CN117998538A

CN117998538A - Communication method and related device

Info

Publication number: CN117998538A
Application number: CN202211379162.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 韩锋; 马川; 郑黎丽; 胡锦娜
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-11-04
Filing date: 2022-11-04
Publication date: 2024-05-07
Also published as: WO2024093531A1

Abstract

A communication method and a related device are provided, and the method is suitable for terminal equipment. The method comprises the following steps: receiving first indication information from access network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating to enable a first working mode or a second working mode, the first working mode is that terminal equipment adopts discontinuous reception (UE) DRX of user equipment to communicate with the access network equipment, and the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous transmission (CellDTX) of a cell to communicate with the access network equipment; and determining to adopt the first working mode or the second working mode to communicate with the access network equipment according to the first indication information. By adopting the embodiment of the application, the access network equipment can flexibly indicate the working mode of the terminal equipment through the first indication information, and the terminal equipment can communicate with the access network equipment in a corresponding mode in response to the first indication information, thereby realizing the energy saving of the system.

Description

Communication method and related device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and a related device.

Background

For a UE in a connected state, in order to save power, the base station may configure a discontinuous reception (discontinuous reception, DRX) mechanism (i.e., UE DRX mechanism) for the UE, where the UE may enter a sleep state (sleep mode) at some time during a UE DRX cycle, without monitoring a downlink control channel, such as a physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH), and wake up from the sleep state when the PDCCH needs to be monitored, and monitor the PDCCH during a wake-up time during the UE DRX cycle, so that the UE may achieve the purpose of saving power. When the wake-up times of a plurality of UEs served by the base station are different, the base station needs to send downlink control channels to the UEs in the wake-up times of the UEs at different times, but this way is not beneficial to system energy saving or base station energy saving.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a related device, which can realize system energy saving.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a terminal device, the method comprising:

Receiving first indication information from access network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating to enable a first working mode or a second working mode, the first working mode is that terminal equipment adopts discontinuous reception (UE) DRX of user equipment to communicate with the access network equipment, and the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous cell transmission CellDTX to communicate with the access network equipment;

And determining to adopt a first working mode or a second working mode to communicate with the access network equipment according to the first indication information.

In the application, the first indication information can indicate which working mode (such as Cell DTX working mode or UE DRX working mode) the terminal equipment enters, and the indication mode of two different energy saving modes is realized simultaneously by one piece of information, so that the method is more flexible and the purpose of saving energy of a system can be achieved.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate whether to perform at least one of the following operations in the first operation mode or the second operation mode:

Monitoring a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, monitoring a downlink public signal, or transmitting an uplink physical signal.

In this implementation manner, the first indication information may further indicate whether to perform one or more operations of monitoring the PDCCH, performing monitoring the downlink common signal, or performing sending the uplink physical signal in the entering/enabling working mode, so that the indication of the first indication information is more flexible and the functions are more abundant.

In one possible implementation, the receiving the first indication information from the access network device includes:

And receiving the first indication information from the access network equipment in the non-activation time of the first working mode or the second working mode.

In this implementation, the terminal device may determine an enabled operation mode after the current operation mode and whether to be activated in the enabled operation mode according to the first indication information received during the inactive time of the current operation mode. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not activated in the enabled operation mode, the terminal device may skip the operation mode, thereby facilitating system power saving.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information is carried in downlink control information DCI.

In this implementation, the first indication information is carried in the existing DCI by expanding the existing DCI (i.e. DCP or PDCCH-WUS), which is beneficial to forward compatibility of the protocol.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate a value of a number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode lasts.

In the implementation manner, the first indication information indicates the value of the continuous period number of the first working mode or the second working mode, so that the number of times of sending the first indication information can be reduced, and signaling overhead can be saved.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

receiving high-level signaling from the access network device;

Here, the higher layer signaling includes a value of a number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode continues; or the higher layer signaling comprises a candidate set of values of the number of periods that the first working mode or the second working mode lasts;

wherein, the higher layer signaling is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message or system information.

In the implementation manner, the high-layer signaling indicates the value of the continuous period number of the first working mode or the second working mode, so that the first indication information does not need to be sent each time, and signaling overhead is saved.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following information:

an identifier of a service cell group, where the identifier of the service cell group is used to indicate the service cell group to which the first indication information is applicable, and each service cell group includes identifiers of one or more service cells; or alternatively

And identifying a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

In the implementation manner, the first indication information indicates the identification of the service cell group and/or the identification of one bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell, so that the content carried by the first indication information is richer, the method and the device are applicable to carrier aggregation and application scenes of multiple BWPs, and the application scope of the scheme is favorably improved.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

receiving an RRC message from the access network device, the RRC message including one or more of the following information:

the corresponding relation between the service cell and the service cell group; or alternatively

And the corresponding BWP of each service cell is the information of energy-saving BWP.

In the implementation manner, the corresponding relation between the service cell and the service cell group and/or the information that one BWP corresponding to each service cell is energy-saving BWP are carried by the RRC message, so that the terminal equipment can acquire more detailed information by combining the first indication information, the method and the device can be applied to carrier aggregation and application scenes of multiple BWPs, and the application scope of the scheme is favorably improved.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled;

After receiving the first indication information from the access network device, the method further includes:

receiving second indication information from the access network equipment in the activation time of the second working mode, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the identification of a reference signal;

Receiving the reference signal in the inactive time of the second working mode;

and performing time-frequency synchronization and/or Automatic Gain Control (AGC) adjustment according to the reference signal.

In this implementation manner, when the access network device determines that the number of periods for which the second operation mode lasts is 2, the terminal device is facilitated to perform fast AGC adjustment and time-frequency synchronization by receiving the second indication information in the first Cell DTX period, and further receiving the reference signal indicated by the second indication information before the start time of the second Cell DTX period (or in the inactive time of the first Cell DTX period).

In a possible implementation, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following information:

The effective time for which the reference signal is applicable; or alternatively

And the identification of the service cell groups is used for indicating the service cell groups to which the second indication information is applicable, and each service cell group comprises one or more identification of the service cells.

In the implementation manner, the effective time suitable for the reference signal is indicated by the second indication information, so that the sending times of the second indication information can be reduced, and the signaling overhead is saved. The second indication information indicates the identification of the service cell group, so that the content carried by the second indication information is richer and more flexible.

In one possible implementation, the second indication information is carried in one or more of the following messages:

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

In the implementation manner, the second indication information can be borne in different messages, so that the applicability of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled; the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving third indication information from the access network device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating one or more of the following information:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

In the implementation manner, when the Cell DTX mechanism is adopted for communication, the access network equipment is specified to configure parameters related to the Cell DTX to the terminal equipment, so that the receiving and transmitting alignment between the terminal equipment and the access network equipment is realized, and the energy saving of the system is facilitated.

In one possible implementation, before the receiving the third indication information from the access network device, the method further includes:

Transmitting auxiliary information to the access network device, the auxiliary information comprising one or more of the following:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

The Cell DTX On-duration timer expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER desired by the terminal device; or alternatively

A starting time offset value of a Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The duration of the expected entry into the Cell DTX period by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle entered by the terminal device as desired.

In the implementation manner, the auxiliary information is sent through the terminal equipment, so that the access network equipment can more accurately configure parameters related to Cell DTX, for example, more accurate On duration timer is configured, and more efficient system energy saving is realized.

In one possible implementation, before the sending auxiliary information to the access network device, the method further includes:

and receiving fourth indication information from the access network equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for requesting the terminal equipment to send the auxiliary information.

In this implementation manner, the access network device may trigger the terminal device to send the auxiliary information through the fourth indication information, that is, the access network device may only allow the specific terminal device to send the auxiliary information.

Receiving fifth indication information from the access network device, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating one or more of the following information:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

In this implementation manner, the access network device may also send candidate values of parameters related to the Cell DTX to the terminal device, so that the terminal device may send auxiliary information according to the candidate values from the access network device, and further make the auxiliary information sent by the terminal device more accurate.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method being applied to an access network device, the method comprising:

Determining first indication information;

And sending the first indication information to terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating to enable a first working mode or a second working mode, the first working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous reception (UE) DRX of user equipment to communicate with the access network equipment, and the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous transmission (Cell DTX) of a Cell to communicate with the access network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

Sending high-layer signaling to the terminal equipment;

The high-level signaling comprises a value of the period number which is continuous in the first working mode or the second working mode; or the higher layer signaling comprises a candidate set of values of the number of periods that the first working mode or the second working mode lasts;

And identifying a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

Transmitting an RRC message to the terminal device, the RRC message including one or more of the following information:

after the first indication information is sent to the terminal equipment, the method further comprises the following steps:

Transmitting second indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the identification of the reference signal;

And transmitting the reference signal to the terminal equipment, wherein the reference signal is used for time-frequency synchronization and/or Automatic Gain Control (AGC) adjustment.

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

Transmitting third indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating one or more of the following information:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

In a possible implementation, before the sending the third indication information to the terminal device, the method further includes:

receiving auxiliary information from the terminal device, the auxiliary information comprising one or more of the following:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER desired by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle entered by the terminal device as desired.

In one possible implementation, before the receiving the assistance information from the terminal device, the method further includes:

and sending fourth indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for requesting the terminal equipment to send the auxiliary information.

transmitting fifth indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating one or more of the following information:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, the apparatus being a terminal device, the apparatus comprising:

The receiving and transmitting unit is used for receiving first indication information from access network equipment, the first indication information is used for indicating to enable a first working mode or a second working mode, the first working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous reception (UE) DRX of user equipment to communicate with the access network equipment, and the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous transmission (Cell DTX) of a Cell to communicate with the access network equipment;

And the processing unit is used for determining to adopt the first working mode or the second working mode to communicate with the access network equipment according to the first indication information.

In one possible implementation, when the first indication information is received from the access network device, the transceiver unit is configured to:

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

receiving high-level signaling from the access network device;

And identifying a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

after said receiving the first indication information from the access network device,

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive second indication information from the access network device during an activation time of the second working mode, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of a reference signal;

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive the reference signal during an inactive time of the second operation mode;

the processing unit is further used for performing time-frequency synchronization and/or Automatic Gain Control (AGC) adjustment according to the reference signal.

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled; the transceiver unit is further configured to:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

In a possible implementation, before the receiving the third indication information from the access network device, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER desired by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle entered by the terminal device as desired.

In a possible implementation, before the sending auxiliary information to the access network device, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, the apparatus being an access network device, the apparatus comprising:

The processing unit is used for determining first indication information;

The receiving and transmitting unit is configured to send the first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate to enable a first working mode or a second working mode, the first working mode is that the terminal device adopts a discontinuous reception UE DRX of a user equipment to communicate with the access network device, and the second working mode is that the terminal device adopts a discontinuous transmission Cell DTX of a Cell to communicate with the access network device.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

Sending high-layer signaling to the terminal equipment;

And identifying a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

After the first indication information is sent to the terminal device, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

In a possible implementation, before the sending of the third indication information to the terminal device, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER desired by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle entered by the terminal device as desired.

In a possible implementation, before the receiving the auxiliary information from the terminal device, the transceiver unit is further configured to:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communications apparatus, which may be a terminal device, comprising a processor, a transceiver and a memory, the processor, the transceiver and the memory being coupled, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor and transceiver are configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method according to any of the first aspects.

In one possible design, the communication device may be a chip or a device comprising a chip implementing the method of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communications apparatus, which may be an access network device, comprising a processor, a transceiver and a memory, the processor, the transceiver and the memory being coupled, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor and transceiver are configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method according to any of the second aspects.

In one possible design, the communication device may be a chip or a device comprising a chip implementing the method of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal apparatus, comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from or transmitting signals from a further communication device other than the communication device to the processor, the processor being arranged to implement the method of any of the first aspects by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communications apparatus, which may be an access network device, comprising a processor and interface circuitry for receiving signals from or transmitting signals from other communications apparatus than the communications apparatus to the processor, the processor being operable to implement a method as in any of the second aspects by logic circuitry or executing code instructions.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a computer, implement a method according to any of the first aspects.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a computer, implement a method according to any of the second aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of the first aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, the application provides a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of the second aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system comprising the terminal device of the third or fifth or seventh aspect and the access network device of the fourth or sixth or eighth aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a DRX scenario based on PDCCH-WUS;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 5a is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a UE provided in an embodiment of the present application receives first indication information in an inactive time;

Fig. 5b is another schematic diagram of a scenario in which a UE provided in an embodiment of the present application receives first indication information in an inactive time;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a UE provided in an embodiment of the present application receives first indication information in an activation time;

FIG. 7 is another flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of format design of a MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a format design of another MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10a is a schematic diagram of transmitting second indication information and a reference signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10b is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the present application for transmitting second indication information and reference signals;

FIG. 11 is another flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

In the description of the present application, "/" means "or" unless otherwise indicated, for example, A/B may mean A or B. "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an association object, and means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: a and B exist independently, and B exists independently, wherein A, B can be single or multiple. Furthermore, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "one or more of the following: … … "," at least one of … … "and the like refer to any combination of the listed items, e.g.," one or more of: a, B, C' may represent: there are six cases of A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, B and C together, A and C together, A, B and C together, wherein A, B, C can be single or multiple. The terms "first," "second," and the like do not limit the number and order of execution, and the terms "first," "second," and the like do not necessarily differ.

In the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, various embodiments are not necessarily referring to the same embodiments throughout the specification. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) systems, wireless-fidelity (WiFi) systems, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication systems, fifth generation (5th generation,5G) systems or New Radio (NR) and future communication systems, and the like, are not limited herein.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system may include one or more access network devices 10 (only 1 shown) and one or more terminal devices 20 in communication with each access network device 10. Fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and does not limit the applicable scenario of the technical solution provided by the present application.

The terminal device comprises a device providing voice and/or data connectivity to the user, and may comprise, for example, a handheld device having wireless connectivity, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may communicate with the core network via a radio access network, which may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a device-to-device (D2D) terminal device, a vehicle-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X) terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (internet of things), an IoT) terminal device, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote station, an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user agent, or user equipment, and the like. For example, mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones) computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built mobile devices, and the like may be included. For example, personal communication services (personal communication service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) stations, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) DIGITAL ASSISTANT, and the like; but may also include limited devices such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited memory or computing capabilities, etc.

The access network device may include a new generation base station (generation node B, gNB), evolved node B (eNB), next generation evolved node B (next generation eNB, ng-eNB), wireless backhaul device, radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), node B (node B, NB), base station controller (base station controller, BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station (home evolved nodeB, heNB) or (home node B, HNB), baseband unit (baseBand unit, BBU), transmission reception point (TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING point, TRP), transmission point (TRANSMITTING POINT, TP), mobile switching center, and the like in the 5G communication system, without limitation herein.

The access network device may also include one or more Centralized Units (CUs), one or more Distributed Units (DUs), or one or more CUs and one or more DUs. Illustratively, the functionality of a CU may be implemented by one entity or by a different entity. For example, the functions of the CU are further split, that is, the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, that is, a control plane CU entity (i.e., a CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (i.e., a CU-UP entity), which may be coupled to the DU, so as to jointly complete the functions of the access network device. In this way part of the functionality of the radio access network device may be implemented by a plurality of network functional entities. These network function entities may be network elements in a hardware device, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

In the embodiment of the present application, the means for implementing the function of the access network device may be the access network device itself, or may be a means capable of supporting the access network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a combination device or component capable of implementing the function of the access network device, where the means may be installed in the access network device. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

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

1. UE discontinuous reception (discontinuousreception, DRX) mechanism

In order to save the power consumption of the terminal equipment, a UE DRX mechanism, also called a UE DRX working mode or a DRX mechanism, is introduced. The terminal device turns on the receiver to receive the downlink data and signaling only for a necessary period of time, and turns off the receiver to stop receiving the downlink data and signaling for other periods of time. In this way, the terminal device does not need to monitor the physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) continuously, so that the effect of saving the power consumption of the terminal device and prolonging the service time of the terminal device can be achieved.

In the DRX mode of operation, the terminal device needs to periodically turn on the receiver to listen for possibly arriving downlink data and signaling. The period of time during which the terminal device turns on the receiver and listens to the PDCCH channel is referred to as the activation time (on duration), or may also be referred to as the on time or wake-up period or wake-up time or activation period or duration. The period of time during which the terminal device turns off the receiver and does not listen to the PDCCH channel is referred to as an inactive time (opportunity for DRX), or may also be referred to as a sleep period or sleep time.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle. As shown in fig. 2, the DRX cycle may be divided into an active time and an inactive time by state. Optionally, in a possible embodiment, the DRX cycle includes an active time, and the DRX cycle may further include an inactive time, i.e. the active time is not necessarily an inactive time, but may also be an active time.

In order to further save the power consumption of the terminal device, an indication signal is introduced under the current DRX mechanism, and the indication signal is a physical downlink control channel wake-up signal (PDCCH-WUS). The indication signal can indicate whether the terminal device needs to wake up or whether it can sleep within the subsequent DRX "activation time". The PDCCH-WUS may be also referred to in the standard as downlink control information (downlink control information withcyclic redundancy check scrambled by PS-radio network tempory identity,DCP),DCP with cyclic redundancy check scrambled using a power saving radio network temporary identity (power saving radio network tempory identity, PS-RNTI) in the form of DCI. That is, the base station transmits the PDCCH-WUS before the terminal device enters the DRX period. As shown in fig. 3, if the terminal device detects that the value of the corresponding bit in PDCCH-WUS is 1, the terminal device will be awakened and monitor the PDCCH channel; if the terminal device detects that the value of the corresponding bit in the PDCCH-WUS is 0, the terminal device can skip the whole DRX period and does not monitor any PDCCH channel.

It should be noted that, when the wake-up times of multiple UEs served by the base station are different, the base station needs to send downlink control channels to the UEs in the wake-up times of the UEs at different times, but this way is not beneficial to system energy saving or base station energy saving, based on which the present application proposes a Cell discontinuous transmission (discontinuous transmission, DTX) mechanism.

2. CellDTX mechanism

For a base station, the base station may serve multiple terminal devices at the same time, when the configured activation times of the multiple terminal devices are not synchronous, the base station needs to frequently send PDCCH, which is unfavorable for energy saving of the base station, therefore, the application proposes a discontinuous transmission (discontinuous transmission, DTX) mechanism for the base station, or may also be called a Cell DTX mechanism or a Cell DTX operation mode or a Group DTX mechanism or a Group DTX operation mode, the essential idea is to align the starting points of the activation times of the multiple terminal devices, so that the base station serves all the terminal devices, i.e. sends downlink control channels, such as PDCCH, in the activation time of the Cell DTX period. During the inactive time of the Cell DTX period, the common reference signal (synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB), tracking reference signal (TRACKING REFERENCE SIGNAL, TRS), system information block 1 (system information block, sib1), etc.) may not be transmitted at all or may be transmitted less, so that the base station may achieve the purpose of power saving. Wherein CellDTX cycles include an activation time and a deactivation time. Specific details regarding the Cell DTX mechanism are not discussed in detail.

Based on this, the embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a related device, which can realize system energy saving, and discuss details of a Cell DTX mechanism.

The following describes the communication method and related devices provided by the present application in detail:

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 4, the communication method includes the following steps S401 to S402. The method execution body shown in fig. 4 may be a terminal device or an access network device. Or the method execution body shown in fig. 4 may be a chip in a terminal device or an access network device, and the embodiment of the present application is schematically illustrated by taking the terminal device and the access network device as examples. Wherein:

S401, the access network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first indication information from the access network device.

In some possible embodiments, the access network device determines the first indication information, and may send the first indication information to the terminal device. The first indication information is used for indicating to enable/activate a first working mode or a second working mode, wherein the first working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts a UE DRX mechanism to communicate with the access network equipment, and the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts a CellDTX mechanism to communicate with the access network equipment.

Optionally, the first indication information may be further used to indicate whether to perform one or more operations of monitoring the PDCCH, monitoring the downlink common signal, or transmitting the uplink physical signal in the first operation mode or the second operation mode, that is, the first indication information may be used to indicate what operation mode is enabled and whether to perform one or more operations of monitoring the PDCCH, monitoring the downlink common signal, or transmitting the uplink physical signal in the enabled operation mode. For convenience of description, the following embodiments of the present application will mainly be described schematically by taking the case of monitoring the PDCCH as an example, for example, the first indication information may be used to indicate whether to monitor the PDCCH in the first operation mode, or the first indication information may also be used to indicate whether to monitor the PDCCH in the second operation mode, or it is understood that the first indication information may be used to indicate that the first operation mode is enabled and to monitor the PDCCH in the first operation mode, or the first indication information may be used to indicate that the first operation mode is enabled and to not monitor the PDCCH in the first operation mode, or the first indication information may be used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled and to monitor the PDCCH in the second operation mode, or the first indication information may be used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled and to not monitor the PDCCH in the second operation mode.

The downlink common signal may be, for example, a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB), a tracking reference signal (TRACKING REFERENCE SIGNAL, TRS), a system information block 1 (system information block, sib1), or the like, and is not limited thereto. The uplink physical signal may be, for example, a random access signal, a channel quality indicator (channel quality indication, CQI), SRS, etc., and is not limited herein.

It is understood that the first indication information may be carried in DCI, where DCI may be understood as DCP or PDCCH-WUS. For example, the first indication information may have a length of 2 bits (bits), wherein 1bit is used to indicate the first operation mode or the second operation mode, for example, the first operation mode is enabled when the value is "1", the second operation mode is enabled when the value is "0", or the first operation mode is enabled when the value is "0", and the second operation mode is enabled when the value is "1". The other 1bit is used to indicate to monitor or not monitor the PDCCH, for example, when the value is "1", it indicates to monitor the PDCCH, when the value is "0", it indicates not to monitor the PDCCH, or when the value is "0", it indicates not to monitor the PDCCH.

In general, for the terminal device, the terminal device may receive the first indication information from the access network device during the inactive time of the current operation mode, where the current operation mode may be the first operation mode or the second operation mode, that is, the terminal device may receive the first indication information from the access network device during the inactive time of the first operation mode or the second operation mode. The operation mode indicated by the first indication information to be enabled may be understood as an operation mode after the current operation mode of the terminal device, that is, the terminal device may determine the next operation mode of the terminal device in the inactive time of the current operation mode. It is understood that the specific location where the terminal device receives the first indication information during the inactive time of the current operation mode may be determined by a first start time offset value predefined or preconfigured by the protocol, for example, may be indicated to the UE by an RRC reconfiguration message. The first start time offset value may be understood as an offset with respect to the start time of one cycle of the current operating mode, or the first start time offset value may be understood as an offset with respect to the start time of one cycle of the next operating mode after the current operating mode, for example. Here, the first start time offset value is mainly understood as an offset with respect to the start time of one cycle of the next operation mode after the current operation mode.

For example, referring to fig. 5a, fig. 5a is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a UE receives first indication information in an inactive time according to an embodiment of the present application. It is assumed that the default value of the number of periods for entering a certain operation mode is 1. As shown in fig. 5a, the position of the line 1 represents the receiving position of the first indication information in the inactive time, wherein the receiving position of the first indication information in the inactive time is determined according to the start time and the first start time offset value of one cycle of the next operation mode after the current operation mode. Wherein ① assumes that the terminal device initially operates in the first operation mode, receives, during a period of inactivity of the first operation mode, first indication information from the access network device, where the first indication information indicates that the second operation mode is enabled, and listens to the PDCCH, and after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device enters the second operation mode after a period of the first operation mode ends. ② And receiving first indication information from the access network equipment in the non-activation time of the second working mode, wherein the first indication information indicates that the first working mode is enabled and monitors the PDCCH, and then the terminal equipment enters the first working mode after the terminal equipment receives the first indication information and the period of the second working mode is ended. ③ And receiving first indication information from the access network equipment in the non-activation time of the first working mode, wherein the first indication information indicates that the second working mode is enabled, and monitoring the PDCCH, and then the terminal equipment enters the second working mode after the period of the first working mode is ended after receiving the first indication information.

It should be noted that, in one implementation, the value of the number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode enabled by the first indication information lasts may be predefined in the protocol as a default value, for example, a default value of 1 or 2, etc., which is not limited herein. Alternatively, in another implementation, the value of the number of periods for which the first operation mode or the second operation mode is sustained may be further included/dynamically indicated in the first indication information, that is, the duration of the operation mode indicated by the first indication information is determined according to the first indication information. Here, if the first indication information indicates that the first operation mode is enabled, the duration period is a UE DRX period, i.e., a DRX period, and if the first indication information indicates that the second operation mode is enabled, the duration period is CellDTX periods.

For example, it is assumed that the first indication information indicates that the PDCCH is enabled to be monitored in the first operation mode, and the number of periods for indicating the first operation mode is 2, and thus, after the terminal device receives the first indication information, the terminal device may wake up to receive the PDCCH in 2 consecutive DRX cycles. For another example, it is assumed that the first indication information indicates that the PDCCH is enabled not to be monitored in the second operation mode, and the number of sustained periods indicating the second operation mode is 3, and thus, after the terminal device receives the first indication information, the terminal device may not monitor the PDCCH in the consecutive 3 CellDTX periods.

For example, referring to fig. 5b, fig. 5b is another schematic view of a scenario in which a UE provided in an embodiment of the present application receives first indication information in an inactive time. As shown in fig. 5b, the position of the line 1 indicates the receiving position of the first indication information in the inactive time, wherein the receiving position of the first indication information in the inactive time is determined according to the start time and the first start time offset value of one cycle of the next operation mode after the current operation mode. Wherein ① assumes that the terminal device initially operates in a first operation mode, receives first indication information from the access network device within an inactive time of the first operation mode, where the first indication information indicates that the second operation mode is enabled and the PDCCH is monitored, and the number of periods for which the second operation mode lasts is 2, and after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device enters the second operation mode after the period of the first operation mode ends, and continues for 2 Cell DTX periods in the second operation mode. ② And receiving first indication information from the access network equipment in the non-activation time of the 2 nd Cell DTX period of the second operation mode, wherein the first indication information indicates that the first operation mode is enabled and the PDCCH is monitored, and the duration of the first operation mode is 2, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal equipment enters the first operation mode after the 2 nd Cell DTX period of the second operation mode is ended, and lasts for 2 UE DRX periods in the first operation mode.

Alternatively, the value of the number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode lasts may not be carried in the first indication information, but may be carried in a higher layer signaling, that is, the terminal device may also receive the higher layer signaling from the access network device, where the higher layer signaling includes the value of the number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode lasts. For example, the higher layer signaling includes a value of 2 or 3 for the duration of the first operation mode or the second operation mode, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the higher layer signaling may also include a candidate set of values of a period number that is continuous in the first working mode or the second working mode, where one candidate set may include multiple (i.e. 2 or more) values, and further, the access network device may indicate, through the first indication information, which value of the period number actually adopted is a value in the candidate set. For example, assuming that the candidate set including the value of the number of periods for which the first operation mode or the second operation mode lasts in the higher layer signaling is s1= {2,4,6,8}, the specific value of the number of periods for which the first operation mode or the second operation mode lasts may be indicated as 2 according to the first indication information. Alternatively, the first operation mode may correspond to one candidate set, the second operation mode may correspond to another candidate set, or the first operation mode and the second operation mode may correspond to one candidate set, which is not limited herein.

Illustratively, the higher layer signaling may be a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) message or system information (system information, SI), etc., without limitation herein. For example, the RRC message may be an RRC reconfiguration message, the system information may be SIB1 and/or other SIBs, etc., without limitation.

Optionally, the first indication information or the high-level signaling may directly indicate/include a specific value of the number of periods that the first working mode or the second working mode lasts, and the first indication information or the high-level signaling may also indicate/include an index corresponding to the value of the number of periods that the first working mode or the second working mode lasts, so, when the terminal device receives the index, the specific value of the number of periods of the first working mode or the second working mode can be determined by combining with a corresponding relationship between the index and the value of the number of periods, where the corresponding relationship may be predefined by a protocol or preconfigured by a network. That is, the first indication information or the higher layer signaling may inform the terminal device directly or indirectly about the specific value of the duration period number of the first operation mode or the second operation mode, which is not limited herein. Optionally, assuming that the candidate set including the value of the number of periods that the first working mode or the second working mode lasts in the higher layer signaling is s1= {2,4,6,8}, the specific value of the number of periods that the first working mode or the second working mode lasts may be indicated to be 2 according to the first indication information. For example, the length of the first indication information is 2 bits, and when the value of the 2 bits is "00", the specific value indicating the number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode lasts is 2.

Optionally, the first indication information may further include/be used to indicate one or more of the following information: the identification of the service cell group is used for indicating the service cell group to which the first indication information is applicable, wherein each service cell group comprises one or more identifications of the service cells, and optionally, the first indication information can also directly comprise the identification of the service cell to which the first indication information is applicable; or the identity of a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each serving cell.

The number of the identifiers of the service cell groups indicated by the first indication information may be 1 or more, for example, the 1 or more service cell groups to which the first indication information is applicable may be indicated by means of a bit map (bitmap), for example, assuming that there are 6 service cell groups in total, namely, the service cell group 1 to the service cell group 6 respectively, wherein the bit map from left to right corresponds to the 1 st bit to the service cell group 1, the 2 nd bit to the service cell group 2, the 3 rd bit to the service cell group 3, the 4 th bit to the service cell group 5, the 6 th bit to the service cell group 6, and the first indication information is 100001, which indicates that the first indication information is applicable to the service cell group 1 and the service cell group 6.

Alternatively, the correspondence between the serving cells and the serving cell groups may be configured by RRC messages, that is, the identities of one or more serving cells included in each serving cell group are configured by RRC messages, for example, the RRC messages may be RRC reconfiguration messages, etc., which are not limited herein. Illustratively, one possible configuration of the correspondence of the serving cell to the serving cell group is as follows. Wherein maxNrofServingCells is the maximum number of cells that a service cell group can include, and ServCellIndex is the service cell identifier.

Cell-List1 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNrofServingCells))OF ServCellIndex,

Cell-List2 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNrofServingCells))OF ServCellIndex,

Cell-List3 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNrofServingCells))OF ServCellIndex,…

Optionally, the RRC message may further include information that one BWP corresponding to each serving cell is an energy-saving BWP, or it is understood that the RRC message may further include information that BWP is an energy-saving BWP.

Optionally, the first indication information may further include information such as identification of one or more reference signals, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, the terminal device may also receive the first indication information from the access network device during an activation time of the current operation mode, where the current operation mode may be the first operation mode or the second operation mode, that is, the terminal device may receive the first indication information from the access network device during the activation time of the first operation mode or the second operation mode. The operation mode indicated by the first indication information is understood to be an operation mode after the current operation mode of the terminal device, that is, the terminal device determines the next operation mode of the terminal device in the activation time of the current operation mode.

For example, referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a UE provided in an embodiment of the present application receives first indication information in an activation time. It is assumed that the default value of the number of periods for entering a certain operation mode is 1. As shown in fig. 6, the position of the line 1 represents the reception position of the first indication information within the activation time. Wherein, ① assumes that the terminal device initially operates in the first operation mode, receives the first indication information from the access network device within the activation time of the first operation mode, where the first indication information indicates that the second operation mode is enabled, and listens to the PDCCH, and then after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device enters the second operation mode after the period of the first operation mode ends. ② And receiving first indication information from the access network equipment in the activation time of the second working mode, wherein the first indication information indicates that the first working mode is enabled and monitors the PDCCH, and then the terminal equipment enters the first working mode after the first indication information is received and the period of the second working mode is ended. ③ And receiving first indication information from the access network equipment in the activation time of the first working mode, wherein the first indication information indicates that the second working mode is enabled, and monitoring the PDCCH, and then the terminal equipment enters the second working mode after the period of the first working mode is ended after receiving the first indication information.

For convenience of understanding, the embodiment of the application mainly takes the example that the terminal equipment receives the first indication information from the access network equipment in the non-activation time of the current working mode.

S402, the terminal equipment determines to adopt a first working mode or a second working mode to communicate with the access network equipment according to the first indication information.

In some possible embodiments, if the first indication information indicates that the first operation mode is enabled, the terminal device communicates with the access network device in the first operation mode, and if the first indication information indicates that the second operation mode is enabled, the terminal device communicates with the access network device in the second operation mode.

In the embodiment of the application, by expanding DCI, the terminal equipment can be indicated to enter what working mode (such as a Cell DTX working mode or a UE DRX working mode) and whether to monitor PDCCH in the entered working mode, and the indication mode of two different energy-saving modes is realized simultaneously through one DCI, so that the method is more flexible and the aim of saving energy of a system can be achieved.

It should be noted that, between two consecutive Cell DTX periods, the access network device does not send a reference signal, for example, the reference signal may be SSB, a Channel-state information reference signal (CSI-state information REFERENCE SIGNAL, CSI-RS), or TRS, so that the terminal device may only detect the reference signal sent by the access network device after the start time of the second Cell DTX period, so as to perform automatic gain control (auto gain control, AGC) adjustment, time-frequency synchronization, channel-state information (Channel-state information, CSI) feedback, or the like, but this may cause additional activation delay, or access delay, or scheduling delay. Therefore, in order to implement fast AGC adjustment and time-frequency synchronization, the embodiment of the present application proposes that the access network device may indicate, to the terminal device, the identity of one or more reference signals in advance (i.e., when the access network device determines that the next period is still a Cell DTX period in the current Cell DTX period, the access network device indicates the identity of the reference signal to the terminal device), so that the terminal device receives and measures the corresponding reference signal before the start time of the second Cell DTX period, to implement time-frequency synchronization and AGC adjustment.

Illustratively, the access network device may indicate that after the current Cell DTX period, the next is still in the Cell DTX period by:

1. The access network equipment does not send a command for converting into the UE DRX period to the terminal equipment in the activation time of the current Cell DTX period, namely the access network equipment does not send first indication information for enabling the second working mode to the terminal equipment; or alternatively

2. Cell DTX configuration of the access network device is configured periodically, and when UE DRX overlaps or collides with Cell DTX, cell DTX is subject to.

3. And the access network equipment sends first indication information for enabling the second working mode to the terminal equipment in the non-activation time or activation time of the current Cell DTX period.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is another flow chart of the communication method according to the embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 7, the communication method includes the following steps S701 to S703. The method execution body shown in fig. 7 may be a terminal device or an access network device. Or the method execution body shown in fig. 7 may be a chip in a terminal device or an access network device, and the embodiment of the present application is schematically illustrated by taking the terminal device and the access network device as examples. It should be noted that, the scenario to which fig. 7 applies is a scenario where the access network device indicates that after the current Cell DTX period, the next Cell DTX period is still in (i.e., two continuous Cell DTX periods), or a scenario where the access network device indicates that the number of periods for which the second operation mode continues is a value of 2. Wherein:

S701, the access network equipment sends second indication information to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second indication information from the access network device.

In some possible embodiments, the terminal device receiving the second indication information from the access network device may be specifically understood as: and receiving second indication information from the access network equipment in the activation time of a second working mode, wherein the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts Cell DTX to communicate with the access network equipment. Here, since the number of periods during which the second operation mode continues has a value of 2, the activation time of the second operation mode should be specifically the activation time of the first Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, the terminal device may also receive the second indication information from the access network device during the inactive time of the second operation mode. That is, the terminal device may receive the second indication information from the access network device during the inactive time of the first Cell DTX period of the 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods. The specific location where the terminal device receives the first indication information during the inactive time of the first Cell DTX period may be determined by a second start time offset value predefined or preconfigured by the protocol, e.g. may be indicated to the UE by an RRC reconfiguration message. Illustratively, the second start time offset value may be understood as an offset relative to the start time of a first Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods, or the second start time offset value may be understood as an offset relative to the start time of a second Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods. The second start time offset value is mainly understood herein as an offset with respect to the start time of the second Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods.

Wherein the second indication information is used to indicate the reference signals, it is understood that the number of the reference signals may be 1 or more. In general, the reference signal may be marked by an identification of the reference signal. That is, the second indication information indicates one or more reference signals, and it is understood that the second indication information is used to indicate the identity of the one or more reference signals. For example, the second indication information may be used to indicate an identity (TRACKING REFERENCE SIGNAL ID, TRS ID) of the tracking reference signal. The length of the identifier of the reference signal may be, for example, 8 bits (bit), and the like, which is not limited herein.

For example, the identification of the reference signal may be indicated by means of a bit map (bitmap), for example, assuming that there are 10 identifications of the reference signal (i.e. the total number of reference signals is 10), respectively, the 1 st bit of the bit map from left to right corresponds to the 1 st of the reference signal, the 2 nd bit corresponds to the 2 nd of the reference signal, the 3 rd bit corresponds to the 3 rd of the reference signal, and so on, the 10 th bit corresponds to the 10 th of the reference signal, and assuming that the identification of the reference signal indicated by the second indication information is 1100000111, the identification of the reference signal is the 1 of the reference signal, the 2 nd of the reference signal, the 8 th of the reference signal, the 9 th of the reference signal and the 10 th of the reference signal. Alternatively, the correspondence between each bit in the bitmap and the identifier of the reference signal may be configured by RRC message, where one possible correspondence is as follows:

Or the correspondence may be predefined for the protocol (e.g., one-to-one correspondence of bits to ascending/descending order of the identity of the reference signal), without limitation.

Optionally, the second indication information may further include/indicate one or more of the following information:

The validity time/validity period/duration for which the reference signal is applicable; or an identification of a group of serving cells, where the identification of a group of serving cells is used to indicate a group of serving cells to which the second indication information applies (i.e. to indicate that the access network device will send a reference signal on a cell comprised by the corresponding group of serving cells), each group of serving cells comprising an identification of one or more serving cells, optionally, the second indication information may also directly comprise an identification of the serving cell to which the second indication information applies; or an identification of a corresponding one of the bandwidth portions BWP for each serving cell (i.e. the access network device will send the reference signal on the corresponding BWP).

The effective time may be in units of cell DTX periods, i.e. the effective time is the number of cell DTX periods.

The number of the identifiers of the service cell groups indicated by the second indication information may be 1 or more, for example, 1 or more service cell groups to which the second indication information is applicable may be indicated by means of a bitmap, for example, assuming that there are 6 service cell groups in total, namely, service cell group 1 to service cell group 6, respectively, wherein the 1 st bit from left to right of the bit bitmap corresponds to service cell group 1, the 2 nd bit corresponds to service cell group 2, the 3 rd bit corresponds to service cell group 3, the 4 th bit corresponds to service cell group 5, the 6 th bit corresponds to service cell group 6, and assuming that the second indication information is 000001, it indicates that the second indication information is applicable to service cell group 6. Alternatively, the correspondence between each bit in the bit map and the identity of the serving cell group may be configured by RRC messages. One possible serving cell to serving cell configuration relationship is shown below, where maxNrofServingCells is the maximum number of cells that a serving cell group can include, and ServCellIndex is the serving cell identity.

Cell-List1 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNrofServingCells))OF ServCellIndex,

Cell-List2 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNrofServingCells))OF ServCellIndex,

Cell-List3 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxNrofServingCells))OF ServCellIndex,…

Or the correspondence may be predefined for the protocol (e.g., one-to-one correspondence of bits to ascending/descending order of the identity of the group of serving cells), without limitation.

Alternatively, the correspondence between the serving cells and the serving cell groups may be configured by RRC messages, that is, the identities of one or more serving cells included in each serving cell group are configured by RRC messages, for example, the RRC messages may be RRC reconfiguration messages, etc., which are not limited herein. Optionally, the RRC message may further include information that one BWP corresponding to each serving cell is an energy-saving BWP, or it is understood that the RRC message may further include information that BWP is an energy-saving BWP.

Illustratively, the second indication information may be carried in one or more of the following messages: a medium access control element (medium access control control element, MAC CE), an RRC message, or DCI. For example, the RRC message may be an RRC reconfiguration message or the like, without limitation.

For example, please refer to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of format design of a MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8, each row represents 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits. Where R represents a reserved field and Ci represents a serving cell group identified as i for the serving cell group, where i=0, 1,2,3,4,5,6. When the value of Ci is "1", it indicates that the serving cell group is a serving cell group to which the second indication information is applicable; when the value of Ci is "0", this indicates that the serving cell group is not the serving cell group to which the second instruction information is applicable. The reference signal identifier may occupy 8 bits, and the MAC CE may include identifiers of multiple reference signals, for example, identifier 1 of the reference signal, identifier 2 of the reference signal …, and identifier n of the reference signal in fig. 8.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 8, each row represents 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits. Where R represents a reserved field and Ci represents a serving cell identified as i for the serving cell, where i=0, 1,2,3,4,5,6. When the value of Ci is "1", it indicates that the serving cell is a serving cell to which the second indication information is applicable; when the value of Ci is "0", this indicates that the serving cell is not the serving cell to which the second indication information is applied. The reference signal identifier may occupy 8 bits, and the MAC CE may include identifiers of multiple reference signals, for example, identifier 1 of the reference signal, identifier 2 of the reference signal …, and identifier n of the reference signal in fig. 8.

In yet another example, please refer to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a format design of another MAC CE according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, each row represents 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits. Wherein R represents a reserved field, SERVING CELL ID field is used to carry an identifier of a serving Cell to which the second indication information applies, and BWP ID field is used to carry an identifier of a BWP to which the second indication information applies, and optionally, it may also instruct the UE to switch into a BWP corresponding to the BWP ID at the next Cell DTX, while the base station transmits a reference signal on the BWP. The reference signal identifier may occupy 8 bits, and the MAC CE may include identifiers of multiple reference signals, for example, identifier 1 of the reference signal, identifier 2 of the reference signal …, and identifier n of the reference signal in fig. 9.

Alternatively, the correspondence between the serving cells and the serving cell groups may be configured by RRC messages, that is, the identities of one or more serving cells included in each serving cell group are configured by RRC messages, for example, the RRC messages may be RRC reconfiguration messages, etc., which are not limited herein. Optionally, the RRC message may further include information that one BWP corresponding to each serving cell is an energy-saving BWP, or it is understood that the RRC message may further include information that BWP is an energy-saving BWP. Alternatively, the maximum number of reference signals (i.e., the total number of reference signals) may also be configured by an RRC message (e.g., an RRC reconfiguration message).

S702, the access network equipment sends a reference signal to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the reference signal from the access network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal device receiving the reference signal from the access network device may be understood as: and receiving a reference signal from the access network equipment in the non-activation time of the second working mode, wherein the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts Cell DTX to communicate with the access network equipment. Here, since the number of periods during which the second operation mode continues has a value of 2, the deactivation time of the second operation mode should be specifically the deactivation time of the first Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods. Optionally, the terminal device receiving the reference signal from the access network device may also be understood as: a reference signal from an access network device is received before a start time of a second Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods.

The reference signal may be, for example, SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, etc., and is not limited herein. For ease of understanding, the following embodiments of the present application will mainly be described with reference to the TRS.

It should be noted that, during the inactive time of the first Cell DTX period, the specific location of the terminal device receiving the reference signal from the access network device may be determined by the third start time offset value predefined or preconfigured by the protocol, and may be indicated to the UE by an RRC reconfiguration message, for example. Illustratively, the third start time offset value may be understood as an offset relative to the start time of the first Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods, or the third start time offset value may be understood as an offset relative to the start time of the second Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods. The third start time offset value is mainly understood herein as an offset with respect to the start time of the second Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods.

If the second indication information is also received during the inactive time of the first Cell DTX period, the second indication information needs to be before the time of receiving the reference signal.

S703, the terminal equipment performs time-frequency synchronization and/or AGC adjustment according to the reference signal.

In some possible embodiments, the terminal device may perform time-frequency synchronization and/or AGC adjustment by measuring a reference signal sent by the access network device.

For example, referring to fig. 10a, fig. 10a is a schematic diagram illustrating transmission of second indication information and a reference signal according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10a, it is assumed that there are UE1, UE2 and UE3, wherein the position of line 2 represents the reception position of the second indication information in the active time, and the position of line 3 represents the reception position of the reference signal in the inactive time, wherein the reception position of the reference signal in the inactive time is determined according to the start time of the second Cell DTX period of 2 consecutive Cell DTX periods, and the third start time offset value. Assuming that the operation mode of the terminal device is a first operation mode, and the number of periods that the first operation mode lasts is 1 (i.e. 1 UE DRX cycle), then the terminal device switches to a second operation mode, and the number of periods that the second operation mode lasts is 2 (i.e. 2 CellDTX cycles), and finally switches to the first operation mode again, and the number of periods that the first operation mode lasts is 1 (i.e. 1 UE DRX cycle), then during an active time of a first CellDTX cycle of 2 CellDTX cycles, the terminal device receives second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information indicates an identification of a reference signal, then receives the reference signal from the access network device before a non-active time of the first CellDTX cycles or a start time of a second CellDTX cycle of 2 CellDTX cycles, and performs time-frequency synchronization and/or AGC adjustment according to a measurement result of the reference signal.

Referring to fig. 10b, fig. 10b is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of transmitting second indication information and reference signals according to the present application. As shown in fig. 10b, it is assumed that there are UE1, UE2 and UE3, wherein the position of line 2 represents the reception position of the second indication information in the inactive time and the position of line 3 represents the reception position of the reference signal in the inactive time. Wherein the receiving position of the second indication information in the inactive time is determined according to the starting time of the second Cell DTX period of the 2 continuous Cell DTX periods and the second starting time offset value, and the receiving position of the reference signal in the inactive time is determined according to the starting time of the second Cell DTX period of the 2 continuous Cell DTX periods and the third starting time offset value. Assuming that the operation mode of the terminal device is a first operation mode, and the number of periods that the first operation mode lasts is 1 (i.e. 1 UE DRX cycle), then the terminal device switches to a second operation mode, and the number of periods that the second operation mode lasts is 2 (i.e. 2 CellDTX cycles), and finally switches to the first operation mode again, and the number of periods that the first operation mode lasts is 1 (i.e. 1 UE DRX cycle), then during the inactive time of the first CellDTX cycles of 2 CellDTX cycles, the terminal device receives second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information indicates the identification of the reference signal, then receives the reference signal from the access network device before the inactive time of the first CellDTX cycles or the start time of the second CellDTX cycles of 2 CellDTX cycles, and performs time-frequency synchronization and/or AGC adjustment according to the measurement result of the reference signal.

In the embodiment of the application, when the terminal equipment is continuously in the Cell DRX cycle, the base station can configure the terminal equipment to measure the reference signal in the previous Cell DRX cycle, so that the terminal equipment can perform AGC adjustment, time-frequency synchronization and/or rapid uplink/downlink transmission based on the measured reference signal before the next Cell DRX cycle starts, thereby reducing delay.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is another flow chart of the communication method according to the embodiment of the application. As shown in fig. 11, the communication method includes the following steps S1101 to S1103. The method execution body shown in fig. 11 may be a terminal device or an access network device. Or the method execution body shown in fig. 11 may be a chip in a terminal device or an access network device, and the embodiment of the present application is schematically illustrated by taking the terminal device and the access network device as examples. Wherein:

s1101, the access network equipment sends third indication information to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the third indication information from the access network device.

In some possible embodiments, when the access network device determines that the second operation mode, that is, cell DTX, is enabled, the access network device may send Cell DTX configuration information, that is, third indication information, to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to configure parameters related to Cell DTX. Illustratively, the third indication information is for indicating one or more of the following: cell DTX period; cell DTX On-duration timer; cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or a start time offset value of a Cell DTX period.

The Cell DTX period may be a duration of the Cell DTX period, where the Cell DTX period may include an activation time of the Cell, and optionally, the Cell DTX period may also include an deactivation time of the Cell. The Cell DTX On-duration timer, i.e., a duration timer, which may be understood as a duration after the UE wakes up to monitor the PDCCH, after the UE successfully decodes the PDCCH, the UE starts INACTIVITY TIMER, the Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER, i.e., a deactivation timer, which may be understood as a duration after the UE continuously monitors the PDCCH since the last time the UE successfully decodes the PDCCH, and the start time offset value of the Cell DTX period may be understood as a time offset value of the start/initial Cell DTX period with respect to the system frame, e.g., in milliseconds (ms). Or in units of symbol length with respect to the time offset value of the system subframe.

Optionally, the third indication information is further used for indicating one or more of the following information: the identification of the service cell group is used for indicating the service cell group applicable to the third indication information, and the service cell group comprises the identification of one or more service cells; an identification of a bandwidth portion BWP corresponding to each serving cell; or one BWP corresponding to each serving cell is information of the energy-saving BWP. It should be noted that, serving cells belonging to the same serving Cell group may generally have the same configuration, and enter/activate Cell DTX at the same time based on an indication of the access network device; or leave/deactivate Cell DTX.

Optionally, the third indication information may further include an indication of whether to enter the energy-saving BWP, for example, the third indication information is indicated by 1 bit, when the value is "0", the energy-saving BWP is indicated, and when the value is "1", the energy-saving BWP is indicated not to be entered. Optionally, the third indication information may not include an indication of whether to enter the energy-saving BWP, and when the third indication information includes the identification of the energy-saving BWP, the automatic jump to the energy-saving BWP is indicated.

Optionally, when the terminal device is in the inactive time of the Cell DTX period, the terminal device may not transmit the sounding REFERENCE SIGNAL, SRS)/CSI/uplink shared channel (uplink SHARED CHANNEL, UL-SCH)/random access channel (random ACCESS CHANNEL, RACH)/physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH), or the like, or may not monitor the physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH) and/or monitor the downlink common signal and/or transmit the uplink physical signal, or the like.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, before the access network device sends the third indication information to the terminal device, the method further includes the following steps:

s1102, the terminal equipment sends auxiliary information to the access network equipment. Accordingly, the access network device receives the assistance information from the terminal device.

Wherein the auxiliary information includes one or more of the following information: a Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device, a Cell On-duration timer expected by the terminal device, a Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER expected by the terminal device, a start time offset value of the Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device, a duration of the Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device, a UE DRX period expected by the terminal device, or a duration of the UE DRX period expected by the terminal device. That is, the terminal device may report some configurations desired by the terminal device to the access network device in the auxiliary information, so after the access network device receives the auxiliary information, the third indication information may be configured for the terminal device according to the auxiliary information. The method for transmitting the auxiliary information through the terminal equipment is beneficial to the base station to more accurately configure the parameters related to Cell DTX, and realizes more efficient system and base station energy saving.

For example, the terminal device reports its desired Cell DTX period, the duration of the terminal device's desired entry into the Cell DTX period, so that the base station can decide the final CellDTX periods, and CellDTX duration.

For another example, the terminal device reports the start time offset value of the Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device, so that the base station can determine the final time offset value and align the time offset values of all UEs.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, before the terminal device sends the auxiliary information to the access network device, the method further includes the following steps:

And S1103, the access network equipment sends fourth indication information to the terminal equipment. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives fourth indication information from the access network device.

Wherein the fourth indication information is used for requesting/triggering/indicating that the terminal device is allowed to transmit the auxiliary information. That is, the terminal device transmits the auxiliary information only after receiving the fourth indication information. The fourth indication information may be carried in an RRC message (e.g., an RRC reconfiguration message) or system information.

Optionally, the access network device may further send fifth indication information to the terminal device, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the fifth indication information from the access network device, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate one or more of the following information: a Cell DTX period candidate, a Cell DTX On-duration timer candidate, a Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER candidate, a starting time offset value of a Cell DTX period candidate, a duration of a Cell DTX period entry candidate, or a duration of a UE DRX period entry candidate. Accordingly, the terminal device may determine which content-included auxiliary information should be transmitted to the access network device according to the candidate value included in the received fourth indication information. That is, the candidate Cell DTX period includes a Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device, the candidate Cell DTX On-duration timer includes a Cell DTX On-duration timer expected by the terminal device, the candidate Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER includes a Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER expected by the terminal device, the start time offset value of the candidate Cell DTX period includes a start time offset value of the Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device, the duration of the candidate entering Cell DTX period includes a duration of the terminal device expected entering Cell DTX period, or the duration of the candidate entering UE DRX period includes a duration of the terminal device expected entering UE DRX period.

It should be noted that, the number of candidate values of each information indicated by the fifth indication information may be one or more, for example, the value of the candidate cell DTX period may be 1 or more, and for example, the value of the candidate cell DTX On-duration timer may be one or more. It is understood that if the number of candidate values of the information indicated by the fifth indication information is plural, the plural candidate values may be represented by a list or a set, which is not limited herein.

The fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be the same indication information, or the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information may be different indication information, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, in some possible embodiments, the terminal device may also send capability information to the access network device. Accordingly, the access network device receives the capability information from the terminal device. Wherein the capability information includes one or more of the following capabilities supported by the terminal device: support CellDTX capabilities, support CellDTX measurement capabilities of the reference signal, or support reception capabilities of the first indication information. Thus, the access network device may send only the first indication information or the like to the terminal device supporting the relevant capability.

In the embodiment of the application, when the Cell DTX mechanism is adopted for communication, the specific application of the terminal equipment in BWP and carrier aggregation is specified, so that the support of the system for multi-BWP and carrier aggregation is realized. Optionally, the auxiliary information is sent through the terminal device, so that the access network device can more accurately configure parameters related to Cell DTX, for example, more accurate On duration timer is configured, and more efficient system energy saving is achieved.

It should be noted that, the number sequence of each step in the embodiment of the present application does not represent the execution sequence of each step, and is specifically determined according to the actual application scenario, which is not limited herein.

It should be noted that, in the present application, different embodiments or some steps in different embodiments may be combined with each other to form a new embodiment. It is noted that terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may be referred to each other if not specifically stated or logically conflicting. For example, when fig. 4 and fig. 7 are combined into a new embodiment, step S701 may be performed after step S401, and the current operation mode of the terminal device in step S401 may be the second operation mode, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled, etc. As another example, when fig. 4 and 11 are combined to form a new embodiment, step S1101 may be performed after step S401, or step S1101 may be performed before step S401, or the like, which is not limited herein.

The communication device according to the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 12 to 15.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the application. The communication device shown in fig. 12 may be used to perform part or all of the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiments described above with reference to fig. 4 to 11. The device can be a terminal device, a device in the terminal device, or a device which can be matched with the terminal device for use. The communication device may also be a chip system. The communication apparatus shown in fig. 12 may include a transceiving unit 1201 and a processing unit 1202. The processing unit 1202 is configured to perform data processing. The transceiver unit 1201 is integrated with a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The transceiving unit 1201 may also be referred to as a communication unit. Alternatively, the transceiver unit 1201 may be split into a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The processing unit 1202 and the transceiver unit 1201 are the same, and will not be described in detail. Wherein:

a transceiver unit 1201, configured to receive first indication information from an access network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a first operation mode or a second operation mode is enabled, where the first operation mode is that the terminal device uses UE DRX to communicate with the access network device, and the second operation mode is that the terminal device uses Cell DTX to communicate with the access network device;

a processing unit 1202, configured to determine to use the first operation mode or the second operation mode to communicate with the access network device according to the first indication information.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate whether to perform at least one of the following operations in the first operation mode or the second operation mode:

In one possible implementation, when the first indication information is received from the access network device, the transceiver unit 1201 is configured to:

In one possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate a value of a number of periods that the first operation mode or the second operation mode continues.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1201 is further configured to:

receiving high-layer signaling from the access network equipment;

the high-level signaling includes a value of a period number that the first operation mode or the second operation mode continues; or the higher layer signaling includes a candidate set of values of a number of periods in which the first operation mode or the second operation mode continues;

And the identification of a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

receiving an RRC message from the access network device, the RRC message including one or more of:

One BWP corresponding to each of the serving cells is information of an energy-saving BWP.

After receiving the first indication information from the access network device,

The transceiver 1201 is further configured to receive, during the activation time of the second operation mode, second indication information from the access network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate an identifier of a reference signal;

the transceiver 1201 is further configured to receive the reference signal during the inactive time of the second operation mode;

the processing unit 1202 is further configured to perform time-frequency synchronization and/or automatic gain control AGC adjustment according to the reference signal.

In one possible implementation, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following information:

The effective time for the reference signal; or alternatively

And the identification of the service cell group is used for indicating the service cell group to which the second indication information is applicable, and each service cell group comprises one or more identification of the service cells.

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled; the transceiver unit 1201 is further configured to:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

In a possible implementation, before the receiving the third indication information from the access network device, the transceiver unit 1201 is further configured to:

transmitting auxiliary information to the access network device, wherein the auxiliary information comprises one or more of the following information:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER expected by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The duration of entering the Cell DTX period expected by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle that the terminal device expects to enter.

In one possible implementation, before the sending auxiliary information to the access network device, the transceiver unit 1201 is further configured to:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

Other possible implementation manners of the communication apparatus may be referred to the related description of the terminal device in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 4 to 11, and are not described herein.

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication means shown in fig. 13 may be used to perform part or all of the functions of the network device, e.g. the access network device in particular, in the method embodiments described in fig. 4-11 above. The device may be a network device, a device in a network device, or a device that can be used in cooperation with a network device. The communication device may also be a chip system. The communication apparatus shown in fig. 13 may include a transceiving unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302. Wherein:

A processing unit 1302, configured to determine first indication information;

A transceiver unit 1301, configured to send the first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a first operation mode or a second operation mode is enabled, where the first operation mode is that the terminal device uses UE DRX for discontinuous reception to communicate with the access network device, and the second operation mode is that the terminal device uses Cell DTX for discontinuous transmission to communicate with the access network device.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1301 is further configured to:

sending high-layer signaling to the terminal equipment;

transmitting an RRC message to the terminal device, where the RRC message includes one or more of the following information:

after the first instruction information is sent to the terminal device, the transceiver unit 1301 is further configured to:

The effective time for the reference signal; or alternatively

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second operation mode is enabled; the transceiver unit 1301 is further configured to:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

In a possible implementation, before the sending of the third indication information to the terminal device, the transceiver unit 1301 is further configured to:

receiving auxiliary information from the terminal equipment, wherein the auxiliary information comprises one or more of the following information:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER expected by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle that the terminal device expects to enter.

In a possible implementation, before the receiving the auxiliary information from the terminal device, the transceiver unit 1301 is further configured to:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

Other possible implementation manners of the communication apparatus may be referred to the related description of the network device in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 4 to 11, and are not described herein.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 14, the communication apparatus may be a terminal device described in the embodiment of the present application, and for convenience of explanation, fig. 14 shows only main components of a terminal device 1400. As shown in fig. 14, the terminal apparatus 1400 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the whole terminal device 1400, executing software programs and processing data of the software programs. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The control circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices such as touch screens, display screens, microphones, keyboards, etc. are mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

Taking the terminal device 1400 as a mobile phone for example, after the terminal device 1400 is powered on, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data is required to be transmitted wirelessly, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and then outputs a baseband signal to the control circuit, and the control circuit carries out radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the terminal device 1400, the control circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, which converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for ease of illustration, only one memory and processor is shown in fig. 14. In some embodiments, terminal device 1400 may include multiple processors and memory. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc., and embodiments of the present application are not limited in this respect.

As an alternative implementation, the processor may include a baseband processor, which is mainly used to process the communication protocol and the communication data, and a central processor, which is mainly used to control the entire terminal device 1400, execute a software program, and process the data of the software program. The processor in fig. 14 integrates the functions of a baseband processor and a central processing unit, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may be separate processors, interconnected by bus technology, etc. Terminal device 1400 may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, terminal device 1400 may include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capabilities, and various components of terminal device 1400 may be connected via various buses. The baseband processor may also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or baseband processing chip. The central processor may also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, which is executed by the processor to realize the baseband processing function.

In one example, the antenna and control circuit having a transmitting and receiving function may be regarded as the transmitting and receiving unit 1411 of the terminal device 1400, and the processor having a processing function may be regarded as the processing unit 1420 of the terminal device 1400. As shown in fig. 14, the terminal apparatus 1400 includes a transceiving unit 1411 and a processing unit 1420. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver device, etc. Alternatively, a device for implementing a receiving function in the transceiver unit 1411 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a transmitting function in the transceiver unit 1411 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, i.e., the transceiver unit 1411 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc.

Referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 15, the communication apparatus may be a network device described in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the network device is specifically an access network device. Wherein the network device 15 comprises: a baseband device 151, a radio frequency device 152, and an antenna 153. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 152 receives information transmitted from the terminal device via the antenna 153, and transmits the information transmitted from the terminal device to the baseband device 151 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 151 processes information of the terminal device and sends the processed information to the radio frequency device 152, and the radio frequency device 152 processes information of the terminal device and sends the processed information to the terminal device through the antenna 153.

The baseband apparatus 151 includes one or more processing units 1511, a storage unit 1512, and an interface 1513. Wherein the processing unit 1511 is configured to support the network device to perform the functions of the network device in the method embodiment described above. The storage unit 1512 is used to store software programs and/or data. The interface 1513 is for interacting with the radio frequency device 152 and includes interface circuitry for input and output of information. In one implementation, the processing unit is an integrated circuit, such as one or more Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuits (ASIC), or one or more digital signal processors (DIGITAL SIGNAL processors, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable GATE ARRAY, FPGA), or a combination of such integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip. Memory unit 1512 may be located on the same chip as processing unit 1511, i.e., on-chip memory elements. Alternatively, the memory unit 1512 and the processing unit 1511 may be on different chips than the processing unit 1511, i.e., off-chip memory elements. The memory unit 1512 may be one memory or may be a combination of a plurality of memories or memory elements.

The network device may implement some or all of the steps in the method embodiments described above in the form of one or more processing unit schedulers. For example, to implement the corresponding functions of the network devices of fig. 4-11. One or more processing units can support wireless access technologies of the same system, and can also support wireless access systems of different systems.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein instructions are stored in the computer readable storage medium, and when the computer readable storage medium runs on a processor, the method flow of the embodiment of the method is realized.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer program product, when the computer program product runs on a processor, the method flow of the embodiment of the method is realized.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, or as a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of elements is merely a logical functional division, elements illustrated as separate elements may or may not be physically separate, and elements shown as elements may or may not be physical elements, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over multiple network elements. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method of the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: the computer readable medium can include random access memory (random access memory, RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE PROGRAMMABLE READ ONLY MEMORY, EEPROM), compact disk read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM), universal serial bus flash disk (universal serial bus FLASH DISK), a removable hard disk, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Additionally, by way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (STATIC RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DYNAMIC RAM, DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double DATA RATE SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ENHANCED SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SYNCHLINK DRAM, SLDRAM), or direct memory bus random access memory (direct rambus RAM, DR RAM).

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

Claims

1. A communication method, wherein the method is applied to a terminal device, and comprises:

Receiving first indication information from access network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating to enable a first working mode or a second working mode, the first working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous reception (UE) DRX of user equipment to communicate with the access network equipment, and the second working mode is that the terminal equipment adopts discontinuous cell transmission CellDTX to communicate with the access network equipment;

And determining to adopt the first working mode or the second working mode to communicate with the access network equipment according to the first indication information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate whether to perform at least one of the following in the first mode of operation or the second mode of operation:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the first indication information from the access network device comprises:

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the first indication information is carried in downlink control information, DCI.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate a value of a number of periods during which the first or second operation mode is continued.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

receiving high-level signaling from the access network device;

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following:

And identifying a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

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

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the second mode of operation is enabled;

Receiving the reference signal in the inactive time of the second working mode;

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following information:

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the second indication information is carried in one or more of the following messages:

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the second mode of operation is enabled; the method further comprises the steps of:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein prior to the receiving the third indication information from the access network device, the method further comprises:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER desired by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle entered by the terminal device as desired.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein prior to the sending auxiliary information to the access network device, the method further comprises:

15. The method of claim 13, wherein prior to the sending auxiliary information to the access network device, the method further comprises:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

16. A method of communication, the method being applied to an access network device, comprising:

Determining first indication information;

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate whether to perform at least one of the following in the first mode of operation or the second mode of operation:

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the first indication information is carried in downlink control information, DCI.

19. The method according to any one of claims 16-18, wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate a value of a number of periods during which the first or second operation mode is continued.

20. The method according to any one of claims 16-18, further comprising:

Sending high-layer signaling to the terminal equipment;

21. The method according to any of claims 16-20, wherein the first indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following information:

And identifying a bandwidth part BWP corresponding to each service cell.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

23. The method according to any of claims 16-22, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the second mode of operation is enabled;

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following:

25. The method of claim 23 or 24, wherein the second indication information is carried in one or more of the following messages:

The medium access control unit MAC CE, RRC message, or DCI.

26. The method according to any of claims 16-25, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the second mode of operation is enabled; the method further comprises the steps of:

cell DTX period; or alternatively

Cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

The starting time offset value of the Cell DTX period.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein prior to the sending the third indication information to the terminal device, the method further comprises:

The Cell DTX period expected by the terminal equipment; or alternatively

Cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER desired by the terminal device; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a Cell DTX period; or alternatively

The terminal equipment expects to enter a UE DRX period; or alternatively

The duration of the UE DRX cycle entered by the terminal device as desired.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein prior to the receiving the assistance information from the terminal device, the method further comprises:

29. The method of claim 27, wherein prior to the receiving the assistance information from the terminal device, the method further comprises:

candidate cell DTX periods; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX On-duration timer; or alternatively

Candidate cell DTX INACTIVITY TIMER; or alternatively

A candidate Cell DTX period start time offset value; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering Cell DTX period; or alternatively

Candidate duration of entering UE DRX cycle.

30. A communication device, characterized by comprising means or modules for performing the method according to any of claims 1-15.

31. A communication device, characterized by comprising means or modules for performing the method according to any of claims 16-29.

32. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the method according to any one of claims 1-15 to be implemented.

33. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the method according to any one of claims 16-29 to be implemented.

34. A computer program product, characterized in that it comprises instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the method according to any one of claims 1-15 to be implemented or cause the method according to any one of claims 16-29 to be implemented.

35. A chip or chip system comprising an input-output interface for interacting information or data and processing circuitry for executing instructions to cause a device on which the chip or chip system is mounted to perform the method of claims 1-15 or to cause a device on which the chip or chip system is mounted to perform the method of claims 16-29.