herein again.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus includes a transceiver and a processor, and optionally a memory, the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data and is configured to perform communication interaction with other devices in the communication system, and the processor is configured to support the communication apparatus to perform corresponding functions of the terminal device in each possible design example of the third aspect or the third aspect. The memory is coupled to the processor and retains program instructions and data necessary for the communication device.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which may include the above-mentioned terminal device and network device.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided in the embodiments of the present application, where the computer-readable storage medium stores program instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method described in the first aspect and any possible design thereof, or the second aspect and any possible design thereof, or the third aspect and any possible design thereof. By way of example, computer readable storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limiting: a computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising computer program code or instructions, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to implement the method described in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, or the second aspect and any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, or the third aspect and any one of the possible designs of the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a chip, including a processor, coupled with a memory, for reading and executing program instructions stored in the memory, so as to enable the chip to implement the method described in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, or the second aspect and any one of the possible designs of the second aspect, or the third aspect and any one of the possible designs of the third aspect.

For each of the fourth to tenth aspects and possible technical effects of each aspect, please refer to the above description of the possible technical effects for each possible solution in the first, second or third aspect, and no repeated description is given here.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system provided in the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a PDCCH monitoring method provided in the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a PDCCH monitoring method provided in the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided by the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 14 is a flowchart of another PDCCH monitoring method provided in the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of another monitored PDCCH provided in the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in the present application;

fig. 17 is a block diagram of a communication device according to the present application.

Detailed Description

The present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for monitoring a PDCCH, which are used for determining how a terminal device monitors the PDCCH. The method and the device are based on the same technical concept, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not repeated.

In the description of the present application, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance, nor order.

In the description of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and a plurality means two or more.

In order to more clearly describe the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, the following describes in detail a PDCCH monitoring method and apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application, where the architecture of the communication system includes a network device and a terminal device, where:

the network device is a device with a wireless transceiving function or a chip that can be set in the network device, and the network device includes but is not limited to: a base station (gbb), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, a transmission point (TRP, or transmission point, TP), etc., and may also be a network Node that constitutes the gbb or the transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a Radio Unit (RU). The CU implements part of the function of the gNB, and the DU implements part of the function of the gNB, for example, the CU implements Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layers, and the DU implements Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, the higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling or PHCP layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the DU + RU under this architecture. It is to be understood that the network device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in the access network RAN, or may be divided into network devices in the core network CN, which is not limited herein.

The terminal equipment may also be referred to as User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart wearable device (smart glasses, smart watch, smart headset, etc.), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and so on. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios. In the present application, a terminal device having a wireless transceiving function and a chip that can be installed in the terminal device are collectively referred to as a terminal device.

It should be noted that the communication system shown in fig. 1 may be, but is not limited to, a fifth Generation (5th Generation, 5G) system, such as a new radio access technology (NR), and optionally, the method of the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to various future communication systems, such as a 6G system or other communication networks.

Currently, in NR, the scheduling manner of a network device is as follows:

when the network device schedules the terminal device to receive downlink data or the network device schedules the terminal device to transmit uplink data, a scheduling information (PDCCH) is first sent, where the scheduling information indicates transmission parameters of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) (including downlink data) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (including uplink data), and the transmission parameters include time domain resource positions of the PDSCH/PUSCH. Specifically, the PDCCH carries Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the network device indicates the time domain resource location through the DCI. For downlink data, the network device may indicate a value K0 through a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field in the DCI, which is used to determine a time slot interval between the PDCCH and the PDSCH; for uplink data, the network device may indicate a K2 value through a TDRA field in DCI, which is used to determine a slot interval between the PDCCH and the PUSCH.

When receiving the DCI, the terminal device needs to perform Blind Detection (BD) on the PDCCH sent to the terminal device in the downlink control region, that is, the terminal device monitors (monitor) a plurality of PDCCH candidate locations (PDCCH candidates) to find out whether there is any PDCCH addressed to the terminal device. A set of candidate locations that the UE needs to blindly detect constitutes a search space (search space). Depending on the configuration of the network device, the terminal device may monitor one (group) or more (group) search spaces to find out whether there is a PDCCH intended for itself. The terminal device needs to monitor the PDCCH position, and may also be referred to as a PDCCH monitoring occasion (PDCCH monitoring occasion).

Based on the above description, the terminal device may frequently monitor the PDCCH, but if there is no service occurring in the terminal device within a period of time, that is, there is no downlink data or uplink data to be transmitted, the terminal device cannot receive the PDCCH sent to the terminal device even though monitoring the PDCCH. The terminal device will still monitor the PDCCH at these times, which may cause power consumption by the terminal device.

In order to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, one solution discussed by the current standard is: the network device may send an indication message to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to skip PDCCH monitoring for a period of time, that is, not monitoring the PDCCH during the indicated period of time. Since a scheme of search space switching has also been standardized in NR unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) of 3GPP Rel-16, another scheme for reducing power consumption of a terminal device may be: the network device may send an indication message to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to switch between the two sets of search spaces configured in advance. For example, the terminal device is configured with 2 groups of search spaces, the monitoring period corresponding to the first search space group is 1 slot (slot), and the monitoring period corresponding to the second search space group is 4 slots (slot). The network device can send an indication message to the terminal device, and the indication terminal device can be switched from monitoring the first search space group to monitoring the second search space group, so that the PDCCH monitoring times are reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal device is saved.

The two schemes can achieve the purpose of reducing PDCCH monitoring. However, in the first scheme, after each instruction, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH for a while, and then returns to a normal monitoring state. In the second scheme, after one instruction and before the next instruction, the terminal device keeps monitoring the indicated search space unchanged. In the above two schemes, physical layer signaling (e.g. DCI) is usually used to carry related indication information, and the more kinds of information that need to be indicated, the more bits are needed. For example, in the first scheme, if the terminal device can only be instructed to "skip 3 slots" and "not skip PDCCH", 1bit is sufficient; if the terminal device is instructed to "skip 2 slots", "skip 4 slots", "skip 6 slots" and "not skip PDCCH", then 2 bits are needed, etc. In the second scheme, if the switching period or the number of switching search spaces (groups) is larger, more bits are needed, which results in larger signaling overhead.

Based on the above, the application provides a method for monitoring the PDCCH, which defines how to monitor the PDCCH, and can reduce signaling overhead as much as possible while maintaining the flexibility of PDCCH monitoring.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, what can implement monitoring or not monitoring the PDCCH may be a terminal device, or a processor in the terminal device, or a chip system, or a functional module, etc.; the implementation instructing the terminal device how to monitor the PDCCH may be a network device, or a processor in the network device, or a chip system, or a functional module, etc. In the following embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring method provided in the present application is described in detail only by taking a terminal device and a network device as examples, but the present application is not limited thereto.

Based on the above description, the method for monitoring PDCCH provided in the embodiment of the present application is applicable to the communication system shown in fig. 1. Referring to fig. 2, a specific process of the method may include:

step 201: the network device determines a DCI, the DCI including a first value k of a first slot difference, wherein the first value k is used to determine a first time domain location; the first value k is a time slot interval between a time slot where the first data is transmitted and a time slot n, and the first data is data scheduled by the DCI.

The first value K may be a value K0 (corresponding to downlink data PDSCH) or a value K2 (corresponding to uplink data PUSCH) indicated by a TDRA field in DCI when the network device schedules data transmission of the terminal device in the prior art. In the present application, the existing multiplexing TDRA field is also used to indicate the first time domain position, that is, to indicate the time when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH next time, so that extra signaling overhead is not required to be introduced.

Exemplarily, the DCI also indicates that there is data transmission in slot n + k, i.e. the first data is transmitted in slot n + k.

Step 202: the network device sends the DCI to the terminal device in time slot n.

Step 203: the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH at the first time domain position.

In an alternative embodiment, when k is not equal to 0, the first time domain position may be time slot n + k. That is, the terminal may monitor the PDCCH in slot n + k. Illustratively, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH during slot n +1 through slot n + k-1. For example, the procedure for monitoring PDCCH as described above can be as shown in fig. 3, and it can be seen in fig. 3 that the terminal device monitors PDCCH only at the position where data transmission is scheduled.

When the terminal device does not transmit and receive signals, the terminal device can close the radio frequency circuit, so that the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced, and the reason that the power consumption can be saved due to the reduction of PDCCH monitoring is also provided. However, each time the terminal device switches between the "no signal transmission and reception" state, power consumption due to the "state switching" occurs. If the monitoring position of the PDCCH is far away from the transmission position of the data, the terminal equipment needs to perform state conversion once near the PDCCH and perform state conversion once again near the data. If the monitoring position of the PDCCH is closer to the transmission position of the data, the terminal equipment only needs to perform state conversion once, and then the two pieces of work can be completed together. Therefore, in this embodiment, the method of monitoring the PDCCH during the data transmission time slot (i.e., monitoring the PDCCH during the time slot n + k) can avoid excessive power consumption caused by state transition.

In yet another alternative embodiment, the first time domain position may be time slot n + k + 1. That is, the terminal device may monitor the PDCCH in time slot n + k + 1. Illustratively, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH in slot n +1 to slot n + k. For example, the above procedure of monitoring the PDCCH may be as shown in fig. 4. Similarly, the monitoring position of the PDCCH and the transmission position of the data can be relatively close, so that excessive power consumption caused by state transition is avoided.

It should be noted that, if in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, the time slot n + k +1 may be an uplink time slot, that is, a part or all of symbols corresponding to the PDCCH monitoring time in the time slot n + k +1 may be uplink symbols, that is, the time slot n + k +1 may not be a legal PDCCH monitoring time. At this time, the first time domain position in the above embodiment may be changed to be the time slot n + k + 1: if the terminal device receives the DCI in the time slot n to indicate that there is data transmission in the time slot n + k, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH at the earliest PDCCH monitoring opportunity after the time slot n + k, that is, the first time domain position is the time slot where the earliest PDCCH monitoring opportunity after the time slot n + k is located at this time.

In specific implementation, when the terminal device determines in a certain manner at what time domain position to monitor the PDCCH, the network device needs to determine in the same manner at what time domain position to transmit the PDCCH. In the above two embodiments, the network device can only transmit the PDCCH in a specific time slot, rather than transmitting the PDCCH in any time slot, which may limit the scheduling flexibility of the network device to some extent. In order to reduce the limitation on the scheduling of the network device, the first time domain position for monitoring the PDCCH may be extended from one slot to one slot interval (or referred to as one time window).

Based on this, in another alternative embodiment, the first time domain location may include time slots n + k-m1 through time slots n + k + m 2; or the first time domain location may include time slots n + k through n + k + m 3; or the first time domain location may include time slots n + k + m4 through n + k + m 5; or the first time domain location may include time slot n + k-m6 through time slot n + k; wherein m1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and m6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, assuming that the network device schedules data transmission in a time slot n +3, that is, k value included in DCI sent by the network device to the terminal device in the time slot n is 3, the terminal device may monitor PDCCH in time slots n +2 to n + 4.

In this example, since the time slot n +2 to the time slot n +4 are still near the position of data transmission (i.e., the time slot n +3), power consumption caused by excessive state transition of the terminal device can still be avoided to a certain extent, and thus, the flexibility of network device scheduling can be improved, that is, the network device can select any time slot of the time slot n +2 to the time slot n +4 to transmit the PDCCH.

In the above embodiment, by reasonably configuring the time slot interval included in the first time domain position, if the PDCCH is still monitored in the time slot after the time slot n + k, the possible retransmission scheduling may also be monitored in this time period. In this case, the network device may complete the scheduling of the data retransmission as soon as possible, and does not need to wait for a later time to schedule the retransmission, thereby reducing the delay of data transmission.

It should be noted that, in the examples shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4, the PDCCH is monitored at the first time domain position of the terminal device, and the position of the next PDCCH to be monitored is obtained from the DCI included in the monitored PDCCH. In one scenario, the terminal device may not receive the PDCCH, i.e. does not receive scheduling information, i.e. does not have scheduling, at the first time domain location.

In one example, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain location, the terminal device may monitor the PDCCH according to the first search space group after the first time domain location; the terminal equipment is configured with a group of search spaces, and the group of search spaces is a first search space group; or the terminal equipment is configured with two groups of search spaces, wherein the two groups of search spaces comprise a first search space group and a second search space group; or the terminal device is configured with at least three groups of search spaces, wherein the at least three groups of search spaces comprise a first search space group; the first search space group includes a first time domain location.

In a specific embodiment, the monitoring period of the first search space group may be greater than the monitoring period of the second search space group. Of course, in implementation, the monitoring period of the first search space group may also be less than or equal to the monitoring period of the second search space group, which is not limited in this application.

Optionally, one search space group may include one or more search spaces, and when one search space group includes a plurality of search spaces, detection periods of the plurality of search spaces may be the same, may not be completely the same, or may be completely different, which is not limited in this application.

For example, it is assumed that the terminal device is configured to monitor the PDCCH every time slot, that is, a set of search spaces configured for the terminal includes one search space, and a monitoring period of the search space is one time slot. As shown in fig. 6, the terminal device receives a piece of scheduling information (i.e., PDCCH) in the time slot n, and schedules data of the time slot n +3, so that the terminal device monitors the PDCCH in the time slot n +3, and does not monitor the PDCCH in the time slot n +1 and the time slot n + 2. However, if the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH in the time slot n +3 (i.e., does not receive the PDCCH, i.e., does not monitor the PDCCH sent to the terminal device), the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the configured search space group, i.e., according to the time slots one by one. If the terminal device schedules data in the time slot n +9 until the terminal device monitors the PDCCH in the time slot n +7, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH in the time slot n +8, but monitors the PDCCH in the time slot n + 9.

For another example, suppose that the terminal device is configured with two groups of search spaces, where the first search space group includes one search space, and the monitoring period of the search space is 5 slots, that is, the terminal device is configured with PDCCH monitoring every 5 slots; the second search space group includes a search space, and the monitoring period of the search space is 1 slot, that is, the terminal device is configured to monitor the PDCCH every 1 slot. In one embodiment, fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a monitored PDCCH with a first time domain position indicated by DCI as one time slot. As shown in fig. 7, when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the second search space group, that is, when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to each slot, when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the first time domain position indicated in the DCI, and when the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH transmitted to the terminal device, for example, when k indicated in the DCI in fig. 7 is 3, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH transmitted to the terminal device in the first time domain position slot n +3, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the first search space group, that is, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to every 5 slots until the PDCCH is monitored again, for example, the PDCCH is monitored in the slot n +18 in fig. 7, and the terminal device switches to the second search space group and monitors the PDCCH according to the position indicated by the DCI in the PDCCH. In another embodiment, fig. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of a monitored PDCCH of which the first time domain position indicated by the DCI includes one slot interval. As shown in fig. 8, when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the second search space group, that is, when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to each time slot, when the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the first time domain position indicated in the DCI, and when the PDCCH transmitted to the terminal device is not monitored, for example, when k indicated by the DCI in fig. 8 is 3, the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH transmitted to the terminal device in the first time domain position, that is, in the time slot n +2 to the time slot n +4, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the first search space group, that is, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to every 5 time slots, until the PDCCH is monitored again, for example, the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +19 in fig. 8, the terminal device switches to the second search space group again, and monitors the PDCCH according to the position indicated by the DCI in the PDCCH.

It should be noted that, in fig. 7, the positions of 3 monitored PDCCHs after the time slot n +3 are all PDCCH monitoring occasions determined according to the configuration of the first search space group. Wherein, the time slots n +4 to n +7 are time slots determined according to the configuration of the first search space group and do not include a PDCCH monitoring occasion.

Similarly, the positions of the 3 monitored PDCCHs after the time slot n +4 in fig. 8 are all PDCCH monitoring occasions determined according to the configuration of the first search space group. Wherein, the time slots n +5 to n +8 are time slots determined according to the configuration of the first search space group and do not include a PDCCH monitoring occasion.

In general, if the terminal device does not receive the scheduling information, possibly because there is no data to be transmitted temporarily, the terminal device should avoid monitoring the PDCCH (because even if the PDCCH is monitored, no data is received). However, in the example shown in fig. 6, when the terminal device does not receive the scheduling information, it needs to monitor the PDCCH in many time slots (i.e., each time slot). The examples in fig. 7 and 8 may be optimization based on the example in fig. 6, and by configuring the search space group, when the terminal device does not receive the scheduling information, the time slot for monitoring the PDCCH is reduced, so that the power consumption of the terminal device may be better saved.

In the present application, the search space group may be implemented by replacing the search space group with a search space, and the present application is not limited to this.

In another example, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, the terminal device may determine the first time domain symbol and the first frequency domain position according to the configuration information of the search space, and monitor the PDCCH at the first time domain symbol and the first frequency domain position.

Specifically, the terminal device may determine a time slot in which the PDCCH needs to be monitored according to a preconfigured rule, and then determine a first time domain symbol and a first frequency domain position in the time slot in which the PDCCH is monitored according to the configuration information of the search space.

For example, when the terminal device configures a set of search spaces, the set of search spaces includes one search space, and the monitoring period of the search space is 5 slots, that is, the terminal device is configured to monitor the PDCCH every 5 slots. However, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH in the first time domain, the terminal device may monitor the PDCCH according to a preconfigured rule and according to each time slot, and meanwhile, monitor some PDCCHs is dynamically skipped on the basis, and the PDCCH is not monitored according to the configured search space. Specifically, the terminal device may determine, according to the configuration information of the configured search space, which Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols (that is, determined according to a parameter monitoring symbol within a time slot that needs to monitor the PDCCH) need to be monitored, and which frequency domain locations (that is, associated control resource set (core) configurations) need to be monitored, that is, a first time domain symbol and a first frequency domain location within the time slot that monitors the PDCCH are determined.

By the method, the position of the PDCCH can be monitored by multiplexing the existing DCI indication, so that the PDCCH can be monitored definitely, and the signaling overhead can be reduced while the power consumption of the terminal is saved.

In an alternative embodiment, for more flexible adaptation to traffic changes, a limited layer 1(layer1, L1) signaling overhead may be introduced. Specifically, the L1 signaling is physical layer signaling.

In one embodiment, the DCI may further include first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether to monitor the PDCCH in a first time slot, the first time slot is a time slot from the time slot n to a second time domain position, and the second time domain position is a previous time domain position of the first time domain position.

For example, when the first time domain position is time slot n + k, the second time domain position is time slot n + k-1; as another example, when the first time domain location includes time slots n + k-m1 through n + k + m2, the second time domain location is time slot n + k-m 1-1. Of course, there are many other possible examples of the first time domain position, and further there are many other possible examples of the second time domain position, which are not listed here.

Illustratively, the first indication information may be represented by one 1bit (bit), for example, may be 1 or 0. For example, when the first indication information is 1, it may indicate that the PDCCH is not monitored in the first time slot, that is, the PDCCH is monitored only according to the first time domain position indicated by k in the DCI; when the first indication information is 0, it may indicate that the PDCCH is monitored in the first time slot, that is, the PDCCH may be monitored in each time slot from the time slot n to the first time domain position.

Of course, in specific implementation, when the first indication information is 0, the PDCCH may be monitored in the first time slot; when the first indication information is 1, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the first slot. This is not limited in this application.

For example, assuming that the first indication information is 1, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the first slot; when the first indication information is 0, it indicates that the PDCCH is monitored in the first slot. In combination with a situation that the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position (i.e., does not monitor the PDCCH sent to itself), in an embodiment, fig. 9 shows an exemplary diagram of a process that the terminal device monitors the PDCCH when the first time domain position indicated by k in the DCI is a time slot. As shown in fig. 9, when k is 3, the corresponding first time domain position when the PDCCH is received in the time slot n is a time slot n +3, and when the first indication information in the time slot n is 1, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the time slot 1 and the time slot 2 (that is, the second time domain position is the time slot 2); as shown in fig. 9, the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +3, and if k indicated by the DCI is 3, the corresponding first time domain position is the time slot n +6, and when the first indication information in the time slot n +3 is 0, it indicates that the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +4 and the time slot n +5 (at this time, the time slot n +5 is used as the second time domain position). When the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH sent to the terminal device in the time slot n +6, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH every 5 time slots, that is, switches from monitoring the PDCCH according to the second search space group (monitoring the PDCCH every time slot) to monitoring the PDCCH according to the first search space group (monitoring the PDCCH every 5 time slots), until the PDCCH is monitored again, for example, if the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +16 in fig. 9, the terminal device switches to the second search space group again, and monitors the PDCCH according to the first indication information and the indication of the DCI, the principle is the same, and detailed description is omitted here. In another embodiment, fig. 10 shows an exemplary diagram of a process in which a terminal device monitors a PDCCH when a first time domain position indicated by k in DCI includes one slot interval. As shown in fig. 10, when k is 3, the corresponding first time domain position includes a time slot n +2 to a time slot n +4 when the PDCCH is received in the time slot n, and when the first indication information in the time slot n is 1, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the time slot 1 (that is, the second time domain position is the time slot 1); as shown in fig. 10, if the PDCCH sent to the terminal device is not monitored in the time slot n +2 to the time slot n +4, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to every 5 time slots, that is, switches from monitoring the PDCCH according to the second search space group (monitoring the PDCCH every time slot) to monitoring the PDCCH according to the first search space group (monitoring the PDCCH every 5 time slots), until the PDCCH is monitored again, for example, if the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +19 in fig. 10, the terminal device switches to the second search space group again. At this time, assuming that k indicated by the DCI is 3, the corresponding first time domain position includes time slot n +21 to time slot 23, and when the first indication information in time slot n +19 is 0, it indicates that the PDCCH is monitored in time slot n +20 (in this case, time slot n +20 is referred to as a second time domain position).

It should be noted that, in fig. 9, the positions of 2 monitored PDCCHs after the time slot n +6 are all PDCCH monitoring occasions determined according to the configuration of the first search space group. Wherein, the time slots n +7 to n +10 are time slots which do not include the PDCCH monitoring occasion and are determined according to the configuration of the first search space group.

Similarly, the positions of the 3 monitored PDCCHs after the time slot n +4 in fig. 10 are all PDCCH monitoring occasions determined according to the configuration of the first search space group. Wherein, the time slots n +5 to n +8 are time slots which are determined according to the configuration of the first search space group and do not include a PDCCH monitoring occasion.

In another embodiment, the DCI may further include second indication information, where the second indication information indicates that the PDCCH is monitored at the first time domain location when the first condition is satisfied, and indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored at the first time domain location when the second indication information satisfies the second condition.

Illustratively, the second indication information may be represented by a 1bit, for example, may be 1 or 0. For example, when the second indication information is 1 (that is, the first condition is satisfied), it may be indicated that the PDCCH is monitored in the first time domain position, that is, only the PDCCH is monitored according to the first time domain position indicated by k in the DCI; when the second indication information is 0 (i.e., the second condition is satisfied), it may be indicated that the PDCCH is not monitored at the first time domain position. At this time, the terminal device may directly monitor the PDCCH according to the first search space group, where for the explanation of the first search space group, reference may be made to the description of the case where the PDCCH is not received at the first time domain location in the foregoing example, and details are not described here.

Of course, in specific implementation, when the second indication information is 0, the PDCCH may be monitored in the first time domain; when the second indication information is 1, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the first time domain position. This is not limited in this application.

For example, if the second indication information is 1, the PDCCH is monitored in the first time domain; when the first indication information is 0, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the first time domain position, and in combination with a situation that the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH in the first time domain position, fig. 11 shows an exemplary diagram of a process in which the terminal device monitors the PDCCH when the first time domain position indicated by k in the DCI is one time slot. As shown in fig. 11, when the combined search k is 3, the corresponding first time domain position when the PDCCH is received in the time slot n is the time slot n +3, and when the second indication information in the time slot n is 1, it indicates that the PDCCH is monitored in the first time domain position, that is, the time slot n + 3; the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +3, and if k indicated by the DCI is 2, the corresponding first time domain position is the time slot n +5, and when the second indication information in the time slot n +3 is 0, it indicates that the PDCCH is not monitored in the time slot n + 5. As shown in fig. 11, when the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH sent to the terminal device in the time slot n +6, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH every 5 time slots, that is, switches from monitoring the PDCCH according to the second search space group (monitoring the PDCCH every 5 time slots) to monitoring the PDCCH again until monitoring the PDCCH again, for example, if the PDCCH is monitored in the time slot n +16 in fig. 11, the terminal device switches to the second search space group again and monitors the PDCCH according to the second indication information and the indication of the DCI, which has the same principle and is not described in detail herein.

In this embodiment, if the network device determines that the currently transmitted data is already the last part of data, the last meaningless PDCCH monitoring may be avoided by the second indication information being 0.

Currently, in the issue of power saving (UE power saving) of 3GPP Rel-16, support for cross-slot scheduling is introduced. By introducing a minimum scheduling slot interval, namely a K0 minimum value (K0min) and/or a K2 minimum value (K2min), the range of values of K0 and K2 that can be indicated by the network device is limited. Taking K0 as an example, the larger the minimum value of K0, the slower the terminal device can decode DCI. For example, when the minimum value of K0 is equal to 3, it means that K0 must be greater than or equal to 3, i.e., there will be at least 3 slots (slots) between the PDCCH and its scheduled PDSCH. At this time, after receiving the DCI in the time slot n, the terminal device does not need to complete the blind detection on the DCI too quickly, because the terminal device can perform data transceiving at the position of scheduled data only by completing the blind detection on the DCI before the time slot n +3 under the condition that it is determined that there is scheduling for itself.

Based on this, when the terminal device is configured with the minimum scheduling time slot interval, and when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, the terminal device monitors that the time slot interval between the time domain position of the PDCCH and the first time domain position is not less than the first value next time. The first value may be K0min or K2min currently in effect, or a predefined value (e.g., 1 timeslot, or 2 timeslots, or 3 timeslots, etc.), etc.

That is, since the terminal device may reduce the PDCCH decoding speed, and decoding is completed only after K0min or K2min, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, there is a delay (delay) in the effective time for switching to another monitoring mode (for example, switching to search space monitoring of a larger monitoring period), that is, the time slot interval between the time domain position where the terminal device monitors the PDCCH next time and the first time domain position is not less than the first value. See in particular fig. 12.

In an exemplary embodiment, when the terminal device is configured with a minimum scheduled time slot interval and the minimum scheduled time slot interval is greater than 0, m1 is less than or equal to k minus the minimum scheduled time slot interval. That is, if the first time domain position includes the time slot n + K-m1 to the time slot n + K + m2, it is necessary to restrict the start position of the time slot interval to be after the time slot n + K0min (or K2min), i.e., m1 ═ K-K0min or m1 ═ K-K2min, as shown in fig. 13, for example.

In an optional implementation manner, the configuration of the minimum scheduling slot interval by the terminal device may specifically be: the terminal device is configured with minimumschdulingoffsetk 0 (or minimumschdulingoffsetk 2). The value of K0 (or K2) indicated when the terminal device is scheduled at this time is not less than the value of K0min (or K2min) currently in effect. When the network device configures minimumscheduling offset K0 (or minimumscheduling offset K2) for the terminal device, 1 or 2 available K0min (or K2min) may be configured, and the "minimum available scheduling interval indication" field in the DCI indicates whether the configured available K0min (or K2min) is valid or not, or which of the currently valid K0min (or K2min) is.

By adopting the method for monitoring the PDCCH provided by the embodiment of the application, the network equipment reuses k in the existing DCI to indicate the terminal equipment to monitor the first time domain position of the PDCCH, so that higher signaling overhead can be avoided while PDCCH monitoring is reduced, namely, the signaling overhead is reduced while the power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced.

The embodiment of the present application further provides another PDCCH monitoring method, which is applicable to the communication system shown in fig. 1. Referring to fig. 14, a specific process of the method may include:

step 1401: the terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating that the PDCCH is not monitored in at least one time slot.

Wherein at least one time slot is also one or more time slots. For example, when the at least one time slot is a plurality of time slots, the plurality of time slots may be continuous or discrete, which is not limited in this application.

Specifically, the third indication information may be PDCCH skipping (skiping) information, and the non-monitoring of the PDCCH in at least one slot may be PDCCH monitoring skipping at least one slot.

Step 1402: the terminal device receives DCI from the network device indicating that data is transmitted in slot x.

Step 1403: when the time slot x is within the at least one time slot, the terminal device determines to monitor the PDCCH at a third time domain location.

Wherein, the third time domain position is a time slot x; or the third time domain position is time slot x + 1; or the third time domain position comprises time slots x-y1 through time slot x + y 2; or the third time domain position comprises time slot x through time slot x + y 3; or the third time domain position comprises slot x + y4 through slot x + y 5; or the third time domain position comprises time slot x-y6 through time slot x; wherein y1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and y6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

Briefly, the method may be: on the basis of skipping the time slot for monitoring the PDCCH indicated by the network device, the terminal device increases some positions (i.e. third time domain positions) for monitoring the PDCCH based on the position of the scheduled data transmission, and also increases some positions for sending the PDCCH for the network device.

For example, as shown in (a) in fig. 15, the terminal device is instructed not to monitor the PDCCH in the 3 rd to 6 th slots. But the terminal device is scheduled data transmission in the fourth slot (i.e., slot x), the terminal device may monitor the PDCCH in the 4 th slot, as shown in (b) of fig. 15. Therefore, on one hand, the terminal device already needs to perform data transmission in the 4 th time slot, and some extra PDCCH monitoring is performed here without causing a large increase in power consumption, and on the other hand, the network device may be provided with extra opportunities for possibly sending scheduling DCI.

It should be noted that in (b) of fig. 15, the 4 th slot of the PDCCH may be replaced by a slot interval, and the slot interval may be any slot interval that matches the third time domain position, for example, the 4 th slot to the 5th slot. The present application is not shown in detail here.

By adopting the PDCCH monitoring method, under the condition that the network equipment indicates to skip PDCCH monitoring at some positions, the terminal equipment can increase some other positions for monitoring the PDCCH based on the position needing data transmission, so that more opportunities for monitoring the PDCCH can be obtained while the power consumption of the terminal equipment is saved, and the network equipment can obtain more opportunities for scheduling the terminal equipment, thereby increasing the scheduling flexibility of the network equipment.

Based on the above embodiments, a communication device is further provided in the embodiments of the present application, and referring to fig. 16, a communication device 1600 may include a transceiver unit 1601 and a processing unit 1602. The transceiver 1601 is configured to receive information (message or data) or transmit information (message or data) from the communication device 1600, and the processing unit 1602 is configured to control and manage operations of the communication device 1600. The processing unit 1602 may also control the steps performed by the transceiving unit 1601.

Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 1600 may specifically be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, a processor in the terminal device, or a chip system, or a functional module; alternatively, the communication apparatus 1600 may specifically be the network device in the foregoing embodiment, a processor of the network device, or a chip system, or a functional module.

In an embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1600 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment described in fig. 2, the method may specifically include:

the transceiver unit 1601 is configured to receive DCI from a network device at a time slot n, where the DCI includes a first value k of a first time slot difference, and the k is used to determine a first time domain position; the k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data are transmitted and the time slot n, and the first data are data scheduled by the DCI; the processing unit 1602 is configured to monitor the PDCCH in the first time domain position.

In an alternative embodiment, the first time domain position may be time slot n + k, where k is not equal to 0.

Specifically, the processing unit 1602 may also be configured to not monitor the PDCCH in the time slot n +1 to the time slot n + k-1.

In another alternative embodiment, the first time domain position may be a time slot n + k + 1.

In yet another alternative embodiment, the first time domain location may include time slots n + k-m1 through n + k + m 2; or the first time domain location may include time slot n + k through time slot n + k + m 3; or the first time domain location may include time slots n + k + m4 through n + k + m 5; or the first time domain location may include time slot n + k-m6 through time slot n + k; wherein m1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and m6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

In an exemplary embodiment, the transceiver unit 1601 is further configured to receive a PDCCH, and when the transceiver unit 1601 does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, the processing unit 1602 is further configured to: monitoring the PDCCH according to a first search space group after the first time domain position; wherein the terminal device is configured with a set of search spaces, the set of search spaces being the first set of search spaces; or the terminal device is configured with two groups of search spaces, wherein the two groups of search spaces comprise the first search space group and the second search space group; the first set of search spaces includes the first time domain location.

In another exemplary embodiment, the transceiver unit 1601 is further configured to receive a PDCCH, and when the transceiver unit 1601 does not receive the PDCCH in the first time domain position, the processing unit 1602 is further configured to: determining a first time domain symbol and a first frequency domain position according to configuration information of a search space; monitoring the PDCCH on the first time domain symbol and the first frequency domain location.

In one example, the DCI may further include first indication information indicating whether to monitor the PDCCH in a first time slot, where the first time slot is a time slot from the time slot n to a second time domain position, and the second time domain position is a previous time domain position to the first time domain position.

In another example, the DCI may further include second indication information indicating that the PDCCH is monitored at the first time domain location.

In a specific embodiment, when the terminal device is configured with a minimum scheduling time slot interval, and the transceiving unit 1601 does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain position, the processing unit 1602 may monitor the time slot interval between the time domain position of the PDCCH and the first time domain position next time and is not less than a first value.

Illustratively, when the terminal device is configured with a minimum scheduled time slot interval and the minimum scheduled time slot interval is greater than 0, the m1 is less than or equal to the k minus the minimum scheduled time slot interval.

In another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1600 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the embodiment described in fig. 2, the method may specifically include:

the processing unit 1602 is configured to determine DCI, where the DCI includes a first value k of a first slot difference, where k is used to determine a first time domain position; the k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data are transmitted and a time slot n, and the first data are data scheduled by the DCI; the transceiver 1601 is configured to send the DCI to a terminal device in the time slot n.

In a specific embodiment, when the terminal device is configured with a minimum scheduling slot interval and the minimum scheduling slot interval is greater than 0, the m1 is less than or equal to the difference between k and the minimum scheduling slot interval.

In another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1600 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment described in fig. 14, the method may specifically include:

the transceiver unit 1601 is configured to receive third indication information from a network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the PDCCH is not monitored in at least one timeslot; and receiving DCI from the network device, the DCI indicating that data is transmitted in slot x; the processing unit 1602, configured to determine to monitor the PDCCH at a third time domain location when the time slot x is within the at least one time slot; wherein the third time domain position is the time slot x; or the third time domain position is a time slot x + 1; or the third time domain position comprises slot x-y1 through slot x + y 2; or the third time domain position comprises time slot x through time slot x + y 3; or the third time domain position comprises slot x + y4 through slot x + y 5; or the third time domain position comprises time slot x-y6 through time slot x; wherein y1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, y5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and y6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

It should be noted that the division of the unit in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. The functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a communication device, and referring to fig. 17, the communication device 1700 may include a transceiver 1701 and a processor 1702. Optionally, the communication device 1700 may further include a memory 1703. The memory 1703 may be disposed inside the communication device 1700, or may be disposed outside the communication device 1700. The processor 1702 may control the transceiver 1701 to receive and transmit data, and the like.

Specifically, the processor 1702 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and an NP. The processor 1702 may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

Wherein the transceiver 1701, the processor 1702 and the memory 1703 are connected to each other. Optionally, the transceiver 1701, the processor 1702 and the memory 1703 are connected to each other by a bus 1704; the bus 1704 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 17, but this does not mean only one bus or one type of bus.

In an alternative embodiment, the memory 1703 is used to store programs and the like. In particular, the program may include program code comprising computer operating instructions. The memory 1703 may include RAM, and may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as one or more disk memories. The processor 1702 executes the application program stored in the memory 1703 to implement the above functions, thereby implementing the functions of the communication apparatus 1700.

Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 1700 may be a terminal device in the above embodiments; but also the network device in the above embodiment.

In one embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1700 implements the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the transceiver 1701 may implement the transceiving operation performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2; the processor 1702 may perform operations other than transceiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 2. The detailed description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 can be referred to the above description, and will not be described in detail here.

In another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1700 implements the functions of the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the transceiver 1701 may implement the transceiving operation performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 2; processor 1702 may perform operations other than transceiving operations performed by a network device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 2. The detailed description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 can be referred to the above description, and will not be described in detail here.

In yet another embodiment, when the communication apparatus 1700 implements the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 14, the transceiver 1701 may implement the transceiving operation performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 14; the processor 1702 may implement operations other than transceiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 14. The detailed description of the embodiment shown in fig. 14 can be referred to the above description, and will not be described in detail here.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the present application provides a communication system, which may include the terminal device and the network device related to the foregoing embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the method for PDCCH monitoring provided in the foregoing method embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, where the computer program product is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer may implement the method for PDCCH monitoring provided in the foregoing method embodiment.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor, where the processor is coupled with a memory, and is configured to invoke a program in the memory, so that the chip implements the method for monitoring the PDCCH provided in the above method embodiment.

The embodiment of the application further provides a chip, wherein the chip is coupled with the memory, and the chip is used for realizing the method for monitoring the PDCCH provided by the embodiment of the method.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the terminal equipment receives Downlink Control Information (DCI) from the network equipment in a time slot n, wherein the DCI comprises a first value k of a first time slot difference, and the k is used for determining a first time domain position; the k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data are transmitted and the time slot n, and the first data are data scheduled by the DCI;

and the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH at the first time domain position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time domain location is a time slot n + k, k not equal to 0.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

the terminal device does not monitor the PDCCH from the time slot n +1 to the time slot n + k-1.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time domain location is a time slot n + k + 1.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time domain location comprises a time slot n + k-m1 through a time slot n + k + m 2; or the first time domain location comprises time slot n + k through time slot n + k + m 3; or the first time domain location comprises time slots n + k + m4 through n + k + m 5; or the first time domain location comprises time slot n + k-m6 through time slot n + k; wherein m1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and m6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain location, the method further comprises:

the terminal equipment monitors PDCCH according to a first search space group after the first time domain position;

wherein the terminal device is configured with a set of search spaces, the set of search spaces being the first set of search spaces; or the terminal device is configured with two groups of search spaces, wherein the two groups of search spaces comprise the first search space group and the second search space group;

the first set of search spaces includes the first time domain location.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain location, the method further comprises:

the terminal equipment determines a first time domain symbol and a first frequency domain position according to the configuration information of the search space;

and the terminal equipment monitors the PDCCH on the first time domain symbol and the first frequency domain position.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the DCI further comprises first indication information indicating whether to monitor the PDCCH in a first time slot, the first time slot being a time slot from the time slot n to a second time domain position, the second time domain position being a previous time domain position to the first time domain position.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the DCI further comprises second indication information indicating monitoring of the PDCCH in the first time domain location.

10. The method of any of claims 1-9, wherein when the terminal device is configured with a minimum scheduling slot interval, when the terminal device does not receive the PDCCH at the first time domain location, a slot interval between a time domain location at which the terminal device next monitors the PDCCH and the first time domain location is not less than a first value.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein m1 is less than or equal to the k minus the minimum scheduled time slot interval when the terminal device is configured with the minimum scheduled time slot interval and the minimum scheduled time slot interval is greater than 0.

12. A method for monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the network equipment determines Downlink Control Information (DCI), wherein the DCI comprises a first value k of a first time slot difference, and the k is used for determining a first time domain position; the k is a time slot interval between a time slot where first data are transmitted and a time slot n, and the first data are data scheduled by the DCI;

and the network equipment sends the DCI to terminal equipment in the time slot n.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first time domain position is a time slot n + k, k not equal to 0.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first time domain location is a time slot n + k + 1.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first time domain position comprises time slots n + k-m1 through n + k + m 2; or the first time domain location comprises time slot n + k through time slot n + k + m 3; or the first time domain location comprises time slots n + k + m4 through n + k + m 5; or the first time domain location comprises time slot n + k-m6 through time slot n + k; wherein m1 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m2 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m3 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m4 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, m5 is an integer greater than or equal to 0, and m6 is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

16. The method of any one of claims 12-15, wherein the DCI further comprises first indication information indicating whether to monitor the PDCCH in a first time slot, the first time slot being a time slot from the time slot n to a second time domain position, the second time domain position being a time domain position previous to the first time domain position.

17. The method of any one of claims 12-16, wherein the DCI further comprises second indication information indicating monitoring of the PDCCH at the first time domain location.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein m1 is less than or equal to the k minus the minimum scheduled slot interval when the terminal device is configured with the minimum scheduled slot interval and the minimum scheduled slot interval is greater than 0.

19. A terminal device comprising a memory, a processor, and a transceiver, wherein:

the memory is to store computer instructions;

the transceiver is used for receiving and transmitting information;

the processor is coupled to the memory for invoking computer instructions in the memory to cause the terminal device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-11.

20. A network device comprising a memory, a processor, and a transceiver, wherein:

the memory is to store computer instructions;

the transceiver is used for receiving and transmitting information;

the processor, coupled with the memory, to invoke the computer instructions in the memory to cause the network device to perform the method of any of claims 12-18.

21. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or the method of any one of claims 12 to 18 when invoked by the computer.

22. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to, when run on the computer, perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 28.

23. A chip coupled to a memory for reading and executing program instructions stored in the memory to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or to implement the method of any one of claims 12 to 18.