WO2022206363A1

WO2022206363A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022206363A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/080766
Authority: WO
Inventors: 黄雯雯; 铁晓磊; 张战战
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-03-31
Filing date: 2022-03-14
Publication date: 2022-10-06
Also published as: CN115150911A

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: a UE working in a first SSSG within an active time of a first DRX cycle; and the UE being switched from the first SSSG to a second SSSG at the beginning of a non-active time of the first DRX cycle till a time for monitoring a WUS within the non-active time of the first DRX cycle. By using the method and apparatus in the embodiments of the present application, a UE can be switched between different SSSGs.

Description

A communication method and device

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 202110349761.8 and the application title "a communication method and device" filed with the China Patent Office on March 31, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated into this application by reference.

technical field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background technique

At present, after the discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism is introduced, the user equipment (UE) monitors the physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel) according to the configuration of the search space set (search space set, SS set) during the DRX activation time. downlink control channel, PDCCH); during the inactive time of DRX, the UE no longer monitors the PDCCH, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE.

In order to further save the power consumption of the UE, a dynamic search space set group (SSSG) switching scheme is introduced. The solution includes: dividing multiple SS sets pre-configured to the UE into multiple SSSGs, and each SSSG includes one or more SS sets. The UE can switch between different SSSGs. For example, in a possible implementation manner, before the UE receives the handover command, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set included in the SSSG1. Subsequently, when the UE receives the handover command, the UE will stop monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1, and switch to monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set included in SSSG2. Before the introduction of SSSG, at the activation time of DRX, the UE needs to monitor the PDCCH according to all the configured SS sets on the activation bandwidth part (BWP). set, monitor the PDCCH, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE. How to switch between different SSSGs is a technical problem to be solved in the embodiments of the present application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for switching between different SSSGs.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: at an activation time of a first DRX cycle, a terminal device operates in a first SSSG; and from an inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the first DRX cycle The terminal device is handed over from the first SSSG to the second SSSG before the time used for WUS within the inactive time. Optionally, the second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring the WUS, and at the inactive time of the first DRX, the terminal device monitors the WUS according to the search space set.

With the solution of the first aspect, the terminal device can switch to the second SSSG during the inactive time of the DRX cycle, and the second SSSG can include a search space for monitoring the WUS, so that the UE can switch to the second SSSG during the inactive time of the DRX cycle. During the activation time, the WUS can be monitored, and the WUS can realize its function and save the power consumption of the UE.

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

In the above design, the above-mentioned second SSSG may be defined by a protocol or configured by a network device, and may be considered as a pre-configured default SSSG. When the switching condition is satisfied, the terminal device directly switches to the above-mentioned default second SSSG, the terminal device does not need to make a judgment, and the power consumption of the terminal device is saved.

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

In the above design, the above-mentioned second SSSG may be a specific SSSG, and the specific SSSG only includes a search space set for monitoring the WUS, and does not include other types of search space sets.

In a possible design, the method further includes: the terminal device receives configuration information from a network device, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG; the terminal device determines the second SSSG, and the determined The second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.

A second aspect provides a communication method, and the beneficial effects of the second aspect can be found in the first aspect, including: at the activation time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle, the network device determines that the terminal device operates in the first search space set Group SSSG; from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the time for monitoring the wake-up signal WUS within the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the network device determines that the terminal device is operated by the first SSSG Switch to the second SSSG.

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

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

In a possible design, the second SSSG includes a search space set only for monitoring WUS.

In a possible design, the method further includes: the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG, and the second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: a terminal device receiving configuration information of a search space set for monitoring a wake-up signal WUS from a network device, where the configuration information of the search space set includes a search space set group for determining a search space set. The configuration information of the SSSG, or the configuration information of the search space set does not include the configuration information for determining the SSSG; during the inactive time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle, the terminal works in any SSSG, The terminal device monitors the WUS according to the search space set.

Through the solution of the third aspect, the SSSG associated with the search space set used for monitoring WUS is not limited. During the inactive time of the DRX cycle, no matter the UE works in any SSSG, it can monitor the search space set according to the above search space set for monitoring WUS. WUS, so that the UE can monitor the WUS during the inactive time, saving the power consumption of the UE.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a terminal device determining an SSSG to be switched to;

The terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, where the type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that there is no physical downlink control channel in the SSSG PDCCH monitoring timing or candidate PDCCH; the terminal device switches to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG.

With the solution of the fourth aspect, the UE considers the type of the SSSG to be switched to, and determines that the time required for switching the SSSG is different, so that the effective delay can meet the requirements of different scenarios and improve the system performance.

In a possible design, when the first condition is satisfied, the terminal device determines the SSSG to be switched to, and the time required for switching to the SSSG refers to the time when the terminal device satisfies the first condition. the interval between the time and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

The first condition includes: the terminal device receives downlink control information DCI from the network device, where the DCI is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or, the terminal device according to the SSSG before switching The duration of monitoring the PDCCH in the search space set in the SSSG reaches the first duration; or, the terminal device monitors the DCI according to the search space set in the SSSG before handover.

In a possible design, the terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, including: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, and the first condition is the The terminal device receives the DCI from the network device, and the terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or the physical uplink shared channel PUSCH scheduled by the DCI; or,

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

In a possible design, the terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI, including: the terminal device according to the hybrid automatic repeat request corresponding to the PDSCH The time unit offset fed back by HARQ determines the time required for the handover to the SSSG; or the terminal device determines the time required for the handover to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the scheduled PUSCH time.

In a possible design, the terminal device switching to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG includes: when or after the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied, Regardless of whether the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgment or a negative acknowledgment, the terminal device switches to the SSSG; or, when the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied or after, when the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgment , the terminal device switches to the SSSG.

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

In a possible design, the time required for switching to the SSSG is determined according to the time parameter; or, the time required for switching to the SSSG is determined according to the time parameter and the It is determined by the larger value of the minimum scheduling offset value indicated by the network device for scheduling the PDSCH.

A fifth aspect provides a communication method. For the beneficial effects of the fifth aspect, reference may be made to the fourth aspect, including: a network device determining a search space set group SSSG to which a terminal device is to be switched; Type, to determine the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, the type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that there is no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring opportunity or candidate in the SSSG PDCCH; the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG according to the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG.

In a possible design, when the second condition is satisfied, the network device determines the SSSG to which the terminal device is to be switched, and the time required for switching to the SSSG means that the terminal device satisfies the The interval between the time of the second condition and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

The second condition includes: the network device sends downlink control information DCI to the terminal device, where the DCI is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or, the network device determines that the terminal device The duration that the device monitors the PDCCH according to the search space set in the SSSG before the handover reaches the first duration; or, the network device sends the DCI through the SSSG before the handover.

In a possible design, the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, including: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, the second The condition is that the network device sends DCI to the terminal device, and the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or physical uplink shared channel PUSCH scheduled by the DCI ; Or, the type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the correspondence between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, and the time parameter is used for determining the time for switching to the SSSG; or, the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or determined by a network device.

In a possible design, the network device determines, according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI, the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, including: the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH The time unit offset of the automatic retransmission request HARQ feedback determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or the network device determines the terminal device according to the time unit offset of the scheduled PUSCH The time required to switch to the SSSG.

In a possible design, the network device determining, according to the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG, including: after the terminal device switches to the SSSG At or after the time required for the SSSG, regardless of whether the HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive confirmation or a negative confirmation, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG; or, at When the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is satisfied or after, when the HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive confirmation, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG. the SSSG.

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

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising a unit for implementing any one of the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising a unit for implementing the above-mentioned second aspect or the fifth aspect.

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

A ninth aspect provides a device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit is configured to receive signals from other communication devices other than the communication device and transmit to the processor or send signals from the processor to the For other communication devices other than the communication device, the processor is used to implement the method in the implementation manner of the foregoing second aspect or the fifth aspect by using a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

According to a tenth aspect, a system is provided, comprising the apparatus of the aforementioned sixth aspect or the eighth aspect, and the aforementioned apparatus of the seventh aspect or the ninth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, and a computer program or instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program or instruction is executed, any of the foregoing first to fifth aspects is realized. A method in an implementation of an aspect.

A twelfth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, implement the method in the implementation of any one of the foregoing first to fifth aspects.

A thirteenth aspect provides a circuit system, the circuit system includes a processor, and may further include a memory, for implementing the method of any one of the foregoing first to fifth aspects. The circuitry may consist of chips or may contain chips and other discrete devices.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

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

3 is a schematic diagram of a DRX mechanism provided by an embodiment of the present application;

4 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the DRX mechanism of the UE downlink service provided by the embodiment of the present application;

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

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

Figure 8, Figure 9 and Figure 10 are schematic diagrams of dynamic SSSG switching provided by an embodiment of the present application;

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

13 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by Embodiment 1 of the present application;

14 is a schematic diagram of SSSG handover provided by Embodiment 1 of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the communication method provided by Embodiment 2 of the present application;

16 is a schematic diagram of an effective delay of SSSG handover provided by an embodiment of the present application;

17 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by Embodiment 3 of the present application;

18 is a schematic diagram of the effective delay for stopping PDCCH monitoring provided by an embodiment of the present application;

19 is a schematic structural diagram of a device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the application.

Detailed ways

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.

FIG. 1 is a network architecture to which this embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in FIG. 1, a terminal device (such as terminal 1301 or terminal 1302) can be connected to a wireless network to obtain services of an external network (such as the Internet) through the wireless network, or communicate with other devices through the wireless network, such as other Terminal device communication. The wireless network includes a radio access network (RAN) and a core network (core network, CN), wherein the RNA is used to access the terminal equipment to the wireless network, and the CN is used to manage the terminal equipment and provide The gateway for external network communication.

The terminal equipment, RAN and CN involved in FIG. 1 will be described in detail below.

1. Terminal equipment.

Terminal devices include devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to users, and may include, for example, handheld devices with wireless connectivity, or processing devices connected to a wireless modem. The terminal equipment may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal equipment may include user equipment (UE), wireless terminal equipment, mobile terminal equipment, device-to-device (D2D) terminal equipment, vehicle to everything (V2X) terminal equipment , Machine-to-machine/machine-type communications (M2M/MTC) terminal equipment, Internet of things (IoT) terminal equipment, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber) station), mobile station (mobile station), remote station (remote station), access point (AP), remote terminal (remote terminal), access terminal (access terminal), user terminal (user terminal), user Agent (user agent), or user equipment (user device), etc.

2. RAN.

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

A RAN device is a node or device that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network, and the RAN device may also be referred to as a network device or a base station. For example, RAN equipment includes but is not limited to: a new generation base station (generation Node B, gNB) in a 5G communication system, an evolved node B (evolved node B, eNB) transmission and reception point ( transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmitting point (transmitting point, TP), etc.

(1) Protocol layer structure.

The communication between the RAN equipment and the terminal equipment follows the protocol layer structure defined by the ^3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) organization. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include radio resource control (RRC) Layer, packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer, radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, media access control (media access control, MAC) layer and physical layer and other protocol layer functions The user plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of the protocol layers such as the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, the MAC layer and the physical layer. In a possible implementation, the PDCP layer may also include a service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol) , SDAP) layer.

Taking data transmission between network equipment and terminal equipment as an example, as shown in Figure 2a, data transmission needs to go through the user plane protocol layer, such as SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and physical layer, among which, SDAP layer , PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and physical layer may also be collectively referred to as access layers. According to the transmission direction of data, it is divided into sending or receiving, and each layer is divided into sending part and receiving part. The following data transmission is taken as an example. Referring to FIG. 2a, a schematic diagram of downlink data transmission between layers is shown. The downward arrow in FIG. 2a indicates data transmission, and the upward arrow indicates data reception. After the PDCP layer obtains data from the upper layer, it will transmit the data to the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and then the MAC layer will generate a transport block, and then wirelessly transmit it through the physical layer. The data is encapsulated correspondingly in each layer. The data received by a certain layer from the upper layer of the layer is regarded as the service data unit (SDU) of the layer. After layer encapsulation, it becomes a PDU, and then passed to the lower layer. a layer.

Exemplarily, according to Fig. 2a, it can also be seen that the terminal device also has an application layer and a non-access layer; wherein, the application layer can be used to provide services to applications installed in the terminal device, for example, the terminal device receives Downlink data can be sequentially transmitted from the physical layer to the application layer, and then provided by the application layer to the application program; for another example, the application layer can obtain the data generated by the application program, transmit the data to the physical layer in turn, and send it to other communication devices. The non-access layer can be used for forwarding user data, for example, forwarding the uplink data received from the application layer to the SDAP layer or forwarding the downlink data received from the SDAP layer to the application layer.

(2) Centralized unit (central unit, CU) and distributed unit (distributed unit, DU).

In this embodiment of the present application, a RAN device may include a CU and a DU, and multiple DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. As an example, an interface between a CU and a DU may be referred to as an F1 interface, wherein a control plane (control panel, CP) interface may be an F1-C, and a user plane (user panel, UP) interface may be an F1-U. The CU and DU can be divided according to the protocol layer of the wireless network: for example, as shown in Figure 2b, the functions of the PDCP layer and above are set in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (for example, the RLC layer and the MAC layer, etc.) are set in the DU; For another example, as shown in FIG. 2c, the functions of the protocol layers above the PDCP layer are set in the CU, and the functions of the PDCP layer and the following protocol layers are set in the DU.

Exemplarily, the functions of the CU may be implemented by one entity, or may also be implemented by different entities. For example, as shown in Figure 2d, the functions of the CU can be further divided, that is, the control plane and the user plane can be separated and implemented by different entities, namely the control plane CU entity (ie the CU-CP entity) and the user plane CU entity. (ie CU-UP entity). The CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity can be coupled with the DU to jointly complete the functions of the RAN device.

3. CN.

One or more CN devices, eg, CN device 120, may be included in the CN. Taking the 5G communication system as an example, the CN may include access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, session management function (SMF) network elements, and user plane functions (user plane functions). , UPF) network element, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element, and application function (application function, AF) network element, etc.

It should be understood that the number of each device in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 is only for illustration, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this. In practical applications, the communication system may also include more terminal devices and more RAN devices. Other devices may also be included.

The network architecture shown in FIG. 1 above can be applied to communication systems of various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 4G (or LTE) communication systems, or 5G (or 5G (or referred to as LTE) communication systems. The new radio (NR) communication system can also be a transition system between the LTE communication system and the 5G communication system. For example, 6G communication system. The network architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are for the purpose of illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, and do not constitute limitations on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. The evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

The related technical features involved in the embodiments of the present application are explained below first. It should be noted that these explanations are for the purpose of making the embodiments of the present application easier to understand, and should not be regarded as limitations on the protection scope claimed by the present application.

1. Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring.

One of the functions of the PDCCH is to carry the scheduling information of uplink or downlink data, and the UE can periodically monitor the PDCCH to obtain the scheduling information. If it is detected that the PDCCH has scheduling information, for the downlink scheduling information, the UE can determine the resource location of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) according to the scheduling information to receive the data carried on the PDSCH. Scheduling information to determine the resource location of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to send data carried on the PUSCH.

In one design, the base station may configure at least one search space set (SS set) for the UE. The UE performs PDCCH monitoring based on the SS set. Specifically, the UE performs PDCCH monitoring according to the parameters of the SS set. For example, the configuration information of each SS set includes at least one of the following parameters:

-SS set identifier, used to identify the SS set;

- The identification of the control resource set (control resource set, CORESET) associated with the SS set; wherein, CORESET represents a time-frequency resource set used to carry PDCCH, and a CORESET consists of several continuous or discontinuous resources in the frequency domain It is composed of a resource block (RB), which is composed of one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain. Specifically, the UE can perform PDCCH monitoring on the CORESET associated with the SS set according to the parameters of the SS set, such as the monitoring period, offset or monitoring pattern, etc.

-PDCCH monitoring period Ks and offset Os, the value unit of Ks and Os may be a time slot (slot) in NR.

- In-slot PDCCH monitoring pattern (pattern), or referred to as intra-slot PDCCH monitoring symbol, used to indicate the start symbol of the CORESET associated with the SS set in a certain time slot for monitoring PDCCH.

- Duration Ts, used to indicate the number of consecutive time slots in which the SS set exists. Wherein, Ts is less than Ks, and the value of Ts may be one time slot.

- The aggregation level and the number of candidate PDCCHs (PDCCH candidates) corresponding to each aggregation level.

-SS set type indication, used to indicate that the SS set is a common search space set (common search space set, CSS set), which can be abbreviated as CSS, or a user-specific search space set (UE-specific search space set, UE set) , which can be abbreviated as USS. Wherein, if the type of the SS set is CSS, the base station will also configure the DCI format (format) monitored at the position of the candidate PDCCH, for example, DCI format 0_0, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, DCI format 2_4, DCI format 2_5, or DCI format 2_6, etc. If the type of the SS set is USS, the base station will also configure the DCI format monitored at the position of the candidate PDCCH, for example, DCI format 0_0, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_2, DCI format 3_0, or DCI format 3_1, etc.

In a possible implementation manner, the UE may monitor the PDCCH period, offset, and

The PDCCH monitoring pattern in the time slot, etc., determines the PDCCH monitoring occasion (MO).

For example, the PDCCH monitoring period in a certain SS set parameter is 4 time slots, the offset is 0, and the duration is 1 time slot. The number of symbols of the CORESET associated with set is 1 symbol. Then the UE uses 4 time slots as the PDCCH monitoring period, and performs PDCCH monitoring on the CORESET associated with the SS set. In each PDCCH monitoring period, the PDCCH is monitored according to the following scheme: Since the offset is 0, it can be determined that PDCCH monitoring is performed in the first time slot in each PDCCH monitoring period, and the duration is 1 time slot, which can be determined PDCCH monitoring is performed only in the first time slot in each PDCCH monitoring period. Since the PDCCH monitoring pattern is the first three symbols in a time slot, the UE can have three monitoring opportunities in each PDCCH monitoring period, that is, the PDCCH monitoring is performed in the first three symbols of the first time slot. For the PDCCH monitoring timing determined according to the above-mentioned SS set parameters, please refer to the black filled part in FIG. 3 .

It can be understood that if the PDCCH monitoring timing is relatively dense, for example, the PDCCH monitoring period is 1 time slot, the UE must monitor the PDCCH in each time slot. Once there is data transmission, the base station can quickly schedule the UE, which is conducive to reducing the The transmission delay of the service, but the frequent monitoring of the PDCCH by the UE will lead to waste of the power consumption of the UE. If the PDCCH monitoring timing is sparse, for example, the PDCCH monitoring period is relatively long, the power consumption of the UE can be reduced, but the service transmission delay will be increased.

2. A method for saving UE power consumption.

1. A common way to save UE power consumption is to use continuous discontinuous reception (connected mode discontinuous reception, C-DRX), which can be referred to as DRX for short. The DRX mechanism can control the behavior of the UE to monitor the PDCCH. If there is no DRX mechanism, the UE will always monitor the PDCCH to detect whether there is indication information from the base station. In reality, however, in many cases, the UE does not always interact with the base station for effective information, does not always perform uplink or download services, and does not always transmit voice data during a call. If there is no data interaction between the UE and the base station, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH, which obviously consumes electricity. Therefore, under the premise of ensuring effective data transmission, a mechanism designed to save UE power is DRX. When configuring DRX, the UE can periodically enter the sleep mode (sleep mode) at certain times. The UE does not need to continuously monitor the PDCCH. Make the UE achieve the purpose of power saving. Although doing so has a certain impact on the delay of data transmission. However, if the latency is controlled within an acceptable user experience range, it makes sense to perform DRX to save power.

In the DRX mechanism, the UE can periodically monitor the PDCCH according to the DRX cycle configured by the base station. As shown in Figure 4, the DRX cycle consists of two time periods, active time and non-active time. During the activation time, the UE is in an awake state and monitors the PDCCH. During the inactive time, the UE is in a dormant state and does not monitor the PDCCH to reduce power consumption. Here, the dormant state is only for monitoring the PDCCH, indicating that the UE does not monitor the PDCCH. The UE in the dormant state is still in the RRC connected state and can communicate with the base station on the Uu air interface.

It should be noted that, during the inactive time of the DRX cycle, the UE does not monitor all PDCCHs. During the inactive time of the DRX cycle, the PDCCH that the UE does not monitor includes at least the cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and the cancellation indication-radio network temporary identifier (CI) -RNTI), configuration scheduling wireless network temporary identifier (configured scheduled-radio network temporary identifier, CS-RNTI), preemption indication wireless network temporary identifier (Indication pre-emption-radio network temporary identifier, INT-RNTI), time slot format indication Wireless network temporary identifier (slot format indicator--radio network temporary identifier, SFI-RNTI), semi-permanent activation of CSI wireless network temporary identifier (activation of Semi-persistent CSI-radio network temporary identifier, SP-CSI-RNTI), PUCCH power control Wireless network temporary identifier (PUCCH power control-radio network temporary identifier, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI), PUSCH power control-radio network temporary identifier (PUSCH power control-radio network temporary identifier, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI), SRS power control wireless network Temporary identifier (SRS power control-radio network temporary identifier, TPC-SRS-RNTI) or availability indication wireless network temporary identifier (availability indication-radio network temporary identifier, AI-RNTI) scrambled PDCCH. That is, the monitoring of only the PDCCH scrambled by the above-mentioned RNTI is constrained by the DRX mechanism, and the monitoring of the PDCCH scrambled by other RNTIs is not constrained by the DRX mechanism.

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

(1) Discontinuous reception inactivity timer (drx-Inactivity Timer).

In most cases, after the UE is scheduled to receive or transmit data at a certain PDCCH listening opportunity, it is likely to be scheduled in the next few slots to complete a larger data volume. The reception or transmission of data. If the UE has entered the sleep state, the UE will wait until the next DRX cycle to monitor the PDCCH to obtain resource scheduling to receive or send subsequent data. This increases the latency of data transmission. In order to reduce the delay caused by this reason, the DRX mechanism introduces a timer: drx-InactivityTimer. When the UE monitors and receives a PDCCH for scheduling new data, the UE starts (or restarts) the timer drx-InactivityTimer. The UE will continue to monitor the PDCCH while the drx-InactivityTimer is running until the timer expires. It can be seen that the introduction of the drx-InactivityTimer can ensure that the UE is in the active time during the operation of the drx-InactivityTimer, and receives the scheduling of the next base station, which is equivalent to extending the "active time". If the UE continuously receives the PDCCH for scheduling new data, the UE will continuously restart the drx-InactivityTimer, which may cause the UE to be in the "active time" throughout the DRX cycle, that is, the "active time" may extend to the entire DRX cycle.

In a possible design, in the DRX mechanism, the base station may also send a media access control (media access control, MAC) control element (control element, CE) to the UE to terminate the drx in advance during the running of the drx-Inactivity Timer - Timing of the Inactivity Timer. After receiving the MAC CE signaling, the UE ends the timing of the remaining drx-Inactivty Timer to save power consumption. The termination of the drx-Inactivity Timer by the MAC CE signaling can be considered as a way to make the UE enter the sleep state in advance, so the power consumption of the UE can be saved, but the scheduling delay may be increased.

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

In the NR system, after the base station configures the retransmission mechanism of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the UE, a possible HARQ working mode is: the base station decides whether to retransmit downlink data according to the HARQ feedback . The HARQ feedback can be a negative acknowledgment (NACK) or an acknowledgment (ACK). For example, if the HARQ feedback of the downlink data a is NACK, after receiving the NACK, the base station retransmits the downlink data a, and issues resources for scheduling the retransmission of the downlink data a on the PDCCH.

When the HARQ feedback of the downlink data a sent by the UE to the base station is NACK, the UE then needs to receive the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the downlink data a sent by the base station. In order to reduce the transmission delay of retransmitted data, drx-HARQ-RTT Timer and drx-Retransmission Timer are introduced. Exemplarily, the UE starts the drx-HARQ-RTT Timer when sending HARQ feedback to the base station using the PUCCH resource. When the drx-HARQ-RTT Timer times out, and the UE fails to decode the data, that is, when the HARQ feedback sent by the UE is NACK, the drx-Retransmission Timer is started. During the operation of the drx-Retransmission Timer, the UE is in the activation time and monitors the PDCCH, thus avoiding that the UE has to wait until the "activation time" of the next DRX cycle before it can monitor the PDCCH and reduce the transmission delay of retransmitted data.

It should be noted that the above is the following line data as an example to describe the drx-HARQ-RTT Timer and the drx-Retransmission Timer. In fact, for downlink services and uplink services, drx-HARQ-RTT Timer and drx-Retransmission Timer can be set respectively. Among them, the timers of downlink services may be called drx-HARQ-RTT TimerDL and drx-Retransmission TimerDL. Its working process can be: when the UE sends the HARQ feedback of the downlink service, the drx-HARQ-RTT TimerDL is turned on, and when the downlink service decoding fails, that is, when the sent HARQ feedback is NACK, the drx-Retransmission TimerDL is turned on, and the drx-Retransmission TimerDL is turned on. During operation, the UE is in active time. The timers for uplink services are called drx-HARQ-RTT TimerUL and drx-Retransmission TimerUL. The working process can be as follows: after the UE sends the PUSCH, the drx-HARQ-RTT TimerUL is turned on, the drx-HARQ-RTT TimerUL times out, and the drx-Retransmission TimerUL is turned on. During the operation of the drx-Retransmission TimerUL, the UE is in the activation time.

Taking the downlink service as an example, as shown in Figure 5, the processing flow of the UE in the DRX mechanism includes: the UE monitors the PDCCH during the running of the drx-onDurationTimer timer. drx-InactivityTimer will not be started, then after the end of drx-onDurationTimer, the UE enters the sleep state, that is, non-active time, and does not monitor the PDCCH; if the UE detects the newly transmitted PDSCH scheduled by the PDCCH, it will start or restart the drx-InactivityTimer, that is, whenever the UE When the first transmitted data is scheduled, the drx-InactivityTimer is started (or restarted) once, and the UE will remain in the active time until the timer expires, and the UE monitors the PDCCH during the operation of the drx-InactivityTimer. The UE receives the PDSCH according to the received scheduling information, the UE feeds back the HARQ information, and starts the drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL of the HARQ process. After the drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL ends, if the UE does not receive the PDSCH correctly, the feedback When the HARQ information is NACK, the drx-RetransmissionTimerDL is enabled, and the UE monitors the PDCCH in the drx-RetransmissionTimerDL. When the UE detects the DCI scheduling the PDSCH, the UE will terminate the drx-RetransmissionTimerDL regardless of whether the drx-RetransmissionTimerDL times out.

It can be seen from the above description that when the UE is in the active time, that is, the wake-up state, at least one of the following timers is running: drx-onDurationTimer, drx-InactivityTimer, drx-RetransmissionTimerDL, or drx-RetransmisionTimerUL, etc. For ease of understanding, the functions of the above timers are described, as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1

It should be pointed out that in addition to the above several timers, the activation time of the DRX mechanism may also include at least one of the following running periods:

During the running of the random access contention resolution timer (ra-Contention Resolutiontimer Timer), the timer is used for conflict resolution in the random access process;

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

The waiting period after the UE sends a scheduling request (SR) on the PUCCH;

The UE has not received a PDCCH indicating a new transmission after successfully receiving a random access response (random access response, RAR) based on non-contention random access.

2. In order to further save the power consumption of the UE, a wake up signal (WUS) is introduced on the basis of the DRX mechanism, that is, before the activation timer (drx-on duration Timer) of the DRX is started, the base station can send a message to the UE. WUS to inform the UE whether to start the drx-on duration Timer.

As shown in FIG. 6 , the UE monitors the WUS within a time window before the drx-on Duration Timer starts (this time window may be referred to as the WUS time window). If the WUS indicating wake-up is monitored, the UE will start the activation timer drx-on duration Timer, and perform normal operations in the active period timer, including monitoring the PDCCH; when the UE detects the WUS indicating no wake-up, the UE will Not starting the drx-on duration Timer means that the UE device will not monitor the PDCCH in the next DRX cycle, so as to save energy.

The following description is made about the WUS time window: the UE may determine the WUS time window according to the minimum time offset (minimum offset) and the PS-offset. The above-mentioned minimum time offset is sent by the UE to the base station, and refers to the time length from the end position of the WUS time window to the start position of the drx-on Duration Timer, and the above-mentioned PS-offset is sent by the base station to the UE, which refers to the WUS The length of time from the start of the time window to the start of the drx-on Duration Timer.

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

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

The solution is still in the research stage, and its core idea is that the base station instructs the UE to stop monitoring the PDCCH in the next time period through the PDCCH, so as to save the power consumption of the UE. The time period during which the PDCCH is not detected may be several time slots, several milliseconds, or the time corresponding to the remaining inactivity Timer. This solution can make the UE sleep for a short time, which not only achieves the purpose of saving power consumption, but also reduces the impact on the delay as much as possible. As shown in FIG. 7 , when the UE receives an instruction not to monitor the PDCCH within the activation time of the DRX cycle, the UE may no longer monitor the PDCCH within a certain period of time. After the period ends, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH.

Optionally, in this mechanism, the base station may configure multiple candidate time periods to the UE through RRC signaling for not monitoring the PDCCH, and subsequently use the PDCCH to indicate one of the multiple candidate time periods.

It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned DCI-based PDCCH skipping scheme, in the above-mentioned time period when the UE does not monitor the PDCCH, the PDCCH that the UE does not monitor includes at least one of the following PDCCH scrambled by RNTI: C-RNTI, modulation and coding mode cell Wireless network temporary identification (modulation and coding scheme-C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI), CS-RNTI, SP-CSI-RNTI, CI-RNTI, INT-RNTI, SFI-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC -PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI, or AI-RNTI, etc.

4. Dynamic search space set group (SSSG) switching.

As mentioned above, the base station can configure multiple SS sets for one BWP, and can divide the SS sets in one BWP into multiple groups. As shown in FIG. 8 , taking the division into two groups as an example, the two groups are SSSG1 and SSSG2 respectively. The UE can switch between different SSSGs. For example, the UE first monitors the PDCCH by using the above-mentioned SSSG1. For example, SSSG1 includes SS set1 and SS set2, and the UE can monitor the PDCCH according to the parameters configured by SS set1 and SS set2. After receiving the handover command, the UE switches from SSSG1 to SSSG2, then the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1, and then starts monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG2. For example, SSSG2 includes SS set3 and SS set4. Then when the UE receives the handover command, it will stop monitoring the PDCCH according to the parameters configured by SS set1 and SS set2, and start monitoring the PDCCH according to the parameters configured by SS set3 and SS set4.

Taking the switching of two groups of SSSGs as an example, there are the following ways to dynamically switch the SSSGs, as shown in FIG. 9 . The following switching manners are only exemplary descriptions, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application.

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

(2), automatically switch SSSG after a period of time.

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

Mode 2: When the UE works in SSSG1, that is, monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1, after a period of time (duration), the UE will switch to SSSG0, that is, the UE starts to monitor the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0, and stops according to the SS set in SSSG1. The SS set monitors the PDCCH. The above-mentioned period of time may be configured by the base station to the UE.

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

In the above, the SS set in the BWP is divided into two groups as an example for description, which is not intended to limit the present application. The SS set in BWP can be divided into groups other than 2. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the SS set in the BWP can be divided into three groups, namely SSSG0, SSSG1 and SSSG2, and the UE can switch between the above three SSSGs. In FIG. 10 , bidirectional handover between SSSGs is used as an example. For example, the handover between SSSG0 and SSSG1 can be switched from SSSG0 to SSSG1, or from SSSG1 to SSSG0, which is not a limitation to the embodiments of the present application . The SSSG handover in this embodiment of the present application may also be a one-way handover, for example, only the handover from SSSG0 to SSSG1 is supported, or only the handover from SSSG1 to SSSG0 is supported.

It should be noted that, according to the NR version 15 (release15, R15) and version (release16, R16) protocols defined by the 3GPP organization, if SSSG is configured, each SSSG contains at least one SS set. The UE may determine the PDCCH monitoring timing according to the configured parameters of the SS set. Therefore, for SSSG handover, no matter which SSSG the UE switches to, the UE will monitor the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG, the difference is that the PDCCH monitoring timing is sparse.

5. In order to further reduce the monitoring of the PDCCH and save the power consumption of the UE. There are currently two enhancement schemes, both of which are for supporting both SSSG handover and PDCCH skipping (PDCCH skipping).

Enhanced scheme 1: In the scheme of dynamic SSSG switching in the above scheme 4, one of the SSSGs is set to have no PDCCH monitoring opportunity or no candidate PDCCH or no SS set, hereinafter referred to as an empty SSSG. For example, set SSSG0 in FIG. 9 to an empty SSSG, or set SSSG1 in FIG. 10 to be an empty SSSG. When the UE switches to an empty SSSG, it can be realized that the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH until the UE switches to another SSSG.

As shown in Figure 10, taking the SS set divided into 3 SSSGs, and the SSSG2 in the 3 SSSGs is an empty SSSG, and there is no PDCCH monitoring opportunity as an example, the solution of switching between different SSSGs according to the indication field in the DCI can be As shown in Table 2, when the DCI indication field is 00, the UE switches from SSSG1 to SSSG0, that is, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0, and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1. When the DCI indication field is 01, the UE switches from SSG0 to SSSG1, that is, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1, and stops monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0. When the DCI indication field is 10, the UE switches to SSSG2, which is an empty SSSG, there is no PDCCH monitoring opportunity, and the UE no longer monitors the PDCCH, thereby saving energy consumption. It should be indicated that when the DCI indication field is 10, the UE can switch from SSSG1 to the above SSSG2, or can switch from SSSG0 to the above SSSG2, etc., which is not limited.

Table 2

DCI指示域DCI indication field	SSSG切换SSSG switch
0000	由SSSG1切换到SSSG0Switch from SSSG1 to SSSG0
0101	由SSSG0切换到SSSG1Switch from SSSG0 to SSSG1
1010	切换到SSSG2，SSSG2为空SSSGSwitch to SSSG2, SSSG2 is empty SSSG

Enhanced scheme 2: Combine the dynamic SSSG switching scheme in scheme 4 above with the DCI-based PDCCH skipping scheme in scheme 3 above. The base station can instruct the UE to perform SSSG handover or PDCCH skipping through the DCI indication field.

In one design, as shown in Table 3, taking the SS set in the BWP divided into SSSG0 and SSSG1 as an example, when the DCI indication field is 00, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG0, and the SS set in SSSG1 The set does not monitor the PDCCH, that is, the UE switches from SSSG1 to SSSG0. Or when the DCI indication field is 01, the UE monitors the PDCCH according to the SS set in SSSG1, and does not monitor the PDCCH on the SS set in SSSG0, that is, the UE switches from SSSG0 to SSSG1. When the DCI indication field is 10, the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH during the duration of 1, that is, the UE starts timing after receiving the above-mentioned DCI and meets the effective delay, and no longer monitors the PDCCH for the duration of 1. When the DCI indication field is 10, the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH during the duration of 2, that is, the UE starts timing after receiving the above-mentioned DCI and satisfying the effective delay, and no longer monitors the PDCCH for the duration 2. The unit of the time domain unit may be time slot or symbol, etc., which is not limited.

table 3

For the above-mentioned solutions for saving the power consumption of the UE, the above-mentioned solutions may be used alone or in combination. The applicant has found through research that the following problems may exist when combining the PDCCH-based WUS solution in the above solution 2 with the dynamic SSSG handover solution in the above solution 4:

It can be seen from the foregoing introduction that WUS is carried in the DCI of formats 2-6. When the SSSG is not empty, each SSSG includes at least one SS set. When each SS set is configured, the base station will configure it on the candidate PDCCH. The format of the location listening DCI. If in the inactive time of the DRX cycle, the SSSG that the UE works does not include the SS set that monitors DCI formats 2-6, or the SSSG is empty, then the UE will not be able to monitor the WUS, and the UE will follow the configured DRX cycle. Be sure to start drx-on Duration Timer, WUS loses its effect, which may lead to waste of UE power consumption.

For example, in a scenario, as shown in FIG. 11 , the UE works in SSSG0 at the activation time of the DRX cycle, and the SSSG0 includes the SS set for monitoring DCI formats 2-6. At the activation time of the DRX cycle, the UE receives the handover command and switches from SSSG0 to SSSG1, which does not include the SS set for monitoring DCI formats 2-6. In the subsequent inactive time of the DRX cycle, the UE also works in SSSG1 all the time. However, since the SSSG1 does not include the SS set for monitoring DCI formats 2-6, the UE cannot monitor the WUS within the WUS time window.

In another scenario, as shown in FIG. 12 , similar to the above, at the activation time of the DRX cycle, the UE works in the SSSG0, and the SSSG0 includes the SS set for monitoring the WUS. At the activation time of the DRX cycle, the UE switches to the SSSG1. The difference is that the SSSG1 is an empty SSSG, that is, there is no PDCCH monitoring opportunity in the SSSG. Since the duration of the UE working on the SSSG1 includes the WUS time window, the UE cannot monitor the WUS within the WUS time window.

Based on the above, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. The method includes: at the activation time of the first DRX cycle, the UE works in the first SSSG. The UE switches from the first SSSG to the second SSSG before the WUS time window from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the inactive time of the first DRX cycle. Optionally, the second SSSG may include an SS set for monitoring the WUS. Therefore, the UE can monitor the WUS within the WUS time window, so that the WUS can realize its function and save the energy consumption of the UE. Regarding the communication method, reference may be made to the introduction of the following Embodiment 1 for details.

Example 1.

As shown in FIG. 13 , the first embodiment provides a flowchart of a communication method, including at least:

Step 1300: The base station sends RRC signaling to the UE, where the RRC signaling is used to configure at least one of the following parameters:

1. Configure SS set parameters for the BWP of the serving cell. For the content of the configured SS set parameters, refer to the foregoing. The serving cell may include at least one BWP, and the base station may configure an SS set for one or more BWPs in the at least one BWP. The base station may activate one of the above at least one BWP, which is called an activated BWP. The UE and the base station can transmit data or signaling on the activated BWP. In the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, the BWP may refer to the downlink BWP, and the UE and the base station perform downlink transmission on the downlink BWP through the PDSCH or the PDCCH.

2. The configuration information of the SSSG in the BWP, that is, which SSSG the SS set in the BWP belongs to. Optionally, the parameters of the SS set configured above may further include: a search space group ID list, which is used to indicate which SSSG the configured SS set belongs to. For example, the search space group identifier list may include the identifier of the SSSG configured to the SS set.

It should be noted that an SS set may be configured to belong to one SSSG, may be configured to belong to multiple SSSGs, and may also be configured to not belong to any SSSG, etc., without limitation. For example, when an SS set is not configured with the parameter search space group identification list, it may indicate that the SS set does not belong to any SSSG.

As described above, by configuring the SS set parameter for the BWP of the serving cell, at least one SS set can be configured for the BWP. Subsequently, the SS set can be configured to different SSSGs by configuring the parameter search space group identification list for the SS set. For example, the serving cell of the UE includes 4 BWPs, and the SS set can be configured for the BWPs. One BWP in the above-mentioned 4 BWPs, for example, BWP0 is configured with 4 SS sets. By configuring the search space group identification list for the above-mentioned 4 SS sets, the above-mentioned 4 SS sets can be divided into different SSSGs. For example, the configured search space group identification of SS set0 to SS set2 in the above four SS sets is 0, and the configured search space group identification of SS set3 is 1, then the SS set of the above BWP0 can be divided into two SSSGs , where SSSG0 includes SS set0, SS set1 and SS set2, and SSSG1 includes SS set3.

Similarly, the SSSG may be an empty SSSG, or a non-empty SSSG. If there is no PDCCH monitoring opportunity or candidate PDCCH in an SSSG, the SSSG is called an empty SSSG; otherwise, the SSSG is called a non-empty SSSG. The non-empty SSSG includes at least one SS set, and the parameters of the SS set define the candidate PDCCH and PDCCH listening timing. The empty SSSG includes but is not limited to the following situations:

Case 1: An SSSG identity (identity document, ID) x is defined, but the SSSG identity in the search space group identity list of any SS set is not configured as the SSSG identity x. That is, there is no SS set in the SSSG identified as x.

Case 2: Define an SSSG identity x, and configure the SSSG identity in the search space group identity list of one or more SS sets as the SSSG identity x. However, if there is no PDCCH monitoring opportunity in the above-mentioned one or more SS sets, the SSSGx is called an empty SSSG. In one design, when the PDCCH monitoring period and offset of a certain SS set are configured as null (null), the duration of monitoring PDCCH is configured as 0, or the PDCCH monitoring pattern in the time slot is configured as all 0s, etc., the SS There is no PDCCH listening opportunity for set.

3. Configure the parameters for monitoring the WUS. The parameters include at least one of the following:

- PS-RNTI, the PS-RNTI is used to scramble the DCI carrying WUS.

- SS set of DCI format 2-6, the SS set of DCI format 2-6, that is, the SS set that can be used to transmit WUS. The parameters of the SS set configured above may include the DCI format.

- the payload size of DCI format 2_6.

- WUS indicates the position of the bits in the DCI of format 2_6. For example, the WUS indication bit may be 0 or 1, which is used to indicate whether the UE enables drx-onDurationTimer subsequently.

- Parameters related to the WUS time window. The UE may determine the WUS window according to the relevant parameters of the WUS time window. For example, in one design, the base station may configure a time offset (ps-Offset) for the UE through an RRC parameter. The time offset refers to the time offset between the start position of the WUS time window and the start position of the drx-onDurationTimer.

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

This step 1300 is optional: it is not necessary to perform step 1300 before performing the following

steps

1301 and 1302 . For example, the base station may configure semi-static parameters for the UE through the RRC signaling in the above step 1300; the above parameters are all valid until the semi-static parameters are reconfigured next time. Between two RRC configurations, the UE may perform multiple SSSG handovers using the following

steps

1301 and 1302 .

Step 1301: At the activation time of the first DRX cycle, the UE works in the first SSSG.

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

In one design, as shown in Figure 4, the DRX cycle includes active time, inactive time, and the like. Wherein, during the activation time, the UE is in an awake state and monitors the PDCCH, and during the inactive time, the UE is in a dormant state and no longer monitors the PDCCH, thereby saving the power consumption of the UE. The activation time of the UE in the DRX cycle may include at least one of the following timers running: drx-onDurationTimer, drx-Inactivity Timer, drx-Retransmission TimerDL, or drx-Retransmission TimerUL, etc.

In one design, multiple BWPs may exist between the UE and the base station, the multiple BWPs include an activated BWP, and the UE and the base station may transmit data or signaling on the activated BWP. It can be seen from the foregoing introduction that multiple SS sets can be configured on the activated BWP, and the multiple SS sets can be divided into one or more SSSGs. At the activation time of any DRX cycle (which may be referred to as the first DRX cycle) of the UE, the UE may work in one of the SSSGs, and the SSSG that the UE works is referred to as the first SSSG.

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

Step 1302: During the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the UE switches from the first SSSG to the second SSSG. Specifically, the UE switches from the first SSSG to the second SSSG from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the time for monitoring the WUS in the first DRX cycle. Optionally, the second SSSG may include an SS set for monitoring the WUS, and the UE may monitor the WUS within the WUS time window according to the SS set for monitoring the WUS.

In one design, as shown in FIG. 14 , the UE may determine the time when the inactive time of the first DRX cycle starts and the time for monitoring the WUS during the inactive time of the first DRX cycle. Between the above two times, the UE switches from the first SSSG to the second SSSG.

First, the UE determines the inactive time of the first DRX cycle: in one design, the UE may consider the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to start when at least one timer expires. The above timer may include at least one of the following timers: drx-onDurationTimer, drx-InactivityTimer, drx-Retransmission TimerDL, or drx-Retransmission TimerUL, and the like. Or, in another design, considering the scenario that the UE may run multiple timers at the same time, the UE may consider the first DRX cycle of the UE to be inactive at the time when the last timer in the above at least one timer stops running. Time begins. For example, the UE turns on drx-onDurationTimer and is in the active time. The subsequent UE receives the PDCCH used by the base station to schedule the new transmission, and starts the drx-InactivityTimer. The start of the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle is defined in this way: the time when both drx-onDurationTimer and drx-InactivityTimer time out can be considered as the start of the inactivity time of the first DRX cycle. For example, at the first time, the drx-onDurationTimer times out, and at the second time, the drx-InactivityTimer times out. If the second time is later than the first time, the UE considers that the inactive time of the first DRX cycle starts at the second time.

It should be pointed out that, in the introduction of the DRX mechanism above, it can be seen that the activation time of the DRX cycle may include other scenarios besides the above-mentioned scenario of running the timer. In the above description, the inactive time in which the UE enters the first DRX cycle is considered as an example when the timer times out, which is not a limitation on the embodiments of the present application. It can be understood that, the above-mentioned inactive time of the first DRX cycle may refer to a time other than the active time of the first DRX cycle.

Continuing to introduce, the UE determines the time for monitoring the WUS during the inactive time in the first DRX cycle. Because in the current solution, the UE monitors the WUS in the WUS time window. The above-mentioned time that the UE monitors the WUS during the inactive time in the first DRX cycle may be any time in the WUS time window, and the any time may be predefined or pre-configured by a protocol, or the like. For example, the time may be the start time of the WUS time window, or the end time of the WUS time window, or the like. In FIG. 14 , it is illustrated by taking the time as the start time of the WUS time window as an example.

As shown in FIG. 14 , the UE can determine the WUS time window according to the time offset (PS offset) configured for it by the base station and the minimum time offset (minimum offset) determined by the UE. The above-mentioned time offset (PS offset) refers to the time interval from the start position of the WUS time window to the start time of drx-onDurationTimer. According to the time offset, the UE can determine the start position of the WUS time window. The above-mentioned minimum time offset refers to the time interval from the end position of the WUS time window to the start time of drx-onDurationTimer. According to the above-mentioned minimum time offset, the UE can determine the end position of the WUS time window; the UE determines the start position of the WUS time window. , and the end position of the WUS time window, so that the position of the entire WUS time window can be determined.

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

In a possible implementation manner, in order to simplify the design, the UE may directly switch from the first SSSG to the second SSSG at the beginning of the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, or when the activation time of the first DRX cycle ends. SSSG. When the inactive time of the first DRX cycle starts, or the activation time of the first DRX cycle ends, it can be considered as drx-onDurationTimer timeout, or drx-InactivityTimer timeout, or drx-Retransmission TimerDL timeout, or drx-Retransmission TimerUL timeout, etc. .

With the solution of the above-mentioned first embodiment, before the WUS time window, the UE can switch to the second SSSG, and the second SSSG includes the SS set for monitoring the WUS, so that the UE can monitor the WUS according to the SS set, thereby enabling the UE to monitor the WUS. It can be determined whether to enable drx-onDurationTimer according to WUS. WUS realizes its function and saves UE power consumption.

It should be noted that, in the above description, the above solution is applied to the UE side for description. The above solution can also be applied to the base station side. If the above solution is applied to the base station side, when the base station determines that the UE is working in the first SSSG at the activation time of the first DRX cycle according to the above method, and if the first SSSG is not empty, the base station can follow the The configuration of the SS set sends the PDCCH to the UE. From the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the time for monitoring the WUS within the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, if the base station determines that the UE is handed over from the first SSSG to the second SSSG, the base station may follow the Configuration of SS set, sending PDCCH, etc.

Optionally, similar to the above, the above-mentioned second SSSG includes an SS set for monitoring the WUS. During the inactive time of the first DRX, the base station can send the WUS according to the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring the WUS. Wait. Further, the above-mentioned second SSSG may be defined by a protocol, or determined by the base station, or the like. The above-mentioned second SSSG may include a search space set only for monitoring WUS, and no longer include other types of SS sets. Alternatively, the base station may send configuration information to the UE, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG, and the at least one SSSG includes the second SSSG and the like.

Example two.

The second embodiment provides a communication method, which is different from the above-mentioned first embodiment in that, during the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, regardless of whether the UE is left in any SSSG, the UE monitors the WUS according to the SS set used to monitor the WUS. , without SSSG handover. The above-mentioned SS set used to monitor the WUS can be configured with SSSG, or it can no longer be configured with SSSG, which is not limited. For example, in one design, the base station may send the above-mentioned configuration information of the SS set used to monitor the WUS to the UE, where the configuration information of the SS set includes the configuration information used to determine the SSSG, or does not include the configuration information used to determine the SSSG Information, etc., are not limited.

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

Step 1500: The base station configures at least one parameter for the UE through RRC signaling. For details about this step 1500, please refer to the description of the above-mentioned step 1300.

Different from the above step 1300, in step 1500: for the configuration information used to monitor the SS set of the WUS, the configuration information may include the configuration information used to determine the SSSG, or not include the configuration information used to determine the SSSG . If the configuration information includes configuration information for determining the SSSG, it means that the SS set monitoring the WUS belongs to the corresponding SSSG, otherwise the SS set monitoring the WUS does not belong to any SSSG.

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

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

In one design, the UE may determine the WUS time window, and it can be understood that the WUS time window is within the inactive time of the first DRX cycle. In the above-mentioned WUS time window, the UE monitors the WUS according to the SS set used to monitor the WUS, regardless of whether the UE works in any SSSG. Specifically, the following situations can be discussed:

First, the above-mentioned SS set used to monitor WUS is not pre-configured with the SSSG to which it belongs. Then, the UE can monitor WUS according to the SS set used to monitor WUS in any SSSG within the WUS time window. For example, if there are two SSSGs, and the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring the WUS does not belong to any of the above-mentioned two SSSGs, then within the WUS time window, no matter if the UE works in any of the above-mentioned two SSSGs, it can The above SS set used to monitor WUS, monitor WUS.

Second, the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring WUS is pre-configured with the identifiers of all SSSGs, that is, each SSSG includes the SS set used for monitoring WUS, then, the UE is in the WUS time window, no matter in any SSSG, WUS can be monitored according to the SS set used to monitor WUS. For example, if there are two SSSGs, and the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring the WUS belongs to each of the above-mentioned two SSSGs, within the WUS time window, no matter the UE works in any SSSG in the above-mentioned two SSSGs, it can be determined according to the The above SS set used to monitor WUS, monitor WUS.

Third, the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring WUS is pre-configured with some SSSG identifiers, but in the WUS time window, the monitoring of the above SS set is not affected by the SSSG, that is, in the WUS time window, the UE is in any Both the SSSG and the UE can monitor the WUS according to the above SS set. For example, there are two SSSGs, the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring WUS belongs to SSSG0. In the WUS time window, even if the UE is in SSSG1, the UE can still monitor the WUS according to the SS set in SSSG0 for monitoring the WUS, but the UE will not stop SSSG1.

It should be noted that since the WUS is carried in the DCI of format 2-6, the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring WUS can also be referred to as the SS set of DCI format 2-6. The SS set of the DCI format 2_6 can also be used to monitor the DCI of other formats, etc., in addition to being used for monitoring the DCI of the above-mentioned format 2_6, which is not limited. That is, the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring WUS can also be used for carrying other functions in addition to the DCI bearing WUS function, which is not limited.

Further, it should be noted that, in the above method, the UE monitors the WUS during the inactive time of the first DRX cycle and is not affected by the SSSG. During the activation time of the first DRX cycle, whether the UE monitors the SS set of the DCI format 2_6 depends on the SSSG where the UE is currently located. For example, there are two SSSGs, the above-mentioned SS set for monitoring WUS belongs to SSSG0. The SS set used to monitor WUS is also used to monitor other DCI formats. During the activation time of the first DRX cycle, if the UE switches to SSSG1, it does not monitor the SS set. If the UE switches to SSSG0, the UE monitors the SS set. .

Using the solution of the second embodiment above, by specifying the configuration information of the SS set used to monitor the WUS, or by specifying the behavior of the UE to monitor the PDCCH, within the WUS time window, no matter the UE works in any SSSG, it can monitor the SS set according to the above-mentioned SS set. WUS. Therefore, the UE can monitor the WUS during the inactive time, saving the power consumption of the UE.

Regarding the above-mentioned solution for saving UE power consumption, in the enhanced solution 1 in the above-mentioned solution 5), no matter which SSSG the UE switches to, the rules for determining the effective delay are the same. The effective delay refers to the time required for the UE to switch to the SSSG. In one design, the effective delay may refer to the time interval from when the UE receives the SSSG handover command to the time when the UE is handed over to the SSSG. For example, as shown in Figure 16, the UE works in SSSG0, receives DCI and instructs the UE to switch to SSSG1, then the start time of the effective delay Y can be the end position of the last symbol where the DCI is located, or the end of the time slot where the DCI is located. position, or the start position of the symbol where the DCI is located, or the start position of the time slot where the DCI is located, etc., the effective delay Y is a time length, from the start time of the effective delay Y, after the time length corresponding to the effective delay Y, the UE Switch to SSSG1.

The applicant finds through research that when the UE switches to different types of SSSGs, the rules for the effective delay Y should be different. For example, for switching to an empty SSSG, the value of the effective delay Y should be as small as possible. This is because in practice, the base station only sends a handover command to the UE when it predicts that there will be no data scheduling for a short period of time, so that the UE is handed over to an empty SSSG. If the value of the effective delay Y is large, it may be greater than the value of the above-mentioned short period of time, and it is obviously unreasonable for the UE to switch to the above-mentioned empty SSSG. The power consumption of the UE can also be saved. For switching to a non-empty SSSG, the impact of missing DCI needs to be considered. For example, both the current base station and the UE work in SSSG0, and the base station sends a signaling of switching SSSG to the UE. If the UE misses the detection of this signaling, the subsequent base station switches to SSSG1, while the UE remains in SSSG0, which may lead to different PDCCH monitoring timings of the base station and the UE, and the UE cannot monitor the PDCCH for a long period of time.

It can be seen from the above that for the empty SSSG and the non-empty SSSG, the UE considers the handover delay differently. How the UE determines the corresponding handover delay according to the type of the SSSG to be handed over is a problem to be solved in the embodiment of the present application. For details, refer to the description of the following Embodiment 3.

Example three.

As shown in FIG. 17 , the third embodiment of the present application provides a process of a communication method, which at least includes:

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

1) Configure the parameters of the SS set for the BWP of the serving cell.

2) The configuration information of the SSSG in the BWP, that is, which SSSG the above-mentioned SS set belongs to, and so on.

Step 1700 is optional: it is not necessary to perform step 1700 before steps 1701 and 1702 . For example, after the RRC connected state is established, the base station configures the above parameters through RRC signaling; subsequently, the UE directly uses the configured parameters to perform SSSG handover. Subsequently, before the base station reconfigures the above-mentioned relevant parameters, the above-mentioned parameters are all valid. Between two RRC signaling configurations, the UE may use steps 1701 and 1702 to perform multiple SSSG handovers.

Step 1701: The UE determines the SSSG to be handed over.

In one design, when the first condition is met, the UE determines the SSSG to be switched to, and the effective delay may refer to the time interval between the time when the UE meets the first condition and the time interval between the time when the UE switches to the SSSG. Exemplarily, the above-mentioned first condition may include: the UE receives a DCI sent by the base station, where the DCI is used to instruct the UE to switch the SSSG. Or, the duration of the UE monitoring the PDCCH according to the SS set in the SSSG before the handover reaches the first duration. Or, the UE monitors the DCI according to the SSSG before the handover, and the DCI can be a DCI of any format, or a DCI format predefined by a protocol, such as at least one of the DCI formats 0_0, 0_1, 1_0, 1_1, 0_2, 1_2, etc. .

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

Step 1702: The UE determines the effective delay according to the type of the SSSG to be switched to. The type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG. The empty SSSG means that there is no PDDCH monitoring opportunity or candidate PDCCH in the SSSG. For the manner of implementing the empty SSSG, reference may be made to the foregoing embodiments, which are not limited in the present invention.

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

Example 1, the UE may determine the effective delay according to the corresponding relationship between the first subcarrier interval and a time parameter, and the time parameter is used to determine the effective delay; optionally, the above-mentioned first subcarrier interval may be When the first condition is satisfied, the UE activates the subcarrier spacing of the BWP.

For example, as shown in Table 4, the corresponding relationship between the parameter μ of the subcarrier spacing and the time parameter Zμ can be predefined or configured. When the UE satisfies the above-mentioned first condition, the UE may determine the first sub-carrier interval of the currently activated BWP; after that, the UE searches for the time parameter Zμ corresponding to the first sub-carrier interval in the correspondence shown in the above Table 4, the time The value of parameter Zμ is the effective delay.

Table 4

μμ	Zμ(时隙)Zμ(time slot)
00	11
11	11
22	22
33	22

It should be noted that, in the above description, it is taken as an example that the value of the effective delay is equal to the time parameter Zμ. Considering that the activated BWP of the UE may be switched during the effective delay period, the corresponding subcarrier interval may also change. Because the above-mentioned effective delay is usually in units of time slots or symbols. When the subcarrier interval of the UE changes, although the absolute duration of the above-mentioned effective delay (for example, the duration in milliseconds, etc.) will not change, due to the different subcarrier intervals, the corresponding time slot or symbol The duration is not the same. Therefore, it may be necessary to convert the effective delays of different subcarrier intervals. In the above case, the UE may determine the effective delay according to the time parameter Zμ corresponding to the first subcarrier interval. For example, when the UE satisfies the first condition, the subcarrier spacing for activating BWP is μ1 corresponding to the subcarrier spacing, and μ2 corresponding to the subcarrier spacing for newly activated BWP during the SSSG handover process. If the subcarrier spacing μ1 is the same as the subcarrier spacing If the carrier interval μ2 is different, the effective delay Y is

Alternatively, if the UE is configured with one or more minimum time offset values K _0min for scheduling PDSCH, the UE may jointly determine the effective delay according to the time parameters Zμ and K _0min corresponding to the first subcarrier interval, where The value of K _0min is the K _0min at which the currently activated BWP takes effect in the above one or more K _0mins . For example, the value of the effective delay may be the larger value of the above two values, that is, the effective delay Y=max(K _0min , Zμ) and the like. For another example, the effective delay Y is

where K _0min is K _0min at which the activated BWP of the scheduled serving cell (or the serving cell indicated by the DCI) takes effect, and μ _PDSCH is the parameter of the subcarrier interval of the activated BWP of the scheduled serving cell (or the serving cell indicated by the DCI) , μ _PDCCH is the parameter of the sub-carrier interval of the activated BWP of the scheduled serving cell (or the serving cell where the DCI is located), Z μ is the sub-carrier interval of the activated BWP of the scheduled serving cell (or the serving cell where the DCI is located) corresponds to time parameter. The following description is made about K0: K0 is the time slot offset between the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH. K0=0 indicates that the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH are in the same time slot. K0>0 indicates that the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH are not in the same time slot. The above K _0min is the minimum available time slot offset of the PDSCH when the PDSCH is scheduled by the PDCCH, that is, the time slot offset value K0 between the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH should be greater than or equal to K _0min . K _0min may be predefined, or configured or indicated by the base station for the UE, etc., and may refer to the current technology without limitation.

In the same way, the above description is given by taking an example that the value of the effective delay is equal to the larger value of the time parameter Zμ and K _0min . However, if the subcarrier spacing changes during the effective delay period, the effective delay can be converted according to the subcarrier spacing. If the converted effective delay is not an integer multiple of time slots, the converted effective delay can be rounded up or down.

Example 2, the above-mentioned effective delay may be predefined by the protocol, or a value configured by the base station for the UE, or the like. For example, the base station may configure an effective delay for the UE through RRC signaling, and the unit of the effective delay may be a symbol, a time slot, or a millisecond, which is not limited. In one design, the last unit of the effective delay used by the UE needs to be a time slot. If the unit of the effective delay configured by the base station is symbols or milliseconds, the effective delay can be converted into at least one time slot. The effective time delay of is not an integer multiple of the time slot, and the converted time slot number can be rounded up or down. Optionally, before the above-mentioned base station configures the effective delay for the UE, the UE may report the minimum value of the effective delay to the base station. The value of the effective delay configured by the base station for the UE should be greater than the above-mentioned minimum value of the effective delay. For example, the UE may report the minimum value of the above-mentioned effective delay through UE capability signaling, and the minimum value of the UE effective delay may be related to the UE's capability and the subcarrier interval μ. For example, the corresponding relationship between the subcarrier interval μ and the UE capability and the effective delay can be referred to as shown in Table 5.

table 5

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

Example 1, if the DCI is used to schedule the PDSCH, the UE may determine the effective delay according to the time unit offset of the HARQ feedback corresponding to the scheduled PDSCH. The following description is made about the time unit: the time unit may include time units such as radio frame (radio frame), subframe (subframe), time slot (slot), mini-slot (mini-slot) or symbol (symbol). Exemplarily, one radio frame may include one or more subframes, and one subframe may include one or more time slots. There may be different slot lengths for different subcarrier spacings. For example, when the subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, one time slot may be 1 millisecond (ms); when the subcarrier spacing is 30kHz, one time slot may be 0.5ms. A slot can include one or more symbols. For example, the next time slot of a normal cyclic prefix (cyclic prefix, CP) may include 14 symbols, and the next time slot of an extended CP may include 12 symbols. A mini-slot, also known as a mini-slot, can be a smaller unit than a time slot, and a mini-slot can include one or more symbols. For example, a mini-slot may include 2 symbols, 4 symbols or 7 symbols and so on. A time slot may include one or more mini-slots. Taking the subcarrier spacing of 15kHz as an example, a radio frame can last for 10ms, each subframe can last for 1ms, a radio frame includes 10 subframes, each slot lasts 1ms, and each subframe can include 1 slot, Each slot may include 14 symbols. Further, the mini-slot may include 4 symbols, 2 symbols, or 7 symbols, and so on. In the subsequent description of this application, the time unit is a time slot and the time unit offset is a time slot offset as an example for description.

For example, the time slot offset between the PDSCH and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH is K1, and the effective delay Y is the time slot offset between the time slot where the DCI is located and the time slot where the HARQ feedback is located, for example, It can be expressed as K0+K1. The following description is made about K0 and K1: K0 refers to the time slot offset between the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH. K1 refers to the time slot offset between the PDSCH and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH. Therefore, the sum of the values of K1 and K0 is the time slot offset of the DCI carried by the PDCCH and the HARQ feedback. Wherein, K1=0 indicates that the PDSCH and the HARQ corresponding to the PDSCH are fed back in the same time slot. K1>0 indicates that the PDSCH and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH are not in the same time slot. For the introduction of the value of K0, please refer to the above.

For the above example 1, when the UE meets the effective time delay or later, regardless of whether the HARQ feedback is ACK or NACK, the UE switches to the SSSG to be switched to. Alternatively, when the UE meets the valid time delay or later, when the HARQ feedback is ACK, the UE switches to the SSSG to be switched to. However, when the HARQ feedback is NACK, the UE does not perform handover of the SSSG.

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

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

Step 1703 is optional, and the UE may switch to the SSSG to be switched to after a delay or after the validation is satisfied. Alternatively, the switch to the above-mentioned to-be-switched SSSG or the like is not performed after the delay or after the validation is satisfied, which is not limited. For example, in one design, for the DCI-scheduled PDSCH, the SSSG is switched only when the HARQ feedback of the DCI-scheduled PDSCH is ACK, otherwise the SSSG is not switched. Regarding the SSSG handover only performed when the HARQ feedback is ACK, and the SSSG handover is not performed when the HARQ feedback is NACK, the following scenarios may be considered: If the HARQ feedback is NACK, it means that the UE did not correctly decode the corresponding HARQ feedback PDSCH, the base station needs to retransmit the PDSCH, and does not need to switch the SSSG. If the HARQ feedback is ACK, it means that the current PDSCH transmission is successful, and there may be no subsequent service transmission. At this time, you can switch to the SSSG with sparse PDCCH monitoring opportunities.

Through the solution of the third embodiment, the type of the SSSG to be switched to is considered, and different effective delays of the SSSG to be switched to are determined to meet the requirements of different scenarios.

In the description of Embodiment 3 above, the above solution is described with the UE as the execution subject. The solution of Embodiment 3 above can also be applied to the base station side. For example, in one design, the base station may determine the SSSG to which the UE is to be handed over; the base station determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG to be handed over, that is, the effective delay. The base station determines that the UE switches to the SSSG according to the effective delay. Afterwards, the base station may send the PDCCH to the UE according to the SSSG handed over by the UE.

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

Similar to the solution on the UE side above, the process of determining the effective delay according to the type of the SSSG to be switched to by the base station may be: if the type of the SSSG to be switched to is an empty SSSG, the base station can The corresponding relationship between the interval and the time parameter determines the effective delay, and the time parameter is used to determine the effective delay. Optionally, the foregoing first subcarrier interval may be the subcarrier interval of the BWP activated by the UE. Alternatively, the effective delay is predefined by the protocol or configured by the base station for the UE, etc., which is not limited.

As an example, how the base station determines the effective delay according to the corresponding relationship between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter is as follows: In one design, the value of the effective delay is equal to the corresponding value of the first subcarrier interval. or, the value of the effective delay is determined according to the time parameter corresponding to the first subcarrier interval. For example, the time parameter corresponding to the first subcarrier interval may be transformed with different subcarrier intervals to obtain the effective delay and the like. In another design, the value of the effective delay may be the larger value of the time parameter corresponding to the first subcarrier interval and the minimum scheduling offset value determined by the base station for scheduling the PDSCH. Or, the above-mentioned effective delay is determined according to the larger value of the above two. For example, the larger value of the above two can be converted into different subcarrier intervals to obtain the effective delay and the like.

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

Afterwards, the base station can determine that the UE can switch to the SSSG to be switched to regardless of whether the HARQ feedback of the UE received by the base station is ACK or NACK after the time delay when the effective time is satisfied. Or, after satisfying the said effective time delay or after, only when the HARQ feedback of the UE received by the base station is ACK, the base station can determine that the UE switches to the above-mentioned SSSG to be switched to; otherwise, the base station can determine that the UE does not switch to the above-mentioned pending SSSG Switch to SSSG etc.

For the above-mentioned solution for saving power consumption of the UE, in the enhanced solution 2 in the above-mentioned solution 5), the effective delay modes of the UE performing SSSG handover and skipping PDCCH monitoring are consistent. There is also a problem in this way. For skipping PDCCH monitoring, the base station or UE hopes that the effective delay should be as small as possible. For SSSG handover, the base station or UE may consider other factors. Therefore, how to determine the corresponding effective delay according to different types of SSSG handover or skip PDCCH monitoring is a problem to be solved in the embodiment of the present application.

Example four.

The fourth embodiment provides a communication method, including: the UE can receive DCI from the base station, where the DCI is used to instruct the SSSSG to switch or skip PDCCH monitoring. If the DCI is used to instruct the SSSG handover, the effective delay can be determined according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. Refer to the third embodiment above. When the SSSG type is non-null, the effective delay is determined. Alternatively, when the DCI is used to indicate skipping PDCCH monitoring, the effective delay may be determined according to the corresponding relationship between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, or the effective delay may be predefined by the protocol or configured by the base station For the value of , please refer to the third implementation above. When the SSSG type is empty, the method of determining the effective delay is determined. The difference from the third embodiment above is that in the third embodiment, the UE switches to the empty SSSG when the time delay or after the valid time is satisfied. However, in the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18 , the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH when the time delay or after the valid time is satisfied.

Through the above solution, the effective delay of SSSG switching and stopping monitoring of PDCCH considers different influencing factors, and adopts different methods to determine the effective delay, so as to meet the needs of various scenarios.

In the above description, the above solution is applied to the UE side as an example for description. This solution can also be applied to the base station side. For example, the base station sends DCI to the UE. When the DCI is used to instruct the SSSG handover, the base station may determine the effective delay according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. When the base station satisfies the above-mentioned effective delay and the SSSG to which it is handed over is not empty, the base station may send the PDCCH to the UE according to the SSSG to which it is handed over. Alternatively, when the DCI is used to indicate skipping PDCCH monitoring, the base station may determine the effective delay according to the corresponding relationship between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, or by means of protocol pre-definition. When the base station satisfies the above-mentioned effective time delay or after, the base station may no longer send the PDCCH to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE does not monitor the PDCCH after the delay or after the above-mentioned validation is satisfied, thereby saving the power consumption of the base station and the UE.

For the above-mentioned Embodiments 1 to 4, it should be noted that:

1. The above focuses on describing the differences between the first embodiment and the fourth embodiment. For other content except the difference, reference can be made to each other between the different embodiments.

2. Not all of the steps shown in the processes described in Embodiments 1 to 4 are mandatory steps, and some steps may be added or deleted on the basis of each process according to actual needs, for example, the above steps 1300 and 1500 and step 1700 etc. can be selectively performed.

3. In the description of the first embodiment to the fourth embodiment, for the convenience of description, the execution subject directly uses the UE and the base station as an example for description. It can be understood that the UE can be replaced by a terminal device, and the base station can be replaced by a network device. For the description of the terminal device and the network device, reference may be made to the description in FIG. 1 above.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to FIGS. 1 , 2 a to 2 d , and FIG. 3 to FIG. 18 , and the device provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 19 to 21 . It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment. Therefore, for the content not described in detail in the device part, reference may be made to the descriptions in the above method embodiments.

FIG. 19 shows a possible block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 19 , the apparatus 1900 may include: a communication unit 1901 for supporting the communication between the apparatus and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 1901 is also referred to as a transceiver unit, and may include a receiving unit and/or a sending unit, which are respectively configured to perform receiving and sending operations. The processing unit 1902 is used to support the device to perform processing. Optionally, the apparatus 1900 may further include a storage unit 1903 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 1900 .

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

The processing unit 1902 is configured to work in the first search space set group SSSG during the activation time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to start from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the The first SSSG switches to the second SSSG before the time for monitoring the wake-up signal WUS in the inactive time of the first DRX cycle.

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

In a possible design, the communication unit 1901 is configured to receive configuration information from a network device, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine the second SSSG, the determined The second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.

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

For example, the processing unit 1902 is configured to, at the activation time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle, determine that the terminal device works in the first search space set group SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to deactivate the first DRX cycle It is determined that the terminal device is switched from the first SSSG to the second SSSG from the start of time to the time for monitoring the wake-up signal WUS within the inactive time of the first DRX cycle.

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

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

In the third embodiment, the above apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip or circuit in the terminal device. The communication unit 1901 is configured to perform the sending and receiving operations of the UE in the second method embodiment above; the processing unit 1902 is configured to perform the processing related operations of the UE in the second method embodiment above.

For example, the communication unit 1901 is configured to receive the configuration information of the search space set used for monitoring the WUS in the second embodiment above, where the configuration information of the search space set includes the configuration information for determining the SSSG, or does not include the configuration information for determining the SSSG. is used to determine the configuration information of the SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is configured to execute the inactive time of the first DRX cycle in the above-mentioned embodiment 2, the terminal device works in any SSSG, and monitors all the SSSGs according to the search space set. described WUS.

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

The processing unit 1902 is configured to determine the search space set group SSSG to be switched to; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine the time required for switching to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, where the type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, the empty SSSG means that there is no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring opportunity or candidate PDCCH in the SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to switch to the desired SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG described SSSG.

In a possible design, when the first condition is satisfied, the terminal device determines the SSSG to be switched to, and the time required for switching to the SSSG refers to the difference between the time when the terminal device satisfies the first condition and the time required to switch to the SSSG. the interval at which the terminal device switches to the SSSG time;

In a possible design, determining the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG includes: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, and the first condition is that the terminal equipment After receiving the DCI from the network device, determine the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or the physical uplink shared channel PUSCH scheduled by the DCI; or the type of the SSSG is empty SSSG, according to the first The corresponding relationship between the subcarrier interval and the time parameter determines the time required for the handover to the SSSG, or the time required for the handover to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or configured by a network device.

In a possible design, determining the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI includes: according to the time slot offset fed back by the HARQ corresponding to the PDSCH, the HARQ, determining the time required for the handover to the SSSG; or, determining the time required for the handover to the SSSG according to the scheduled time slot offset of the PUSCH.

In a possible design, the switching to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG includes: when the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied or after the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied, regardless of the time required for switching to the SSSG. If the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgment or a negative acknowledgment, switch to the SSSG; or, when the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied, when the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgment or after, switch to the SSSG .

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

For example, the processing unit 1902 is configured to determine the search space set group SSSG to which the terminal device is to be switched; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to determine the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, The type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that there is no physical downlink control channel PDCCH monitoring opportunity or candidate PDCCH in the SSSG; the processing unit 1902 is further configured to switch to the selected PDCCH according to the terminal equipment. According to the time required by the SSSG, it is determined that the terminal device switches to the SSSG.

In a possible design, when the second condition is satisfied, the network device determines the SSSG to which the terminal device is to be handed over, and the time required to switch to the SSSG means that the terminal device satisfies the second condition. The interval between the time of the condition and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

In a possible design, determining the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG includes: the type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, and the second condition is: The network device sends DCI to the terminal device, and determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or the physical uplink shared channel PUSCH scheduled by the DCI; or, the SSSG The type of the SSSG is empty, and according to the corresponding relationship between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is determined, and the time parameter is used to determine the time to switch to the SSSG. ; or, the time required by the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is predefined by the protocol or determined by the network device.

In a possible design, determining the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI includes: HARQ feedback according to the hybrid automatic repeat request corresponding to the PDSCH determine the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or determine the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the scheduled time slot offset of the PUSCH.

In a possible design, the determining that the terminal device switches to the SSSG according to the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG includes: satisfying the requirement that the terminal device switches to the SSSG At or after the required time, regardless of whether the HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive confirmation or a negative confirmation, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG; At or after the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, when the HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive acknowledgment, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG SSSG.

FIG. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 20 , the terminal device includes: an antenna 2010 , a radio frequency part 2020 , and a signal processing part 2030 . The antenna 2010 is connected to the radio frequency part 2020 . In the downlink direction, the radio frequency part 2020 receives the information sent by the network device through the antenna 2010, and sends the information sent by the network device to the signal processing part 2030 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing part 2030 processes the information of the terminal equipment and sends it to the radio frequency part 2020, and the radio frequency part 2020 processes the information of the terminal equipment and sends it to the network equipment through the antenna 2010.

The signal processing part 2030 can include a modulation and demodulation subsystem, which is used to implement the processing of each communication protocol layer of the data; it can also include a central processing subsystem, which is used to implement the processing of the terminal device operating system and the application layer; in addition, it can also Including other subsystems, such as multimedia subsystem, peripheral subsystem, etc., wherein the multimedia subsystem is used to realize the control of the terminal equipment camera, screen display, etc., and the peripheral subsystem is used to realize the connection with other devices. The modem subsystem can be a separate chip.

The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 2031, including, for example, a host CPU and other integrated circuits. In addition, the modulation and demodulation subsystem may further include a storage element 2032 and an interface circuit 2033 . The storage element 2032 is used for storing data and programs, but the program for executing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may not be stored in the storage element 2032, but in a memory outside the modulation and demodulation subsystem, When used, the modem subsystem is loaded for use. Interface circuit 2033 is used to communicate with other subsystems.

The modulation and demodulation subsystem can be implemented by a chip, the chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein the processing element is used to execute each step of any one of the methods performed by the above terminal equipment, and the interface circuit is used to communicate with other devices. In one implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler. For example, an apparatus for a terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to Execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The storage element may be a storage element on the same chip as the processing element, ie, an on-chip storage element.

In another implementation, the program for executing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may be in a storage element on a different chip from the processing element, that is, an off-chip storage element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads the program from the off-chip storage element to the on-chip storage element, so as to call and execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

In yet another implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements, and these processing elements are provided on the modulation and demodulation subsystem, and the processing element here may be an integrated circuit, For example: one or more ASICs, or, one or more DSPs, or, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits can be integrated together to form chips.

The units of the terminal device implementing each step in the above method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of an SOC, and the SOC chip is used to implement the above method. At least one processing element and a storage element may be integrated in the chip, and the method executed by the above terminal device may be implemented in the form of a program stored in the storage element being invoked by the processing element; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip to implement the above terminal The method for device execution; or, in combination with the above implementation manners, the functions of some units are implemented in the form of calling programs by processing elements, and the functions of some units are implemented in the form of integrated circuits.

It can be seen that the above apparatus for a terminal device may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit, where the at least one processing element is configured to execute any method performed by the terminal device provided in the above method embodiments. The processing element can execute part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device in the first way: by calling the program stored in the storage element; or in the second way: by combining the instructions with the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor element Part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may be performed in the manner of the first method; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may also be performed in combination with the first manner and the second manner. Illustratively, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a CPU, or may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or, one or more microprocessors, DSPs , or, one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element can be one memory or a collective term for multiple memories.

Referring to FIG. 21 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application, the network device may be an access network device (eg, a base station). Access network equipment 210 may include one or more DUs 2101 and one or more CUs 2102. The DU 2101 may include at least one antenna 21011, at least one radio frequency unit 21012, at least one processor 21013 and at least one memory 21014. The DU 2101 part is mainly used for the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals, the conversion of radio frequency signals and baseband signals, and part of baseband processing. The CU 2102 may include at least one processor 21022 and at least one memory 21021 .

The CU 2102 part is mainly used for baseband processing, control of access network equipment, etc. The DU 2101 and the CU 2102 may be physically set together, or may be physically separated, that is, a distributed base station. The CU 2102 is the control center of the access network equipment, which can also be called a processing unit, and is mainly used to complete the baseband processing function. For example, the CU 2102 may be used to control the access network device to perform the operation flow of the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

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

It should be understood that the division of units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and in actual implementation, all or part of them may be integrated into a physical entity, or may be physically separated. And all the units in the device can be realized in the form of software calling through the processing element; also can all be realized in the form of hardware; some units can also be realized in the form of software calling through the processing element, and some units can be realized in the form of hardware.

In one example, a unit in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, eg, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or, one or more Multiple microprocessors (digital singnal processors, DSPs), or, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a unit in the apparatus can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element can be a processor, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), or other processors that can invoke programs. For another example, these units can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for sending is an interface circuit of the device for sending signals to other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the sending unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to send signals to other chips or devices.

The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or", which describes the association relationship of the associated objects, means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects are an "or" relationship. "At least one item(s) below" or similar expressions thereof refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example "at least one of A, B or C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority or importance of multiple objects degree, etc.

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

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

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The apparatus implements the functions specified in the flow or flow of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, comprising:

At the activation time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle, the terminal device works in the first search space set group SSSG;

The terminal device is switched from the first SSSG to the second SSSG before the inactive time of the first DRX cycle starts to the time for monitoring the wake-up signal WUS within the inactive time of the first DRX cycle.
The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

The second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring the WUS. During the inactive time of the first DRX, the terminal device monitors the WUS according to the search space set.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second SSSG is defined by a protocol or configured by a network device.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second SSSG includes a set of search spaces used only for listening to the WUS.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises:

The terminal device receives configuration information from the network device, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG;

The terminal device determines the second SSSG, and the determined second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.
A communication method, comprising:

At the activation time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle, the network device determines that the terminal device works in the first search space set group SSSG;

The network device determines that the terminal device is switched from the first SSSG to the first SSSG before the time for monitoring the wake-up signal WUS from the inactive time of the first DRX cycle to the inactive time of the first DRX cycle. 2 SSSG.
The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

The second SSSG includes a search space set for monitoring WUS, and the network device sends the WUS according to the search space set at the inactive time of the first DRX.
The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the second SSSG is defined by a protocol or determined by the network device.
The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the second SSSG includes a search space set only for monitoring WUS.
The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the method further comprises:

The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to configure at least one SSSG, and the second SSSG belongs to the at least one SSSG.
A communication method, comprising:

The terminal device receives the configuration information of the search space set used for monitoring the wake-up signal WUS from the network device, where the configuration information of the search space set includes configuration information used to determine the search space set group SSSG, or, the search space set The configuration information does not include the configuration information used to determine the SSSG;

During the inactive time of the first discontinuous reception DRX cycle, the terminal device works in any SSSG, and the terminal device monitors the WUS according to the search space set.
A communication method, comprising:

The terminal device determines the search space set group SSSG to be switched to;

The terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, where the type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that there is no physical downlink control channel in the SSSG PDCCH listening opportunity or candidate PDCCH;

The terminal device switches to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG.
The method according to claim 12, wherein, when the first condition is satisfied, the terminal device determines the SSSG to be switched to, and the time required for switching to the SSSG means that the terminal device satisfies all requirements. the interval between the time of the first condition and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

The first condition includes: the terminal device receives downlink control information DCI from the network device, where the DCI is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or, the terminal device according to the SSSG before switching The duration of monitoring the PDCCH in the search space set in the SSSG reaches the first duration; or, the terminal device monitors the DCI according to the search space set in the SSSG before handover.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG, comprising:

The type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, and the first condition is that the terminal device receives the DCI from the network device, and the terminal device schedules the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or the physical uplink shared channel PUSCH according to the DCI, determine the time required to switch to the SSSG; or

The type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the terminal device determines the time required for the handover to the SSSG according to the correspondence between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, or the time required for the handover to the SSSG The time is predefined by the protocol or configured by the network device.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the terminal device determines the time required to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI, comprising:

The terminal device determines the time required for the handover to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH; or

The terminal device determines the time required for the handover to the SSSG according to the scheduled time unit offset of the PUSCH.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the terminal device switches to the SSSG according to the time required for switching to the SSSG, comprising:

When the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied or after the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied, the terminal device switches to the SSSG regardless of whether the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgment or a negative acknowledgment; or,

When the time required for switching to the SSSG is satisfied or after the HARQ feedback is a positive acknowledgement, the terminal device switches to the SSSG.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first subcarrier spacing is the subcarrier spacing of the bandwidth part BWP activated when the terminal device satisfies the first condition.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the time required for the handover to the SSSG is determined according to the time parameter; or, the time required for the handover to the SSSG The time is determined according to the larger value of the time parameter and the minimum scheduling offset value for scheduling PDSCH indicated by the network device.
A communication method, comprising:

The network device determines the search space set group SSSG to which the terminal device is to be switched;

The network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the type of the SSSG. The type of the SSSG includes an empty SSSG or a non-empty SSSG, and the empty SSSG means that the SSSG does not exist in the SSSG. Physical downlink control channel PDCCH listening opportunity or candidate PDCCH;

The network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG according to the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG.
The method according to claim 19, wherein when the second condition is satisfied, the network device determines the SSSG to which the terminal device is to be switched, and the time required for switching to the SSSG refers to the the interval between the time when the terminal device satisfies the second condition and the time when the terminal device switches to the SSSG;

The second condition includes: the network device sends downlink control information DCI to the terminal device, where the DCI is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or, the network device determines that the terminal device The duration of monitoring the PDCCH by the device according to the search space set in the SSSG before the handover reaches the first duration; or, the network device sends the DCI through the SSSG before the handover.
The method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein, according to the type of the SSSG, the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, comprising:

The type of the SSSG is a non-empty SSSG, and the second condition is that the network device sends DCI to the terminal device, and the network device schedules the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or the physical uplink shared channel PUSCH according to the DCI, determining the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG; or,

The type of the SSSG is an empty SSSG, and the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the correspondence between the first subcarrier interval and the time parameter, and the time parameter is used to determine the the time for switching to the SSSG; or, the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is predefined by a protocol or determined by a network device.
The method according to claim 21, wherein the network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI, comprising:

The network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the time unit offset of the HARQ feedback corresponding to the PDSCH; or

The network device determines the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG according to the scheduled time unit offset of the PUSCH.
The method according to any one of claims 19 to 22, wherein the network device determines, according to the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG, to switch the terminal device to the SSSG, comprising: :

When or after the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is satisfied, regardless of whether the HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive confirmation or a negative confirmation, the network device determines that the terminal device The device switches to the SSSG; or,

When the time required for the terminal device to switch to the SSSG is satisfied or after the HARQ feedback received by the network device from the terminal device is a positive acknowledgement, the network device determines that the terminal device switches to the SSSG.
The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein the first subcarrier spacing is a subcarrier of a bandwidth part BWP activated by the terminal device when the network device satisfies the second condition interval.
The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the time required for the handover to the SSSG is determined according to the time parameter; or, the time required for the handover to the SSSG The time is determined according to the larger value of the time parameter and the minimum scheduling offset value for scheduling PDSCH indicated by the network device.
An apparatus, characterized by being used for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of claim 11, or the method of any one of claims 12 to 18.
An apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory are coupled, and the processor is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of claim 11 method, or a method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 18.
A device, characterized in that, it is used to implement the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or the method of any one of claims 19 to 25.
An apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory are coupled, and the processor is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 6 to 10, or any one of claims 19 to 25 one of the methods described.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method of any one of claims 6 to 10 , or the method of claim 11 , or the method of any one of claims 12 to 18 , or the method of any one of claims 19 to 25 .