CN117676891A

CN117676891A - Communication method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN117676891A
Application number: CN202210959575.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张海森; 李秉肇; 许斌
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-10
Filing date: 2022-08-10
Publication date: 2024-03-08
Also published as: WO2024032221A1

Abstract

A communication method and a communication device. The method may include: the first terminal device determines a first paging occasion according to the identification of the first terminal device; when the first terminal device does not monitor the paging message on the first paging occasion, the first terminal device starts to monitor a physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to a multicast broadcast control channel MCCH in a first period; and receiving first downlink control information DCI on the PDCCH, and receiving MCCH information according to the first DCI, wherein the MCCH information comprises configuration information of multicast service. In this way, by monitoring the PDCCH in the period corresponding to the PO, the MCCH message is further read through the DCI received on the PDCCH, and the configuration information of the multicast service is obtained, so that the situation that the UE does not read the paging message to miss the information of the multicast service activation message can be effectively avoided, and the reliability of the transmission of the multicast service is effectively improved.

Description

Communication method and communication device

Technical Field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a communication method and a communication apparatus.

Background

The multicast broadcast service (Multicast and Broadcast Service, MBS) is a service for a plurality of terminal equipments (UEs), such as a live broadcast service, a public safety service, a batch software update service, etc. In the multicast broadcast service, the multicast service is designed for the service with high Qos requirements, and the group management is required for the multicast service, so that the same Qos class as that of the unicast service can be provided. Specifically for multicast services, the core network needs to manage the joining and exiting of the UE. The multicast service is provided for the RRC connected UE, and the gNB and the CN are required to maintain the UE information corresponding to the multicast service group.

If the UE does not properly receive the paging message, it may not normally receive the subsequent multicast broadcast service, resulting in reduced reliability of transmission of the multicast broadcast service.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can improve the reliability of multicast and broadcast service transmission.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a terminal device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the terminal device, which is not limited in this application. For convenience of description, an example will be described below as being executed by the first terminal apparatus.

The method may include: the first terminal device determines a first paging occasion according to the identification of the first terminal device; when the first terminal device does not monitor the paging message on the first paging occasion, the first terminal device starts to monitor a physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to a multicast broadcast control channel MCCH in a first period; and receiving first downlink control information DCI on the PDCCH, and receiving MCCH information according to the first DCI, wherein the MCCH information comprises configuration information of multicast service.

Based on the above technical scheme, when the first terminal device cannot detect the paging message on the corresponding PO, because it is uncertain whether the network side does not send or the network side fails to detect or fails to detect because some anomalies occur, the PDCCH is monitored in the period corresponding to the PO, the MCCH message is further read through the DCI received on the PDCCH, and the configuration information of the multicast service is obtained, so that missing of the multicast service activation message information due to that the UE does not read the paging message can be effectively avoided, and the reliability of the transmission of the multicast service is effectively improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first period is an MCCH modification period in which the first paging occasion is located; or the first period is an nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, where N is a positive integer and N is a positive integer.

Based on the above technical scheme, the first terminal device can accurately start to monitor the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH in a fixed period.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first DCI includes first indication information, and receiving the MCCH message according to the first DCI includes: and when the first indication information indicates reading of the MCCH information, receiving the MCCH information according to the first information.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first indication information includes a first bit, and when the first bit is a first value, the first indication information indicates that the first terminal device reads the MCCH.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementation manners of the first aspect, the first terminal device determines to skip consecutive M MCCH modification periods according to the second indication information, where the second indication information is carried in DCI or the MCCH message, and M is a positive integer.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a network device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the network device, which is not limited in this application. For convenience of description, an example will be described below as being executed by the first terminal apparatus.

The method may include: the network equipment determines a first paging occasion corresponding to a first terminal device; the network equipment starts to originate first Downlink Control Information (DCI) in a first period corresponding to the first paging occasion, wherein the first DCI is used for scheduling multicast broadcast control channel (MCCH) information when the first terminal device does not monitor the paging information in the first paging occasion; the network device uses the first DCI to schedule an MCCH message, where the MCCH message includes configuration information of a multicast service.

Based on the technical scheme, the MCCH message is sent in the time interval corresponding to the first PO, so that the multicast service receiving failure of the first terminal device caused by missed detection or paging message transmission failure of the first terminal device can be effectively avoided.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first period is an MCCH modification period in which the first paging occasion is located; or the first period is an nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, where N is a positive integer and N is a positive integer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information includes a first bit, and when the first bit is a first value, the first indication information indicates that the first terminal device reads the MCCH message.

With reference to the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: and sending second indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the second indication information instructs the first terminal device to skip continuous M MCCH modification periods, and the second indication information is carried in DCI or the MCCH message.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a network device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the network device, which is not limited in this application. For ease of description, the following description will be given by way of example as being executed by a network device.

The method may include: the network equipment determines a first paging occasion PO corresponding to a first terminal device; the network equipment sends first information to the first terminal device on the first paging occasion PO, wherein the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to continuous M multicast broadcast control channel MCCH modification periods, and the continuous M MCCH modification periods are continuous M MCCH modification periods after the first PO corresponds to the MCCH modification periods; and the network equipment sends the MCCH message in an M+1st MCCH modification period after the first PO corresponds to the MCCH modification period.

Based on the technical scheme, by indicating the first terminal device to skip M MCCH modification periods, the power consumption of the terminal device for continuously receiving the MCCH message is reduced, and the receiving efficiency of the MCCH message is improved.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the network equipment determines a second PO corresponding to a second terminal device; the network equipment sends second information to a second terminal device on a second PO, wherein the second information indicates that the second terminal device does not receive MCCH information corresponding to continuous N MCCH modification periods, and the continuous N MCCH modification periods are continuous N MCCH modification periods after the continuous N MCCH modification periods corresponding to the second PO; the n+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the M+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO.

Based on the technical scheme, the n+1th MCCH period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the M+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO, so that the UE which needs to receive the same multicast service for different POs can start to receive the MCCH message in the same period, and the power consumption caused by early monitoring and receiving of the MCCH message by the UE with the earlier PO is avoided.

With reference to the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: before sending the MCCH message, the network device sends third indication information, where the third indication information indicates the first terminal device to read the MCCH message.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the third indication information includes a second bit, and when the second bit is the first value, the third indication information indicates that the UE reads the MCCH.

The advantages of the third aspect and the various possible designs may be referred to in the description related to the first aspect, and are not repeated here.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which may be performed by a terminal device, or may also be performed by a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) of the terminal device, which is not limited in this application. For convenience of description, an example will be described below in which the second terminal apparatus performs.

The method may include: the first terminal device receives first information on a first paging occasion PO, wherein the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to continuous M multicast broadcast control channel MCCH modification periods; and the first terminal device does not receive the MCCH messages corresponding to the M MCCH modification periods according to the first information.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the first terminal device receives third indication information, and reads an MCCH message corresponding to the m+1th MCCH modification period according to the third indication information.

The advantages of the fourth aspect and the various possible designs may be referred to in the description related to the third aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided for performing the method of any of the possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects. In particular, the apparatus may comprise means and/or modules, such as a processing unit and/or a communication unit, for performing the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device. When the apparatus is a terminal device, the communication unit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface; the processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip or a circuit for a terminal device. When the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip or a circuit for a terminal device, the communication unit may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit, etc. on the chip, the system-on-chip or the circuit; the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit or logic circuit, etc.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: at least one processor configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to perform a method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory for storing a computer program or instructions. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a communication interface through which the processor reads the computer program or instructions stored in the memory.

In one implementation, the apparatus is a terminal device.

In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a system-on-chip or a circuit for a terminal device.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a processor for performing the methods provided in the first to fifth aspects above.

The operations such as transmitting and acquiring/receiving, etc. related to the processor may be understood as operations such as outputting and receiving, inputting, etc. by the processor, or may be understood as operations such as transmitting and receiving by the radio frequency circuit and the antenna, if not specifically stated, or if not contradicted by actual function or inherent logic in the related description, which is not limited in this application.

In an eighth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, the computer readable storage medium storing program code for execution by a device, the program code comprising instructions for performing the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects.

A ninth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to fifth aspects described above.

In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided comprising at least one of the aforementioned first terminal device and network equipment.

Drawings

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

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an MBS service transmission procedure;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multicast service transmission process;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an MCCH specific transmission mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a traffic deactivation flow;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a communication method presented herein;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a PDCCH monitoring occasion corresponding to MCCH;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a multi-UE paging occasion;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart diagram of another communication method proposed by the present application;

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of MCCH message transmission occasion in a multi-UE scenario;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 1200 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1300 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system 1000 to which embodiments of the present application apply. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system comprises a radio access network 100 and a core network 200, and optionally the communication system 1000 may further comprise the internet 300. The radio access network 100 may include at least one radio access network device (e.g., 110a and 110b in fig. 1) and may also include at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in fig. 1). The terminal is connected with the wireless access network equipment in a wireless mode, and the wireless access network equipment is connected with the core network in a wireless or wired mode. The core network device and the radio access network device may be separate physical devices, or may integrate the functions of the core network device and the logic functions of the radio access network device on the same physical device, or may integrate the functions of part of the core network device and part of the radio access network device on one physical device. The terminals and the radio access network device may be connected to each other by wired or wireless means. Fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and other network devices may be further included in the communication system, for example, a wireless relay device and a wireless backhaul device may also be included, which are not shown in fig. 1.

The core network device may also be referred to as a core network apparatus, and may include one or more of the following network elements: unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network elements, application function (application function, AF) network elements, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network elements, network opening function (network exposure function, NEF) network elements, access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network elements, session management function (session management function, SMF) network elements, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network elements, and the like. Each network element described above may also be referred to as an apparatus, device or entity, and the application is not limited herein, for example, a UDM network element may also be referred to as a UDM apparatus, UDM device or UDM entity. For convenience of description, the following will be referred to simply as "AMF", for example, "AMF network element" will be referred to simply as "AMF".

The radio access network device may be a base station (base station), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission and reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system, a next generation base station in a sixth generation (6th generation,6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc.; the present invention may also be a module or unit that performs a function of a base station part, for example, a Central Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU). The CU can complete the functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) of the base station and can also complete the functions of a service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP); the DU performs the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (medium access control, MAC) layer of the base station, and may also perform the functions of a part of the physical layer or the entire physical layer, and for a detailed description of the above protocol layers, reference may be made to the relevant technical specifications of the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP). The radio access network device may be a macro base station (e.g. 110a in fig. 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g. 110b in fig. 1), a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the wireless access network equipment. The radio access network device may also be referred to as a network apparatus. For convenience of description, a base station will be described below as an example of a radio access network device.

A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, a terminal apparatus, a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal may be widely applied to various scenes, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-device (vehicle to everything, V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (internet of things, IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autopilot, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, and the like. The terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a computer with a wireless receiving and transmitting function, a wearable device, a vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, intelligent household equipment and the like. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the terminal.

The base station and the terminal may be fixed in position or movable. Base stations and terminals may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; the device can be deployed on the water surface; but also on aircraft, balloons and satellites. The application scenes of the base station and the terminal are not limited in the embodiment of the application.

The roles of base station and terminal may be relative, e.g., helicopter or drone 120i in fig. 1 may be configured as a mobile base station, terminal 120i being the base station for those terminals 120j that access radio access network 100 through 120 i; but for base station 110a 120i is a terminal, i.e., communication between 110a and 120i is via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i may be performed via an interface protocol between base stations, and in this case, 120i is also a base station with respect to 110 a. Thus, both the base station and the terminal may be collectively referred to as a communication device, 110a and 110b in fig. 1 may be referred to as a communication device having base station functionality, and 120a-120j in fig. 1 may be referred to as a communication device having terminal functionality.

Communication can be carried out between the base station and the terminal, between the base station and between the terminal and the terminal through the authorized spectrum, communication can be carried out through the unlicensed spectrum, and communication can also be carried out through the authorized spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum at the same time; communication can be performed through a frequency spectrum of 6 gigahertz (GHz) or less, communication can be performed through a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more, and communication can be performed using a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or less and a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more simultaneously. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communications.

In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station may be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or may be performed by a control subsystem including the functions of the base station. The control subsystem comprising the base station function can be a control center in the application scenarios of smart power grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, smart cities and the like. The functions of the terminal may be performed by a module (e.g., a chip or a modem) in the terminal, or by a device including the functions of the terminal.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to wireless communication among communication equipment. The wireless communication between the communication devices may include: wireless communication between a network device and a terminal, wireless communication between a network device and a network device, and wireless communication between a terminal device and a terminal device. In this embodiment of the present application, the term "wireless communication" may also be simply referred to as "communication", and the term "communication" may also be described as "data transmission", "information transmission" or "transmission".

It should also be understood that "terminal device" is also referred to as "terminal apparatus", "terminal", etc., and "network device" is also referred to as "network apparatus", "network side", etc., and "core network device" is also referred to as "core network apparatus", "core network", etc.

For ease of understanding, related concepts are briefly explained in advance.

1. Multicast broadcast service (multicast and broadcast service, MBS): is a service for a plurality of terminal devices, such as live broadcast service, public safety service, batch software update service, etc. As shown in fig. 2, the MBS service comes from a data server, and first the data server transmits MBS data to a core network device, then the core network device transmits the MBS data to a base station, and finally the base station transmits the MBS data to at least one UE receiving the MBS service. MBS includes multicast service and broadcast service.

When the MBS service is transmitted from the core network to the base station, the MBS service is transmitted through a common transmission channel MBS session, and each MBS session can comprise at least one MBS service quality (quality of service, qoS) flow. While when sent from the base station to the UE, the data packets are transmitted over MBS radio bearers, there are two transmission modes for one MBS radio bearer: the first may use a point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmission scheme, and the second may use a point-to-point (PTP) transmission scheme.

2. Multicast (multicast) traffic: multicast services are designed for high QoS demand services, which can provide the same QoS class as unicast services. Group management is required for multicast traffic, and specifically, as shown in (a) of fig. 3, for multicast traffic, the core network needs to manage the joining and exiting of UEs. MBS QoS flows (flows) are introduced for transmission between the core network and the base station by means of protocol data unit sessions (protocol data unit session, PDU sessions). A radio access network device (radio access network, RAN) supports PTP and PTM transmission modes for transmitting data to a UE and supports dynamic switching between PTP and PTM controlled by the RAN.

Wherein the access network device and the terminal device have a peer-to-peer protocol stack structure for communicating with each other. As shown in (b) of fig. 3, the user plane protocol stack structure may include an RRC layer, a service data adaptation (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) layer, a PDCP layer, a radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) layer, a MAC layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer, etc. Wherein the physical layer is located at the lowest layer (layer one), the MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer and SDAP layer belong to the second layer (layer two), and the RRC layer belongs to the third layer (layer three). For the user plane protocol stack of MBS transmission, data is transmitted in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure (for MBS service, the transmission direction is from the base station to the UE), the data first arrives at the SDAP layer of the base station, after being mapped by the SDAP layer, is transmitted to the corresponding PDCP entity, after being processed by the PDCP layer of the base station, is transmitted to the RLC layer and the MAC layer, after being processed correspondingly, is sent out from the physical layer, and is transmitted to the UE side through the air interface. And then each protocol layer at the UE side sequentially carries out corresponding processing on the data packets according to the processing sequence opposite to the base station. The processing of the data packets by the layers can be visually combined at the base station and the UE side to be called a radio bearer, and each data in the radio bearer needs to be processed by the layers, and each layer has a corresponding functional entity to execute a corresponding function. Each radio bearer configuration includes one PDCP entity therein, while each radio bearer configuration is associated with at least one RLC entity, and each RLC entity corresponds to one logical channel.

For MBS, user plane data is carried by Multicast Radio Bearers (MRBs). Specifically, MRB includes the following three types: PTP only MRB, PTM only MRB, and split MRB (PTP mrb+ptm MRB). As shown in fig. 3 (c), PTP only MRB is associated with one PTP RLC entity, PTM only MRB is associated with one PTM RLC entity, split MRB is associated with one PTM RLC entity and one PTP RLC entity. Wherein the PTM RLC is identical for a plurality of UEs, the plurality of UEs descramble with the same group radio network temporary identity (group radio network temporary identifier, g-RNTI), the PTP RLC is independent for each UE, and each UE listens with a respective cell radio network temporary identity (cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNTI).

It should be understood that the G-RNTI and the G-RNTI may be replaced with each other, and the C-RNTI may be replaced with each other in embodiments of the present application, which are not limited in this respect.

The multicast service can only be provided to the UE in the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connected state, and the access network device and the core network device need to maintain UE information corresponding to the multicast broadcast service group. Multicast services also support deactivation or activation of MBS sessions (sessions) triggered by the core network, the UE not perceiving the service status. Alternatively, both parties to a communication in a multicast service may send data within a defined area or different content in different areas.

3. Multicast broadcast control channel and multicast broadcast traffic channel: two logical channels, a multicast broadcast control channel (MBS control channel, MCCH) and a multicast broadcast traffic channel (MBS traffic channel, MTCH), are introduced in the broadcast technology of the NR MBS, where the MCCH is used to transmit control information, and includes configuration information of the MTCH, such as g-RNTI corresponding to the MTCH and DRX parameters. The MCCH is transmitted in a periodic manner. The MTCH logical channel is used to carry user data of a broadcast service. MTCH is scheduled through MCCH. The configuration of the MTCH is in g-RNTI per (per) level, which can be also called per MBS service level. Wherein, the base station schedules service data to a plurality of UEs simultaneously through g-RNTIs, each g-RNTI may be associated with at least one broadcast service.

It should be appreciated that the above-described channels may correspond to different names in different communication systems. For example, in the fourth generation (4th generation,4G) communication system, the multicast broadcast service control channel may be a single cell multicast broadcast service control channel (SC-MCCH). As another example, in a 5G communication system, the multicast broadcast traffic control channel may be the MC-MCCH. In the future technological development, channels similar to the multicast broadcast service control channel function may be referred to by other names, or channels with the same function may be referred to by different names in different communication environments, communication scenes or communication technologies, but the different names of the channels with similar or same function in different systems do not limit the content and the function of the channels. The multicast broadcast control channel in the present application may be used to transmit control information and the multicast broadcast traffic channel may be used to transmit user data.

The MCCH is used to represent the multicast broadcast traffic control channel and the MTCH is used to represent the multicast broadcast traffic channel in the present application unless otherwise specified. It should be further understood that other english abbreviations in this application are similar thereto and will not be repeated.

4. Multicast broadcast control channel modification notification (MCCH change notification): as shown in fig. 4, the MCCH is repeatedly transmitted in each modification period (Modification period, MP), which includes repetition periods (repetition period, RP). In one MP, the MCCH content is the same, and when the MCCH of a different MP changes, the network device sends a PDCCH containing a modification notification, where the modification notification is MCCH change notification. When the UE detects a field corresponding to MCCH change Notification, for example, 2 bits, on the PDCCH, that is, it considers that the modification notification is detected, the UE reacquires the MCCH. When the UE acquires the MCCH, the PDCCH scrambled by the MCCH-RNTI needs to be detected to acquire the scheduling information of the MCCH. Wherein, the first bit in the MCCH modification notification indicates that the cause of MCCH modification is session start, and the second bit in the MCCH modification notification indicates that the cause of MCCH modification is session modification, session stop or neighbor cell list update.

Rrc state: the RRC states in NR include three: an RRC IDLE state (rrc_idle), an RRC INACTIVE state (rrc_inactive), and an RRC CONNECTED state (rrc_connected). The following is a brief description of three RRC states.

(1) Rrc_connected (RRC CONNECTED state): the RAN has a UE context and the UE and the RAN have a signaling connection. The UE may receive a message and a system message issued by the RAN for controlling the UE to perform data transmission, handover, and notify the UE of related scheduling information, and the RAN may receive channel quality information fed back by the UE.

(2) Rrc_inactive (RRC INACTIVE): the RAN and the core network are connected, resources are not allocated to an air interface, so that services can be quickly recovered, delay sensitive application experience is improved, and in addition, the power saving effect of a user in an inactive state can approach to an idle state, so that the duration of the mobile phone is prolonged.

(3) Rrc_idle (RRC IDLE state): the RAN has no context for the UE and the RAN has no signaling connection, in which state the UE may receive system messages and paging messages for cell selection and reselection. When the UE needs to establish a connection with the network for a certain purpose (service request, location update, paging, etc.), RRC connection establishment is triggered, and after RRC connection establishment, the UE enters an RRC connection state.

It is to be appreciated that the RRC non-connected state in the subject application can be an RRC idle state and/or an RRC inactive state. The non-connected state in the present application may be replaced with an RRC idle state and/or an RRC inactive state.

6. Multicast session identification (MBS session ID): for identifying traffic, such as a multicast session identification may be associated with a service. The multicast session identification may be a temporary multicast group identification (temporary multicast group identifier, TMGI).

The MBS session deactivation procedure is applicable to multicast. The MBS Session deactivation procedure is triggered by the multicast Session management function (MB Session management function, MB-SMF) network element, and is used to deactivate MBS data resources of the 5G access network (NG-RAN) node when the MB-SMF receives notification from the user plane function (MB user plane function, MB-UPF) network element if no downlink data is available for a period of time, or when the MB-SMF directly receives a request forwarded by the application layer function (application function, AF) network element or by the network opening function (network exposure function, NEF). Under the triggering of a 5G core network (5 GC), the RAN releases the radio resources of the multicast session, stops transmitting the multicast session data to the UE, and the base station can perform RRC connection release or non-release on the UE and does not notify the UE. The multicast session state transitions from an active state to a inactive state. In other words, the deactivation state may be that the current service of the UE is in the deactivation state, or that a session (session) about the current service is in the deactivation state, and the base station may instruct the UE to release the service when the related service of the UE is in the deactivation state.

The MBS release procedure is triggered by the core network, and when the Core Network (CN) N decides to release a multicast service, or deletes a UE from the multicast service, the above procedure may be performed. If the CN judges that the CM-IDLE UE exists, the CN initiates paging to enable the UE to enter a connected state so as to execute a subsequent release flow. Specifically, the message sent may be a group paging message (when the base station supports multicast), or may be a unicast paging message (when the base station does not support multicast, multicast service is provided by unicast).

It should be understood that, unless specifically stated in the present application, the state of the multicast broadcast service may be understood as a state of the multicast broadcast session, the release of the multicast broadcast session service may be understood as the release of the multicast broadcast session, and the service may be understood as the multicast broadcast service. That is, the terms "service" and "session" are interchangeable with each other unless specifically stated otherwise in this application.

The MBS session activation procedure is applicable only to multicast. The MBS Session activation process is triggered by the MB-SMF, and when the MB-SMF receives the notification of MB-UPF about MBS downlink data, or when the MB-SMF directly receives the AF or the request forwarded by the NEF, the MBS Session activation process is triggered. The MBS Session activation procedure is used to activate MBS data resources of the NG-RAN node, such as radio resources for establishing a multicast Session, and transmit multicast Session data to the UE. In addition, UEs joining the multicast session in a connection management IDLE (connection management-IDLE, CM) -IDLE state and CM-connected+rrc Inactive state may be paged (paging), and the activation procedure of these UEs may be triggered by an AF request or data notification of the MB-UPF, and the multicast session state is converted from the deactivated state to the activated state. In the figure, the message of the AMF for paging the UE in the CM-IDLE state may be a group paging message (when the base station supports multicast), or may be a unicast paging message (when the base station does not support multicast, multicast service is provided by unicast). The paging procedure of the RAN may be triggered when the AMF sends a multicast session activation request (multicast session activation request) message to the RAN.

The multicast broadcast control channel or MCCH referred to in the present application is for multicast service, and in particular may be configuration information for carrying multicast service, where the configuration information for multicast service may be sent through an MCCH message. For multicast services, the multicast broadcast control channel may be shared with the multicast broadcast control channel used by the broadcast service, or may be a channel dedicated to carrying configuration information for the multicast service. The definition method or name of the multicast broadcast control channel or the MCCH is not limited in the present application, and may be replaced by other expressions or names, and may be replaced by other channels for containing multicast service configuration information.

It should be understood that monitoring the MCCH or reading the MCCH in this application refers to monitoring the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH, or monitoring the PDCCH using an RNTI corresponding to the MCCH (for example, MCCH-RNTI), or descrambling the DCI using an RNTI corresponding to the MCCH (for example, MCCH-RNTI) and/or obtaining the MCCH message or the scheduling information of the PDSCH corresponding to the MCCH.

Similarly, the multicast broadcast traffic channel or the multicast broadcast transport channel or the MTCH is used for multicast traffic, and specifically may be used for carrying data of the multicast traffic, where the data of the multicast traffic may be carried through the MTCH. For multicast services, the multicast broadcast services/transport channels may be shared with the multicast broadcast services/transport channels that are used by the broadcast services, or may be channels that are dedicated to carrying data for the multicast services. The definition method or name of the multicast broadcast service/transmission channel or the MTCH is not limited in the present application, and may be replaced by other expressions or names, and may be replaced by other channels for containing multicast service data.

It should be understood that, in this application, monitoring the MTCH or reading the MTCH refers to monitoring a PDCCH corresponding to the MTCH, or monitoring the PDCCH using an RNTI (such as a G-RNTI) corresponding to the MTCH, or descrambling the DCI using an RNTI (such as a G-RNTI) corresponding to the MTCH, and/or obtaining scheduling information of a PDSCH corresponding to the MTCH.

In the context of receiving multicast service in a non-connected state, if the UE is released to receive multicast service in a non-connected state, the UE monitors the PDCCH with the G-RNTI to read service data. In connection with the service deactivation scenario, as shown in fig. 5, if the core network triggers a service deactivation procedure to the base station, the network device will stop sending data for a long period of time. When the network provides multicast service through the non-connection mode, if the service is deactivated, the state of the corresponding service of the UE is required to be notified.

1> when a multicast or broadcast service is deactivated, if a base station is providing a non-connected mode transmission service, the relevant service is instructed to be deactivated. In one possible approach, the base station deactivates the indication service through the MCCH.

2> when the UE reads the deactivation indication information of the multicast service being received through the non-connected state, the UE may have the following options:

option1: the UE stops monitoring the MTCH, continues monitoring PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH, and obtains when the service is activated through the MCCH;

Option2: the UE stops monitoring the MTCH, continues monitoring the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH and continuously monitors paging;

option3: the UE stops monitoring the MTCH and the MCCH and continuously monitors paging.

3> when the UE receives MCCH and/or indication service activation in paging, it starts to monitor MTCH. In particular, for

And the option3 needs to read the MCCH to acquire the MTCH configuration information if the service activation is monitored in the paging.

Based on the above scheme, when the service is activated, the UE triggers to monitor the MCCH and the MTCH to start receiving data after receiving the paging. However, the UE may fail to receive the paging or may miss the paging, and due to overhead problems, for example, the paging message may not always have resources to send the TMGI, so that the network side may not repeatedly send the paging for reliability, and once the UE misses/missed activation indication, the influence on the UE that is active to receive the multicast is more serious than that of the common UE, the common UE fails to receive the paging and enters the connected state, the base station and the core network may sense that the paging may be initiated again, but once the UE that is not connected to receive the multicast is missed, the network may not sense that the UE fails to receive the service activation notification. Once the service is deactivated, the operation of deactivating and reactivating is not performed for a long time, and the UE does not receive the service for a long time, which may cause missed reception of the service. Therefore, how to ensure that the UE can still normally start receiving the non-connection service after missing paging is a urgent problem to be solved.

The application provides a communication method, when the UE does not monitor the paging message on the PO corresponding to the UE, the UE monitors the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH, so that the UE is prevented from missing the service related message, and the service transmission reliability is improved. See fig. 6.

In the following embodiments, the first terminal apparatus may also be simply referred to as UE1.

S301, the first terminal device determines a first paging occasion.

The first terminal device determines the first PO based on its identity. Paging occasions are also two-level settings that contain Paging Frames (PFs) and Paging Occasions (POs). PF and Po are calculated from the terminal identity. The identity of the terminal may be obtained from 5G-S-TMSI mod 1024.

S302, the first terminal device starts to monitor PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH in a first period.

Optionally, the first terminal device monitors the PDCCH with a first identifier, where the first identifier is an RNTI corresponding to the MCCH, for example, an MCCH-RNTI.

Alternatively, in the case where the first terminal device does not monitor the paging message on the first PO, the first terminal device starts to monitor the PDCCH for the first period.

Beginning to monitor the PDCCH within the first period may be understood as monitoring the PDCCH from the beginning of the first period.

Specifically, the rule that UE1 monitors the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH in the first period without monitoring the paging message in the first PO may be protocol-fixed, that is, UE1 always executes according to the rule; or may be configured by the network to the UE1, such as indicated when the service is deactivated, e.g. the MCCH message contains relevant indication information indicating the rule; or configured when RRC releases to the non-connected state to receive the corresponding service, or broadcasts in a system message whether the UE needs to perform this action. For example, an indication message is carried to indicate that UE1 monitors the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH in the first period without monitoring the paging message in the first PO, where the indication message may be 1 bit or a field is set to True, and when the indication message exists, it is considered that this action needs to be performed. In addition, the information of fixed listening time can be configured, namely the first period configured by signaling, such as a bias offset.

The first time interval is an MCCH modification period where a first paging occasion is located; or the first period is an nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located. Wherein N is a positive integer. The first period is an nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, for example, the first period is a first MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, or a plurality of MCCH modification periods.

When the first period is the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, at least one complete MCCH repetition period is still included in the MCCH modification period after the first PO is ended.

As shown in fig. 7, the MCCH modification period in which the first paging occasion is located is an MCCH period 1, the first period may be an MCCH period 1, or the first period may be a subsequent MCCH modification period, such as an MCCH modification period 2, to the MCCH modification period in which the first paging occasion is located.

When the first period is the nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first PO is located, the N may be configured for the base station, for example, configured through RRC higher layer signaling, or configured through DCI information, or configured through MAC CE signaling. Or the N is a predefined parameter.

For the UE1, when the UE1 cannot detect the paging message on the corresponding PO, because it is uncertain whether the network side does not send or the network side fails to detect or fails to detect due to some anomalies, the PDCCH is monitored in the period corresponding to the PO, the MCCH message is further read through the DCI received on the PDCCH, so that the configuration information of the multicast service is obtained, missing of the activation information of the multicast service due to the fact that the UE1 does not read the paging message can be effectively avoided, and the reliability of the transmission of the multicast service is effectively improved.

For example, if the first terminal device does not monitor the paging message on the first PO, the first terminal device starts to monitor the PDCCH in the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO or in the nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO. Referring to fig. 4, the MCCH modification period in which the first PO is located is MCCH period 1, the first MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period in which the first PO is located is MCCH period 2, the second MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period in which the first PO is located is MCCH period 3, and so on.

Alternatively, in the case that the first terminal device monitors the paging message on the first PO, the following cases may be specifically classified:

(1) The first terminal device receives paging messages of other UEs on the first PO, or service identifiers included in the paging messages are multicast service identifiers which are not interested by the first terminal device, and the first terminal device has no other special actions.

(2) The paging message received by the first terminal device at the first PO includes the identification information of the first terminal device, and the first terminal device enters a connection state to receive the service.

(3) The paging message received by the first terminal device on the first PO includes service activation information of a multicast service of interest to the first terminal device, for example, the paging message includes TMGI 1 and a service activation indication, where TMGI 1 is an identifier of the multicast service that the UE1 desires to receive, and the first terminal device reads the MCCH message in a next MCCH period according to the paging message.

S303, the network equipment starts to send first DCI in a first period corresponding to the first paging occasion, wherein the first DCI is used for scheduling the MCCH message, for example, when the first terminal device does not monitor the paging occasion on the first paging occasion.

Before that, the network device determines a first paging occasion corresponding to the first terminal device, specifically, determines the first paging occasion corresponding to the first terminal device according to the identifier of the first terminal device.

The temporal order of the steps 303 and 302 is not limited.

For the network device, the MCCH message is sent in the period corresponding to the first PO, so that the failure that the subsequent UE1 continues to receive the multicast service due to missed detection or failed transmission of the paging message by the UE1 can be effectively avoided.

S304, the first terminal device receives the first DCI on the PDCCH, and receives an MCCH message according to the first DCI, wherein the MCCH message comprises configuration information of multicast service.

Optionally, the first DCI includes first indication information, and receiving the MCCH message according to the first DCI specifically includes: and when the first indication information indicates the first terminal device to read the MCCH message, the first terminal device receives the MCCH message according to the first DCI.

Optionally, the first DCI schedules the PDSCH where the MCCH message is located, so after the UE1 receives the first DCI, the MCCH message is received at the time-frequency location indicated by the DCI. The MCCH message includes configuration information of the multicast service.

Specifically, the UE1 determines whether to receive the MCCH message scheduled by the first DCI according to the value state of the first indication information in the first DCI or according to whether the first indication information is included in the first DCI.

It can be appreciated that the MCCH message is carried in the PDSCH, which is scheduled by the first DCI.

The first indication information comprises a first bit, and when the value of the first bit is a first value, the first indication information indicates the UE to read the MCCH. The first value is 1 or the first value is 0. For example, when the first bit has a value of 1, UE1 receives the MCCH message on the MCCH channel according to the bit having the value of 1. The time-frequency resource position of the specific MCCH message is indicated by other information in the DCI, for example, the first DCI further includes time-frequency resource indication information, which indicates the time-frequency position of the MCCH message in the PDSCH.

The first indication information may indicate whether the MCCH is read or not by displaying the indication, and may also complete the indication by implicit indication. For example, when the first DCI includes the first indication information, the MCCH message is indicated to be read, and when the first DCI does not include the first indication information, the MCCH message is indicated not to be read. The first indication information may be expressed as "true".

Optionally, the first indication information includes two bits, for example, the first indication information includes a 2-bit field "MCCH change notification", and a value of one of the two bits is used to indicate whether the UE reads the MCCH message. For example, the first bit or the second bit of the two bits has a first value, indicating that the MCCH message is read, and when the second bit has a second value, indicating that the MCCH message does not need to be read. Wherein the first value is 1 and the second value is 0, or vice versa.

The MCCH message includes a configuration message of the multicast service, for example, configuration information including MTCH, such as G-RNTI corresponding to MTCH and DRX parameters. The MTCH logical channel carries user data of the broadcast service. MTCH is scheduled through MCCH. The configuration of the MTCH may be G-RNTI level, which may also be referred to as MBS service level. Wherein the gNB schedules service data to a plurality of UEs simultaneously through Group RNTI (G-RNTI), each G-RNTI may be associated with at least one broadcast service or multicast service.

Thus, UE1 may receive user data of the multicast service at the corresponding MTCH according to the MCCH message.

Optionally, the method may further include:

step S305 the first terminal apparatus receives the second instruction information from the network device. The network device transmits the second instruction information to the first terminal apparatus.

The first terminal device determines to skip consecutive M MCCH modification periods according to second indication information, wherein the second indication information is carried in DCI or the MCCH message, and M is a positive integer.

Skipping consecutive M MCCH modification periods here may be understood as UE1 not receiving MCCH messages for all consecutive M MCCH modification periods.

Since UE1 may continue to monitor after starting to monitor the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH by default unless indicated or no longer interested in the service, optionally, second indication information is sent to UE1, indicating that UE1 does not receive the MCCH message in M consecutive MCCH modification periods. The second indication information may be carried in DCI4_0 or an MCCH message. The second indication information may indicate that MCCH messages of the same service may be read after several MCCH modification periods for skipping consecutive MCCH messages.

Optionally, when the indication exists for a plurality of multicast services, as long as the service indicates that the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH needs to be monitored at a certain MCCH, the UE1 needs to monitor, regardless of whether other service indications are skipped or not. For example, UE1 has two multicast services, where the second indication information included in DCI1 of multicast service 1 is 00001, the second indication information included in DCI2 of multicast service 2 is 00100, where the meaning of bit string 00001 in DCI1 is to skip 4 consecutive MCCH modification periods, read from 5 th MCCH modification period, the meaning of bit string 00100 in DCI2 is to skip 2 consecutive MCCH modification periods, read from 3 rd MCCH modification period, and UE1 skips the next two MCCH modification periods according to the indication of the two DCIs, and all MCCH messages are received from the third modification period to the fifth modification period. Alternatively, the network device may directly instruct to skip two, not according to the specific service.

By this indication, when the MCCH message is repeated, the terminal device may skip part of the repeated MCCH message, thereby reducing power consumption overhead of the terminal device due to the reception of the same signaling all the time.

The corresponding POs may be different for different terminal devices, and the network needs to consider that MTCH or mtch+mcch can be started after all the POs of the UE receiving the service data before transmitting the multicast/broadcast data. As shown in fig. 8, when the DRX cycles of UE1 and UE2 are 128ms, the DRX cycles of UE3 and UE4 are 256ms, the MCCH modification cycle is 32ms, and the UE receives the paging indication and activates the corresponding multicast service, then monitors the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH, and waits for the service to start to monitor the PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH prematurely. Considering that if there is eDRX UE receiving non-connected multicast, its period may be long, more than 10.24s, the non-connected UE may need to listen to long G-RNTI but no data in this scenario, which may cause energy waste.

The present application provides a communication method 500, when there are multiple UEs, the POs of the different UEs are different, and the network device indicates a receiving time of an MCCH message for the multiple UEs, so as to reduce unnecessary monitoring overhead of the UEs. As shown in fig. 9, the method includes:

s501, the network equipment determines a first paging occasion corresponding to the first terminal device.

Specifically, the network device determines a first paging occasion of the first terminal device according to the identifier of the first terminal device.

Optionally, the network device determines a second paging occasion corresponding to the second terminal device. Similarly, the second PO corresponding to the second terminal device is also determined according to the identification or ID of the second terminal device.

Hereinafter, the first terminal apparatus is abbreviated as UE1, the first paging occasion is abbreviated as first PO, the second terminal apparatus is abbreviated as UE2, and the second paging occasion is abbreviated as second PO.

UE1 and UE2 are terminal devices in a cell where the network device is located, or RAN areas of UE1 and the second UE both include the cell where the network device is located. Both UE1 and UE2 are interested in multicast service 1.

Wherein UE1 may be one or more terminal devices that determine that the POs is the same, UE2 is the same.

And S502a, the network equipment sends first information to the first terminal device on the first PO, wherein the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to M continuous MCCH modification periods. It can also be understood that the corresponding MCCH message is received from the m+1th MCCH modification period.

Correspondingly, the first terminal device receives the first information on the first PO, and the first terminal device does not receive the MCCH messages corresponding to the M MCCH modification periods according to the first information.

The continuous M MCCH modification periods are continuous M MCCH modification periods after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO.

The MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO may be understood as an MCCH modification period in which the first PO is located in the time domain. The MCCH modification period currently described may be the 0 th modification period or the 1 st modification period.

Alternatively, the first information may directly indicate that the first terminal device receives the MCCH message at the first time. I.e., the timing of the MCCH message transmission, such as a specific frame, subframe, and/or slot, is indicated by indicating a specific time. Alternatively, at this time, second information may be sent to UE2, where the second information also indicates the first time, and then UE1 and UE2 may receive the MCCH message at the first time at the same time.

The first information is carried in a paging message, which also includes a TMGI corresponding to the multicast service. And indicating the multicast service to be activated through information carried in the paging message. The first terminal device determines that the paging message is used for indicating the reception of the multicast service according to the own ID and the TMGI of the interested multicast service 1 in the paging message received on the first PO. Determining that the MCCH message skipping M MCCH modification periods receives the MCCH message of the M+1th MCCH modification period according to the first information in the paging message; or directly receives the MCCH message at the first time according to the first information. The indication information may be multicast service level, i.e. one service corresponds to one indication.

Optionally, 502 may further include:

s502b, sending second information to the UE2 on a second PO, wherein the second information indicates that the UE2 does not receive MCCH information corresponding to continuous N MCCH modification periods, and the continuous N MCCH modification periods are continuous N MCCH modification periods after the continuous N MCCH modification periods corresponding to the second PO;

the n+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the m+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO. The n+1th MCCH period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the M+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO, so that the UE which is in need of receiving the same multicast service for different POs can start to receive the MCCH message in the same period, and the power consumption caused by early monitoring and receiving of the MCCH message by the UE with the earlier PO is avoided.

S503, the network equipment sends the MCCH message in an M+1st MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO.

Correspondingly, the UE1 receives the MCCH message in the m+1st MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO.

Optionally, when the n+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the m+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO, the network device sends the MCCH message in the m+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO, that is, sends the MCCH message in the n+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO.

And the UE2 receives the MCCH message in an M+1st MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO. I.e. UE1 and UE2 read MCCH messages in the same MCCH modification period.

Optionally, before sending the MCCH message, the method further comprises the following steps:

and S502b, the network equipment sends third indication information, and the third indication information indicates the UE1 to read the MCCH information.

Optionally, third indication information is further sent to UE2, and the third indication information further instructs UE2 to read the MCCH message.

The third indication information is carried in DCI, e.g. dci_4, or in an MCCH message.

And the third indication information comprises a second bit, and when the value of the second bit is the first value, the third indication information indicates the UE to read the MCCH. The first value is 1 or the first value is 0. For example, when the second bit has a value of 1, UE1 receives the MCCH message on the MCCH channel according to the bit having the value of 1. The time-frequency resource position of the specific MCCH message is indicated by other information in the DCI, for example, the first DCI further includes time-frequency resource indication information, which indicates the time-frequency position of the MCCH message in the PDSCH.

The third indication information may indicate whether the MCCH is read or not by displaying the indication, and may also complete the indication by implicit indication. For example, when the third indication information is included in the first DCI, the MCCH message is indicated to be read, and when the third indication information is not included in the first DCI, the MCCH message is indicated not to be read. The third indication information may be expressed as "true".

When the third indication information includes two bits, for example, the third indication information includes a 2-bit field "MCCH change notification", a value of one of the two bits is used to indicate whether the UE reads the MCCH message. For example, the first bit or the second bit of the two bits has a first value, indicating that the MCCH message is read, and when the second bit has a second value, indicating that the MCCH message does not need to be read. Wherein the first value is 1 and the second value is 0, or vice versa.

If MCCH change notification includes two bits. The 1 st bit indicates multicast start or activation and the second bit indicates whether the MCCH message is modified.

For the UE, for example, for UE1 and UE2, if the MCCH modification notification, i.e. the third indication information, still needs to be monitored after the reception of the paging message indicates that the corresponding service is activated: it is necessary for the network to set one bit of 2 bits of the m+1th modification period, which indicates whether the UE reads the MCCH message, to 1, and not limited to the other bit, and optionally also set one bit of 2 bits of the modification period, which corresponds to the first period, which indicates whether the UE reads the MCCH message, to 1, and not limited to the other bit.

In one case, after receiving the paging indication, the UE does not need to monitor the MCCH modification notification, that is, does not need to receive the third indication information, and the network side does not need to set 2 bits, optionally, the value of one bit of the MCCH message, which is indicated by 2 bits of the modification period corresponding to the first time, of the UE, may be set to 1, and the value of the other bit is not limited.

If MCCH change notification does not contain information for determining whether the MCCH needs to be monitored for traffic state modification (e.g. when only one bit is included): the UE determines whether to monitor the MCCH according to the paging indication.

The MCCH message includes configuration information of the multicast service.

The MCCH message includes a configuration message of the multicast service, for example, configuration information including MTCH, such as G-RNTI corresponding to MTCH and DRX parameters. The MTCH logical channel carries user data of the broadcast service. MTCH is scheduled through MCCH. The configuration of the MTCH is at the per G-RNTI level, which is also known as the per MBS service level. Wherein the gNB schedules service data to a plurality of UEs simultaneously through Group RNTI (G-RNTI), each G-RNTI may be associated with at least one broadcast service or multicast service.

For example, as shown in fig. 10, the addition of TMGI in the group page sent by the PO where UE1 is located indicates that the MCCH is to be monitored in the next 2 MCCH modification periods of the current MCCH modification period, and the addition of TMGI in the group page sent by the PO where UE2 is located indicates that the MCCH is to be monitored in the next 1 MCCH modification period of the current MCCH modification period. Then UE1 and UE2 may start to monitor PDCCH corresponding to MCCH in common MCCH modification period 3, and then receive MCCH message, and further may receive service information on MTCH. Unnecessary power consumption overhead caused by the fact that the UE1 starts to monitor too early is avoided.

The moments of the POs corresponding to the UEs are different, the moments of the various UEs receiving the group paging message and the activation indication are inconsistent, which leads to inconsistent time when the UEs monitor the PDCCH to receive the MCCH, so that the MCCH which is monitored by the different UEs before and after can be far away, and the actual data transmission is realized at least by informing all the UEs of service activation. Therefore, the power consumption caused by the fact that the UE monitors the MCCH prematurely can be avoided by indicating the moment that the MCCH message is received by the UE.

When the idle period of one UE exists in the eDRX scene is longer, other UEs can be required to monitor PDCCH corresponding to MCCH for a long time before receiving multicast data, and by the method, the power consumption of the UE for monitoring the PDCCH by using the MCCH-RNTI in the scene is effectively saved.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 1100 comprises a transceiver unit 1110, which transceiver unit 1110 may be adapted to implement the respective communication functions. The transceiver unit 1110 may also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit.

Optionally, the apparatus 1100 may further include a processing unit 1120, where the processing unit 1120 may be configured to perform data processing.

Optionally, the apparatus 1100 further includes a storage unit, where the storage unit may be configured to store instructions and/or data, and the processing unit 1120 may read the instructions and/or data in the storage unit, so that the apparatus implements actions performed by the terminal device or the network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

In a first design, the device 1100 may be the first terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be a component (e.g., a chip) of the first terminal device. The apparatus 1100 may implement steps or procedures performed by the first terminal apparatus in the above method embodiment, where the transceiving unit 1110 may be configured to perform transceiving-related operations of the first terminal apparatus in the above method embodiment, and the processing unit 1120 may be configured to perform processing-related operations of the first terminal apparatus in the above method embodiment.

A possible implementation manner, the apparatus 1100 is configured to implement the function of the first terminal apparatus in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6. For example, the processing unit 1120 is configured to determine a first paging occasion according to the identifier of the first terminal device; the processing unit 1120 is further configured to, when the paging message is not monitored on the first paging occasion, start monitoring a PDCCH corresponding to the MCCH in a first period; a transceiver 1110, configured to receive a first DCI on the PDCCH, and receive an MCCH message according to the first DCI, where the MCCH message includes configuration information of a multicast service.

Optionally, the first period is an MCCH modification period in which the first paging occasion is located; or the first period is an nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, where N is a positive integer and N is a positive integer.

Optionally, the first DCI includes first indication information, and receiving the MCCH message according to the first DCI includes: and receiving the MCCH message according to the first information when the first indication information indicates that the MCCH message is read.

Optionally, the processing unit 1120 is configured to skip consecutive M MCCH modification periods according to the second indication information, where the second indication information is carried in DCI or MCCH message, and M is a positive integer.

In another possible implementation manner, the apparatus 1100 is configured to implement the function of the first terminal apparatus in the method embodiment shown in fig. 9. For example, the transceiver 1110 is configured to receive first information on a first PO, where the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to M consecutive MCCH modification periods; and a processing unit 1120, configured to not receive the MCCH messages corresponding to the M MCCH modification periods according to the first information.

The transceiver 1110 is further configured to receive third indication information, and the processing unit 1120 is configured to read, according to the third indication information, an MCCH message corresponding to the m+1th MCCH modification period.

In a second design, the apparatus 1100 may be a network device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be a component (such as a chip) of a network device. The apparatus 1100 may implement steps or processes performed by a network device corresponding to the above method embodiments, where the transceiver unit 1110 may be configured to perform operations related to the transceiver of the network device in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 1120 may be configured to perform operations related to the processing of the network device in the above method embodiments.

A possible implementation manner, the apparatus 1100 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 6. For example, the processing unit 1120 is configured to determine a first paging occasion corresponding to the first terminal device; a transceiver 1110, configured to initiate a first DCI in a first period corresponding to the first paging occasion, where the first DCI is used for scheduling an MCCH message when the UE does not monitor a paging message on the first paging occasion; the first DCI is used to schedule an MCCH message, where the MCCH message includes configuration information of a multicast service.

Optionally, the transceiver 1110 is configured to send second indication information to the first terminal device, where the second indication information instructs the first terminal device to skip consecutive M MCCH modification periods, and the second indication information is carried in DCI or MCCH message.

In another possible implementation manner, the apparatus 1100 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 9. For example, the processing unit 1120 is configured to determine a first PO corresponding to the first terminal device; a transceiver 1110, configured to send first information to a first terminal device on a first PO, where the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to M consecutive MCCH modification periods, and the M consecutive MCCH modification periods are M consecutive MCCH modification periods after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO; the transceiver 1110 is further configured to send the MCCH message in an m+1st MCCH modification period after the first PO corresponds to the MCCH modification period.

Optionally, the processing unit 1120 is further configured to determine a second PO corresponding to the second terminal apparatus; the transceiver 1110 is further configured to send second information to the second terminal device on the second PO, where the second information indicates that the second terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to N consecutive MCCH modification periods, and the N consecutive MCCH modification periods are N consecutive MCCH modification periods after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO; the n+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the m+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO.

Optionally, the transceiver 1110 is further configured to send third indication information, where the third indication information indicates that the first terminal device reads the MCCH message before sending the MCCH message.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

It should also be appreciated that the apparatus 1100 herein is embodied in the form of functional units. The term "unit" herein may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor, etc.) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. In an alternative example, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 1100 may be specifically a first terminal apparatus in the foregoing embodiments and may be used to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the first terminal apparatus in the foregoing method embodiments, or the apparatus 1100 may be specifically a second terminal apparatus in the foregoing embodiments and may be used to perform each flow and/or step corresponding to the second terminal apparatus in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

The apparatus 1100 of each of the above-described aspects has a function of implementing a corresponding step performed by a first terminal apparatus in the above-described method, or the apparatus 1100 of each of the above-described aspects has a function of implementing a corresponding step performed by a second terminal apparatus in the above-described method. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions; for example, the transceiver unit may be replaced by a transceiver (e.g., a transmitting unit in the transceiver unit may be replaced by a transmitter, a receiving unit in the transceiver unit may be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as a processing unit, etc., may be replaced by a processor, to perform the transceiver operations and related processing operations in the various method embodiments, respectively.

The transceiver 1110 may be a transceiver circuit (e.g., may include a receiving circuit and a transmitting circuit), and the processing unit may be a processing circuit.

It should be noted that the apparatus in fig. 11 may be a network element or a device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be a chip or a chip system, for example: system on chip (SoC). The receiving and transmitting unit can be an input and output circuit and a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit on the chip. And are not limited herein.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 1200 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 1200 includes a processor 1210, the processor 1210 being coupled to a memory 1220, the memory 1220 being for storing computer programs or instructions and/or data, the processor 1210 being for executing the computer programs or instructions stored by the memory 1220 or for reading data stored by the memory 1220 for performing the methods in the method embodiments above.

Optionally, the processor 1210 is one or more.

Optionally, the memory 1220 is one or more.

Alternatively, the memory 1220 may be integrated with the processor 1210 or may be separate.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 12, the apparatus 1200 further comprises an interface circuit 1230. The interface circuit 1230 is used for receiving and/or transmitting signals. Processor 1210 and interface circuit 1230 are coupled to each other. For example, the processor 1210 is configured to control the interface circuit 1230 to receive and/or transmit signals. It is to be appreciated that the interface circuit 1230 can be a transceiver or an input-output interface.

When the apparatus 1200 is used to implement the method shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9, the processor 1210 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1120, and the interface circuit 1230 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1110.

As an aspect, the apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the operations performed by the first terminal apparatus in the above method embodiments.

For example, the processor 1210 is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the memory 1220 to implement the relevant operations of the first terminal device in the above respective method embodiments. For example, the first terminal apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9 performs the method.

As an aspect, the apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the operations performed by the second terminal apparatus in the above method embodiments.

For example, the processor 1210 is configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in the memory 1220 to implement the relevant operations of the second terminal device in the above respective method embodiments. For example, the second terminal apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or 9 performs the method.

When the communication device is a chip applied to the terminal, the terminal chip realizes the functions of the terminal in the embodiment of the method. The terminal chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is sent to the terminal by the base station; alternatively, the terminal chip sends information to other modules in the terminal (e.g., radio frequency modules or antennas) that the terminal sends to the base station.

It should be appreciated that the processors referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (digital signal processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), off-the-shelf programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It should also be understood that the memories mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be volatile memories and/or nonvolatile memories. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM). For example, RAM may be used as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

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

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

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1300 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The system-on-chip 1300 (or alternatively referred to as a processing system) includes logic 1310 and input/output interfaces 1320.

Logic 1310 may be a processing circuit in system-on-chip 1300. Logic 1310 may be coupled to the memory unit to invoke instructions in the memory unit so that system-on-chip 1300 may implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application. The input/output interface 1320 may be an input/output circuit in the chip system 1300, outputting information processed by the chip system 1300, or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 1300 for processing.

Specifically, for example, if the first terminal device is equipped with the chip system 1300, the logic circuit 1310 is coupled to the input/output interface 1320, and the logic circuit 1310 may send side feedback information to the second terminal device through the input/output interface 1320, where the side feedback information may be generated by the logic circuit 1310 according to the generation; or the input/output interface 1320 may input side-row data from the second terminal device to the logic circuit 1310 for processing. For another example, if the second terminal device is equipped with the chip system 1300, the logic circuit 1310 is coupled to the input/output interface 1320, and the logic circuit 1310 may send side line data to the first terminal device through the input/output interface 1320, where the side line data may be generated by the logic circuit 1310; or the input/output interface 1320 may input side-by-side feedback information from the first terminal device to the logic 1310 for processing.

As an aspect, the chip system 1300 is used to implement the operations performed by the first terminal device in the above method embodiments.

For example, the logic circuit 1310 is configured to implement the operations related to the processing performed by the first terminal device in the above method embodiment, for example, the operations related to the processing performed by the first terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9; the input/output interface 1320 is used to implement the transmission and/or reception related operations performed by the first terminal apparatus in the above method embodiment, for example, the first terminal apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9.

Alternatively, the chip system 1300 is used to implement the operations performed by the second terminal apparatus in the above method embodiments.

For example, the logic circuit 1310 is configured to implement the operations related to the processing performed by the second terminal apparatus in the above method embodiment, for example, the operations related to the processing performed by the second terminal apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9; the input/output interface 1320 is used to implement the transmission and/or reception related operations performed by the second terminal apparatus in the above method embodiment, for example, the second terminal apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for implementing the method performed by the first terminal device or the second terminal device in the above-described method embodiments.

For example, the computer program, when executed by a computer, makes the computer implement the method performed by the first terminal device or the second terminal device in the above-described method embodiments.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement the method performed by the first terminal device or the second terminal device in the above method embodiments.

The present embodiment also provides a communication system including the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the above embodiments. For example, the system comprises a first terminal device and a second terminal device in the embodiments shown in fig. 6 or fig. 9.

The explanation and beneficial effects of the related content in any of the above-mentioned devices can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and are not repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be through some interface, device or unit indirect coupling or communication connection, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. For example, the computer may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. For example, the aforementioned usable media include, but are not limited to, U disk, removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other various media that can store program code.

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

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

the first terminal device determines a first paging occasion according to the identification of the first terminal device;

when the first terminal device does not monitor the paging message on the first paging occasion, the first terminal device starts to monitor a physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to a multicast broadcast control channel MCCH in a first period;

receiving first downlink control information DCI on the PDCCH,

and receiving MCCH information according to the first DCI, wherein the MCCH information comprises configuration information of multicast service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the position of the substrate comprises,

the first period is an MCCH modification period in which the first paging occasion is located; or alternatively

The first period is an nth MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period where the first paging occasion is located, where N is a positive integer, and N is a positive integer.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first DCI includes first indication information, and receiving the MCCH message according to the first DCI includes:

and when the first indication information indicates reading of the MCCH information, receiving the MCCH information according to the first information.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein,

the first indication information includes a first bit, and when the value of the first bit is a first value, the first indication information indicates the first terminal device to read the MCCH.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the method comprises:

the first terminal device determines to skip continuous M MCCH modification periods according to the second indication information, wherein the second indication information is carried in DCI or the MCCH message, and M is a positive integer.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

the network equipment determines a first paging occasion corresponding to a first terminal device;

the network equipment starts to originate first Downlink Control Information (DCI) in a first period corresponding to the first paging occasion, wherein the first DCI is used for scheduling multicast broadcast control channel (MCCH) information when the first terminal device does not monitor the paging information on the first paging occasion;

The network device uses the first DCI to schedule an MCCH message, where the MCCH message includes configuration information of a multicast service.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of providing the first layer comprises,

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein,

the first DCI includes first indication information, where the first indication information includes a first bit, and when the first bit value is a first value, the first indication information indicates that the first terminal device reads an MCCH message.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6-8, further comprising:

and sending second indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the second indication information instructs the first terminal device to skip continuous M MCCH modification periods, and the second indication information is carried in DCI or the MCCH message.

10. A method of communication, the method comprising:

the network equipment determines a first paging occasion PO corresponding to a first terminal device;

The network equipment sends first information to the first terminal device on the first paging occasion PO, wherein the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to continuous M multicast broadcast control channel MCCH modification periods, and the continuous M MCCH modification periods are continuous M MCCH modification periods after the first PO corresponds to the MCCH modification periods;

and the network equipment sends the MCCH message in an M+1st MCCH modification period after the first PO corresponds to the MCCH modification period.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

the network equipment determines a second PO corresponding to a second terminal device;

the network equipment sends second information to a second terminal device on a second PO, wherein the second information indicates that the second terminal device does not receive MCCH information corresponding to continuous N MCCH modification periods, and the continuous N MCCH modification periods are continuous N MCCH modification periods after the continuous N MCCH modification periods corresponding to the second PO;

the n+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the second PO is the same as the M+1th MCCH modification period after the MCCH modification period corresponding to the first PO.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Before sending the MCCH message, the network device sends third indication information, where the third indication information indicates the first terminal device to read the MCCH message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the third indication information comprises a second bit, and wherein the third indication information indicates that the first terminal device read the MCCH when the second bit is at the first value.

14. A communication method, characterized in that,

the first terminal device receives first information on a first paging occasion PO, wherein the first information indicates that the first terminal device does not receive MCCH messages corresponding to continuous M multicast broadcast control channel MCCH modification periods;

and the first terminal device does not receive the MCCH messages corresponding to the M MCCH modification periods according to the first information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

and the first terminal device receives the third indication information and reads the MCCH message corresponding to the M+1th MCCH modification period according to the third indication information.

16. A communication device, comprising:

a processor for executing a computer program stored in a memory to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 or to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 9 or to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 13 or to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 15.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising the memory and/or a communication interface coupled with the processor,

the communication interface is used for inputting and/or outputting information.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or to cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 9, or to cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 13, or to cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 15.

19. A computer program product comprising instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 5 or for performing the method of any one of claims 6 to 9 or for performing the method of any one of claims 10 to 13 or for performing the method of any one of claims 14 to 15.