Method and device for monitoring physical downlink control channel

Abstract

The present application provides a method and device for monitoring a physical downlink control channel, the method comprising: dividing cells having the same subcarrier spacing, the same time span pattern, and aligned time span positions into a cell set, and allocating the monitoring capability of a terminal device to the cell set according to the ratio of the number of cells contained in the cell set to the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, and then allocating the monitoring capability between cells within the cell set, thereby solving the problem of being unable to determine the monitoring capability corresponding to the span in each cell due to the misalignment of the span positions of different cells in a CA scenario, so that the terminal can monitor the physical downlink control channel with the span as the granularity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a method and device for monitoring a physical downlink control channel. Background Art

[0002] In the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, network equipment can send data to or receive data from terminal devices through data channels. In order for the terminal devices to perform data communication with the network equipment through the data channels, the network equipment and the terminal devices need to reach a consensus on some transmission parameters for data transmission on the data channels. For example, for downlink data transmission, the data channel can be the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the control parameters for controlling data transmission on the PDSCH are transmitted through the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); for uplink data transmission, the data channel can be the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and the control parameters for controlling data transmission on the PUSCH are transmitted from the network equipment to the terminal device through the PDCCH.

[0003] Since the terminal device does not know in advance whether the network device has sent the PDCCH, the terminal device needs to monitor the PDCCH at locations where the PDCCH may be sent. These monitoring locations are also called PDCCH monitoring occasions (MOs). This monitoring and detection of the PDCCH by the terminal device is also called blind detection.

[0004] The 5G system introduces support for ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) services. In order to meet the low latency requirements of these services, 5G introduces smaller scheduling time units. For example, network equipment can schedule terminal devices at certain symbol positions in a time slot, rather than only scheduling terminal devices at the start symbol of the time slot, and the duration of PDSCH or PUSCH can also be only a few symbols. To this end, 5G introduces the concept of PDCCH monitoring span. The terminal device uses the PDCCH monitoring span as the granularity for the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH and monitors the PDCCH within the PDCCH monitoring span. It can be understood that a PDCCH MO is contained in a PDCCH monitoring span.

[0005] In the carrier aggregation (CA) scenario, if the above-mentioned PDCCH monitoring span is used as the granularity to monitor PDCCH or monitor candidate PDCCH (PDCCH candidate), since the configuration of the PDCCH monitoring span of each cell depends on the PDCCH configuration on the bandwidth part (BWP) of the carrier, the span patterns of different cells may be different, and the starting symbol positions of the PDCCH monitoring spans of different cells may also be different. Therefore, the time domain positions of the PDCCH monitoring spans between different cells may not be aligned, which makes it impossible to allocate the ability to monitor PDCCH with the PDCCH monitoring span as the granularity between different cells. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for monitoring a physical downlink control channel, which can be executed by a terminal device or a network device, or by a communication device used for the terminal device or the network device, such as a chip.

[0007] The method includes: determining M cell sets, where M is a positive integer, and each of the M cell sets includes at least one cell of the terminal device; allocating the first monitoring capability of the terminal device to the first cell set according to the proportion of the number of cells included in the first cell set to the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, wherein the first cell set is one of the M cell sets; allocating the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set among the cells within the first cell set for respectively monitoring the physical downlink control channel of each cell in the first cell set, wherein the first cell set includes one cell of the terminal device; or, the first cell set includes at least two cells of the terminal device, and each cell in the first cell set has the same time span pattern, aligned span positions, and the same subcarrier spacing.

[0008] The at least two cells included in the first cell set may include at least two secondary cells (SCells) of the terminal device, or include a primary cell (PCell) of the terminal device and at least one SCell of the terminal device;

[0009] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first monitoring capability of the terminal device is determined based on the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring and the monitoring capability corresponding to the span pattern corresponding to the first cell set.

[0010] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first monitoring capability includes the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel, and / or the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel.

[0011] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel of the first cell set may be calculated according to the following formula:

[0012]

[0013] in, Indicates the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel of the first cell set, the subcarrier spacing configuration of each cell in the first cell set is μ, the spanpattern is (X, Y), the value of μ is 0 or 1, the value of (X, Y) is one of the set {(2, 2), (4, 3), (7, 3)}, i is the index of the first cell set in the M cell sets, and i is a non-negative integer less than or equal to M; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring; Indicates the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel within a span of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a span pattern of (X, Y); Indicates the number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device with a subcarrier spacing of μ, a span pattern of (X, Y), and aligned span positions; It represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

[0014] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channels of the first cell set may be calculated according to the following formula:

[0015]

[0016] in, Indicates the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channels of the first cell set, where the subcarrier spacing configuration of each cell in the first cell set is μ, the span pattern is (X, Y), μ is 0 or 1, (X, Y) is one of the set {(2, 2), (4, 3), (7, 3)}, i is the index of the first cell set in the M cell sets, and i is a non-negative integer less than or equal to M; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring; Indicates the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel within a span of a cell with a subcarrier spacing configuration of μ and a span pattern of (X, Y); Indicates the number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device with a subcarrier spacing of μ, a span pattern of (X, Y), and aligned span positions; It represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the span position of each cell in the first cell set is aligned, specifically including: when there is a second span overlapping with the first span, the starting symbol of the first span is the same as the starting symbol of the second span, and the number of symbols occupied by the first span is the same as the number of symbols occupied by the second span, wherein the first span is a span in the first cell, the second span is a span in the second cell, and the first cell and the second cell belong to the first cell set.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method also includes: determining N time units within a time slot of the first cell set, the N time units do not overlap with each other, and N is a positive integer; the span position of each cell in the first cell set is aligned, specifically including: the third span partially overlaps or completely overlaps with the first time unit, and does not overlap with other time units in the N time units except the first time unit, the third span is a span in a cell in the first cell set, and the first time unit is one of the N time units.

[0019] Optionally, the starting symbol index of the first time unit among the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of all spans in the cell set. Optionally, the starting symbol index of the second time unit among the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of all spans in the cell set that do not overlap with the first time unit.

[0020] The physical downlink control channel monitoring method provided by the above aspects is adopted. By dividing the cells with misaligned spans into different cell sets for distinction, and then using a formula calculation or mapping relationship to allocate the ability to monitor the PDCCH between the cell sets, since the span positions of each cell in a cell set are aligned, the problem of being unable to determine the corresponding monitoring capability of the span in each cell due to the misalignment of the spans of different cells in the CA scenario is solved, so that the terminal can monitor the physical downlink control channel with the span as the granularity.

[0021] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for monitoring a physical downlink control channel, which can be executed by a terminal device or a network device, or by a communication device used for the terminal device or the network device, such as a chip.

[0022] The method includes: determining a first monitoring capability of a terminal device for monitoring a physical downlink control channel of a cell set of the terminal device, the cell set including at least two cells of the terminal device, and the time span pattern (span pattern) and subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set are the same; determining N non-overlapping time units of the cell set within a time slot, the starting position of each of the N time units being obtained based on the span of the cells in the cell set, and N being a positive integer; and allocating the first monitoring capability within the cell set based on the N time units for respectively monitoring the physical downlink control channel of each cell in the cell set.

[0023] Optionally, the at least two cells of the terminal device include at least two SCells of the terminal device, or include the primary cell PCell of the terminal device and at least one SCell of the terminal device.

[0024] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, allocating the first monitoring capability within the cell set according to the N time units includes:

[0025] When the symbols occupied by the first span of the first cell partially or completely overlap with the first time unit, part or all of the first monitoring capability is allocated to the first cell according to the number of all symbols occupied by the span of the first cell, wherein the first cell is a cell in the cell set and the first time unit is one of the N time units.

[0026] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, allocating the first monitoring capability within the cell set according to the N time units includes: when the symbols occupied by the span of the second cell overlap with all or part of the second time unit, allocating part or all of the first monitoring capability to the second cell according to the ratio of the number of symbols of the overlapping part to the number of symbols occupied by the span of the second cell, wherein the second cell is a cell in the cell set and the second time unit is one of the N time units.

[0027] The monitoring method for the physical downlink control channel provided by the above aspects uses time units as the basis for allocating the monitoring capability of the physical downlink channel, thereby solving the problem of being unable to determine the monitoring capability corresponding to the span in each cell due to the misalignment of spans in different cells in the CA scenario. Furthermore, the terminal device can monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel of each cell with span as the granularity based on the monitoring capability allocated to each cell.

[0028] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, each span of each cell in the cell set is located within one time unit of the N time units, that is, each span cannot cross the boundary of the time unit.

[0029] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the number of consecutive symbols contained in one of the N time units is the same as the minimum symbol interval between the start symbols of two adjacent spans indicated by the span pattern. For example, if the span pattern is (X, Y), the number of consecutive symbols contained in the time unit, i.e., the length of the time unit, is equal to X.

[0030] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when allocating monitoring capabilities among cells within a cell set, if the cell set includes both PCells and SCells, the monitoring capabilities are preferentially allocated to the PCells. Furthermore, if the cell set includes only SCells, the monitoring capabilities may be preferentially allocated to primary and secondary cells (primary SCells).

[0031] In a third aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, comprising units or means for executing each step of the above first aspect or second aspect.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and execute the method provided in the first or second aspect above. The processor comprises one or more.

[0033] In a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, including a processor configured to call a program stored in a memory to execute the method provided in the first or second aspect above. The memory may be located within or outside the device. The processor may be one or more processors.

[0034] In a sixth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program, which, when called by a processor, executes the method provided in the first or second aspect above.

[0035] Furthermore, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, comprising the above program. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 2is a schematic diagram of a downlink time-frequency resource grid;

[0038] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the span position in a time slot;

[0039] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the alignment of span positions in different cells in a CA scenario;

[0040] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the misalignment of span positions in different cells in a CA scenario;

[0041] Figure 6 This is a flow chart of a PDCCH monitoring method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a time unit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of dividing time units within a cell set provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 9 1 is a flow chart of another PDCCH monitoring method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a cell set provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of another cell set provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of another cell set provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 13 2 is a schematic diagram of another cell set provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 14 A schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 15 A schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 16 A schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0053] like Figure 1 As shown, the communication system 100 includes a network device 110 and a terminal device 120. The terminal device 120 communicates with the network device 110 via electromagnetic waves. When the terminal device 120 sends information, the wireless communication module of the terminal device 120 can obtain information bits to be sent to the network device 110 via a channel. These information bits are, for example, information bits generated by a processing module of the terminal device, received from other devices, or stored in a storage module of the terminal device. Specifically, the terminal device 120 can act as an entity sending uplink data and send an uplink channel to the network device 110. The uplink channel can carry uplink data. Of course, the terminal device 120 can also receive downlink data sent directly by the network device 110 or forwarded through a network node such as a relay device.

[0054] It should be understood that Figure 1 A network device and a terminal are shown exemplarily. Optionally, the communication system 100 may include multiple network devices and each network device may include another number of terminals within its coverage area, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0055] In the present application, the terminal device 120 can be any type of device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to the user, for example, a handheld device with wireless connection function, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device 120 can communicate with the core network via an access network, such as a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and / or data with the RAN. The terminal device 120 can also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile station, remote station, access point (AP), remote terminal device, access terminal device, user terminal device, or user equipment, etc. For example, it can include a mobile phone (or "cellular" phone), a computer with a mobile terminal device, a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile device, a smart wearable device, a drone device, etc. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip used in the above-mentioned devices can also be referred to as a terminal device.

[0056] In the present application, the network device 110 may be an access network device, which may be used to connect the terminal device 110 to an access network such as a RAN. The network device 110 may be a base station defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), for example, a base station device in an LTE system, i.e., an evolved NodeB (eNB / eNodeB); or an access network side device in a 5G new radio (NR) system, including a gNB, a transmission reception point (TRP), or a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU), wherein the CU may also be referred to as a control unit. The CU-DU structure is used to split the protocol layer of the base station, with some of the protocol layer functions being centrally controlled by the CU, and the remaining part or all of the protocol layer functions being distributed in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU. In addition, when the eNB is connected to a 5G core network (CN), the LTE eNB may also be referred to as an eLTE eNB. Specifically, the eLTE eNB is an LTE base station device evolved from the LTE eNB and can be directly connected to the 5G CN. The eLTE eNB also belongs to the base station device in the NR. The network device 110 can also be an access point (AP) or an access controller (AC), or other network devices capable of communicating with terminals and the core network, such as relay devices, vehicle-mounted devices, smart wearable devices, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of network device.

[0057] The following introduces the relevant technical features of the terminal device monitoring PDCCH.

[0058] Taking the NR system as an example, the frequency domain is divided into independent subcarriers, and the subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be determined according to the subcarrier spacing configuration μ. For example, when μ = 0, the subcarrier spacing is 15kHz, and when μ = 1, the subcarrier spacing is 30kHz. The unit of uplink / downlink frequency domain resources can be a resource block (RB), and each RB consists of 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. Figure 2 As shown, it is the downlink time-frequency resource grid. Figure 2 in Indicates the number of RBs scheduled for a downlink, and one RB includes 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. Each element on the resource grid is called a resource element (RE). RE is the smallest physical resource and corresponds to a subcarrier within a symbol. The grid of uplink time-frequency resources is similar to that of downlink. In the NR system, a time slot consists of 12 or 14 symbols in time, and each OFDM symbol can be represented by an index. The symbols or time domain symbols described in this application refer to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

[0059] The PDCCH is transmitted in a control-resource set (CORESET). A CORESET includes multiple RBs in the frequency domain and one or several consecutive symbols in the time domain. These symbols can be located at any position within a time slot.

[0060] The control-channel element (CCE) is the basic resource unit that carries the PDCCH. Each CCE in the CORESET has a corresponding index number. A given PDCCH can be carried by 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 CCEs. The number of CCEs that carry a PDCCH can be determined by the DCI payload size and the required coding rate. The number of CCEs that carry the PDCCH is also called the aggregation level (AL). The network-side equipment can adjust the aggregation level of the PDCCH according to the state of the actual transmission wireless channel to achieve link adaptive transmission. A CCE consists of 6 resource-element groups (REGs). One REG occupies one OFDM symbol in the time domain and one RB in the frequency domain.

[0061] The search space is a set of candidate PDCCHs at an aggregation level. A candidate PDCCH may refer to a PDCCH to be blindly detected or monitored. The network device may configure the terminal device with a set of candidate PDCCHs to be monitored through high-level signaling such as radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The terminal device will then detect all candidate PDCCHs within the search space and attempt to decode them. If the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) passes, it is considered that the terminal device has received the PDCCH sent by the network device, and the terminal device may continue to perform subsequent related processing based on the content indicated by the PDCCH.

[0062] The meaning of "monitoring PDCCH" described in this application is the same as the meaning of "monitoring candidate PDCCH" or "monitoring PDCCH candidate(s)", which will not be explained later.

[0063] Due to the high complexity of detecting PDCCH, the terminal device consumes a lot of power. For this reason, in the NR system, a monitoring capability (or blind detection capability) corresponding to a time slot can be set to limit the power consumption of the terminal device detecting PDCCH in a time slot. The monitoring capability in this application refers to the PDCCH monitoring capability. Among them, the monitoring capability corresponding to a time slot may include: (1) the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate PDCCH in a time slot; and / or, (2) the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor PDCCH in a time slot. Among them, with respect to (1), exemplarily, the maximum number of monitoring times for monitoring PDCCH in a time slot may refer to the maximum number of monitoring times that the terminal device can complete in a time slot. With respect to (2), exemplarily, CCE can be used by the terminal device to perform channel estimation on PDCCH, and the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device for channel estimation in a time slot is the maximum number of CCEs that the terminal device can perform channel estimation in a time slot.

[0064] Considering that the NR system defines the URLLC service, in order to meet the delay requirements of the URLLC service, the NR system introduces a time domain unit that occupies fewer symbols than the time slot, such as span, which can also be called monitoring span or PDCCH monitoring span, etc. For the convenience of description, it is referred to as span in the embodiments of the present application. The terminal device can use span as the granularity for monitoring PDCCH, that is, span is used as the unit to measure the ability of the terminal device to monitor PDCCH. Similar to the monitoring capability corresponding to the time slot, a span has a corresponding monitoring capability, wherein the monitoring capability of the span may include (1) the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors PDCCH in a span, which is referred to as the maximum number of monitoring times or the maximum number of times the PDCCH is monitored in the embodiment of the present application, and / or, (2) the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor PDCCH in a span, which is referred to as the maximum number of CCEs or the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs in the embodiment of the present application. The monitoring capability for monitoring PDCCH is allocated with each span of each service cell of the terminal device as the granularity. A span is contained in a single time slot. The symbol interval between two adjacent spans can cross the boundary of two time slots. Each PDCCHMO is contained in 1 span, and 1 PDCCH MO cannot cross the boundary of the span. Among them, PDCCH MO can be jointly determined by the starting position of monitoring PDCCH in 1 search space (SS) and the CORESET associated with the SS. Exemplarily, the division of spans in a time slot can be preset by the protocol or configured by the network device with high-level parameters, or the terminal device can determine the division of spans in a time slot according to the preset rules of the protocol and the high-level parameters. A span consists of one or more consecutive symbols, and the length of each span in a slot can be the same or different. For example, some spans in a slot are 10 symbols long, and some spans are 2 symbols long. Figure 3 Schematic diagram of span positions within a time slot. The time slot (time slot 1) includes 14 symbols (symbol 0 to symbol 13), and span #1 to span #3 occupy 3 consecutive symbols respectively.

[0065] A span can be described using a time span pattern. Generally, a span pattern can be represented by the parameter combination (X, Y), where X represents the minimum symbol interval between two span start symbols and Y represents the maximum time domain length of a span or the maximum number of consecutive symbols that a span can occupy, where X ≥ Y. In this application, the span pattern (X, Y) can also be represented by (X, Y).

[0066] In a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario, when the CA capability supported by a terminal device exceeds 4 cells, the terminal device needs to report its PDCCH monitoring capability in the CA scenario to the network device. For example, if the CA capability supported by the terminal device is 8 cells, and assuming that the terminal device supports a maximum of 5 cells for monitoring PDCCHs in the CA scenario, the terminal device reports its PDCCH monitoring capability in the CA scenario to the network device as 5 cells. When the number of downlink cells configured by the network device exceeds the PDCCH monitoring capability supported by the terminal device in the CA scenario, the monitoring capability of each cell needs to be allocated using a mapping relationship or calculation formula. In a self-scheduling scenario, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH of each cell in the time slot of each cell, or, in a cross-carrier scheduling scenario, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the primary scheduling cell in the time slot of the primary scheduling cell. The PDCCH of the primary scheduling cell can be used to schedule data channels of the primary scheduling cell or data channels of scheduled cells. The primary scheduling cell can be a PCell or an SCell. In the cross-carrier scheduling scenario, the terminal device monitors PDCCH on the main scheduling cell according to the PDCCH configuration information of the main scheduling cell and the PDCCH configuration information of the scheduled cell associated with the main scheduling cell. In the 3GPP Release 15 protocol, the terminal device uses one time slot as the granularity of PDCCH monitoring. For example, for a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, the maximum number of monitoring times and the maximum number of CCEs in a time slot are 44 and 56 respectively. For a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, the maximum number of monitoring times and the maximum number of CCEs in a time slot are 36 and 56 respectively. Assume that the PDCCH monitoring capability under the CA scenario supported by the terminal device is 4 cells, and the network equipment is configured with 8 downlink cells, of which 2 cells have a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz and 6 cells have a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz. At this time, the PDCCH monitoring capability within a time slot is allocated between each cell in the following way:

[0067] For two downlink cells with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, the maximum number of monitoring times allocated is

[0068]

[0069] in, Indicates the maximum number of times a terminal device monitors the PDCCH in a time slot for a cell with a subcarrier spacing of μ = 0 (i.e., a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz) in a CA scenario; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring in a CA scenario; Indicates the maximum number of times a terminal device monitors PDCCH in a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz; Indicates the number of cells with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz configured by the network device for the terminal device; It represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device. The value of j is an integer from 0 to 3. j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration. j has the same meaning as μ.

[0070] For two downlink cells with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, the maximum number of CCEs allocated is

[0071]

[0072] in, Indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH in a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz in the CA scenario; It indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor PDCCH in a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15KHz. The meanings of other parameters refer to the above definitions and are not repeated here.

[0073] For 6 downlink cells with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, the maximum number of monitoring times allocated is

[0074]

[0075] in, Indicates the maximum number of times a terminal device monitors the PDCCH in a time slot for a cell with a subcarrier spacing of μ=1 (i.e., a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz) in a CA scenario; It indicates the maximum number of times a terminal device monitors PDCCH in a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz. The meanings of other parameters refer to the above definitions and are not repeated here.

[0076] For 6 downlink cells with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, the maximum number of CCEs allocated is

[0077]

[0078] in, Indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH in a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz in the CA scenario; It indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor PDCCH in a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30KHz. The meanings of other parameters refer to the above definitions and are not repeated here.

[0079] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of span position alignment of different cells in a CA scenario. Figure 4 In the figure, CC#1 to CC#8 represent the eight downlink cells configured by the network device for the terminal device. Although the subcarrier spacing configurations of the eight downlink cells may be different, the boundaries of the time slots are fixed, that is, the time slot boundaries of cells with the same subcarrier spacing are aligned, and the boundaries of cells with different subcarrier spacings are aligned as integer multiples. The starting position of a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz may be the middle position of a time slot of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, or aligned. The six cells with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz shown in the grid are allocated a maximum number of monitoring units of 108 and a maximum number of CCEs of 168 in a time slot area. The two cells with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz shown in the slash are allocated a maximum number of monitoring units of 44 and a maximum number of CCEs of 56 in a time slot area. That is, for two cells with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, the maximum number of PDCCHs monitored within 1ms is 44, and the maximum number of CCEs is 56; for six cells with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, the maximum number of PDCCHs monitored within 0.5ms is 108, and the maximum number of CCEs is 168.

[0080] In a Carrier Access Control (CA) scenario, when a terminal device monitors PDCCHs at a span granularity, the span configuration for each cell depends on the PDCCH configuration on the carrier's BWP. Therefore, the span patterns for different cells may be different, and the starting symbol positions of spans in different cells may also be different. In other words, the time domain positions of spans between different cells may be misaligned. Consequently, when allocating PDCCH monitoring capabilities at a span granularity between different cells, it is unclear whether partially overlapping and misaligned spans need to participate in PDCCH monitoring capability allocation on non-overlapping symbols. This results in the inability to allocate PDCCH monitoring capabilities to spans in each cell. Figure 5This is a schematic diagram of the misalignment of span positions in different cells in a CA scenario. Figure 5 In the figure, CC#1 and CC#2 represent a cell respectively, and the span patterns corresponding to CC#1 and CC#2 are both (4, 3).

[0081] Therefore, the present application proposes a PDCCH monitoring method, which can be used to determine the monitoring capability corresponding to the span of the cell of the terminal device in the CA scenario, so that the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH of each cell of the terminal device with the span as the granularity.

[0082] Please refer to Figure 6 , is a flow chart of a PDCCH monitoring method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method provided in the present application can be executed by a terminal device or a network device, or can be executed by a communication device such as a chip for a terminal device, or by a communication device such as a chip for a network device.

[0083] like Figure 6 As shown, the method includes:

[0084] S601: Determine that a first monitoring capability of a terminal device is used to monitor a PDCCH of a cell set of the terminal device, where the cell set includes at least two cells of the terminal device, and each cell in the cell set has the same spanpattern and subcarrier spacing.

[0085] It is understood that PDCCH is an example of a downlink control channel of the physical layer. In different systems, the downlink control channel may have different names, which is not limited in this application. In the embodiments of this application, PDCCH is used as an example for description.

[0086] In the present application, monitoring the PDCCH of the cell set of the terminal device may refer to the terminal device monitoring the alternative PDCCHs of all cells in the cell set. Specifically, if a self-scheduling method is adopted, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH sent by each cell in the cell set respectively; if a cross-carrier scheduling method is adopted, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the main scheduling cell of the cell set, and the PDCCH of the main scheduling cell can be used to schedule the data channel of the main scheduling cell, and can also schedule the data channel of the scheduled cell. In the self-scheduling scenario, the PDCCH of the cell refers to the PDCCH sent by the cell for scheduling the data channel of the cell; in the cross-carrier scheduling scenario, the PDCCH of the cell refers to the PDCCH that schedules the data channel of the cell. If the cell is the main scheduling cell, the PDCCH is sent by the main scheduling cell; if the cell is the scheduled cell, the PDCCH is sent by the main scheduling cell that schedules the scheduled cell. In a cross-carrier scheduling scenario, the terminal device can perform PDCCH monitoring on the primary scheduling cell according to the PDCCH configuration information of the primary scheduling cell and the PDCCH configuration information of the scheduled cell associated with the primary scheduling cell.

[0087] In the present application, a cell of a terminal device may refer to a service cell with which the terminal device has established a wireless connection, and the terminal device may perform wireless communication with the cell.

[0088] The at least two cells included in the above-mentioned cell set may include at least two SCells of the terminal device, or include the PCell of the terminal device and at least one SCell of the terminal device. Specifically, the network device may configure a PCell and at least one SCell for the terminal device to realize communication between the network device and the terminal device in a CA manner, and the subcarrier spacing of the PCell and the SCell may be the same or different. The SCell may be a PSCell, or include PSCelly and other secondary cells other than the PSCell, wherein there is only one PSCell. It should be pointed out that the cell (PCell or SCell) described in this application is a downlink cell, and the following text will directly refer to the "cell" for explanation.

[0089] An example is given to illustrate the method of determining the cell set: assuming that the terminal device is configured with PCell and SCell#1 with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, and SCell#2 and SCell#3 with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, where the span pattern of PCell is (4,3), the span pattern of SCell#1 is (4,3), the span pattern of SCell#2 is (2,2), and the span pattern of SCell#3 is (2,2). Since the subcarrier spacing of PCell and SCell#1 are the same and the span pattern is the same, PCell and SCell#1 are divided into one cell set; since the subcarrier spacing of SCell#2 and SCell#3 are the same and the span pattern is the same, SCell#2 and SCell#3 are divided into another cell set.

[0090] Optionally, the first monitoring capability includes a maximum number of monitoring times and / or a maximum number of CCEs.

[0091] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, determining the first monitoring capability of the terminal device includes: determining the total capability value of the terminal device supporting PDCCH monitoring corresponding to the span pattern of the cell set, and the ratio of the number of cells in the cell set to the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device. Optionally, the total capability value of the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring is determined by the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring under the CA scenario, and the monitoring capability corresponding to the span pattern of the cell set. It can be understood that the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring is less than the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device. If the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device is equal to the number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring, it means that the capability of the terminal device can support monitoring of the PDCCH of all cells configured for the terminal device, and the allocation of monitoring capability is not involved.

[0092] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the maximum number of monitoring times in the first monitoring capability is calculated by the following formula (1):

[0093]

[0094] in, Indicates the maximum number of times a terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the cell set. The subcarrier spacing configuration of each cell in the cell set is μ, span pattern (X, Y). The value of μ is 0 or 1. μ = 0 indicates that the subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz. μ = 1 indicates that the subcarrier spacing is 30 kHz. The value of (X, Y) is one of the set {(2, 2), (4, 3), (7, 3)}. Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring in a CA scenario; Indicates the maximum number of times a terminal device monitors PDCCH within a span of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a span pattern of (X, Y); Indicates the number of cells with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a span pattern of (X, Y) configured by the network device for the terminal device, that is, the number of cells in the cell set i; It indicates the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device. The value of j is 0 or 1. j indicates the subcarrier spacing configuration. j has the same meaning as μ.

[0095] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the maximum number of CCEs in the first monitoring capability is calculated by the following formula (2):

[0096]

[0097] in, Indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH of the cell set; Indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by a terminal device to monitor a PDCCH span of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a span pattern of (X, Y). The variables with the same names in formula (2) and formula (1) have the same physical meanings and are not repeated here.

[0098] For example, the network configuration configures PCell, SCell#1, and SCell#2 with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz for the terminal device, and SCell#3 and SCell#4 with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz, for a total of 5 cells. Among them, the span pattern of PCell and SCell#1 is (4,3), the span pattern of SCell#2 is (2,2), and the span pattern of SCell#3 and SCell#4 is (7,3). PCell and SCell#1 belong to cell set 1; SCell#3 and SCell#4 belong to cell set 2. Assuming that the terminal device supports a maximum of 4 cells for monitoring PDCCH in the CA scenario, the maximum number of monitoring times for the span pattern (4,3) corresponding to the cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz is 44 times, and the maximum number of monitoring times for the span pattern (7,3) corresponding to the cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30kHz is 36 times. Use the above formula (1) to calculate the maximum number of monitoring times for cell set 1 Maximum number of monitoring times for cell set 2 That is, in a CA scenario, the total number of PDCCH monitoring times with a span granularity of no more than 70 in a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and a span pattern of (4,3); the total number of PDCCH monitoring times with a span granularity of no more than 57 in a cell with a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz and a span pattern of (7,3). The calculation method for the maximum number of CCEs is similar and is not explained here.

[0099] It can be understood that the above formulas (1)-(2) can also be used to calculate the maximum monitoring times / maximum number of CCs corresponding to SCell#2. However, since SCell#2 does not belong to a certain cell set, or SCell#2 is regarded as a cell set alone, it is not necessary to use the method described in subsequent S202-S203 to allocate the monitoring capability between different cells in the cell set for SCell#2.

[0100] S602: Determine N time units of the cell set in a time slot, where a starting position of each of the N time units is obtained based on the span of the cells in the cell set, and N is a positive integer.

[0101] The time unit may also be referred to as a time window or a symbol set, including a group of continuous time-domain symbols.

[0102] The N time units do not overlap with each other, which includes: time domain symbols contained in any two time units in the N time units do not overlap at all. In other words, positions of any two time units in the N time units do not overlap at all.

[0103] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the starting symbol index of the first time unit among the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of all spans in the cell set.

[0104] Specifically, the first time unit may refer to the first time unit appearing in a time slot, that is, the first time unit in the first time slot. The starting symbol position of the first time unit is determined according to the span with the smallest index among the starting symbol indexes of all spans in the cell set, that is, the position of the earliest span appearing among all spans (hereinafter referred to as the "first span"). The starting symbol index of the first time unit is the same as the starting symbol index of the first span.

[0105] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the positions of the other time units in the N units except the first time unit are determined based on the starting symbol index of the span that does not overlap with the time unit adjacent to the previous time unit in all spans of the cell set, wherein non-overlapping means that the occupied symbols do not overlap at all. For example, the second time unit is defined as a time unit adjacent to the first time unit, and the second time unit is after the first time unit, and the starting symbol index of the second time unit is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of the spans that do not overlap with the first time unit in all spans in the cell set. For another example, the third time unit is defined as a time unit adjacent to the second time unit, and the third time unit is after the first time unit and the second time unit, and the starting symbol index of the third time unit is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of the spans that do not overlap with the second time unit in all spans of the cell set except the span contained in the first time unit. Based on this rule, the starting symbol position of each of the remaining time units in the N time units can be determined, and no further details will be given. It can be understood that since the N time units do not overlap with each other, the starting symbol position of a time unit other than the first time unit can be determined by only considering the span that appears after the adjacent previous time unit of the time unit. If a span appears before the adjacent previous time unit, even if the span does not overlap with the adjacent previous time unit, the span will not be considered for determining the starting symbol position of the time unit. For example, in the above process of determining the starting symbol position of the third time unit, even if the first span does not overlap with the second time unit, since the first span is before the second time unit, the first span is not considered. In addition, it should be noted that the "before" and "after" mentioned in this application both represent the order of occurrence in time sequence, which can be judged by the index size of the starting symbol of the time unit or span.

[0106] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the network device pre-configures each span of each cell in the cell set to be located within one of the N time units, that is, a span cannot cross the boundary of two or more time units, which can reduce the complexity of calculating the monitoring capability corresponding to the span. In another embodiment, the span positions of other cells may not be restricted. A span of any cell in the cell set may be located within two or more time units, that is, it may cross the boundary of two or more time units, or some symbols of a span are within a time unit and the remaining symbols are outside the time unit, but the remaining symbols do not belong to other time units. In this embodiment, the span configuration is highly flexible and can be applied to various communication scenarios. The following embodiments are all described as an example of not restricting the span position.

[0107] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the number of consecutive symbols contained in one of the N time units is the same as the minimum symbol interval between the start symbols of two adjacent spans indicated by the span pattern. Specifically, as mentioned above, the span pattern can be expressed as (X, Y), then the number of consecutive symbols contained in the time unit, or the length of the time unit is X symbols.

[0108] Optionally, the lengths of the N time units may be the same, for example, all of them are X symbols. In one possible scenario, the time unit with the largest starting symbol index among the N time units, i.e., the last time unit in a time slot, may span the boundary of two time slots. For example Figure 7 As shown, a time slot occupies 14 symbols from symbol 0 to symbol 13, and a cell span pattern is (4,3). The first span in the time slot is located at symbols 1, 2, and 3, the second span is located at symbols 5, 6, and 7, and the third span is located at symbols 11, 12, and 13. In this embodiment, the time unit (time unit #3) determined by the third span is located at symbols 11, 12, and 13 of the current time slot and symbol 0 of the next time slot, that is, time unit #3 straddles the time slot boundary.

[0109] Optionally, the lengths of some of the N time units are different. For example, the last time unit in a time slot can be restricted so as not to cross the boundary between two time slots, that is, the length of the last time unit is restricted by the boundary of the time slot in which it is located. The length of the last time unit can be less than X, that is, the length of the last time unit is equal to the minimum value of the number of symbol intervals from the start symbol of the last time unit to the time slot boundary and the value of X. Figure 7 As shown, the length of the time unit (time unit #3') determined according to the third span is the minimum value of X, the starting symbol of the third span, and the number of symbols at the current time slot boundary, that is, min{4,13-11+1}=3. Then the position of time unit #3' is symbol 11, symbol 12, and symbol 13 of the current time slot, and does not exceed the time slot boundary.

[0110] Combine Figure 8 Explain the relationship between the time unit and the span of each cell in the cell set. Figure 8 The cell set shown includes PCell and SCell. The subcarrier spacing for both PCell and SCell is 15 kHz, and the span pattern is (4,3). Each span in a PCell or SCell is 3 symbols long, and the minimum symbol interval between two spans in the same cell is 4 symbols. PCell has spans #1, #2, and #3 in slot 1; SCell has spans #4, #5, and #6 in slot 1. Slot 1 contains 14 symbols indexed from 0 to 13 (symbols 0 to 13). For PCell, span #1 starts at symbol 0 and occupies symbols 0 to 2. Span #2 is separated from span #1 by 4 symbols, and span #2 occupies symbols 4 to 6. Span #3 is separated from span #2 by 5 symbols, and span #3 occupies symbols 9 to 11. For SCell, the starting symbol position of span#4 is symbol 2 and span#4 occupies symbols 2 to 4; the interval between the starting symbol position of span#5 and span#4 is 4 symbols, and span#5 occupies symbols 6 to 8; the interval between the starting symbol position of span#6 and span#5 is 4 symbols, and span#6 occupies symbols 10 to 12.

[0111] like Figure 8As shown, span#1 is the span with the smallest starting symbol index among all spans, so the starting symbol position of span#1 can be used as the starting symbol position of time unit #1. span#2 is the span with the smallest starting symbol index among all spans that do not overlap with time unit #1, so the starting symbol position of span#2 can be used as the starting symbol position of time unit #2. span#3 is the span with the smallest starting symbol index among all spans (except span#1) that do not overlap with time unit #2, so the starting symbol position of span#3 can be used as the starting position of time unit #3. In addition, the lengths of time units #1 to #3 are all equal to the X value in the span pattern corresponding to the cell set, that is, 4 symbols. Therefore, time unit #1 occupies symbols 0 to 3, time unit #2 occupies symbols 4 to 7, and time unit #3 occupies symbols 9 to 12 ( Figure 8 A dotted box in the represents a time unit). Figure 8 As shown, the symbols occupied by span#1 to span#3 are respectively in time units #1 to #3, the symbols occupied by span#4 are partially located in time unit #1 and partially located in time unit #2 (partially overlapping with time unit #1 and time unit #2 respectively), the symbols occupied by span#5 are partially located in time unit #2 (partially overlapping with time unit #2), and the symbols occupied by span#6 are located in time unit #3.

[0112] S603: Allocate the first monitoring capability within the cell set according to the N time units, so as to monitor the PDCCH of each cell in the cell set respectively.

[0113] Specifically, since N time units are set, the first monitoring capability is allocated between each cell in the cell set in units of time units, that is, the first monitoring capability allocated to each cell in each time unit is considered. Furthermore, the monitoring capability of each cell is embodied in units of span in a time slot. In other words, the first monitoring capability is ultimately allocated to the span of each cell in each time unit. Furthermore, the terminal device monitors the candidate PDCCH of each cell in the cell set with span as the granularity. Optionally, the value calculated according to the above formula (1) The value of, or calculated according to the above formula (2) The value of can be used to allocate between spans in one of the N time units.

[0114] Optionally, the terminal device or the network device determines how to allocate the span to participate in the first monitoring capability in each time unit according to the overlap between the symbols occupied by the span of the cells in the cell set and one or more of the time units.

[0115] In one embodiment of the present application, when the symbols occupied by the span of the first cell partially or completely overlap with the first time unit, part or all of the first monitoring capability is allocated to the first cell according to the number of all symbols occupied by the span of the first cell, wherein the first cell is a cell in the cell set and the first time unit is one of the N time units.

[0116] by Figure 8 For example, when allocating monitoring capabilities to the spans of each cell within time unit #1, since span #1 is entirely within time unit #1 and span #4 is partially within time unit #1, all the symbols occupied by span #1 and span #4 are used to participate in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #1.

[0117] When allocating monitoring capabilities to the spans of each cell within time unit #2, since span #2 is entirely within time unit #2, span #4 is partially within time unit #2, and span #5 is partially within time unit #2, the number of all symbols occupied by span #1, span #2, and span #3 respectively participate in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #1.

[0118] Further explain the distribution of monitoring capabilities between spans within a time unit.

[0119] Still Figure 8 For example, assume that the PDCCH monitoring capability allocated to cell set1 (taking the maximum number of CCEs as an example) is That is, the maximum number of CCEs allocated to each time unit of cell set 1 is 40. Furthermore, the sum of the maximum number of CCEs used for PDCCH monitoring on spans of different cells within each time unit of cell set 1 is 40. Since span #4 is partially located in time unit #1, one possible implementation method is to completely include span #4 in time unit #1. Therefore, the sum of the maximum number of CCEs corresponding to span #1 and span #4 is 40. Furthermore, since the 3GPP protocol stipulates that PDCCH overbooking only occurs in PCell, the terminal device can perform PDCCH dropping for the overbooking scenario, so that the maximum number of monitoring times and the maximum number of CCEs for the terminal device to monitor PDCCH do not exceed the maximum upper limit. In this application, the maximum upper limit is the maximum number of monitoring times and the maximum number of CCEs corresponding to a span with a span pattern of (X, Y) in a time slot. Assume that the maximum number of CCEs corresponding to a span pattern of (4,3) is 36, and the sum of the maximum number of CCEs used by the PCell and SCell in cell set 1 for PDCCH monitoring at a span granularity is 40. Since the terminal device needs to perform PDCCH drop on the PCell, the network device first determines that the maximum number of CCEs configured for a span with the span pattern (4,3) on the terminal device's PCell does not exceed 36. That is, within time unit #1, the maximum number of CCEs configured for span #1 does not exceed 36. The remainder is 40 - 36 = 4. Therefore, the network device configures a maximum number of CCEs for span #4 within time unit #1 on the SCell of no more than 4. Alternatively, if all cells in a cell set are SCells, since the terminal device does not need to perform PDCCH drop, the network device only needs to set the sum of the maximum number of CCEs configured for span #1 and span #4 within time unit #1 to no more than 40. The maximum number of CCEs allocated to span #1 and span #4 can be randomly assigned by the network device.

[0120] In one embodiment of the present application, when the symbols occupied by the span of the second cell overlap with all or part of the second time unit, part or all of the first monitoring capability is allocated to the span of the second cell according to the ratio of the number of symbols in the overlapping part to the number of symbols occupied by the span of the second cell, wherein the second cell is a cell in the cell set and the second time unit is one of the N time units.

[0121] by Figure 8For example, when allocating monitoring capabilities to the spans of each cell within time unit #1, span #1 is entirely located within time unit #1, that is, the proportion of symbols overlapping between span #1 and time unit #1 is 100%; span #4 overlaps with time unit #1 by 2 symbols, and the length of span #4 is 3 symbols, with an overlapping ratio of 2 / 3. Therefore, span #1 participates in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #1 with 100% of the number of symbols it occupies, and span #4 participates in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #1 with 2 / 3 of the number of symbols it occupies.

[0122] When allocating monitoring capability to the spans of each cell within time unit #2, span #2 is entirely within time unit #2; span #4 overlaps with time unit #1 by 1 symbol, and its length is 3 symbols, with an overlap ratio of 1 / 3; span #5 overlaps with time unit #2 by 2 symbols, and its length is 3 symbols, with an overlap ratio of 2 / 3. Therefore, span #2 participates in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #2 with 100% of the number of symbols it occupies, span #4 participates in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #2 with 1 / 3 of the number of symbols it occupies, and span #5 participates in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within time unit #2 with 2 / 3 of the number of symbols it occupies.

[0123] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, when the symbols occupied by the span of the first cell overlap with two time units, the span of the first cell only participates in the allocation of the first monitoring capability within one of the two time units.

[0124] by Figure 8For example, optionally, if span#4 participates in the allocation of the first listening capability in time unit #1 with all symbols, it will no longer participate in the allocation of the first listening capability in time unit #2, that is, one span participates in the allocation of the first listening capability in the previous time unit that overlaps with it. Optionally, if span#4 participates in the allocation of the first listening capability in time unit #2 with all symbols, it will no longer participate in the allocation of the first listening capability in time unit #1, that is, one span participates in the allocation of the first listening capability in the subsequent time unit that overlaps with it. Optionally, if span#4 participates in the allocation of the first listening capability in the overlapping time unit with the proportion of overlapping symbols, since the number of symbols overlapping between span#4 and time unit #1 is 2, which is greater than the number of symbols overlapping between span#4 and time unit #2 (1), span#4 can only participate in the allocation of the first listening capability in time unit #1 and not participate in the allocation of time unit #2, that is, one span participates in the allocation of the listening capability in the time unit with the highest proportion of symbols overlapping with the span.

[0125] It can be understood that all spans related to a time unit participate in monitoring capability allocation for each cell in the time unit, wherein the span related to the time unit includes a span whose at least one symbol overlaps with the time unit.

[0126] In one embodiment of the present application, when the above method is executed by a terminal device, after the terminal device completes the allocation of the first monitoring capability within the cell set according to the above S601-S603, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH with span as the granularity based on the monitoring capability of the span allocated to the cell. For example, in a self-scheduling scenario, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH sent by each cell with the span of the cell as the granularity. In a cross-carrier scheduling scenario, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the main scheduling cell with the span of the main scheduling cell as the granularity, and the PDCCH of the main scheduling cell can be used to schedule the data channel of the main scheduling cell or the data channel of the scheduled cell. Among them, PCell can be used as the main scheduling cell of SCell, or one SCell can be used as the main scheduling cell of other SCells.

[0127] In one embodiment of the present application, when the above method is executed by a network device such as a base station, after the base station completes the allocation of the first monitoring capability within the cell set according to the above S601-S603, the base station can send PDCCH configuration information to the terminal device.

[0128] The PDCCH monitoring method provided in this application is used to set one or more time units for a cell set containing cells with the same subcarrier spacing and span pattern. Based on the temporal overlap between the time units and the spans of each cell in the cell set, the monitoring capability corresponding to the cell set is allocated among the cells. This solves the problem of being unable to determine the monitoring capability corresponding to the span within each cell due to the misalignment of spans in different cells in the Carrier Access Control (CA) scenario. Furthermore, the terminal device can monitor the candidate PDCCHs of each cell at the span granularity based on the monitoring capability of the span allocated to each cell.

[0129] Please refer to Figure 9 , is a flow chart of a PDCCH monitoring method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method provided in the present application can be executed by a terminal device or a network device, or can be executed by a communication device such as a chip for a terminal device, or by a communication device such as a chip for a network device.

[0130] like Figure 9 As shown, the method includes:

[0131] S901: Determine M cell sets, where M is a positive integer, and each of the M cell sets includes at least one cell of the terminal device.

[0132] S902: Allocate the first monitoring capability of the terminal device to the first cell set according to the ratio of the number of cells included in the first cell set to the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, wherein the first cell set is one of the M cell sets.

[0133] The first cell set may be any one of the M cell sets.

[0134] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the first cell set includes a cell of the terminal device.

[0135] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the first cell set includes at least two cells of the terminal device, and the span pattern of each cell in the first cell set is the same, the span position is aligned, and the subcarrier spacing is the same. That is, for each cell set in the M cell sets, the span pattern of each cell included in the cell set is the same, the span position is aligned, and the subcarrier spacing is the same.

[0136] Optionally, the cell set includes at least two SCells of the terminal device, or includes the PCell of the terminal device and at least one SCell of the terminal device.

[0137] For the description of span pattern and subcarrier spacing, please refer to the relevant content above and will not be repeated here.

[0138] Optionally, the span position alignment of each cell in the first cell set includes: when there is a second span overlapping with the first span, the starting symbol of the first span is the same as the starting symbol of the second span, and the number of symbols occupied by the first span is the same as the number of symbols occupied by the second span, wherein the first span is a span in the first cell, the second span is a span in the second cell, and the first cell and the second cell belong to the first cell set. Specifically, the first span can be any span in the first cell, the second span can be any span in the second cell, and the first cell and the second cell can be any two cells that have the same span pattern and the same subcarrier spacing configured by the network side for the terminal device. In this embodiment, the requirement for span position alignment is that as long as there are spans belonging to multiple cells that overlap in time domain position, the starting symbols of the multiple spans are the same, that is, the index of the starting symbols is the same, and the length of each span is the same. Once the starting symbols of the spans of two cells are different, the span positions of the two cells cannot be considered to be aligned. In this application, the situation where the spans of each cell in the first cell set are aligned as described above can be referred to as a scenario where the spans of the first cell set are completely aligned. Figure 10 As shown, the cell set includes PCell and SCell, and the span pattern is (4,3). PCell is configured with span#1, span#2, and span#3 in one time slot; SCell is configured with span#4, span#5, and span#6 in one time slot. The lengths of span#1 to span#6 are all 3 symbols. The starting symbol of span#1 is the same as that of span#4, the starting symbol of span#2 is the same as that of span#5, and the starting symbol of span#3 is the same as that of span#6. Therefore, it can be considered that the span positions of PCell and SCell are aligned.

[0139] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the method further includes: determining N mutually non-overlapping time units of the first cell set within a time slot, where N is a positive integer. Figure 6-Figure 8The time units in the described embodiments have the same meaning. For how to determine the time unit, please refer to the relevant content above, such as the relevant description in S602, and will not be repeated here.

[0140] In this embodiment, it is not restricted whether the starting symbols of the spans of the cells in the cell set are the same.

[0141] In this embodiment, the span position alignment of each cell in the first cell set specifically includes: the third span partially overlaps or completely overlaps with the first time unit, and does not overlap with other time units in the N time units except the first time unit, the third span is a span in the first cell set, and the first time unit is one of the N time units. In other words, any span in the first cell set is completely within one time unit of the N time units. Alternatively, part of the span is within one time unit, and the rest is outside the time unit and not within other time units. Simply put, a span does not cross the boundary between two time units. Among them, a span partially or completely within a time unit means that the symbols occupied by a span can be partially or completely within a time unit, that is, the symbols occupied by a span can partially or completely overlap with the symbols occupied by a time unit. In this application, the above-mentioned situation of span position alignment of each cell in the first cell set can be referred to as a scenario where spans in the first cell set are aligned according to time units.

[0142] Optionally, the two aforementioned methods for determining span position alignment can be used in combination. For example, if the first span of the first cell and the second cell in the same time slot has the same starting symbol and the same length, and the starting symbols of other spans after the first span are different but located in the same time unit, the span positions of these cells can also be considered aligned.

[0143] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, some or all of the M cell sets may include only one cell, which may be the PCell or SCell of the terminal device.

[0144] Combine Figure 11The following describes how the aforementioned M cell sets are determined. Assume that the network device configures five cells for the terminal device, with one cell serving as the terminal device's PCell and the remaining cells serving as the terminal device's SCells #1 to #4. The subcarrier spacing of PCell, SCell #1, SCell #2, SCell #3, and SCell #4 is 15 kHz, the span pattern of PCell, SCell #1, and SCell #2 is (4, 3), and the span pattern of SCell #3 and SCell #4 is (7, 3). PCell has span #1, span #2, and span #3 in slot 1; SCell #1 has span #4, span #5, and span #6 in slot 1; SCell #2 has span #7, span #8, and span #9 in slot 1; SCell #3 has span #10 and span #11 in slot 1; and SCell #4 has span #12 and span #13 in slot 1. Slot 1 contains 14 symbols indexed 0 to 13 (symbols 0 to 13). For PCell, span #1 starts at symbol 0 and occupies symbols 0 to 2. The gap between span #2 and span #1's starting symbol position is 4 symbols, and span #2 occupies symbols 4 to 6. The gap between span #3 and span #2's starting symbol position is 5 symbols, and span #3 occupies symbols 9 to 11. For SCell#1, span#4 starts at symbol 2 and occupies symbols 2 to 4. The starting symbol position of span#5 is 4 symbols away from span#4, and span#5 occupies symbols 6 to 8. The starting symbol position of span#6 is 4 symbols away from span#5, and span#6 occupies symbols 10 to 12. For SCell#2, span#7 starts at symbol 2 and occupies symbols 2 to 4. The starting symbol position of span#8 is 4 symbols away from span#7, and span#8 occupies symbols 6 to 8. The starting symbol position of span#9 is 4 symbols away from span#8, and span#9 occupies symbols 10 to 12. For SCell#3, the starting symbol position of span#10 is symbol 0, and span#10 occupies symbols 0 to 2; the interval between the starting symbol positions of span#11 and span#10 is 7 symbols, and span#11 occupies symbols 7 to 9.For SCell#4, the starting symbol position of span#11 is symbol 4, and span#12 occupies symbols 4 to 6; the interval between the starting symbol positions of span#13 and span#12 is 7 symbols, and span#13 occupies symbols 11 to 13. Figure 11 As shown, PCell has the same subcarrier spacing configuration and span pattern as SCell#1 and SCell#2, but the spans are not aligned, so PCell is assigned to a separate cell set (cell set 1). SCell#1 and SCell#2 have the same subcarrier spacing and span pattern, and their spans are aligned, so SCell#1 and SCell#2 can be divided into a cell set (cell set 2). PCell, SCell#3, and SCell#4 have the same subcarrier spacing and span pattern, but their spans are not aligned, so they are each independent cell sets (cell set 3 to cell set 4).

[0145] Optionally, consider using the time unit as the basis for determining the cell set. Since the span pattern and subcarrier spacing of PCell, SCell#1 and SCell#2 are the same, the time unit can be determined based on the span of PCell, SCell#1 and SCell#2, such as Figure 12 As shown, it includes time unit #1 to time unit #3, and the length of each time unit is 4 symbols ( Figure 12 A dotted box in the figure represents a time unit. Since some symbols of span#4 and span#7 are located in time unit#1, some symbols of span#5 and span#8 are located in time unit#2, and some symbols of span#6 and span#9 are located in time unit#3, PCell, SCell#1, and SCell#2 can be divided into one cell set (cell set 1'). Time unit#4 and time unit#5, each time unit has a length of 7 symbols. Since all symbols of span#10 and span#12 are located in time unit#4, and all symbols of span#11 and span#13 are located in time unit#5, SCell#3 and SCell#4 are divided into one cell set (cell set 2').

[0146] The maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring refers to the maximum total number of cells of each subcarrier spacing supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring under carrier aggregation conditions. In addition, the total number of cells does not distinguish between the subcarrier spacing configuration of the cells, that is, it includes the total number of cells with different subcarrier spacings configured by the network device.

[0147] Optionally, the first monitoring capability includes a maximum number of monitoring times and / or a maximum number of CCEs, for which reference may be made to the relevant description above and will not be repeated here.

[0148] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the first monitoring capability of the terminal device is determined according to the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring and the monitoring capability corresponding to the spanpattern of the first cell set.

[0149] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the maximum number of monitoring times allocated to the first cell set may be calculated using the following formula (3):

[0150]

[0151] in, Indicates the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the PDCCH of the first cell set, the subcarrier spacing configuration of each cell in the first cell set is μ, the span pattern is (X, Y), the value of μ is 0 or 1, the value of (X, Y) is one of the set {(2, 2), (4, 3), (7, 3)}, the first cell set is represented by cell seti, i is the index of the first cell set in the M cell sets, and i is a non-negative integer less than or equal to M; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for PDCCH monitoring; Indicates the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the PDCCH within a span of a cell with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a span pattern of (X, Y); Indicates the number of cells in which the subcarrier spacing configured by the network device for the terminal device is μ, the span pattern is (X, Y), and the span positions are aligned, that is, the number of cells in the first cell set or cell seti; It represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

[0152] Optionally, the above i can start counting from 0 or start counting from 1.

[0153] Optionally, in one embodiment of the present application, the maximum number of CCEs allocated to the first cell set may be calculated using the following formula (4):

[0154]

[0155] in, Indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH of the first cell set; Indicates the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH of a span of a cell with a subcarrier spacing configuration of μ and span pattern (X, Y); the variables with the same names in formula (4) and formula (3) have the same physical meanings and are not repeated here.

[0156] It can be understood that since the terminal device monitors PDCCH with span as the granularity, for the scenario where spans in the first cell set are completely aligned, the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set may refer to the sum of the monitoring capabilities of each cell in the first cell set within the time domain of a span; for the scenario where spans in the first cell set are aligned according to time units, the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set may refer to the sum of the monitoring capabilities of each cell in the first cell set within the time domain of a time unit. For example, the above It refers to the maximum sum of the number of times that the terminal device monitors the candidate PDCCH of each cell in the first cell set within the time domain of a span or a time unit; for example, the above It refers to the sum of the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate PDCCHs of each cell in the first cell set within the time domain of a span or a time unit.

[0157] S903: Distribute the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set among cells in the first cell set, for respectively monitoring the PDCCH of each cell in the first cell set.

[0158] Optionally, the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set is distributed among cells within the first cell set to meet the following conditions: the sum of the maximum number of monitoring times allocated to each cell is less than or equal to the maximum number of monitoring times allocated to the first cell set; and the sum of the maximum number of CCEs allocated to each cell is less than or equal to the maximum number of CCEs allocated to the first cell set.

[0159] Optionally, when the time unit is used as the basis for determining the cell set, the monitoring capability allocated to the cell set is distributed among the cells in the cell set, the overlap between the span of each cell and the time unit can be considered, and the overlapping ratio of the span and the time unit is used to participate in the allocation of the monitoring capability among the cells. For specific implementation methods, please refer to the aforementioned Figure 6-Figure 8 The relevant contents in the illustrated embodiment, such as the description in S603 , are not described in detail here.

[0160] Optionally, allocating the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set among cells within the first cell set includes: when the first cell set includes a PCell and an SCell, prioritizing the allocation of the monitoring capability to the PCell. Similarly, when the SCell includes a PSCell, allocating the monitoring capability to the PSCell has a higher priority than allocating the monitoring capability to other SCells.

[0161] Combine Figure 13 An example is used to illustrate the calculation process of the monitoring capability of a cell set:

[0162] Assume that the network side has configured 8 cells for the terminal device ( Figure 13 In the figure, CC#1 to CC#8 represent eight cells. Cells with a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz are CC#1 and CC#2, and cells with a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz are CC#3, CC#4, CC#5, CC#6, CC#7, and CC#8. The span pattern of CC#1 is (2,2), the span patterns of CC#2 to CC#6 are (4,3), and the span patterns of CC#7 and CC#8 are (7,3). CC#1, CC#2, CC#3, CC#7, and CC#8 each constitute a cell set, and CC#4, CC#5, and CC#6 constitute a cell set. The method for determining the cell set is described above and is not repeated here. Figure 13 The superscripts in (X, Y) indicate whether the patterns are the same. For example, (4, 3)′ and (4, 3)′ have the same subcarrier spacing configuration, the same span pattern, and the spans of each cell are aligned. (7, 3)′ and (7, 3)″ have the same subcarrier spacing configuration, the same span pattern, but the spans of each cell are not aligned. Assuming the span pattern is (X, Y) and the subcarrier spacing is μ, the relationship between the maximum number of monitoring times and the maximum number of CCEs used by the terminal device for monitoring the alternative PDCCH is shown in Tables 1 and 2 below.

[0163]

[0164] Table 1

[0165]

[0166] Table 2

[0167] Assume that the PDCCH monitoring capability of the terminal device in the CA scenario is 4 cells. The following calculation is based on the maximum number of CCEs as an example:

[0168] For cell set 1, CC#1,

[0169]

[0170] For cell set 2, CC#2,

[0171]

[0172] For cell set 3, CC#3,

[0173]

[0174] For cell set 4, namely CC#4, CC#5 and CC#6,

[0175]

[0176] For cell set 5, CC#7,

[0177]

[0178] For cell set 6, namely CC#8,

[0179]

[0180] The calculation of the maximum number of monitoring times is similar and will not be repeated here.

[0181] It can be understood that the various calculation formulas provided in the embodiments of the present application are merely examples and do not constitute a limitation to the embodiments of the present application. For example, the various calculation formulas may have multiple variations, and the names of the variables used in the various calculation formulas may also be replaced.

[0182] By adopting the PDCCH monitoring method provided in the embodiment of the present application, cells with the same subcarrier spacing, the same span pattern, and aligned span positions are divided into a cell set, and the monitoring capability of the terminal device is allocated to the cell set according to the ratio of the number of cells contained in the cell set to the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, and then the monitoring capability is allocated between the cells in the cell set. By dividing cells with non-aligned spans into different cell sets for distinction, and then using formula calculation or mapping relationship to allocate the capability of monitoring PDCCH between cell sets, the problem of being unable to determine the monitoring capability corresponding to the span of each cell due to the non-alignment of spans of different cells in the CA scenario is solved. Then, the terminal device can monitor the candidate PDCCH of each cell in the cell set with span as the granularity based on the monitoring capability of the span allocated to each cell.

[0183] The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device for implementing any of the above methods, for example, a communication device including a unit (or means) for implementing each step performed by a terminal device or a network device in any of the above methods. For example, please refer to Figure 14 , which is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a module for a terminal device or a network device, such as a chip; or the communication device is a terminal device or a network device, such as Figure 14 As shown, the communication device 1400 includes a determining unit 1410 and an allocating unit 1420 .

[0184] Optionally, in one embodiment, the determination unit 1410 can be used to determine that the first listening capability of the terminal device is used to listen to the PDCCH of the cell set of the terminal device, wherein the cell set includes at least two SCells of the terminal device, or includes the PCell of the terminal device and at least one SCell of the terminal device, and the span pattern and subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set are the same; and determine N time units of the cell set within a time slot, where the starting position of each of the N time units is obtained according to the span of the cells in the cell set, and N is a positive integer; the allocation unit 1420 can be used to allocate the first listening capability within the cell set according to the N time units, for respectively listening to the PDCCH of each cell in the cell set.

[0185] For a more detailed description of the determination unit 1410 and the allocation unit 1420 in this embodiment, please refer to Figure 6-Figure 7 The relevant description in the method embodiment shown is directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0186] Optionally, in one embodiment, the determination unit 1410 can be used to determine M cell sets, where M is a positive integer, and each of the M cell sets contains at least one cell of the terminal device; the allocation unit 1720 is used to allocate the first monitoring capability of the terminal device to the first cell set according to the ratio of the number of cells contained in the first cell set to the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, and allocate the monitoring capability allocated to the first cell set among the cells within the first cell set, for respectively monitoring the PDCCH of each cell in the first cell set, wherein the first cell set is one of the M cell sets, the first cell set contains a cell of the terminal device, or the first cell set contains at least two cells of the terminal device, and each cell in the first cell set has the same span pattern, the span position is aligned, and the subcarrier spacing is the same. The at least two cells of the terminal device include at least two SCells of the terminal device, or include the PCell of the terminal device and at least one SCell.

[0187] For a more detailed description of the determination unit 1410 and the allocation unit 1420 in this embodiment, please refer to Figures 8-11 The relevant description in the method embodiment shown is directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0188] Optionally, the communication device 1400 further includes a communication unit 1403 for communicating with other devices. For example, when the communication device 1400 is a terminal device or is used for a terminal device, the communication unit 1703 is used to communicate with a network device such as a base station; when the communication device 1400 is a network device such as a base station or is used for a network device, the communication unit 1703 is used to communicate with a terminal device.

[0189] It should be understood that the division of units in the above device is merely a division of logical functions. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into one physical entity, or they can be physically separated. Moreover, the units in the device can all be implemented in the form of software called through processing elements; or they can all be implemented in the form of hardware; or some units can be implemented in the form of software called through processing elements, and some units can be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or it can be integrated into a certain chip of the device. In addition, it can also be stored in the memory in the form of a program, called by a certain processing element of the device and perform the function of the unit. In addition, all or part of these units can be integrated together, or they can be implemented independently. The processing element described here can also be a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method or each unit above can be implemented by the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor element or in the form of software called through the processing element.

[0190] In one example, the unit in any of the above devices may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above method, such as one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more digital singnal processors (DSPs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when the unit in the device can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or other processor that can call a program. For another example, these units can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0191] The above-mentioned unit for receiving (e.g., a communication unit) is an interface circuit of the device, which is used to receive signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip used to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above-mentioned unit for sending (e.g., a sending unit or a communication unit) is an interface circuit of the device, which is used to send signals to other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the sending unit is an interface circuit of the chip used to send signals to other chips or devices.

[0192] Please refer to Figure 15, which is a structural diagram of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The network device may be a base station, configured to execute the PDCCH monitoring method provided in the above method embodiment. Figure 15 As shown, the network device includes an antenna 1510, a radio frequency device 1520, and a baseband device 1530. Antenna 1510 is connected to radio frequency device 1520. In the uplink direction, radio frequency device 1520 receives information sent by terminal devices via antenna 1510 and sends the information to baseband device 1530 for processing. In the downlink direction, baseband device 1530 processes the information from the terminal devices and sends it to radio frequency device 1520. Radio frequency device 1520 then processes the information and sends it to the terminal devices via antenna 1510.

[0193] The baseband device 1530 may include one or more processing elements 1531, for example, a main control CPU and other integrated circuits. In addition, the baseband device 1530 may also include a storage element 1532 and an interface 1533. The storage element 1532 is used to store programs and data; the interface 1533 is used to exchange information with the radio frequency device 1520. The interface is, for example, a common public radio interface (CPRI). The above-mentioned device for the network device may be located in the baseband device 1530. For example, the above-mentioned device for the network device may be a chip on the baseband device 1530, which includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein the processing element is used to perform the various steps of any of the PDCCH monitoring methods provided in the above method embodiments, and the interface circuit is used to communicate with other devices. In one implementation, the unit for the network device to implement each step in the above method can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler. For example, the device for the network device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to perform the PDCCH monitoring method provided 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, or a storage element on a different chip from the processing element, ie, an off-chip storage element.

[0194] Please refer to Figure 16 , which is a structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device is used to implement the PDCCH monitoring method provided in the above method embodiment. Figure 16As shown, the terminal device includes an antenna 1610, a radio frequency device 1620, and a signal processing unit 1630. Antenna 1610 is connected to radio frequency device 1620. In the downlink direction, radio frequency device 1620 receives information sent by the network device via antenna 1610 and sends the information sent by the network device to signal processing unit 1630 for processing. In the uplink direction, signal processing unit 1630 processes the terminal device information and sends it to radio frequency device 1620. Radio frequency device 1620 then processes the terminal device information and sends it to the network device via antenna 1610.

[0195] Signal processing unit 1630 is used to process data at various communication protocol layers. While signal processing unit 1630 may be a subsystem of the terminal device, the terminal device may also include other subsystems, such as a central processing subsystem for processing the terminal device's operating system and application layers; or a peripheral subsystem for connecting to other devices. Signal processing unit 1630 may be a separate chip. Optionally, the aforementioned devices may be located within signal processing unit 1630.

[0196] The signal processing part 1630 may include one or more processing elements 1631, for example, including a main control CPU and other integrated circuits. In addition, the signal processing part 1630 may also include a storage element 1632 and an interface circuit 1633. The storage element 1632 is used to store data and programs. The program used to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method may or may not be stored in the storage element 1632. For example, it may be stored in a memory outside the signal processing part 1630. When in use, the signal processing part 1630 loads the program into the cache for use. The interface circuit 1633 is used to communicate with the device. The above device can be located in the signal processing part 1630. The signal processing part 1630 can be implemented by a chip, which includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein the processing element is used to execute the various steps of any one of the PDCCH monitoring methods provided in the above method embodiments, and the interface circuit is used to communicate with other devices. In one implementation, the units implementing each step of the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduling program. For example, the apparatus includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute any of the PDCCH monitoring methods provided in the above method embodiments. The storage element may be a storage element on the same chip as the processing element, i.e., an on-chip storage element.

[0197] In another implementation, the program for executing the method executed by the above terminal device or network device may be stored in a memory element on a different chip from the processing element, i.e., an off-chip memory element. In this case, the processing element calls or loads the program from the off-chip memory element to the on-chip memory element to call and execute any of the PDCCH monitoring methods in the above method embodiments.

[0198] In another implementation, the unit of the terminal device or network device that implements each step of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements. The processing elements may be integrated circuits, such as one or more ASICs, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

[0199] The units implementing the various steps of the above method can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC), and the SOC chip is used to implement the above method. The chip can integrate at least one processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to implement the method executed by the above terminal device or network device; or the chip can integrate at least one integrated circuit to implement the method executed by the above terminal device or network device; or, the above implementation methods can be combined, with the functions of some units being implemented by the processing element calling the program, and the functions of some units being implemented by the integrated circuit.

[0200] In another implementation, the communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein at least one processing element is used to execute any one of the PDCCH monitoring methods provided in the above method embodiments. The processing element can execute part or all of the steps executed by the terminal device or network device in a first manner: that is, by calling the program stored in the storage element; or in a second manner: that is, by combining the hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor element with the instructions to execute part or all of the steps executed by the terminal device or network device; of course, the first manner and the second manner can also be combined to execute part or all of the steps executed by the terminal device or network device. It can be understood that the interface circuit can be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory for storing instructions executed by the above-mentioned processing element or storing input data required for the processing element to run the instructions or storing data generated after the processing element runs the instructions.

[0201] The processing element herein, as described above, may be a general-purpose processor, such as a CPU, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above method, such as one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element may be a single memory or a collective term for multiple storage elements.

[0202] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps of implementing the above-mentioned method embodiment can be completed by hardware related to program instructions, and the aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it executes the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiment; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: ROM, RAM, disk or optical disk, etc. Various media that can store program codes.

[0203] The resources described in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as transmission resources, including one or more of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, and code channel resources, which may be used to carry data or signaling during uplink or downlink communication.

[0204] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this article is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone.

[0205] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present invention, "B corresponding to A" means that B is associated with A and B can be determined based on A. However, it should also be understood that determining B based on A does not mean determining B based solely on A; B can also be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0206] The term "plurality" used in the embodiments of the present application refers to two or more.

[0207] The first, second, etc. descriptions appearing in the embodiments of this application are only used for illustration and distinction of the described objects. There is no order, nor does it indicate a special limitation on the number of described objects in the embodiments of this application, and cannot constitute any limitation on the embodiments of this application.

[0208] Unless otherwise specified, the term "transmit" or "transmission" in the embodiments of the present application refers to bidirectional transmission, including the actions of sending and / or receiving. Specifically, the term "transmission" in the embodiments of the present application includes the sending of data, the receiving of data, or both. In other words, the data transmission here includes uplink and / or downlink data transmission. Data may include information and / or signals, uplink data transmission refers to uplink information and / or uplink signal transmission, and downlink data transmission refers to downlink information and / or downlink signal transmission.

[0209] It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device and / or the network device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are merely examples. In the embodiments of the present application, other operations or variations of various operations may also be performed. In addition, the various steps may be performed in a different order than those presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be performed.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a physical downlink control channel, characterized in that: include: Determining that a first monitoring capability of a terminal device is used to monitor a physical downlink control channel of a cell set of the terminal device; The cell set includes at least two cells of the terminal device, and each cell in the cell set has the same time span pattern and subcarrier spacing; Determine N time units within a time slot of the cell set, where the N time units do not overlap with each other, and a starting position of each of the N time units is obtained based on a time span of a cell in the cell set, where N is a positive integer; The first monitoring capability is allocated to the time span of each cell in each time unit of the N time units, and is used to respectively monitor the physical downlink control channel of each cell in the cell set.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first monitoring capability of the terminal device is determined according to the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring and the monitoring capability corresponding to the time span pattern corresponding to the cell set.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first monitoring capability includes the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel and / or the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channels of the cell set is calculated according to the following formula: in, Indicates the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel of the cell set, where the subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set is configured as μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ), the value of µ is 0 or 1, ( X, Y ) is one of the values ​​in the set {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)}; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring; Indicates that the terminal device is configured with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a time span pattern of ( X, Y The maximum number of times a candidate physical downlink control channel is monitored within a span of a cell; Indicates that the subcarrier spacing configured by the network device for the terminal device is μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ) of the cells; It represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channels of the cell set is calculated according to the following formula: in, Indicates the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channels of the cell set, where the subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set is configured as μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ), the value of µ is 0 or 1, ( X, Y ) is one of the values ​​in the set {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)}; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring; Indicates that the terminal device is configured with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a time span pattern of ( X, Y The maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel within a time span of the cell; Indicates that the subcarrier spacing configured by the network device for the terminal device is μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ) of the cells; represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The starting symbol index of the first time unit in the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of all time spans in the cell set.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The starting symbol index of the second time unit in the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of time spans that do not overlap with the first time unit in all time spans in the cell set.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that Each time span of each cell in the cell set is located within one time unit of the N time units.

9. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that The number of consecutive symbols contained in one of the N time units is the same as the minimum symbol interval between start symbols of two adjacent time spans indicated by the time span pattern.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The time span pattern is represented as (X, Y), where X represents the minimum symbol interval between two time span start symbols, and Y represents the maximum number of consecutive symbols included in the time span, wherein the number of consecutive symbols included in the time unit is X symbols.

11. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Allocating the first monitoring capability over the time span of each cell in each time unit of the N time units specifically includes: When the cell set includes the primary cell PCell of the terminal equipment and the secondary cell SCell of the terminal equipment, the monitoring capability is preferentially allocated to the PCell.

12. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A determining unit, configured to determine that the first monitoring capability of the terminal device is used to monitor a physical downlink control channel of a cell set of the terminal device; The cell set includes at least two cells of the terminal device, and the time span pattern and subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set are the same; The determining unit is further configured to determine N time units within a time slot of the cell set, where the N time units do not overlap with each other, and a starting position of each of the N time units is obtained based on a time span of a cell in the cell set, where N is a positive integer; An allocating unit is configured to allocate the first monitoring capability over the time span of each cell in each time unit of the N time units, so as to respectively monitor the physical downlink control channel of each cell in the cell set.

13. The device according to claim 12, characterized in that The first monitoring capability of the terminal device is determined according to the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring and the monitoring capability corresponding to the time span pattern corresponding to the cell set.

14. The device according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that The first monitoring capability includes the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel and / or the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel.

15. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that The allocation unit is specifically used for: The maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channels of the cell set is calculated according to the following formula: in, Indicates the maximum number of times the terminal device monitors the candidate physical downlink control channel of the cell set, where the subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set is configured as μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ), the value of µ is 0 or 1, ( X, Y ) is one of the values ​​in the set {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)}; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring; Indicates that the terminal device is configured with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a time span pattern of ( X, Y The maximum number of times that a candidate physical downlink control channel is monitored within a time span of a cell of the same physical downlink control channel; Indicates that the subcarrier spacing configured by the network device for the terminal device is μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ) of the cells; It represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

16. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that The allocation unit is specifically used for: The maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channels of the cell set is calculated according to the following formula: in, Indicates the maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used by the terminal device to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channels of the cell set, where the subcarrier spacing of each cell in the cell set is configured as μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ), the value of µ is 0 or 1, ( X, Y ) is one of the values ​​in the set {(2,2), (4,3), (7,3)}; Indicates the maximum number of cells supported by the terminal device for physical downlink control channel monitoring; Indicates that the terminal device is configured with a subcarrier spacing of μ and a time span pattern of ( X, Y The maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements used to monitor the candidate physical downlink control channel within a time span of the cell; Indicates that the subcarrier spacing configured by the network device for the terminal device is μ and the time span pattern is ( X, Y ) of the cells; represents the total number of cells configured by the network device for the terminal device, j represents the subcarrier spacing configuration, and the value of j is 0 or 1.

17. The device according to claim 12, characterized in that The starting symbol index of the first time unit in the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of all time spans in the cell set.

18. The device according to claim 17, characterized in that The starting symbol index of the second time unit in the N time units is the smallest index among the starting symbol indices of time spans that do not overlap with the first time unit in all time spans in the cell set.

19. The device according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that Each time span of each cell in the cell set is located within one time unit of the N time units.

20. The device according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that The number of consecutive symbols contained in one of the N time units is the same as the minimum symbol interval between start symbols of two adjacent time spans indicated by the time span pattern.

21. The device according to claim 20, wherein The time span pattern is represented as (X, Y), where X represents the minimum symbol interval between two time span start symbols, and Y represents the maximum number of consecutive symbols included in the time span, wherein the number of consecutive symbols included in the time unit is X symbols.

22. The device according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that The allocation unit is specifically used for: When the cell set includes the primary cell PCell of the terminal equipment and the secondary cell SCell of the terminal equipment, the monitoring capability is preferentially allocated to the PCell.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein the at least one processing element is configured to execute a computer program stored in a memory so as to enable the communication device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, which enables a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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