CN115150911A

CN115150911A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115150911A
Application number: CN202110349761.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄雯雯; 铁晓磊; 张战战
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-31
Filing date: 2021-03-31
Publication date: 2022-10-04
Also published as: WO2022206363A1

Abstract

A communication method and device, the method includes: at the activation time of the first DRX period, the UE works at a first SSSG; switching, by the first SSSG, a UE to a second SSSG, before a time for listening for WUS from a start of an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle to an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle. By adopting the method and the device, the UE can be switched among different SSSG.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

At present, after a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mechanism is introduced, a User Equipment (UE) monitors a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) according to a configuration of a search space set (SS set) at a DRX activation time; in the DRX inactive time, the UE does not monitor the PDCCH any more, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE.

In order to further save the power consumption of the UE, a scheme of dynamic Search Space Set Group (SSSG) handover is introduced. The scheme comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps of dividing a plurality of SS sets pre-configured to the UE into a plurality of SSSG, wherein each SSSG comprises one or a plurality of SS sets. The UE may switch between different SSSGs. For example, in one possible implementation, the UE monitors the PDCCH in accordance with the SS set included in the SSSG1 before receiving the handover command. Subsequently, the UE receives the handover command, and the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1, and switches to monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set included in the SSSG2. Before the SSSG is introduced, the UE needs to monitor the PDCCH according to all configured SS sets on the active bandwidth part (BWP) at the active time of DRX, and after the SSSG handover scheme is adopted, the UE only needs to monitor the PDCCH according to part of SS sets, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE. How to switch between different SSSGs is a technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present application.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which are used for switching among different SSSG.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, and the method includes: at the activation time of the first DRX period, the terminal device works at a first SSSG; switching, by the first SSSG, the terminal device to a second SSSG, before a time for WUS within an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle from a start of the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle. Optionally, the second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring a WUS, and the terminal device monitors the WUS according to the search space set during the inactive time of the first DRX.

By adopting the scheme of the first aspect, the terminal device can switch to the second SSSG during the inactive time of the DRX cycle, and the second SSSG can include a search space for monitoring the WUS, so that the UE can monitor the WUS during the inactive time of the DRX cycle, and the WUS can implement its function, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE.

In one possible design, the second SSSG is protocol defined, or network device configured.

In the above design, the second SSSG may be defined by a protocol or configured by a network device, and may be considered as a default SSSG configured in advance. When the switching condition is met, the terminal equipment is directly switched to the default second SSSG, the terminal equipment does not need to make judgment, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment is saved.

In one possible design, the second SSSG includes a set of search spaces used only for listening to the WUS.

In the above design, the second SSSG may be a specific SSSG that includes only a search space set for listening for WUSs and no longer includes other types of search space sets.

In one possible design, the method further includes: the terminal equipment receives configuration information from network equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring at least one SSSG; the terminal device determines the second SSSG, the determined second SSSG belonging to the at least one SSSG.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, and beneficial effects of the second aspect can be seen from the first aspect, including: the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment works in a first search space set group SSSG at the activation time of a first Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle; the network device determines that a terminal device is switched from the first SSSG to a second SSSG before a time for listening for a wake-up signal WUS from a beginning of an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle to the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle.

In one possible design, the method further includes: the second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring WUS, and the network device sends the WUS according to the search space set in the inactive time of the first DRX.

In one possible design, the second SSSG is protocol defined or determined by the network device.

In one possible design, the second SSSG includes a set of search spaces for listening WUSs only.

In one possible design, the method further includes: the network equipment sends configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring at least one SSSG, and the second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives configuration information of a search space set from network equipment and used for monitoring wake-up signals WUS, wherein the configuration information of the search space set comprises configuration information used for determining a search space set group SSSG, or the configuration information of the search space set does not comprise configuration information used for determining the SSSG; and in the inactive time of a first Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle, the terminal works in any SSSG, and the terminal equipment monitors the WUS according to the search space set.

Through the scheme of the third aspect, the SSSG associated with the search space set for monitoring the WUS is not limited, and during the inactive time of the DRX cycle, no matter whether the UE operates in any SSSG, the UE can monitor the WUS according to the search space set for monitoring the WUS, so that the UE can monitor the WUS during the inactive time, and the power consumption of the UE is saved.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the terminal equipment determines an SSSG to be switched to;

the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, wherein the type of the SSSG comprises an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring occasion or a candidate PDCCH exists in the SSSG; and the terminal equipment is switched to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG.

By adopting the scheme of the fourth aspect, the UE determines that the time required for switching the SSSG is different according to the type of the switched SSSG, so that the effective time delay can meet the requirements of different scenes, and the system performance is improved.

In one possible design, when a first condition is met, the terminal device determines an SSSG to be handed over to, where the time required to handover to the SSSG is an interval between the time when the terminal device meets the first condition and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

wherein the first condition comprises: the terminal equipment receives downlink control information DCI from network equipment, wherein the DCI is used for indicating the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG; or the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the search space set in the SSSG before switching for a first time; or the terminal device monitors the DCI according to the search space set in the SSSG before the handover.

In one possible design, the determining, by the terminal device, a time required to handover to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG includes: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, the first condition is that the terminal equipment receives DCI from network equipment, and the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the DCI; or

The type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the terminal device determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the corresponding relation between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, or the time required for switching to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or configured by network equipment.

In one possible design, the determining, by the terminal device, a time required to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI includes: the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the time unit offset fed back by the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to the PDSCH; or the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the scheduled PUSCH.

In one possible design, the switching to the SSSG by the terminal device according to the time required to switch to the SSSG includes: upon or after the time required to switch to the SSSG is met, the terminal device switching to the SSSG regardless of whether the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement; or, when the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied or later, and the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgement, the terminal device switches to the SSSG.

In one possible design, the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a bandwidth part BWP activated when the terminal device satisfies the first condition.

In one possible design, the time required to switch to the SSSG is determined based on the time parameter; alternatively, the time required to switch to the SSSG is determined according to the larger of the time parameter and a minimum scheduling offset value for scheduling PDSCH indicated by the network device.

In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, and beneficial effects of the fifth aspect can be seen in the above fourth aspect, including: the method comprises the steps that network equipment determines a search space set group SSSG to which terminal equipment is to be switched; the network equipment determines the time required for the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, wherein the type of the SSSG comprises an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring occasion or candidate PDCCH exists in the SSSG; and the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is switched to the SSSG according to the time required by the terminal equipment to be switched to the SSSG.

In one possible design, when a second condition is met, the network device determines an SSSG to which the terminal device is to be handed over, where the time required for handing over to the SSSG is an interval between a time when the terminal device meets the second condition and a time when the terminal device is handed over to the SSSG;

wherein the second condition comprises: the network equipment sends downlink control information DCI to the terminal equipment, wherein the DCI is used for indicating the terminal equipment to be switched to the SSSG; or the network equipment determines that the time length for the terminal equipment to monitor the PDCCH according to the search space set in the SSSG before switching reaches a first time length; or, the network device sends the DCI through the SSSG before the handover.

In one possible design, the determining, by the network device, a time required for the terminal device to handover to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG includes: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, the second condition is that the network equipment sends DCI to the terminal equipment, and the network equipment determines the time required by the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the DCI; or the type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the network device determines, according to a correspondence between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, a time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, where the time parameter is used to determine the time for switching to the SSSG; or the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or determined by a network device.

In one possible design, the determining, by the network device, a time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI includes: the network equipment determines the time required by the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the time unit offset fed back by the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to the PDSCH; or the network equipment determines the time required for the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the scheduled PUSCH.

In one possible design, the determining, by the network device, that the terminal device is to be handed over to the SSSG according to a time required for the terminal device to be handed over to the SSSG includes: upon or after the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met, the network device determining that the terminal device switches to the SSSG regardless of whether HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive determination or a negative acknowledgement; or, when the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met or after the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met, and when HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive acknowledgement, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG.

In one possible design, the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a bandwidth portion BWP activated by the terminal device when the network device satisfies the second condition.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means to implement any of the first, third, or fourth aspects above.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for implementing the second aspect, or the fifth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive a signal from a communication apparatus other than the communication apparatus and transmit the signal to the processor or send the signal from the processor to the communication apparatus other than the communication apparatus, and the processor is configured to implement the method in the implementation manner of any one of the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect by using logic circuits or executing code instructions.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from a communication apparatus other than the communication apparatus and transmit the signals to the processor or transmit the signals from the processor to the communication apparatus other than the communication apparatus, and the processor is configured to implement the method in the implementation manner of the second aspect or the fifth aspect by using logic circuits or executing code instructions.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a system comprising the apparatus of the sixth or eighth aspect, and the apparatus of the seventh or ninth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed, implement the method in an implementation of any of the preceding first to fifth aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, implement the method in the implementation of any of the preceding first to fifth aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided circuitry comprising a processor and further comprising a memory for implementing the method of any of the preceding aspects described in the first to fifth aspects. The circuitry may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2a, fig. 2b, fig. 2c and fig. 2d are schematic diagrams of a protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a DRX mechanism according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a DRX mechanism for UE downlink traffic according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a PDCCH-based WUS provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a DCI-based PDCCH skipping scheme provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8, fig. 9 and fig. 10 are schematic diagrams of dynamic SSSG switching provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 and fig. 12 are schematic diagrams of a scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of SSSG handover according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 15 is a flowchart of a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of an effective time delay of SSSG handover according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a flowchart of a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic diagram of stopping an effective time delay of PDCCH monitoring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 1 is a network architecture suitable for use in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, a terminal device, such as terminal 1301 or terminal 1302, may access a wireless network to obtain services of an external network (e.g., the internet) through the wireless network or to communicate with other devices through the wireless network, such as may communicate with other terminal devices. The wireless network includes a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a Core Network (CN), where the RNA is used to access the terminal device to the wireless network, and the CN is used to manage the terminal device and provide a gateway for communicating with an external network.

The terminal device, RAN and CN referred to in fig. 1 are explained in detail below, respectively.

1. Terminal device

Terminal devices include devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user and may include, for example, handheld devices having wireless connection capabilities or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal device may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a device-to-device communication (D2D) terminal device, a vehicle-to-all (V2X) terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (IoT) terminal device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber station), a mobile station (mobile station), a remote station (remote station), an access point (access point, AP), a remote terminal (remote terminal), an access terminal (access terminal), a user terminal (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), or a user equipment (user device).

2.RAN (radio access network)

One or more RAN devices, such as RAN device 1101, RAN device 1102, may be included in the RAN. The interface between the RAN device and the terminal device may be a Uu interface (or referred to as an air interface). Of course, in future communications, the names of these interfaces may be unchanged or replaced by other names, which are not limited in this application.

RAN equipment, which may also be referred to as network equipment or a base station, is a node or equipment that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network. RAN equipment includes, for example but not limited to: a new generation base station (gNB) in a 5G communication system, an evolved Node B (eNB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), a Transmission Point (TP), and the like.

(1) Protocol layer structure

Communication between RAN devices and terminal devices follows the third Generation partnership project (3) ^rd 3 GPP) organization, for example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include functions of protocol layers such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a physical layer; the user plane protocol layer structure may include functions of a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, a physical layer, and other protocol layers, and in a possible implementation, the PDCP layer may further include a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer.

Taking data transmission between a network device and a terminal device as an example, as shown in fig. 2a, the data transmission needs to pass through a user plane protocol layer, such as an SDAP layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, and a physical layer, where the SDAP layer, the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the physical layer may also be referred to as an access layer. The data transmission method is divided into transmission and reception according to the data transmission direction, and each layer is divided into a transmission part and a reception part. For the following data transmission example, referring to fig. 2a, a schematic diagram of transmission of downlink data between layers is shown, where a downward arrow in fig. 2a represents data transmission, and an upward arrow represents data reception. After the PDCP layer obtains data from the upper layer, the PDCP layer transmits the data to the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and the MAC layer generates a transport block and performs radio transmission through the physical layer. Data is correspondingly encapsulated in each layer, data received by a layer from an upper layer of the layer is regarded as a Service Data Unit (SDU) of the layer, and the PDU is formed after layer encapsulation and then transmitted to a next layer.

Exemplarily, according to fig. 2a, it can also be seen that the terminal device further has an application layer and a non-access layer; the application layer may be configured to provide services to an application program installed in the terminal device, for example, downlink data received by the terminal device may be sequentially transmitted to the application layer by the physical layer, and then provided to the application program by the application layer; for another example, the application layer may obtain data generated by the application program, and transmit the data to the physical layer in turn for transmission to other communication devices. The non-access stratum may be used to forward user data, such as to forward uplink data received from the application layer to the SDAP layer or to forward downlink data received from the SDAP layer to the application layer.

(2) Centralized Units (CUs) and Distributed Units (DUs)

In the embodiment of the present application, the RAN device may include a CU and a DU, and a plurality of DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. As an example, the interface between a CU and a DU may be referred to as an F1 interface, where a Control Plane (CP) interface may be F1-C and a User Plane (UP) interface may be F1-U. CUs and DUs can be divided according to the protocol layers of the wireless network: for example, as shown in fig. 2b, the functions of the PDCP layer and the above protocol layers are set in the CU, and the functions of the PDCP layer and the below protocol layers (e.g., the RLC layer and the MAC layer, etc.) are set in the DU; as shown in fig. 2c, the functions of the upper protocol layer of the PDCP layer are set in the CU, and the functions of the lower protocol layer and the PDCP layer are set in the DU.

Illustratively, the functionality of a CU may be implemented by one entity, or by different entities. For example, as shown in fig. 2d, the functionality of the CU may be further split, i.e. the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, respectively a control plane CU entity (i.e. CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (i.e. CU-UP entity). The CU-CP entity and CU-UP entity may be coupled to the DU to collectively perform the functions of the RAN device.

3. CN

One or more CN devices, e.g., CN device 120, may be included in the CN. Taking the 5G communication system as an example, the CN may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a Session Management Function (SMF) network element, a User Plane Function (UPF) network element, a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element, a Unified Data Management (UDM) network element, and an Application Function (AF) network element.

It should be understood that the number of each device in the communication system shown in fig. 1 is merely an illustration, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and in practical applications, the communication system may further include more terminal devices, more RAN devices, and may further include other devices.

The network architecture shown in fig. 1 may be applied to communication systems of various Radio Access Technologies (RATs), for example, a 4G (or referred to as LTE) communication system, a 5G (or referred to as new radio, NR) communication system, a transition system between the LTE communication system and the 5G communication system, the transition system may also be referred to as a 4.5G communication system, and of course, the transition system may also be a future communication system, for example, a 6G communication system. The network architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art knows that along with the evolution of the communication network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The following first explains the related technical features related to the embodiments of the present application. It should be noted that these explanations are for the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the examples of the present application, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the protection claimed in the present application.

1. Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring

One of the roles of the PDCCH is to carry scheduling information of uplink or downlink data, and the UE may periodically monitor the PDCCH to acquire the scheduling information. If the PDCCH is detected to have scheduling information, for the downlink scheduling information, the UE may determine, according to the scheduling information, a resource location of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) to receive data carried on the PDSCH, and for the uplink scheduling information, the UE determines, according to the scheduling information, a resource location of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) to send the data carried on the PUSCH.

In one design, a base station may configure at least one search space set (SS set) for a UE. The UE performs PDCCH monitoring based on the SS set. Specifically, the UE performs PDCCH monitoring according to the parameter of the SS set.

For example, the configuration information of each SS set includes at least one of the following parameters:

-an SS set identity for identifying an SS set;

-a control resource set (CORESET) identity associated with the SS set; wherein, a core set represents a time-frequency resource set for carrying PDCCH, and a core set is composed of several continuous or discontinuous Resource Blocks (RBs) in frequency domain and 1 or more continuous symbols in time domain. Specifically, the UE may perform PDCCH monitoring on the CORESET associated with the SS set according to parameters of the SS set, such as a monitoring period, an offset, or a monitoring pattern.

PDCCH monitoring period Ks and offset Os, where Ks and Os may take the unit of slot (slot) in NR.

An intra-slot PDCCH monitoring pattern (pattern), or intra-slot PDCCH monitoring symbol, for indicating the starting symbol of the SS set-associated CORESET in a certain slot for monitoring the PDCCH.

Duration Ts, indicating the number of consecutive time slots in which this SS set is present. Wherein Ts is smaller than Ks, and the value of Ts may be 1 slot.

Aggregation level and the number of PDCCH candidates (PDCCH candidates) corresponding to each aggregation level.

An SS set type indication indicating that the SS set is a common search space set (CSS set), which may be referred to as CSS for short, or a user-specific search space set (UE set), which may be referred to as USS for short. If the type of the SS set is the CSS, the base station may also configure a DCI format (format) to be monitored at the position of the PDCCH candidate, for example, DCI format 0_, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 2_, DCI format 2_1, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, DCI format 2_4, DCI format 2_5, or DCI format 2 _6. If the type of the SS set is USS, the base station may also allocate a DCI format to be monitored at the position of the PDCCH candidate, and may be, for example, DCI format 0_0, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_2, DCI format 3_0, or DCI format 3 _1.

In one possible implementation, the UE may monitor the period, the offset, and the offset according to the PDCCH in the above parameters

A PDCCH monitoring pattern in the timeslot, etc., to determine a PDCCH Monitoring Occasion (MO).

For example, the PDCCH monitoring period in a certain SS set parameter is 4 slots, the offset is 0, the duration is 1 slot, the PDCCH monitoring pattern includes the first 3 symbols in a slot, and the number of symbols of the CORESET associated with the SS set is 1 symbol. The UE performs PDCCH monitoring on the CORESET associated with the SS set with 4 slots as a PDCCH monitoring period. In each PDCCH monitoring period, the PDCCH is monitored according to the following scheme: since the offset is 0, it may be determined that PDCCH monitoring is performed in the first slot of each PDCCH monitoring period, and the duration is 1 slot, it may be determined that PDCCH monitoring is performed only in the first slot of each PDCCH monitoring period. Since the PDCCH monitoring pattern is the first 3 symbols in a time slot, the UE may have 3 monitoring occasions in each PDCCH monitoring period, that is, perform PDCCH monitoring on the first 3 symbols of the first time slot. The PDCCH monitoring occasion determined according to the SS set parameter described above can be seen in the black filled part in fig. 3.

It can be understood that, if the PDCCH monitoring occasions are dense, for example, the PDCCH monitoring period is 1 time slot, the UE monitors the PDCCH in each time slot, and once there is data transmission, the base station can quickly schedule the UE, which is beneficial to reducing the transmission delay of the service, but the UE frequently monitors the PDCCH, which may cause waste of the UE power consumption. If the PDCCH monitoring occasions are sparse, for example, the PDCCH monitoring period is long, the power consumption of the UE may be reduced, but the transmission delay of the service may be increased.

2. Method for saving UE power consumption

1. One commonly used way to save UE power consumption is to use continuous mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX), which may be referred to as DRX for short. The DRX mechanism may control the behavior of the UE to monitor the PDCCH. If there is no DRX mechanism, the UE will monitor PDCCH all the time, and detect whether there is indication information from the base station. However, in reality, in many cases, the UE does not always perform effective information interaction with the base station, and does not always perform uplink or download service, nor does the UE always transmit voice data during a call. It is obviously power-consuming if the UE continuously monitors the PDCCH when there is no data interaction between the UE and the base station. Therefore, on the premise of ensuring effective data transmission, a mechanism designed to save the power of the UE is DRX. When the DRX is configured, the UE can periodically enter a sleep mode at some time, the UE does not need to continuously monitor the PDCCH, and the UE wakes up from the sleep mode when monitoring is needed, so that the aim of saving power of the UE can be fulfilled. Although this has some effect on the delay of the data transmission. However, if the delay is controlled within an acceptable user experience, it makes sense to perform DRX to save power consumption.

In the DRX mechanism, the UE may periodically monitor the PDCCH according to the DRX cycle configured by the base station. As shown in fig. 4, the DRX cycle is composed of two periods of active time (active time) and inactive time (non-active time). And the UE is in an awakening state in the activation time and monitors the PDCCH. And the UE is in a dormant state in the inactive time and does not monitor the PDCCH so as to reduce the power consumption. Here, the sleep state is only for monitoring the PDCCH, and means that the UE does not monitor the PDCCH. The UE in the dormant state is still in the RRC connected state, and can communicate with the base station over the Uu air interface.

It should be noted that not all PDCCHs are monitored by the UE during the inactive time of the DRX cycle. In the inactive time of the DRX cycle, a PDCCH which the UE does not monitor includes at least a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a cancellation-Indication radio network temporary identifier (CI-RNTI), a configuration-scheduling radio network temporary identifier (CS-RNTI), a preemption-Indication radio network temporary identifier (INT-RNTI), a slot format Indication radio network temporary identifier (SFI-RNTI), a Semi-permanent activated CSI-radio network temporary identifier (SP-CSI-RNTI), a PUCCH power control radio network temporary identifier (PUCCH power control-radio network temporary identifier, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI), a PUSCH power control radio network temporary identifier (TPC-PUSCH-RNTI), an SRS power control radio network temporary identifier (SRS power control-radio network temporary identifier, TPC-SRS-RNTI), or a PDCCH indicating that a radio network temporary identifier (availability-radio network temporary identifier, AI-RNTI) or the like is scrambled. That is, monitoring of only the PDCCH scrambled by the RNTI is constrained by the DRX mechanism, and monitoring of the PDCCH scrambled by other RNTIs is not constrained by the DRX mechanism.

In one possible implementation, a discontinuous reception activation timer (drx-onDurationTimer) may be set, and the UE is at activation time when the drx-onDurationTimer is running. In order to reduce the transmission delay of data, the following timers are also proposed in DRX:

(1) Discontinuous reception Inactivity Timer (drx-Inactivity Timer)

In most cases, after a certain PDCCH monitoring occasion is scheduled to receive or transmit data, the UE is likely to continue scheduling in the next several slots (slots) to complete receiving or transmitting a large amount of data. If the UE enters the dormant state, the UE waits for the next DRX period and monitors the PDCCH acquisition resource scheduling to receive or send subsequent data. This increases the latency of data transmission. To reduce the delay due to this reason, the DRX mechanism introduces a timer: drx-InactivatyTimer. When the UE monitors and receives a PDCCH for scheduling new data, the UE starts (or restarts) a timer drx-inactivity timer. The UE will continue to monitor the PDCCH during the drx-inactivity timer run until the timer expires. It can be seen that, the introduction of drx-inactivity timer can ensure that the UE is at the activation time during the drx-inactivity timer running, and receiving the scheduling of the next base station is equivalent to extending the "activation time". If the UE continuously receives the PDCCH for scheduling new data, the UE may continuously restart the DRX-inactivity timer, which may cause the UE to be in the "active time" for the entire DRX cycle, i.e., the "active time" may extend to the entire DRX cycle.

In one possible design, in the DRX mechanism, the base station may also send a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to the UE during DRX-Inactivity Timer operation to terminate the timing of the DRX-Inactivity Timer early. And after the UE receives the MAC CE signaling, the timing of the residual drx-Inactivity Timer is ended, so that the power consumption is saved. The MAC CE signaling termination drx-Inactivity Timer may be considered as a way to bring the UE into a sleep state in advance, so that the UE power consumption may be saved, but the scheduling delay may be increased.

(2) A discontinuous reception round trip Timer (HARQ-RTT Timer, hybrid automatic repeat request-round trip time, HARQ-RTT) and a discontinuous reception Retransmission Timer (drx-Retransmission Timer)

In the NR system, after a base station configures a retransmission mechanism for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for a UE, one possible HARQ operation mode is: and the base station determines whether to retransmit the downlink data according to the HARQ feedback. The HARQ feedback may be a Negative Acknowledgement (NACK) or an Acknowledgement (ACK). For example, if the HARQ feedback of the downlink data a is NACK, the base station retransmits the downlink data a after receiving the NACK, and issues a resource for scheduling retransmission of the downlink data a on the PDCCH.

When the HARQ feedback of the downlink data a sent by the UE to the base station is NACK, the UE needs to receive a PDCCH that is sent by the base station and used for scheduling retransmission of the downlink data a. In order to reduce the transmission delay of Retransmission data, a drx-HARQ-RTT Timer and a drx-Retransmission Timer are introduced. Illustratively, the UE starts a drx-HARQ-RTT Timer when transmitting HARQ feedback to the base station using PUCCH resources. And when the drx-HARQ-RTT Timer is over time and the UE fails to decode data, namely the HARQ feedback sent by the UE is NACK, starting the drx-Retransmission Timer. During the operation period of the DRX-Retransmission Timer, the UE is in the active time and monitors the PDCCH, thereby avoiding the UE waiting for the "active time" of the next DRX cycle to monitor the PDCCH and reducing the transmission delay of the Retransmission data.

It should be noted that the above describes drx-HARQ-RTT Timer and drx-Retransmission Timer by taking downlink data as an example. In fact, for downlink traffic and uplink traffic, drx-HARQ-RTT Timer and drx-Retransmission Timer may be set, respectively. The downlink service timer may be referred to as drx-HARQ-RTT TimerDL and drx-Retransmission TimerDL. The working process can be as follows: and when the UE sends the HARQ feedback of the downlink service, starting drx-HARQ-RTT TimerDL, and when the decoding of the downlink service fails, namely the sent HARQ feedback is NACK, starting drx-Retransmission TimerDL, wherein the UE is in the activation time during the operation of the drx-Retransmission TimerDL. The timers for the uplink traffic are called drx-HARQ-RTT timerll and drx-Retransmission timerll. The working process can be as follows: after the UE sends the PUSCH, drx-HARQ-RTT TimerUL is started, drx-HARQ-RTT TimerUL is overtime, drx-Retransmission TimrUL is started, and the UE is in the activation time during the operation period of the drx-Retransmission TimrUL.

Taking downlink traffic as an example, as shown in fig. 5, a processing flow of the UE in the DRX mechanism includes: the UE monitors the PDCCH during the running period of the drx on Duration timer, and if the PDCCH for scheduling initial transmission is not detected during the running period of the drx on Duration timer and the drx-InactivityTimer is not started, the UE enters a sleep state (non-active time) after the drx on Duration timer is finished, and does not monitor the PDCCH; if the UE detects that the PDCCH schedules a newly transmitted PDSCH, the drx-inactivity timer is started or restarted, namely, the drx-inactivity timer is started (or restarted) once every time when the UE has initially transmitted data to be scheduled, the UE is always positioned in the active time until the timer is overtime, and the UE monitors the PDCCH during the operation of the drx-inactivity timer. The UE receives the PDSCH according to the received scheduling information, feeds back HARQ information, starts drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL of the HARQ process, after the drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL is finished, if the UE does not correctly receive the PDSCH, namely the fed-back HARQ information is NACK, the drx-RecransmissionTimerDL is started, the UE monitors the PDCCH in the drx-RecransmissionTimerDL, and when the UE detects the DCI for scheduling the PDSCH, the UE can terminate the drx-RecransmissionTimerDL no matter whether the drx-RecransmissionTimerDL is overtime or not.

As can be seen from the above description, when the UE is in the active time, i.e. the awake state, at least one of the following timers is running: drx-onDurationTimer, drx-InactivationTimer, drx-RecransmissionTimerDL, or drx-RecransmissionTimerUL, and the like. For ease of understanding, the functions of the above timers are described, and reference is made to table 1 below.

TABLE 1

It should be noted that the activation time of the DRX mechanism may include at least one of the following run-time periods in addition to the several timers mentioned above:

a running period of a random access Contention resolution Timer (ra-Contention resolution Timer) for collision resolution during a random access procedure;

during the operation of a message B response window (msgB-ResponseWindow), the message B response window is used for 2-step (2-step) random access collision resolution;

a waiting period after the UE transmits a Scheduling Request (SR) on the PUCCH;

the UE has not received a PDCCH period indicating a new transmission after successfully receiving a Random Access Response (RAR) for a non-contention based random access.

2. To further save the power consumption of the UE, a Wake Up Signal (WUS) is introduced on the basis of the DRX mechanism, i.e., before an activation Timer (DRX-on duration Timer) for DRX starts, the base station may send a WUS to the UE to inform the UE whether to start the DRX-on duration Timer.

As shown in fig. 6, the UE listens for WUS for a time window (which may be referred to as a WUS time window) before the drx-on Duration Timer starts. If monitoring the WUS indicating awakening, the UE starts an activation Timer drx-on duration Timer to perform normal operation in the activation Timer, including monitoring a PDCCH; when the UE detects the WUS indicating no wake-up, the UE does not start a DRX-on duration Timer, which means that the UE does not monitor the PDCCH in the next DRX period, thereby achieving the purpose of saving energy consumption.

The WUS time window is described as follows: the UE may determine the WUS time window based on a minimum time offset (minimum offset) and a PS-offset. Wherein the minimum time offset is a time length from an end position of the WUS time window to a start position of the drx-on Duration Timer, and the PS-offset is a time length from the start position of the WUS time window to the start position of the drx-on Duration Timer, the time length being transmitted from the base station to the UE.

The WUS is carried by DCI with format (format) 2-6, and the DCI can be scrambled by using power saving-radio network temporary identifier (PS-RNTI). The DCI of DCI formats 2-6 may carry multiple WUSs, each WUS may occupy one field (which takes at least 1 bit). One WUS may indicate whether one or more UEs are awake. In other words, multiple UEs may multiplex the same WUS.

3. DCI-based PDCCH skipping scheme (DCI based PDCCH skipping scheme)

The scheme is also in a research stage, and the core idea is that the base station instructs the UE to stop monitoring the PDCCH in the next time period through the PDCCH, so that the power consumption of the UE is saved. The period of not detecting the PDCCH may be several slots, several milliseconds, or a time corresponding to the remaining inactivity Timer. The scheme can lead the UE to sleep for a short time, not only achieves the purpose of saving power consumption, but also reduces the influence on time delay as much as possible. As shown in fig. 7, when the UE receives an indication not to monitor the PDCCH during the active time of the DRX cycle, the UE may not monitor the PDCCH any more during a certain time period. After the time period is over, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH.

Optionally, in the mechanism, the base station may configure, through RRC signaling, a plurality of candidate time periods for not monitoring the PDCCH to the UE device, and then indicate, through the PDCCH, one time period of the candidate time periods.

It should be noted that, in the DCI-based PDCCH skipping scheme, in the time period in which the UE does not monitor the PDCCH, the PDCCH which is not monitored by the UE includes a PDCCH scrambled by at least one of the following RNTIs: C-RNTI, modulation and coding scheme cell radio network temporary identifier (MCS-C-RNTI), CS-RNTI, SP-CSI-RNTI, CI-RNTI, INT-RNTI, SFI-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI or AI-RNTI.

4. Dynamic Search Space Set Group (SSSG) handover

As described above, the base station may configure multiple SS sets for one BWP, and may divide the SS sets in one BWP into multiple groups. As shown in fig. 8, taking the division into 2 groups as an example, the 2 groups are SSSG1 and SSSG2, respectively. The UE may switch between different SSSGs. For example, the UE first monitors the PDCCH using the SSSG1. For example, SSSG1 includes SS set1 and SS set2, and the UE may monitor the PDCCH according to parameters configured by SS set1 and SS set 2. And subsequently receiving a switching command, switching from the SSSG1 to the SSSG2, stopping monitoring the PDCCH by the UE according to the SS set in the SSSG1, and subsequently starting monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set of the SSSG2. For example, SSSG2 includes SS set3 and SS set4. Then when the UE receives the handover command, it will stop monitoring the PDCCH according to the parameters configured in SS set1 and SS set2, and start monitoring the PDCCH according to the parameters configured in SS set3 and SS set4.

For example, two sets of SSSGs may be switched, and the SSSG may be dynamically switched as follows, as shown in fig. 9. The following switching schemes are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application.

(1) Explicitly indicated by the bit field of the DCI. For example, if the bit field of the DCI indicates 0, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG0 and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1, i.e., the SSSG1 switches to the SSSG0. Or, when the bit field indicates 1, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1, and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG0, that is, the SSSG0 switches to the SSSG1.

(2) SSSG automatically switched over a period of time

Mode 1: when the UE starts to monitor the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1, a timer is started at the same time. When the timer expires, the UE switches to the SSSG0, that is, the UE starts monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG0 and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1. The length of the timer may be configured by the base station to the UE.

Mode 2: when the UE operates in SSSG1, i.e. monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1, for a duration (duration), the UE switches to SSSG0, i.e. the UE starts monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0 and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1. Wherein, the period of time can be configured to the UE through the base station.

(3) And the UE detects the DCI with any format according to the SS set in the SSSG0, and the UE monitors the SS set of the PDCCH and switches from the SSSG0 to the SSSG1.

In the above, the SS set in BWP is divided into 2 groups for example, and is not intended to limit the present application. SS sets in BWP may be divided into other numbers of packets besides 2. For example, as shown in fig. 10, SS sets in BWP may be divided into 3 groups, which are SSSG0, SSSG1, and SSSG2, and the UE may switch between the 3 SSSGs. In fig. 10, the bidirectional handover between SSSG is illustrated as an example, for example, the handover between SSSG0 and SSSG1 may be from SSSG0 to SSSG1, or from SSSG1 to SSSG0, which is not limited to the embodiment of the present application. The SSSG switching in the embodiment of the present application may also be unidirectional switching, for example, only switching from the SSSG0 to the SSSG1 is supported, or only switching from the SSSG1 to the SSSG0 is supported.

It should be noted that, according to the protocols of NR version 15 (release 15, R15) and version (release 16, R16) defined by the 3GPP organization, if SSSGs is configured, each SSSG at least contains one SS set. The UE may determine the PDCCH monitoring occasion according to the configured parameters of the SS set. Therefore, for SSSG handover, no matter which SSSG the UE is handed over to, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG, with the difference that the PDCCH monitoring occasions are different in sparsity.

5. In order to further reduce the monitoring PDCCH, the power consumption of the UE is saved. Currently, there are two enhancements, both to support SSSG handover and skip PDCCH listening (PDCCH skiping).

Enhancement scheme 1: in the scheme of dynamic SSSG handover in scheme 4 above, one of the SSSGs is set to have no PDCCH monitoring occasion or no candidate PDCCH or no SS set, which is hereinafter referred to as an empty SSSG. For example, the SSSG0 in fig. 9 is set as an empty SSSG, or the SSSG1 in fig. 10 is set as an empty SSSG. When the UE switches to the empty SSSG, the UE can stop monitoring the PDCCH until the UE switches to other SSSG.

As shown in fig. 10, taking the example that an SS set is divided into 3 SSSGs, and SSSG2 in the 3 SSSGs is an empty SSSG, and there is no PDCCH monitoring occasion, the scheme for switching between different SSSGs according to the indication field in the DCI may be: as shown in table 2, when the DCI indicates that the field is 00, the UE is switched from SSSG1 to SSSG0, that is, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0 and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1. When the DCI indicates that the field is 01, the UE is switched from SSG0 to SSSG1, that is, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1 and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG0. When the DCI indication field is 10, the UE switches to SSSG2, the SSSG2 is an empty SSSG, a PDCCH monitoring opportunity does not exist, and the UE does not monitor the PDCCH any more, so that energy consumption is saved. It should be noted that, when the DCI indication field is 10, the UE may be handed over from SSSG1 to SSSG2, or may be handed over from SSSG0 to SSSG2, etc., without limitation.

TABLE 2

DCI indication field	SSSG handover
		00	Switching from SSSG1 to SSSG0
01	Switching from SSSG0 to SSSG1
		10	Switching to SSSG2, the SSSG2 being empty SSSG

And the enhancement scheme II comprises the following steps: the dynamic SSSG switching scheme in scheme 4 above is combined with the DCI based PDCCH skipping scheme in scheme 3 above. The base station may indicate, through the DCI indication field, whether the UE performs SSSG handover or PDCCH skip.

In one design, as shown in table 3, taking the example of dividing the SS set in BWP into SSSG0 and SSSG1, when the DCI indication field is 00, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0, and the SS set in SSSG1 does not monitor the PDCCH, i.e., the UE is switched from SSSG1 to SSSG0. Or when the DCI indication field is 01, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG1, and does not monitor the PDCCH on the SS set in the SSSG0, that is, the UE is switched from the SSSG0 to the SSSG1. When the DCI indication field is 10, the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH within the time period of time 1, that is, the UE starts timing after receiving the DCI and satisfying the effect delay, and does not monitor the PDCCH for the duration of time 1. When the DCI indication field is 10, the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH within the time of duration 2, that is, the UE starts timing after receiving the DCI and satisfying the effective delay, and does not monitor the PDCCH for duration 2. The time domain unit may be a slot, a symbol, or the like, and is not limited.

TABLE 3

For the above-described scheme of saving power consumption of the UE, the above-described schemes may be used alone or in combination. The applicant finds through research that combining the PDCCH-based WUS scheme in the above scheme 2 with the dynamic SSSG handover scheme in the above scheme 4 may have the following problems:

as can be seen from the foregoing description, WUS is carried in DCI of formats 2 to 6, each SSSG includes at least one SS set when the SSSG is not empty, and when each SS set is configured, the base station configures a format for monitoring DCI at a candidate PDCCH location. If the SSSG in which the UE operates does not include the SS set for monitoring the DCI formats 2 to 6 or the SSSG is empty during the inactive time of the DRX cycle, the UE cannot monitor the WUS, and the UE starts a DRX-on Duration Timer according to the configured DRX cycle, and the WUS loses its effect, which may cause waste of power consumption of the UE.

For example, in one scenario, as shown in fig. 11, the UE operates in SSSG0 at the active time of the DRX cycle, which SSSG0 includes SS sets for listening to DCI formats 2-6. And at the activation time of the DRX period, the UE receives a switching command and is switched to SSSG1 by SSSG0, wherein SS sets for monitoring DCI formats 2-6 are not included in the SSSG1. Subsequently, in the inactive time of the DRX cycle, the UE is also always operating at SSSG1. But since the sssset for listening to DCI formats 2-6 is not included in the SSSG1, it will result in the UE being unable to listen to WUS within the WUS time window.

In another scenario, as shown in fig. 12, similar to the above, at the active time of the DRX cycle, the UE operates in SSSG0, which includes SS sets for listening to WUSs in SSSG0. At the active time of the DRX cycle, the UE switches to SSSG1, except that the SSSG1 is an empty SSSG, i.e. there is no PDCCH monitoring occasion in the SSSG. The time when the UE works on the SSSG1 comprises a WUS time window, so that the UE cannot monitor the WUS in the WUS time window.

Based on the foregoing, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method includes: at the active time of the first DRX cycle, the UE operates at the first SSSG. The UE is handed off from a first SSSG to a second SSSG before a WUS time window from an inactivity time of a first DRX cycle to an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle. Optionally, the second SSSG may include an SS set for listening to WUSs. Therefore, the UE can monitor the WUS in the WUS time window, the WUS can realize the function, and the energy consumption of the UE is saved. For this communication method, reference may be made specifically to the description of the first embodiment below.

Example one

As shown in fig. 13, a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention at least includes:

step 1300: the base station sends RRC signaling to the UE, wherein the RRC signaling is used for configuring at least one of the following parameters:

1. SS set parameters are configured for the BWP of the serving cell, and reference is made to the foregoing for the configured SS set parameters. The serving cell may include at least one BWP, and the base station may configure SS sets for one or more BWPs of the at least one BWP. The base station may activate one BWP of the at least one BWP, referred to as an active BWP. The UE and base station may transmit data or signaling, etc., on the active BWP. In the embodiment of the present application, BWP may refer to downlink BWP, where UE and base station perform downlink transmission through PDSCH or PDCCH.

2. The SSSG configuration information in BWP, i.e. to which SSSG SS sets in BWP belong. Optionally, the parameters of the configured SS set may further include: a search space group identification list (search space group ID list) is used to indicate to which SSSG the configured SS set belongs. For example, the search space group identity list may contain an identity of the SSSG configured to the SS set.

It should be noted that, without limitation, an SS set may be configured as belonging to one SSSG, may be configured as belonging to a plurality of SSSGs, may be configured as not belonging to any SSSG, and so on. For example, when an SS set is not configured with a parameter search space group identity list, it may indicate that the SS set does not belong to any SSSG.

The foregoing introduces that at least one SS set can be configured for BWP by configuring SS set parameters for BWP of the serving cell. Subsequently, by searching the spatial group identity list for the SS set configuration parameter, the SS set can be configured to different SSSGs. For example, the serving cell of the UE includes 4 BWPs, and SS sets may be configured for the BWPs. One BWP, for example, BWP0 of the 4 BWPs is configured with 4 SS sets, and the 4 SS sets may be divided into different SSSGs by configuring a search space group identifier list for the 4 SS sets. For example, if the search space group configured with SS set0 to SS set2 in the 4 SS sets is identified as 0, and the search space group configured with SS set3 is identified as 1, the SS set of BWP0 may be divided into 2 SSSGs, where SSSG0 includes SS set0, SS set1, and SS set2, and SSSG1 includes SS set3.

Similarly, an SSSG may be an empty SSSG, or a non-empty SSSG. If a PDCCH monitoring occasion or a candidate PDCCH does not exist in one SSSG, the SSSG is called an empty SSSG, otherwise, the SSSG is called a non-empty SSSG, the non-empty SSSG at least includes one SS set, and parameters of the SS set define the candidate PDCCH and the PDCCH monitoring occasion.

The empty SSSG includes, but is not limited to, the following cases:

case 1: an SSSG Identity (ID) x is defined, but the SSSG identity in the search space group identity list of any SS set is not configured as the SSSG identity x. I.e. there is no SS set in the SSSG identified as x.

Case 2: an SSSG identity x is defined, and SSSG identities in a search space group identity list of one or more SS sets are configured as the SSSG identity x. But the PDCCH monitoring occasion does not exist in the one or more SS sets, the SSSGx is called as an empty SSSG. In one design, when a PDCCH monitoring period and offset of a certain SS set are configured to be null (null), the duration of monitoring the PDCCH is configured to be 0, or PDCCH monitoring patterns in a slot are configured to be all 0, etc., then the SS set does not have a PDCCH monitoring occasion.

3. Configuring parameters for listening to the WUS, the parameters including at least one of:

-PS-RNTI for scrambling DCI carrying WUS.

SS set of DCI format 2-6, SS set of DCI format 2_6, i.e. SS set that can be used for transmission of WUS.

The configured SS set may include a DCI format in its parameters.

-payload size (payload size) of DCI format 2 _6.

WUS indicates the position of a bit in DCI of format 2 \u6. For example, the WUS indication bit may be 0 or 1 to indicate whether the UE turns on drx on duration timer subsequently.

-a parameter related to the WUS time window. The UE may determine the WUS window based on the relevant parameters for the WUS time window. For example, in one design, the base station may configure a time Offset (ps-Offset) for the UE with RRC parameters. The time offset refers to the time offset between the start of the WUS time window to the position where the drx-onDurationTimer starts.

4. Configuring DRX-related parameters. The DRX-related parameters configured by the base station for the UE may include at least the timers shown in table 1.

This step 1300 is optional: step 1300 does not necessarily need to be performed before

steps

1301 and 1302 are performed as described below. For example, the base station may configure the semi-static parameters for the UE through the RRC signaling in step 1300; the parameters are all valid until the next reconfiguration of the semi-static parameters. Between two RRC configurations, the UE may perform SSSG handover several

times using steps

1301 and 1302 as described below.

Step 1301: at the active time of the first DRX cycle, the UE operates at the first SSSG.

The first SSSG may be a non-empty SSSG or an empty SSSG. If the first SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, the operating the UE on the first SSSG may include: the UE may monitor the PDCCH according to the SS set in the first SSSG. If the first SSSG is an empty SSSG, the process of the UE operating in the first SSSG may include: since the first SSSG has no PDCCH monitoring occasion or candidate PDCCH, the UE does not monitor the PDCCH during this time of the first SSSG. Since only Type3-PDCCH CSS and USS can perform SSSG grouping, the above-mentioned PDCCH not monitored by the UE in the first SSSG (empty SSSG) period may refer to Type3-PDCCH CSS and USS PDCCH.

In one design, as shown in fig. 4, a DRX cycle may include active and inactive times, among others. And in the activation time, the UE is in an awakening state and monitors the PDCCH, and in the non-activation time, the UE is in a dormant state and does not monitor the PDCCH, so that the power consumption of the UE is saved. The activation time of the UE in the DRX cycle may include at least one of the following timers being running: a drx-onDurationTimer, a drx-Inactivity Timer, a drx-Retransmission TimerDL, or a drx-Retransmission timerll, etc.

In one design, multiple BWPs may exist between the UE and the bs, where the multiple BWPs include an active BWP on which the UE and the bs may perform data or signaling transmission. As can be seen from the foregoing description, multiple SS sets may be configured on the active BWP, and the multiple SS sets may be divided into one or more SSSGs. At the activation time of any DRX cycle (which may be referred to as a first DRX cycle) of the UE, the UE may operate at one of the SSSGs, which the UE operates at is referred to as a first SSSG.

The first DRX cycle may be explained as follows: as can be seen from the foregoing description, the base station may configure DRX parameters for the UE through RRC signaling, and the UE may determine the length of the DRX cycle according to the DRX parameters. According to the length of the DRX period, the UE can determine at least one DRX period. Each DRX cycle may include an active time and an inactive time, and for an illustration of one DRX cycle, see fig. 4. The first DRX cycle may be any one of the at least one DRX cycle, for example, the first DRX cycle may refer to the ith DRX cycle in fig. 4 or the i +1 th DRX cycle in fig. 4, where i is any integer greater than or equal to 1. For example, the base station configures the UE with RRC signaling, wherein the DRX cycle length in the DRX parameter is 10ms, and according to the configuration of the RRC signaling, the UE may determine that every 10ms is a DRX cycle, and each DRX cycle may include active time and inactive time. The first DRX may be any 10ms DRX cycle, etc. Optionally, the length of the DRX cycle may be reconfigured through step 1300.

Step 1302: at the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the UE is handed over from the first SSSG to the second SSSG. Specifically, the UE is switched from the first SSSG to the second SSSG from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the time for monitoring the WUS in the first DRX cycle. Optionally, the second SSSG may include SS sets for monitoring WUS, and the UE may monitor WUS within a WUS time window according to the SS sets for monitoring WUS.

In one design, as shown in fig. 14, the UE may determine a time at which the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle starts and a time for listening to WUSs within the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle. And the UE is switched to the second SSSG by the first SSSG between the two times.

First, the UE determines the time at which inactivity of the first DRX cycle starts: in one design, the UE may consider the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to start when at least one timer expires. The timer may include at least one of the following timers: drx-onDurationTimer, drx-InactivatyTimer, drx-Transmission TimerDL, or drx-Transmission TimrUL. Alternatively, in another design, considering a scenario in which the UE may run multiple timers simultaneously, the UE may consider the inactive time of the first DRX cycle of the UE to start at a time when the last timer of the above at least one timers stops running. For example, the UE turns on drx-onDurationTimer for the activation time. And after the subsequent UE receives the PDCCH used for scheduling the new transmission by the base station, starting a drx-InactivetyTimer. The inactive time start of the first DRX cycle is thus defined: the time at which both DRX-onDurationTimer and DRX-inactivity timer times out may be considered to be the inactive time start of the first DRX cycle. For example, at a first time, the drx-onDurationTimer times out, and at a second time, the drx-inactivtytimer times out. If the second time is later than the first time, the UE considers that the inactive time of the first DRX period starts at the second time.

It should be noted that in the introduction of the above DRX mechanism, it can be seen that the activation time of the DRX cycle may include other scenarios besides the scenario in which the above timer runs. In the above description, the example that the timer is expired and the UE is considered to enter the inactive time of the first DRX cycle is described, and the description is not limited to the embodiment of the present application. It is to be understood that the inactive time of the first DRX cycle described above may refer to a time other than the active time of the first DRX cycle.

Continuing, the UE determines a time to monitor the WUS during an inactivity time within the first DRX cycle. Since in the current scheme, the UE listens to the WUS during the WUS time window. The time when the UE monitors the WUS in the inactive time in the first DRX cycle may be any time in a WUS time window, and the any time may be predefined or preconfigured by a protocol, and the like. For example, the time may be the start time of the WUS time window, or the end time of the WUS time window, etc. Fig. 14 illustrates an example in which this time is the start time of the WUS time window.

As shown in fig. 14, the UE may determine the WUS time window based on the time offset (PS offset) configured for it by the base station and the minimum time offset (minimum offset) determined by the UE. The time offset (PS offset) is a time interval from the start of the WUS time window to the start of the drx-onDurationTimer, and the UE can specify the start of the WUS time window based on the time offset. The minimum time offset is a time interval from the end position of the WUS time window to the start time of the drx onDurationTimer, and the UE can determine the end position of the WUS time window according to the minimum time offset; the UE determines the start position of the WUS time window and the end position of the WUS time window so that the position of the entire WUS time window can be determined.

After that, the UE may switch from the first SSSG to the second SSSG at any time from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to a time before the time for monitoring the WUS within the inactive time of the first DRX cycle. How the UE switches to the second SSSG is explained as follows: the second SSSG may be protocol defined or base station configured for the UE. For example, in one design, a default SSSG may be defined by a protocol definition, or a base station may configure for the UE. At the beginning of the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the UE falls back to the default SSSG, which is the second SSSG. In another design, the UE may receive configuration information from the base station, the configuration information to configure at least one SSSG; the UE may determine a second SSSG, which belongs to the at least one SSSG. In one scenario, the at least one SSSG may be all SSSGs configured for the UE by the base station on the currently active BWP. The UE may determine one SSSG among all SSSGs configured, that is, a second SSSG, which should be different from the first SSSG. Or, the UE may exclude the first SSSG from all configured SSSGs, form candidate SSSGs from the remaining SSSGs, and select one SSSG from the candidate SSSGs, that is, the second SSSG. Or the at least one SSSG is a candidate SSSG configured by the base station for the UE, where the candidate SSSG includes the at least one SSSG; the UE may select one SSSG from the candidate SSSGs, where the selected SSSG is the second SSSG, and the like. And are not limited. The biggest difference between this design and the first design described above is that the second SSSG is not the default SSSG, but rather the UE needs to query or determine itself. Alternatively, the second SSSG that the UE needs to query or determine itself may be the SSSG that includes SS sets for listening to WUS. In yet another design, a special SSSG may be defined as the second SSSG, which includes SS sets that are only used for listening to WUSs. At the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the UE switches to the SSSG and may monitor the PDCCH according to the SS set for monitoring WUSs in the SSSG.

In one possible implementation, to simplify the design, the UE may switch directly from the first SSSG to the second SSSG at the beginning of the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, or referred to as at the end of the active time of the first DRX cycle. The beginning of the inactive time of the first DRX cycle or the ending of the active time of the first DRX cycle may be considered as a DRX-onDurationTimer timeout, a DRX-inactivity timer timeout, a DRX-Retransmission timer ul timeout, or the like.

By adopting the scheme of the first embodiment, before the WUS time window, the UE can switch to the second SSSG, and the second SSSG includes an SS set for monitoring the WUS, so that the UE can monitor the WUS according to the SS set, and further the UE can determine whether to turn on a drx-onDurationTimer according to the WUS, and the WUS realizes the function thereof, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE.

It should be noted that, in the above description, the above scheme is applied to the UE side for explanation. The above scheme can also be applied to the base station side. If the above scheme is applied to the base station side, when the base station determines that the UE operates in the first SSSG in the active time of the first DRX cycle according to the above method, if the first SSSG is not empty, the base station may send the PDCCH to the UE according to the configuration of the SS set included in the first SSSG. Before the time for monitoring the WUS from the start of the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle to the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle, the base station determines that the UE is switched from the first SSSG to the second SSSG, and then the base station may transmit the PDCCH and the like according to the configuration of the SS sets included in the second SSSG.

Optionally, similarly to the above, the second SSSG includes an SS set for monitoring a WUS, and during the inactive time of the first DRX, the base station may send the WUS according to the SS set for monitoring the WUS. Further, the second SSSG may be protocol-defined, or base station-determined, etc. The second SSSG may include a search space set for listening to WUSs only, and no other SS sets. Or, the base station may send configuration information to the UE, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG, where the at least one SSSG includes the second SSSG.

Example two

The second embodiment provides a communication method, different from the first embodiment, in the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the UE monitors the WUS according to the SS set for monitoring the WUS, without performing the switching of the SSSG, regardless of whether the UE is left in any SSSG. The SS set for monitoring the WUS may be configured with SSSG, or may not be configured with SSSG, and the like, without limitation. For example, in one design, a base station may send, to a UE, the configuration information of the SS set for monitoring WUS, where the configuration information of the SS set includes configuration information for determining an SSSG, or does not include configuration information for determining an SSSG, and the like, without limitation.

As shown in fig. 15, a second embodiment provides a flow of a communication method, where the flow at least includes:

step 1500: the base station configures at least one parameter for the UE through RRC signaling. For this step 1500, reference is made specifically to the description of step 1300 above.

Unlike the above step 1300, in step 1500: configuration information for SS sets listening for WUS may include configuration information for determining SSSG or not. If the configuration information includes configuration information for determining SSSG, it represents that the SS set for monitoring WUS belongs to corresponding SSSG, otherwise, the SS set for monitoring WUS does not belong to any SSSG.

In one design, the configuration information of the SS set for listening to WUS may include indication information indicating SSSG identification, e.g., a search space group identification list, etc. Alternatively, other information in the configuration information may indirectly indicate the SSSG, for example, at least one of a PDCCH monitoring period, an offset, or a PDCCH monitoring pattern in the configuration information, and may indirectly indicate the SSSG to which the SS set belongs. This step 1500 is optional.

Step 1501: and in the inactive time of the first DRX period, the UE works in any SSSG, and monitors the WUS according to the SS set for monitoring the WUS.

In one design, the UE may determine a WUS time window, which may be understood to be within an inactive time of the first DRX cycle. The UE listens to the WUS in the above-mentioned WUS time window according to the SS set used for listening to the WUS, regardless of whether the UE is operating in any SSSG. The following cases can be specifically discussed:

first, the SS set for monitoring WUS is not configured with the SSSG to which it belongs in advance, so the UE can monitor WUS according to the SS set for monitoring WUS in any SSSG within the WUS time window. For example, there are two SSSGs, and the SS set for listening to WUS does not belong to any of the two SSSGs, then within the WUS time window, WUS can be listened to according to the SS set for listening to WUS, regardless of which SSSG the UE is operating in.

Secondly, the above SS sets for listening to WUS are pre-configured with the identities of all SSSGs, i.e. each SSSG includes an SS set for listening to WUS, so that the UE can listen to WUS according to the SS set for listening to WUS, no matter at any SSSG, within the WUS time window. For example, if there are two SSSGs and the SS set for listening for WUS belongs to each of the two SSSGs, WUS can be listened for in the WUS time window, regardless of any SSSG in which the UE operates.

Thirdly, the SS set for monitoring the WUS is configured with the identity of part of SSSG in advance, but in the WUS time window, the monitoring of the SS set is not affected by SSSG, that is, in the WUS time window, the UE can monitor the WUS according to the SS set regardless of the SSSG. For example, there are two SSSGs, and the SS set for listening to WUS described above belongs to SSSG0. Within the WUS time window, even if the UE is at SSSG1, the UE can still listen for WUS from the SS set in SSSG0 for listening for WUS, but the UE will not stop SSSG1.

Since the WUS is carried in the DCI of formats 2 to 6, the SS set for monitoring WUS may also be referred to as an SS set of DCI format 2 _6. The SS set of the DCI format 2 \u6 may be used to monitor DCI of other formats, in addition to the above-mentioned DCI of format 2 _u6, and the like, without limitation. That is, the SS set for monitoring WUS may be used to carry other functions besides the function of DCI carrying WUS, and is not limited.

Further, it should be noted that, in the above method, the UE monitors the WUS in the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, and is not affected by the SSSG. Whether the UE monitors the SS set of this DCI format 2 _6during the active time of the first DRX cycle depends on the SSSG where the UE is currently located. For example, there are two SSSGs, and the SS set for listening to WUS described above belongs to SSSG0. The SS set for monitoring the WUS is also used for monitoring other DCI formats, and in the activation time of the first DRX period, if the UE is switched to SSSG1, the SS set is not monitored, and if the UE is switched to SSSG0, the UE monitors the SS set.

By adopting the second embodiment, by specifying the configuration information of the SS set for monitoring the WUS or specifying the UE to monitor the behavior of the PDCCH, the UE can monitor the WUS according to the SS set in the WUS time window no matter whether the UE operates in any SSSG. Therefore, the UE can monitor the WUS in the non-activation time, and the power consumption of the UE is saved.

For the above-described scheme for saving the power consumption of the UE, in the first enhancement scheme in the above-described scheme 5), the rule for determining the effective delay time is the same regardless of which SSSG the UE switches to. The effective time delay refers to the time required for the UE to switch to the SSSG. In one design, the validation latency may refer to a time interval from when a UE receives an SSSG handover command to when the UE switches to the SSSG. For example, as shown in fig. 16, when the UE operates in the SSSG0, receives the DCI, and instructs the UE to switch to the SSSG1, the start time of the effective delay Y may be the end position of the last symbol where the DCI is located, the end position of the slot where the DCI is located, the start position of the symbol where the DCI is located, the start position of the slot where the DCI is located, or the like, the effective delay Y is a time length, and after the time length corresponding to the effective delay Y elapses from the start time of the effective delay Y, the UE switches to the SSSG1.

The applicant finds, through research, that the rules for the effective delay Y should be different when the UE switches to the SSSG of a different type. For example, for switching to an empty SSSG, the effective delay Y should be as small as possible. This is because, in practice, the base station will send a handover command to the UE when it predicts that there is no data scheduling for the current short period of time, so that the UE will handover to the empty SSSG. If the effective time delay Y is larger than the value of the short time, the UE is obviously unreasonable to switch to the empty SSSG, and meanwhile, the UE is switched to the empty SSSG as soon as possible without monitoring the PDCCH, so that the power consumption of the UE can be saved. For switching to a non-empty SSSG, the effect of missed DCI detection needs to be considered. For example, currently, both the base station and the UE operate in SSSG0, and the base station sends a signaling to the UE to switch SSSG. If the UE misses the signaling, the subsequent base station switches to the SSSG1, and the UE remains in the SSSG0, which may cause PDCCH monitoring occasions of the base station and the UE to be different, and the UE may not monitor the PDCCH for a long period of time.

As can be seen from the above, the UE does not consider the same handover delay for both null SSSGs and non-null SSSGs. How to determine the corresponding handover delay according to different types of SSSGs to be handed over by the UE is a problem to be solved by the embodiment of the present application. Specifically, the description of the third example below can be referred to.

EXAMPLE III

As shown in fig. 17, the third implementation of the present application provides a flow of a communication method, which at least includes:

step 1700: the base station sends RRC signaling to the UE, the RRC signaling is used to configure at least one of the following parameters:

1) The parameters of the SS set are configured for the BWP of the serving cell.

2) The SSSG configuration information in BWP, i.e. to which SSSG the SS set belongs.

Step 1700 is optional: step 1700 is not necessarily performed before step 1701 and step 1702. For example, after establishing the RRC connection state, the base station configures the parameters through RRC signaling; subsequently, the UE directly performs SSSG handover by using the configured parameters. The parameters are valid subsequently before the base station reconfigures the relevant parameters. Between two RRC signaling configurations, the UE may perform SSSG handovers multiple times using steps 1701 and 1702.

Step 1701: the UE determines the SSSG to handover to.

In one design, the UE may determine the SSSG to be handed over to when a first condition is met, where the effective latency may refer to a time interval between when the UE meets the first condition and when the UE is handed over to the SSSG. For example, the first condition may include: the UE receives DCI sent by the base station, wherein the DCI is used for indicating the UE to switch the SSSG. Or the time length for the UE to monitor the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG before switching reaches the first time length. Or, the UE hears the DCI according to the SSSG before handover, where the DCI may be any format of DCI or a protocol-predefined DCI format, for example, at least one of DCI format 0_0, 0_1, 1_0, 1_1, 0_2, 1_2, and so on.

Taking the first condition as an example that the UE receives the DCI transmitted by the base station, the effective delay may refer to a time interval from the time when the UE receives the DCI to the time when the UE switches to the SSSG. The time when the UE receives the DCI may refer to an ending position of a last symbol where the DCI is located, or an ending position of a time slot where the DCI is located, or a starting position of a symbol where the DCI is located, or a starting position of a time slot where the DCI is located, or the like.

Step 1702: the UE determines an effective time delay according to the type of the SSSG to be switched to, wherein the type of the SSSG comprises an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that a PDDCH monitoring opportunity or a candidate PDCCH does not exist in the SSSG. The empty SSSG can be implemented by referring to the previous embodiments, and the invention is not limited thereto.

In one design, if the SSSG is an empty SSSG, the UE may determine the effective latency according to any of the following examples:

example 1, the ue may determine the effective time delay according to a correspondence between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, where the time parameter is used to determine the effective time delay; optionally, the first subcarrier spacing may be a subcarrier spacing for activating BWP by the UE when the first condition is satisfied.

For example, as shown in table 4, the correspondence between the parameter μ of the subcarrier spacing and the time parameter Z μmay be defined or configured in advance. When the UE satisfies the first condition, the UE may determine a first subcarrier interval at which BWP is currently activated; then, the UE searches for the time parameter Z μ corresponding to the first subcarrier interval in the correspondence shown in table 4, where the value of the time parameter Z μ is the effective time delay.

TABLE 4

μ	Z mu (time slot)
		0	1
1	1
		2	2
3	2

It should be noted that, in the above description, the case where the effective time delay is equal to the time parameter Z μ is taken as an example for explanation. Considering that the active BWP of the UE may be switched during the effective time delay, the corresponding subcarrier spacing may also be changed. Since the effective delay is usually in units of time slots or symbols, etc. When the subcarrier interval of the UE changes, although the absolute duration (e.g., the duration in milliseconds, etc.) of the effective delay does not change, the duration corresponding to each slot or symbol is different in different subcarrier intervals. Thus, a translation of effective time delays for different subcarrier spacings may be required. In the foregoing case, the UE may determine the effective time delay according to the time parameter Z μ corresponding to the first subcarrier interval. For example, when the first condition is satisfied, the subcarrier interval at which the UE activates BWP is μ 1 corresponding to the subcarrier interval, μ corresponding to the subcarrier interval at which the BWP is newly activated in the SSSG handover process is μ 2, and if the subcarrier interval μ 1 is different from the subcarrier interval μ 2, the effective time delay Y is

Alternatively, if the UE is configured with one or more minimum time offset values K for scheduling PDSCH _0min Then the UE may determine the time parameters Z μ and K corresponding to the first subcarrier interval _0min Jointly determining the effective time delay, where K _0min Has a value of oneOne or more of K _0min K in which currently active BWP takes effect _0min . For example, the value of the effective delay may be the larger of the two values, i.e., the effective delay Y = max (K) _0min Z μ), and the like. As another example, the effective latency Y is

Wherein K _0min K effective for activation BWP of scheduled serving cell (or serving cell indicated by DCI) _0min ，μ _PDSCH Parameter of subcarrier spacing for activation of BWP for a scheduled serving cell (or a serving cell indicated by DCI), μ _PDCCH The parameter is a parameter of a subcarrier interval for activating BWP of the scheduled serving cell (or the serving cell in which the DCI is located), and the zμ is a time parameter corresponding to the subcarrier interval for activating BWP of the scheduled serving cell (or the serving cell in which the DCI is located). K0 is explained as follows: k0 is the slot offset between PDCCH and scheduled PDSCH. K0=0 indicates that the PDCCH is in the same time slot as the scheduled PDSCH. K0 > 0 indicates that the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH are not in the same time slot. K above _0min The minimum available slot offset for PDSCH when PDSCH is scheduled for PDCCH, i.e. the slot offset value K0 between PDCCH and scheduled PDSCH should be greater than or equal to K _0min 。K _0min May be predefined, or configured or indicated by the base station for the UE, etc., and may refer to the current technology without limitation.

Similarly, the above description is based on the effective time delay being equal to the time parameters Z μ and K _0min The larger value of (A) is described as an example. However, if the subcarrier spacing changes within the effective time delay period, the effective time delay may be switched according to the subcarrier spacing. If the converted effective time delay is not an integral multiple of the time slot, the converted effective time delay can be rounded up or down.

Example 2, the effective time delay may be predefined by a protocol, or a value configured by the base station for the UE, or the like. For example, the base station may configure the effective delay for the UE through RRC signaling, and the unit of the effective delay may be, without limitation, a symbol, a slot, or a millisecond. In one design, the unit of the effective delay used by the UE last needs to be a timeslot, if the unit of the effective delay configured by the base station is a symbol or a millisecond, the effective delay may be converted into at least one timeslot, and if the converted effective delay is not an integral multiple of the timeslot, the converted number of timeslots may be rounded up or down. Optionally, before the base station configures the effective time delay for the UE, the UE may report the minimum value of the effective time delay to the base station. The effective delay configured for the UE by the base station should be greater than the minimum value of the effective delay. For example, the UE may report the minimum value of the effective time delay through a signaling of the UE capability, and the minimum value of the effective time delay of the UE may be related to the UE capability and the subcarrier spacing μ. For example, the correspondence between the subcarrier spacing μ and the UE capability, and the effective delay can be seen from table 5.

TABLE 5

In another design, if the type of the SSSG to be handed over is non-null and the first condition is that the UE receives a DCI signaling for SSSG handover, the UE may determine the effective time delay according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI.

Example 1, if the DCI is used to schedule the PDSCH, the UE may determine the effective time delay according to the time unit offset of the HARQ feedback corresponding to the scheduled PDSCH. The time units are explained as follows: the time unit may include a radio frame (radio frame), a subframe (subframe), a slot (slot), a mini-slot (mini-slot), or a symbol (symbol). For example, one radio frame may include one or more subframes, and one subframe may include one or more slots. There may be different slot lengths for different subcarrier spacings. For example, a time slot may be 1 millisecond (ms) when the subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz; one slot may be 0.5ms when the subcarrier spacing is 30 kHz. One slot may include one or more symbols. For example, the next slot of a normal Cyclic Prefix (CP) may include 14 symbols, and the next slot of an extended CP may include 12 symbols. A minislot, also called a mini-slot, may be a unit smaller than a slot, and one minislot may include one or more symbols. For example, a micro-slot may include 2 symbols, 4 symbols, or 7 symbols, etc. One slot may include one or more minislots. Taking the subcarrier spacing of 15kHz as an example, 1 radio frame may last 10ms, each subframe may last 1ms,1 radio frame comprises 10 subframes, each slot lasts 1ms, each subframe may include 1 slot, and each slot may include 14 symbols. Further, a micro slot may include 4 symbols, 2 symbols, or 7 symbols, etc. In the following description of the present application, a time unit is taken as a time slot, and a time unit offset is taken as a time slot offset.

For example, if the time slot offset between the PDSCH and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH is K1, the effective time delay Y is the time slot offset between the time slot in which the DCI is located and the time slot in which the HARQ feedback is located, and may be represented as K0+ K1, for example. The following description is made with respect to K0 and K1: k0 refers to the slot offset between PDCCH and scheduled PDSCH. K1 refers to a slot offset between the PDSCH and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH. Therefore, the sum of the values of K1 and K0 is the slot offset between the DCI carried by the PDCCH and the HARQ feedback. Where K1=0 indicates that the PDSCH and HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH are in the same slot. K1 > 0 indicates that the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH is not in the same timeslot. For a description of the value of K0, see above.

For the above example 1, when the UE meets the validation delay or later, whether the HARQ feedback is ACK or NACK, the UE switches to the SSSG to be switched to. Or, when the UE meets the effective delay or later, and when the HARQ feedback is ACK, the UE switches to the SSSG to be switched to. And when the HARQ feedback is NACK, the UE does not execute SSSG switching.

Example 2, if the DCI is used to schedule the PUSCH, the UE may determine the effective delay according to a slot offset of the scheduled PUSCH. For example, the value of the slot offset between the PDCCH and the scheduled PUSCH is K2, and the value of the effective slot may be equal to K2. K2=0 indicates that the PDCCH is in the same slot as the scheduled PUSCH. K2 > 0, indicating that the PDCCH and the scheduled PUSCH are not in the same time slot.

Step 1703: and the UE switches to the SSSG to be switched to according to the effective time delay.

This step 1703 is optional, and the UE may handover to the SSSG to be handed over to when the validity delay is met or after. Or, after the effective delay time is met or after the effective delay time is met, the SSSG to be handed over to is not switched over, and the like, without limitation. For example, in one design, for the case of scheduling the PDSCH by DCI, the SSSG is switched only when HARQ feedback of the PDSCH scheduled by DCI is ACK, otherwise, the SSSG is not switched. Regarding performing the SSSG handover only when the HARQ feedback is ACK and not performing the SSSG handover when the HARQ feedback is NACK, the following scenarios may be considered: if the HARQ feedback is NACK, the UE does not correctly decode the PDSCH corresponding to the HARQ feedback, the base station needs to retransmit the PDSCH and does not need to switch SSSG. If the HARQ feedback is ACK, which represents that the current PDSCH transmission is successful, and there may be no subsequent service transmission, at this time, the PDCCH may be switched to the SSSG with sparse monitoring opportunity.

By the scheme of the third embodiment, different effective time delays of the SSSG to be switched to are determined by considering the type of the SSSG to be switched to, so that the requirements of different scenes are met.

In the description of the third embodiment, the above scheme is described with the UE as the main execution body, and the scheme of the third embodiment may also be applied to the base station side. For example, in one design, a base station may determine an SSSG to which a UE is to be handed over; and the base station determines the time required for switching to the SSSG, namely the generation delay according to the type of the SSSG to be switched. And the base station determines that the UE is switched to the SSSG according to the effective time delay. After that, the base station may transmit the PDCCH to the UE according to the SSSG handed over by the UE.

Optionally, the base station may determine the SSSG to which the UE is to be switched when the second condition is satisfied. The second condition includes: the base station sends DCI to the UE, wherein the DCI is used for indicating the UE to switch to SSSG; or, the base station determines that the time duration for the UE to send the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG before handover reaches the first time duration, or the base station sends the DCI through the SSSG before handover, where the DCI may be a DCI of any format or a DCI format predefined by a protocol, for example, at least one of DCI formats 0_0, 0_1, 1_0, 1_1, 0_2, or 1 _2.

Similar to the above scheme on the UE side, the process of determining the effective time delay by the base station according to the type of the SSSG to be handed over may be: if the type of the SSSG to be handed over is an empty SSSG, the base station may determine the effective time delay according to a correspondence between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, where the time parameter is used to determine the effective time delay. Optionally, the first subcarrier spacing may be a subcarrier spacing of BWP activated by the UE. Or, the effective time delay is predefined by a protocol or configured by the base station for the UE, and the like, which is not limited.

For example, how the base station determines the effective delay according to the correspondence between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter is described as follows: in one design, the effective time delay value is equal to or determined according to a time parameter corresponding to a first subcarrier interval. For example, the time parameter corresponding to the first subcarrier interval may be transformed by different subcarrier intervals to obtain the effective time delay. In another design, the effective delay may be a larger value of a time parameter corresponding to the first subcarrier spacing and a minimum scheduling offset value determined by the base station for scheduling the PDSCH. Alternatively, the effective time delay is determined according to the larger value of the two. For example, the larger value of the two values may be transformed by different subcarrier intervals to obtain the effective time delay.

If the type of the SSSG to be handed over is a non-empty SSSG, and if the second condition is that the base station sends DCI to the UE, the base station may determine the effective time delay according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. For example, the base station may determine the effective time delay according to the time slot offset of the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH. Alternatively, the effective time delay and the like may be determined according to a slot offset of a scheduled PUSCH.

Then, after the time delay is met or after the time delay is met, no matter the HARQ feedback of the UE received by the base station is ACK or NACK, the base station may determine that the UE may be switched to the SSSG to be switched to. Or, after the effective time delay is met, the base station may determine that the UE is switched to the SSSG to be switched to only when the HARQ feedback of the UE received by the base station is ACK; otherwise, the base station may determine that the UE is not handed over to the SSSG to be handed over, and the like.

For the above-described scheme for saving UE power consumption, in an enhancement scheme two in the above-described scheme 5), the effective delay manner for the UE to perform SSSG handover and skip PDCCH monitoring is consistent. This also presents problems in that for skipping PDCCH monitoring, the smaller the effective delay is expected to be, the better the base station or UE will want, while for SSSG handover, the base station or UE may consider other factors. Therefore, how to determine the corresponding effective time delay according to different types of SSSG handover or PDCCH skipping monitoring is a problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present application.

Example four

The fourth embodiment provides a communication method, including: the UE may receive DCI from the base station indicating SSSSG handover or skipping PDCCH monitoring. If the DCI is used to indicate SSSG handover, the effective time delay may be determined according to a PDSCH or a PUSCH scheduled by the DCI, which may be referred to in the third embodiment above, where the effective time delay is determined when the SSSG type is non-empty. Or, when the DCI is used to indicate to skip PDCCH monitoring, the effective time delay may be determined according to a correspondence between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, or the effective time delay is predefined by a protocol, or a value configured by a base station, which is referred to in the third implementation, and when the SSSG type is null, the effective time delay is determined. Unlike the third embodiment, in the third embodiment, when or after the validation delay is met, the UE switches to the empty SSSG. In the fourth embodiment, as shown in fig. 18, the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH when or after the delay in validation is satisfied.

By the scheme, different influencing factors are considered in the time delay of SSSG switching and monitoring PDCCH stopping taking effect, and the effective time delay is determined in different modes, so that the requirements of various scenes can be met.

In the above description, the above scheme is applied to the UE side as an example. The scheme can be equally applied to the base station side. For example, the base station transmits DCI to the UE. When the DCI is used to indicate SSSG handover, the base station may determine the effective delay according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. When the base station meets the effective time delay and the switched SSSG is not empty, the base station may send the PDCCH to the UE according to the switched SSSG. Or, when the DCI is used to indicate to skip the PDCCH monitoring, the base station may determine the effective time delay according to a correspondence between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, or according to a predefined protocol, or the like. When or after the base station meets the above validation delay, the base station may no longer transmit PDCCH to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE does not monitor the PDCCH any more after the effective time delay is met, so that the power consumption of the base station and the UE is saved.

For the first to fourth embodiments, it should be noted that:

1. the above description focuses on the differences between the first embodiment and the fourth embodiment, and other things besides the differences, the different embodiments can be referred to each other.

2. All the steps illustrated in the respective processes described in the first to fourth embodiments are not necessarily required to be performed, and some steps may be added or deleted on the basis of the respective processes according to actual needs, for example, the steps 1300, 1500, 1700, and the like described above may be selectively performed.

3. In the description of the first to fourth embodiments, for convenience of explanation, the implementation subject is described by directly using the UE and the base station as an example. It is to be understood that the UE may be replaced with a terminal device and the base station may be replaced with a network device. For the description of the terminal device and the network device, reference may be made to the description of fig. 1 above.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 18, and the apparatus provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 19 to 21. It is to be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments. Therefore, reference may be made to the description in the above method embodiments to the extent that the apparatus part is not described in detail.

Fig. 19 shows a possible block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 19, apparatus 1900 may include: the communication unit 1901 is used to support communication between the apparatus and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 1901 is also called a transceiving unit, and may include a receiving unit and/or a transmitting unit, which are respectively configured to perform receiving and transmitting operations. The processing unit 1902 is used to support the processing by the device. Optionally, the apparatus 1900 may further comprise a storage unit 1903 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 1900.

In the first embodiment, the above-mentioned apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip or a circuit in the terminal device. The communication unit 1901 is configured to perform transceiving operation of the UE in the first embodiment of the above method; the processing unit 1902 is configured to perform the processing-related operations of the UE in the above method implementations.

A processing unit 1902, configured to operate in a first search space set group, SSSG, at an active time of a first DRX cycle; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to switch from the first SSSG to a second SSSG before a time for listening for a wake signal WUS from a start of an inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the inactive time of the first DRX cycle.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1902 is further configured to: the second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring WUS, and monitors the WUS according to the search space set during the inactive time of the first DRX.

In one possible design, the second SSSG includes a set of search spaces for listening only to the WUS.

In one possible design, the communication unit 1901 may be configured to receive configuration information from a network device, the configuration information is used for configuring at least one SSSG; a processing unit 1902 configured to determine the second SSSG, the determined second SSSG belonging to the at least one SSSG.

In a second embodiment, the above-mentioned apparatus may be a network device or a chip or a circuit in a network device. The communication unit 1901 is configured to perform the transceiving operation of the base station in the first embodiment of the above method; the processing unit 1902 is configured to perform processing-related operations for the base station in the first embodiment of the above method.

For example, the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine, at an active time of a first DRX cycle, that a terminal device is operating in a first search space set group SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine that a terminal device is switched from the first SSSG to a second SSSG before a time for listening for a wake-up signal WUS from a beginning of an inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the inactive time of the first DRX cycle.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1902 is further configured to: the second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring WUS, and the WUS is transmitted according to the search space set during the inactive time of the first DRX.

In one possible design, the second SSSG includes a set of search spaces for listening for WUS only.

In one possible design, the communication unit 1901 is further configured to send configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG to which the second SSSG belongs.

In a third embodiment, the above-mentioned apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip or a circuit in the terminal device. The communication unit 1901 is configured to perform transceiving operation of the UE in the second method embodiment; the processing unit 1902 is configured to perform the processing-related operations of the UE in the above method implementation two.

For example, the communication unit 1901 is configured to perform the receiving configuration information of a search space set for listening to WUS in the second embodiment, where the configuration information of the search space set includes configuration information for determining an SSSG, or does not include configuration information for determining the SSSG; a processing unit 1902, configured to execute the second embodiment, in the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the terminal device operates in any SSSG, and monitors the WUS according to the search space set.

In a fourth embodiment, the apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip or a circuit in the terminal device. The communication unit 1901 is configured to perform transceiving operation of the UE in the third method embodiment above; the processing unit 1902 is configured to perform the processing-related operations of the UE in the above method implementation three.

A processing unit 1902 configured to determine a search space set group SSSG to which to switch; a processing unit 1902, further configured to determine, according to a type of the SSSG, a time required to switch to the SSSG, where the type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG indicates that no PDCCH monitoring occasion or candidate PDCCH for a physical downlink control channel exists in the SSSG; a processing unit 1902, further configured to switch to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG.

In one possible design, when a first condition is met, a terminal device determines an SSSG to be handed over to, where the time required to handover to the SSSG is an interval between the time when the terminal device meets the first condition and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

wherein the first condition comprises: the terminal equipment receives downlink control information DCI from network equipment, wherein the DCI is used for indicating the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG; or the terminal device monitors the PDCCH according to the search space set in the SSSG before switching for a first time; or the terminal device monitors DCI according to a search space set in the SSSG before switching.

In one possible design, the determining the time required to handover to the SSSG based on the type of the SSSG includes: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, and the first condition is that the terminal equipment receives DCI from network equipment, and determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the DCI; or the type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the time required for switching to the SSSG is determined according to the corresponding relation between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, or the time required for switching to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or configured by network equipment.

In one possible design, determining a time required to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI includes: determining the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the time slot offset fed back by the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to the PDSCH; or determining the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the scheduled time slot offset of the PUSCH.

In one possible design, the switching to the SSSG based on the time required to switch to the SSSG includes: switching to the SSSG whether the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement at or after the time required for the switching to the SSSG is met; or, when the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied, when or after the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgement, switching to the SSSG.

In one possible design, the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a bandwidth portion BWP activated when the terminal device satisfies the first condition.

In a fifth embodiment, the apparatus may be a network device or a chip or a circuit in a network device. The communication unit 1901 is configured to perform transceiving operation of the base station in the third embodiment of the foregoing method; the processing unit 1902 is configured to perform processing-related operations of the base station in the third embodiment of the foregoing method.

For example, the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine a search space set group SSSG to which a terminal device is to be handed over; a processing unit 1902, further configured to determine, according to a type of the SSSG, a time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, where the type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG indicates that no PDCCH monitoring occasion or candidate PDCCH exists in the SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine, according to a time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, that the terminal device switches to the SSSG.

In a possible design, when a second condition is met, a network device determines an SSSG to which the terminal device is to be handed over, where the time required to handover to the SSSG is an interval between time when the terminal device meets the second condition and time when the terminal device is handed over to the SSSG;

In one possible design, the determining the time required for the terminal device to handover to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG includes: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, the second condition is that the network equipment sends DCI to the terminal equipment, and the time required for the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG is determined according to a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the DCI; or the type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is determined according to a correspondence between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, where the time parameter is used to determine the time for switching to the SSSG; or the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or determined by a network device.

In one possible design, the determining the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI comprises: determining the time required by the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the time slot offset fed back by the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to the PDSCH; or determining the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the scheduled time slot offset of the PUSCH.

In one possible design, the determining that the terminal device is to switch to the SSSG based on a time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG includes: upon or after the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met, the network device determining that the terminal device switches to the SSSG regardless of whether HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive determination or a negative acknowledgement; or, when the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met or after the time, and when HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive acknowledgement, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG.

In one possible design, the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a bandwidth part BWP activated by the terminal device when the network device satisfies the second condition.

Fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 20, the terminal device includes: antenna 2010, radio frequency section 2020, signal processing section 2030. Antenna 2010 is coupled to radio section 2020. In the downlink direction, the radio frequency part 2020 receives information transmitted by the network device through the antenna 2010 and transmits the information transmitted by the network device to the signal processing part 2030 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing section 2030 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the radio frequency section 2020, and the radio frequency section 2020 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the network device through the antenna 2010.

The signal processing section 2030 may include a modem subsystem for implementing processing of each communication protocol layer of data; the system also comprises a central processing subsystem used for realizing the processing of the operating system and the application layer of the terminal equipment; in addition, other subsystems, such as a multimedia subsystem for controlling a camera, a screen display and the like of the terminal device, a peripheral subsystem for connecting with other devices, and the like can be included. The modem subsystem may be a separately provided chip.

The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 2031, including, for example, a master CPU and other integrated circuits. The modem subsystem may also include a storage element 2032 and an interface circuit 2033. The storage element 2032 is used for storing data and programs, but a program for executing the method executed by the terminal device in the above method may not be stored in the storage element 2032, but stored in a memory other than the modem subsystem, and loaded for use when used. Interface circuit 2033 for interfacing with other subsystems communicate.

The modem subsystem may be implemented by a chip comprising at least one processing element for performing the steps of any of the methods performed by the terminal equipment above, and interface circuitry for communicating with other devices. In one implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, for example, the apparatus for the terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The memory elements may be memory elements on the same chip as the processing elements, i.e. on-chip memory elements.

In another implementation, the program for executing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may be in a memory element on a different chip than the processing element, i.e. an off-chip memory element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads a program from the off-chip storage element onto the on-chip storage element to call and execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment.

In yet another implementation, the unit of the terminal device for implementing the steps of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements disposed on the modem subsystem, where the processing elements may be integrated circuits, for example: one or more ASICs, or one or more DSPs, or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

Units of the terminal equipment for realizing the steps of the method can be integrated together and realized in the form of SOC, and the SOC chip is used for realizing the method. At least one processing element and a storage element can be integrated in the chip, and the processing element calls the stored program of the storage element to realize the method executed by the terminal equipment; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip, for implementing the method executed by the above terminal device; alternatively, the above implementation modes may be combined, the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of a processing element calling program, and the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

It is seen that the above apparatus for a terminal device may comprise at least one processing element and interface circuitry, wherein the at least one processing element is configured to perform the method performed by any one of the terminal devices provided by the above method embodiments. The processing element may: namely, part or all of the steps executed by the terminal equipment are executed by calling the program stored in the storage element; it is also possible to: that is, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device are performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor element in combination with the instructions; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may be performed in combination with the first manner and the second manner. Illustratively, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a CPU, and may also be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or one or more microprocessors DSP, or one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element may be a memory device that, or a collective term for a plurality of memories.

Referring to fig. 21, a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the network device may be an access network device (e.g., a base station). The access network equipment 210 may include one or more DUs 2101 and one or more CUs 2102. Said DU 2101 may comprise at least one antenna 21011, at least one radio frequency unit 21012, at least one processor 21013 and at least one memory 21014. The DU 2101 is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals, converting radio frequency signals and baseband signals, and partially processing baseband. CU2102 may include at least one processor 21022 and at least one memory 21021.

The CU2102 part is mainly used for baseband processing, control of access network devices, and the like. The DU 2101 and CU2102 may be physically located together or physically separated, i.e., distributed base stations. The CU2102 is a control center of the access network device, which may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly used to perform baseband processing functions. For example, the CU2102 may be configured to control the access network device to perform the operation flows of the above method embodiments with respect to the access network device.

Further, optionally, the access network device 210 may include one or more radio units, one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. Wherein the DU may comprise at least one processor 21013 and at least one memory 21014, the radio frequency units may comprise at least one antenna 21011 and at least one radio frequency unit 21012, the cu may comprise at least one processor 21022 and at least one memory 21021.

It should be understood that the division of the units in the above-described apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. And the units in the device can be realized in the form of software called by the processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; part of the units can also be realized in the form of software called by a processing element, and part of the units can be realized in the form of hardware.

In one example, the units in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a unit in the apparatus can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element may be a processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or other processor capable of calling a program. As another example, these units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit for the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for transmitting is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting a signal to other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit for the chip to transmit signals to other chips or devices.

The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated object, indicating that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may indicate: a alone, A and B together, and B alone, wherein A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B, or C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers such as "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and do not limit the sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects.

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 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 present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

at the activation time of the first Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle, the terminal equipment works in a first Search Space Set Group (SSSG);

switching, by the terminal device, from the first SSSG to a second SSSG before a time for listening for a wake-up signal WUS from a beginning of an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle to the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle.

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

the second SSSG comprises a search space set used for monitoring WUS, and the terminal device monitors the WUS according to the search space set in the inactive time of the first DRX.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the second SSSG is protocol defined, or network device configured.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the second SSSG includes a set of search spaces only for listening to the WUS.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

the terminal equipment receives configuration information from network equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring at least one SSSG;

the terminal device determines the second SSSG, the determined second SSSG belonging to the at least one SSSG.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment works in a first search space set group SSSG at the activation time of a first Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle;

the network device determines that a terminal device is switched from the first SSSG to a second SSSG before a time for listening for a wake-up signal WUS from a beginning of an inactivity time of the first DRX cycle to the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle.

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

the second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring WUS, and the network device transmits the WUS according to the search space set during the inactive time of the first DRX.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the second SSSG is protocol defined or determined by the network device.

9. The method of any of claims 6-8, wherein a set of search spaces for listening for WUS only is included in the second SSSG.

10. The method of any of claims 6 to 9, further comprising:

the network equipment sends configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring at least one SSSG, and the second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives configuration information of a search space set from network equipment and used for monitoring wake-up signals WUS, wherein the configuration information of the search space set comprises configuration information used for determining a search space set group SSSG, or the configuration information of the search space set does not comprise configuration information used for determining the SSSG;

and in the inactive time of a first Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle, the terminal equipment works in any SSSG, and monitors the WUS according to the search space set.

12. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment determines a search space set group SSSG to be switched to;

the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, wherein the type of the SSSG comprises an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring occasion or a candidate PDCCH exists in the SSSG;

and the terminal equipment is switched to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the terminal device determines an SSSG to handover to when a first condition is met, the time required to handover to the SSSG being an interval between the time the terminal device meets the first condition and the time the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

14. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the determining, by the terminal device, a time required to handover to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG comprises:

the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, the first condition is that the terminal equipment receives DCI from network equipment, and the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the DCI; or

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the terminal device determining a time required to switch to the SSSG based on the DCI scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH includes:

the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the time unit offset fed back by the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to the PDSCH; or

And the terminal equipment determines the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the scheduled PUSCH.

16. The method of any of claims 12 to 15, wherein the terminal device handing over to the SSSG according to the time required for the handing over to the SSSG comprises:

upon or after the time required to switch to the SSSG is met, the terminal device switching to the SSSG regardless of whether the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgement or a negative acknowledgement; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and when the HARQ feedback is positive confirmation, the terminal equipment is switched to the SSSG when or after the time required for switching to the SSSG is met.

17. The method according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a bandwidth part, BWP, activated when the terminal device fulfils the first condition.

18. The method of any of claims 14 to 17, wherein the time required to switch to the SSSG is determined according to the time parameter; alternatively, the time required to switch to the SSSG is determined according to the larger of the time parameter and a minimum scheduling offset value for scheduling PDSCH indicated by the network device.

19. A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment determines a search space set group SSSG to which the terminal equipment is to be switched;

the network equipment determines the time required for the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, wherein the type of the SSSG comprises an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring occasion or candidate PDCCH exists in the SSSG;

and the network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is switched to the SSSG according to the time required by the terminal equipment to be switched to the SSSG.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the network device determines an SSSG to which the terminal device is to be handed over when a second condition is met, the time required to hand over to the SSSG being an interval between the time the terminal device meets the second condition and the time the terminal device is handed over to the SSSG;

wherein the second condition comprises: the network equipment sends downlink control information DCI to the terminal equipment, wherein the DCI is used for indicating the terminal equipment to be switched to the SSSG; or the network device determines that the time length for the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH according to the search space set in the SSSG before switching reaches a first time length; or, the network device sends the DCI through the SSSG before the handover.

21. The method of claim 19 or 20, wherein the network device determining the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG based on the SSSG type comprises:

the type of the SSSG is a non-null SSSG, the second condition is that the network equipment sends DCI to the terminal equipment, and the network equipment determines the time required for the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the DCI; alternatively, the first and second liquid crystal display panels may be,

the type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, the network equipment determines the time required for switching the terminal equipment to the SSSG according to the corresponding relation between a first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, and the time parameter is used for determining the time for switching to the SSSG; or the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or determined by a network device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the network device determining a time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG based on the DCI scheduled PDSCH or PUSCH includes:

the network equipment determines the time required by the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the time unit offset fed back by the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to the PDSCH; or

And the network equipment determines the time required for the terminal equipment to switch to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the scheduled PUSCH.

23. The method of any of claims 19 to 22, wherein the network device determining that the terminal device is to handover to the SSSG based on a time required for the terminal device to handover to the SSSG comprises:

upon or after the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met, the network device determining that the terminal device switches to the SSSG regardless of whether HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive determination or a negative acknowledgement; alternatively, the first and second liquid crystal display panels may be,

when the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is met or later, and HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is positive confirmation, the network device determines that the terminal device is switched to the SSSG.

24. The method according to any of claims 21 to 23, wherein the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier spacing of a bandwidth part BWP activated by the terminal device when the network device fulfils the second condition.

25. The method of any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the time required to switch to the SSSG is determined according to the time parameter; alternatively, the time required to switch to the SSSG is determined according to the larger of the time parameter and a minimum scheduling offset value for scheduling PDSCH indicated by the network device.

26. An apparatus for carrying out the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of claim 11, or the method of any one of claims 12 to 18.

27. An apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory coupled, the processor configured to implement the method of any of claims 1 to 5, or the method of claim 11, or the method of any of claims 12 to 18.

28. An apparatus for carrying out the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or the method of any one of claims 19 to 25.

29. An apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory coupled, the processor configured to implement the method of any of claims 6 to 10, or the method of any of claims 19 to 25.

30. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or the method of claim 11, or the method of any one of claims 12 to 18, or the method of any one of claims 19 to 25.