Cell determination method and apparatus, communication apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a cell determination method, a device, a communication device and a storage medium, wherein the cell determination method comprises: determining, according to a predefined rule or an indication signaling of a network device, a cell to which at least one information field in MC-DCI can be applied; determining at least one first cell scheduled by the MC-DCI; and determining a cell to which at least one information field in the MC-DCI is applied according to a relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which the at least one information field in the MC-DCI can be applied. According to the present disclosure, a terminal can determine a cell to which at least one information field in MC-DCI can be applied, and at least one first cell scheduled by the MC-DCI. Then, a cell to which at least one information field in the MC-DCI is applied can be determined according to a relationship between the first cell actually scheduled by the MC-DCI and the cell to which the at least one information field in the MC-DCI can be applied. Accordingly, the terminal can reasonably determine a cell to which an information field in the MC-DCI is specifically applied.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to cell determination methods, cell determination apparatus, cell determination systems, communication devices, and computer-readable storage media. Background Technology

[0002] In related technologies, scheduling a single downlink control information (DCI) within a cell only allows scheduling data from one cell, such as scheduling the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). However, with the gradual fragmentation of frequency resources, the demand for simultaneously scheduling data from multiple cells will gradually increase. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the above, embodiments of this disclosure provide a cell determination method, a cell determination apparatus, a cell determination system, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium to solve the technical problems in the related art.

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a cell determination method is proposed, executed by a terminal, the method comprising: determining, according to predefined rules or indication signaling of a network device, at least one information field in downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells to which at least one information field can be applied; determining at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells; and determining, according to the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied.

[0005] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a cell determination method is proposed, executed by a network device. The method includes: determining, according to predefined rules or by indicating to a terminal via indication signaling, a cell to which at least one information field of downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied; determining at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells; and determining the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0006] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a cell determination apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: a processing module configured to determine, according to predefined rules or indication signaling of a network device, at least one information field in downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells to which at least one information field can be applied; determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells; and determine the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0007] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a cell determination apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: a processing module configured to determine, according to predefined rules or by indicating to a terminal via indication signaling, a cell to which at least one information field of downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied; determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells; and determine the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0008] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a cell determination system is provided, including a terminal and a network device, wherein the terminal is configured to implement the cell determination method executed by the terminal described above, and the network device is configured to implement the cell determination method specified by the network device described above.

[0009] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the cell determination method executed by the terminal described above.

[0010] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the cell determination method specified by the network device described above.

[0011] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the cell determination method executed by a terminal as described above.

[0012] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the cell determination method specified by a network device described above.

[0013] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a terminal can determine, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied. The terminal can also determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, i.e., the cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. Furthermore, based on the relationship between the first cell actually scheduled by MD-DCI and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the terminal can determine the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied. Therefore, even if the cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells differs from the cell to which the information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the terminal can reasonably determine the cell to which the information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is specifically applied, avoiding problems arising from actions performed based on MD-DCI. Attached Figure Description

[0014] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this disclosure, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of this disclosure. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0015] Figure 1 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 2 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 3 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 4 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 5 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 6 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 7 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 8 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 9 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 10 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 11 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 12 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 13 This is a schematic block diagram of a cell determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 14 This is a schematic block diagram of a cell determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 15 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus for cell determination according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 16 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus for cell determination according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0031] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this disclosure, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0032] The terminology used in this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. The singular forms “a” and “the” as used in this disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used herein refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0033] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used to describe various information in embodiments of this disclosure, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from one another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information without departing from the scope of embodiments of this disclosure, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when," "when," or "in response to a determination."

[0034] For the sake of brevity and ease of understanding, this document uses the terms "greater than" or "less than", "higher than" or "lower than" to describe size relationships. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the term "greater than" also includes the meaning of "greater than or equal to", and "less than" also includes the meaning of "less than or equal to"; the term "higher than" also includes the meaning of "higher than or equal to", and "lower than" also includes the meaning of "lower than or equal to".

[0035] Figure 1 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cell determination method shown in this embodiment can be executed by a terminal, which includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices. The terminal can communicate with network devices, which include, but are not limited to, network devices in 4G, 5G, and 6G communication systems, such as base stations and core networks.

[0036] like Figure 1 As shown, the cell determination method may include the following steps:

[0037] In step S101, based on predefined rules or signaling from network devices, it is determined which cell can be applied to at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells;

[0038] In step S102, at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined;

[0039] In step S103, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied is determined based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0040] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied may be determined according to predefined rules or instruction signaling of network devices before receiving the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. The at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells may be the at least one first cell actually scheduled in this instance of the received downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, determined upon receiving the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. The cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied is the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is actually applied.

[0041] Since there are various possibilities between the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied and the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, such as all the same, all different, or partially the same, for each case, it is necessary to reasonably determine the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is actually applied.

[0042] In cases where at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied to cells that are all the same as at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, it can be determined that at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is actually applied.

[0043] However, when the cells to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied are all different or partially the same as the cells to which at least one first cell is scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, the process of determining the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is relatively complex, and will be explained in detail in subsequent embodiments.

[0044] The method for determining the at least one first cell actually scheduled in each received downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be set as needed. For example, it can be indicated by the network device or determined based on predefined rules. This disclosure does not impose any restrictions.

[0045] In one embodiment, downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be simply referred to as MC-DCI. MC-DCI is used to schedule multiple cells, specifically referring to data that can be used to schedule multiple cells, such as the PUSCH, PDSCH, etc. of one or more cells, thus realizing the scheduling of multiple cells through a single DCI. Here, MC stands for Multi-cell.

[0046] In one embodiment, the format of downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be the same as the format of legacy DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, etc.), or a newly defined format, such as DCI format 0_3, DCI format 1_3, etc., can be used.

[0047] In one embodiment, downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be scrambled using Radio Network Temporary Identity (RNTI). For example, it can be scrambled using the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity (C-RNTI) or a newly defined RNTI.

[0048] In one embodiment, downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells may include multiple information fields. When scheduling cells using downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells, the information fields in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to the scheduled cells. The terminal can determine the information of the scheduled cell to which the information field is applied or perform an operation on the scheduled cell to which the information field is applied based on the information indicated by the information field. For example, taking the Bandwidth Part (BWP) information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells as an example, if it is determined that the BWP information field is applied to cell #1, then the terminal can perform a BWP handover operation on cell #1 based on the information indicated by the BWP information field.

[0049] Due to network environment requirements, the cells to which information fields in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied can be restricted. According to embodiments of this disclosure, a terminal can determine, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0050] The downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can contain multiple information fields. Only a portion of these information fields are applied to all scheduled cells. Another portion (e.g., Type 1 information fields) may only be applied to a portion of the scheduled cells, considering scheduling flexibility and MC DCI signaling overhead. Therefore, determining which cells this other portion of information fields is actually applied to is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0051] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a terminal can determine, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied. The terminal can also determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, i.e., the cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. Furthermore, based on the relationship between the first cell actually scheduled by MD-DCI and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the terminal can determine the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied. Therefore, even if the cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells differs from the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the terminal can reasonably determine the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is specifically applied, avoiding problems arising from actions performed based on MD-DCI.

[0052] Wherein, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is not applied to all scheduled cells, but only to some scheduled cells. For example, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be a Type 1 information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or it can be other types of information fields. The specific choice can be made as needed, and this disclosure does not limit it.

[0053] In one embodiment, the indication signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0054] Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer signaling;

[0055] Media Access Control (MAC) signaling, such as Media Access Control Element (MAC CE);

[0056] Physical layer signaling, such as downlink control information (which can be traditional DCI or downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells).

[0057] In one embodiment, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied include at least one of the following:

[0058] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell, for example, it can be applied to some cells (some cells belong to the second cells) among the cells that the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can schedule.

[0059] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell, for example, it cannot be applied to any cell that the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can schedule.

[0060] In this context, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied can be understood as a set of cells. When at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell, this set is an empty set; when at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell, the elements contained in this set are at least one second cell.

[0061] In one embodiment, if there is no overlap between the first cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells and a cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, this situation can be called an error case. The terminal can either give up parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or the terminal can continue to parse the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, but at least one information field of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to any cell, which helps to save terminal resources.

[0062] In one embodiment, when at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell, there may be an overlap between the first and second cells actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or there may be no overlap. The specific situation will be described in detail in subsequent embodiments.

[0063] The following embodiments mainly illustrate the technical solution of this disclosure by demonstrating that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell.

[0064] Figure 2This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2 As shown, determining which cells can be applied to at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, includes:

[0065] In step S201, at least one second cell that can be applied to each of the at least one information domain is determined according to predefined rules or instruction signaling from network devices.

[0066] In one embodiment, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be multiple information fields, and the cells to which each information field can be applied can be different, for example, partially different or completely different. According to this embodiment, the terminal can determine the second cell to which each information field can be applied based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices.

[0067] For example, for two information fields, field#1 and field#2, it can be determined that information field#1 can be applied to cell#1 and cell#2, and that field#2 can be applied to cell#2 and cell#3.

[0068] Figure 3 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown, determining which cells can be applied to at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, includes:

[0069] In step S301, at least one second cell that can be jointly applied by the at least one information domain is determined according to predefined rules or instruction signaling of network devices.

[0070] In one embodiment, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be multiple information fields, and each of the multiple information fields can be applied to the same cell. According to this embodiment, the terminal can determine a second cell that can be jointly applied to by multiple information fields based on predefined rules or indication signaling from network devices.

[0071] For example, for two information fields, field#1 and field#2, it can be determined that information fields field#1 and field#2 can be jointly applied to cells#1 and#2. Specifically, field#1 can be applied to cells#1 and#2, and field#2 can also be applied to cells#1 and#2.

[0072] In one embodiment, the predefined rule includes at least one of the following:

[0073] The cell identified by the predefined identifier is determined to be the at least one second cell;

[0074] After sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell according to a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell.

[0075] In one embodiment, a predefined rule can specify that a cell with a predefined identifier (e.g., cell ID) is a second cell, so the terminal can determine that the cell with the predefined identifier is the second cell.

[0076] For example, if the predefined identifiers are 1 and 3, then Cell#1 (cell ID 1) and Cell#3 (cell ID 3) can be identified as the second cell. Furthermore, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells applies can be determined based on the relationship between the second cell and the first cell, as will be explained in subsequent embodiments.

[0077] In one embodiment, a predefined rule can specify that after cells are sorted according to a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are designated as the second cells. The cells being sorted include, but are not limited to, cells that can be scheduled by downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, and at least one first cell. Then, the terminal can determine the cell in the predefined order as the second cell from the sorted cells.

[0078] For example, if the predefined order is 1 and 3, then in the cells ordered according to the predefined order, cells with sequence numbers 1 and 3 can be determined as the second cell. Furthermore, based on the relationship between the second cell and the first cell, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells applies can be determined, as will be explained in subsequent embodiments.

[0079] It should be noted that the predefined order is not limited to the order in the above embodiments. For example, it can also be the order of cell identifiers from largest to smallest, or the order of cell identifiers from smallest to largest, etc.

[0080] In one embodiment, determining, based on the instruction signaling of the network device, that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell includes at least one of the following:

[0081] The cell corresponding to the identifier indicated by the instruction signaling is determined to be the at least one second cell;

[0082] After sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells in a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling is determined to be the at least one second cell.

[0083] In one embodiment, the network device can send an identifier to the terminal via indication signaling, and the terminal can determine that the cell corresponding to the identifier indicated by the indication signaling is the second cell. The identifier indicated by the network device can be the identifier of a cell among those that can be scheduled by downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0084] For example, if the network device indicates that the identifiers are 1 and 3 through the indication signaling, then the terminal can determine that the two cells Cell#1 (cell ID is 1) and Cell#3 (cell ID is 3) are the second cell.

[0085] In one embodiment, the network device can send a sequence number to the terminal via indication signaling. The terminal can determine the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling as the second cell from cells sorted in a predefined order. The cells sorted include, but are not limited to, cells that can be scheduled by downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, and at least one first cell.

[0086] Taking the sorting of four cells, Cell#1, Cell#2, Cell#3, and Cell#4, as an example, the sorting result is Cell#2, Cell#4, Cell#1, and Cell#3. If the sequence number indicated by the network device is 1 and 3, it can be determined that Cell#2, ranked 1st, and Cell#1, ranked 3rd, are the second cells. If the sequence number indicated by the network device is 3 and 5, since there is no cell ranked 5th in the sorting, only Cell#1, ranked 3rd, is determined to be the second cell. If the sequence number indicated by the network device is 5, since there is no cell ranked 5th in the sorting, it can be determined that there is no second cell, or the second cell is described as an empty set. In this case, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell. If the sorting is performed for at least one first cell, it can be determined that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell.

[0087] It should be noted that the predefined order is not limited to the order in the above embodiments. For example, it can also be the order of cell identifiers from largest to smallest, or the order of cell identifiers from smallest to largest, etc.

[0088] For example, if we sort the cell identifiers from smallest to largest, then for cells Cell#5, Cell#7, Cell#3, and Cell#2, the sorted result would be Cell#2, Cell#3, Cell#5, and Cell#7. The correspondence between the serial numbers and the cells is shown in Table 1 below:

[0089] Serial Number residential area 1 Cell #2 2 Cell#3 3 Cell #5 4 Cell #7

[0090] Table 1

[0091] According to Table 1, when the sequence number indicated by the received instruction signaling is 2 or 4, it can be determined that Cell#3 corresponding to sequence number 2 and Cell#7 corresponding to sequence number 4 are the second cell.

[0092] It should be understood that each element in Table 1 exists independently. These elements are listed in the same table as an example, but this does not mean that all elements in the table must exist simultaneously as shown in the table. The value of each element is independent of the values ​​of any other element in Table 1. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that the value of each element in Table 1 is an independent embodiment.

[0093] Figure 4 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 4 As shown, determining the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, includes:

[0094] In step S401, when the at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field applies to the at least one first cell, or that the information field does not apply to any cell, or that parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0095] In one embodiment, when at least one first cell is a subset of at least one second cell, that is, when the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells all belong to the second cells to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied, then it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to at least one first cell, or it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is not applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is abandoned.

[0096] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0097] For example, the cell corresponding to the identifier (e.g., cell identifier) ​​specified by a predefined rule or indicated by the network device is determined to be the at least one second cell. The second cells to which the BWP information field can be applied are Cell#1 (cell identifier is 1) and Cell#2 (cell identifier is 1). The first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time is Cell#1. It can be determined that {Cell#1} is a subset of {Cell#1, Cell#2}. Then it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to Cell#1, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time is abandoned.

[0098] For example, after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cells corresponding to the predefined order or sequence number are determined to be at least one second cell. The second cells to which the BWP information field can be applied are the cells corresponding to sequence number 1 and sequence number 2. The first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells received this time is Cell#1, which is Cell#1 after being sorted according to the predefined order. There is only the cell Cell#1 in the first order, and there is no cell in the second order. It can be determined that the set of first cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 1} is a subset of the set of second cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 1 and the cell corresponding to sequence number 2}. Therefore, it is determined that the BWP information field is applied to the cell Cell#1 corresponding to sequence number 1, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells received this time is abandoned.

[0099] In one embodiment, when the at least one second cell is a subset of the at least one first cell, it is determined that the information field applies to the at least one second cell, or that the information field does not apply to any cell, or that parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0100] In one embodiment, when at least one second cell is a subset of at least one first cell, that is, when at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied to second cells that belong to the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, then it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to at least one second cell, or it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is not applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is abandoned.

[0101] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0102] For example, the cell corresponding to the identifier (e.g., cell identifier) ​​specified by a predefined rule or indicated by the network device is determined to be the at least one second cell. The second cell to which the BWP information field can be applied is cell #1, and the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time are cell #1 and cell #2. It can be determined that {Cell #1} is a subset of {Cell #1, Cell #2}, then it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to cell #1, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time is abandoned.

[0103] For example, after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cells corresponding to the predefined order or sequence number are determined to be at least one second cell. The second cell to which the BWP information field can be applied is the cell corresponding to sequence number 2. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells received this time are Cell#1 and Cell#2. After being sorted according to a predefined order (e.g., from smallest to largest identifier), they are Cell#1 and Cell#2, which include not only the cell with sequence number 2 but also the cell with sequence number 1. It can be determined that the set of second cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 2} is a subset of the set of first cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 1 and the cell corresponding to sequence number 2}. Therefore, it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to the cell Cell#2 corresponding to sequence number 2, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells received this time is abandoned.

[0104] Figure 5 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 5 As shown, determining the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, includes:

[0105] In step S501, when there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field is applied to the cells in the intersection, or that the information field is not applied to any cell, or that parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0106] In one embodiment, when there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, that is, when some cells in the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells belong to the second cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied, then some cells in the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell are the same, while other cells are different.

[0107] In response to this situation, three approaches can be taken. The first approach primarily considers the existence of conflicts, in which case this situation can be considered an error case, and the terminal will abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells. The second approach primarily considers the non-conflicting portion, i.e., the intersection between at least one first cell and at least one second cell, in which case it can be determined that at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to the cell in the intersection. The third approach determines that the information field should not be applied to any cell. This approach still requires parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, but the information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells (i.e., at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells) should not be applied to any cell, while other information fields in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells are still normally applied to the cells to which they should be applied.

[0108] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0109] For example, the cell corresponding to the identifier (e.g., cell identifier) ​​specified by a predefined rule or indicated by a network device is identified as the at least one second cell. For example, the second cells that can be applied to the BWP information domain are Cell#1 and Cell#2, and the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information received this time for scheduling multiple cells are Cell#1 and Cell#3. It can be determined that there is an intersection {Cell#1} between {Cell#1, Cell#3} and {Cell#1, Cell#2}. In this case, if a predefined rule stipulates or the network device indicates that at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to a cell in the intersection, then it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to cell Cell#1 in the intersection {Cell#1}. If a predefined rule stipulates or the network device indicates that this is an error case, then the terminal can treat this as an error case and abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells. Alternatively, it can be determined that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, but information fields other than the BWP information field are still normally applied to the cells to which they should be applied. For example, the Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field is still normally applied to the cells to which the FDRA field should be applied.

[0110] For example, after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cells corresponding to the predefined order or sequence number are determined to be at least one second cell. For example, the second cells that can be applied to the BWP information domain are the cells corresponding to sequence number 1 and sequence number 3. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells received this time are Cell#1 and Cell#3. After sorting according to the predefined order, they are Cell#1 and Cell#3. There are only cells ranked first and second, and no cell ranked third. It can be determined that the second cell is Cell#1. There is an intersection {Cell#1} between the set of second cells {Cell#1} and the set of first cells {Cell#1, Cell#2}, and {Cell#1, Cell#2} is not a subset of {Cell#1}. In this situation, if a predefined rule stipulates or the network device indicates that at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to a cell in the intersection, then it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to cell Cell#1 in the intersection {Cell#1}. If a predefined rule stipulates or the network device indicates that this situation is an error case, then the terminal can treat this situation as an error case and abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells. Alternatively, it can be determined that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, but information fields other than the BWP information field are still normally applied to the cells to which they should be applied. For example, the Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field is still normally applied to the cells to which the FDRA field should be applied.

[0111] Figure 6 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 6 As shown, determining the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, includes:

[0112] In step S601, when there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field should not be applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0113] In one embodiment, when there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, if the first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells does not have the same cell as the second cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, then at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells shall not be applied to any cell.

[0114] Therefore, in this situation, it can be determined that at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells should not be applied to any cell, or this situation can be regarded as an error case, and the terminal will give up parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0115] It should be noted that the terminal's determination that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to the first cell is different from abandoning the parsing of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. The terminal's determination that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to any cell means that for at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, the terminal does not apply it to any cell. However, information fields other than at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can still be applied normally to the cells scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, and the terminal does not abandon parsing the entire downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells.

[0116] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0117] For example, the cell corresponding to the identifier (e.g., cell identifier) ​​specified by a predefined rule or indicated by the network device is determined to be the at least one second cell. For example, the second cells to which the BWP information field can be applied are Cell#1 and Cell#3, and the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time are Cell#2 and Cell#4. It can be determined that there is no intersection between {Cell#1, Cell#3} and {Cell#2, Cell#4}. In this case, if the predefined rule specifies or the network device indicates that the information field should not be applied to the first cell, then it can be determined that the BWP information field should not be used for any cell; if the predefined rule specifies or the network device indicates that this situation is an error case, then the terminal can treat this situation as an error case and abandon parsing the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells.

[0118] For example, after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cells corresponding to the predefined order or sequence number are determined to be at least one second cell. For example, the second cells that the BWP information domain can apply to are the cells corresponding to sequence number 3 and sequence number 4. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells this time are Cell#2 and Cell#4. After sorting according to the predefined order, they are Cell#2 and Cell#4. There are only cells ranked 1st and 2nd, and no cells ranked 3rd and 4th. It can be determined that the set of second cells is an empty set and there is no intersection between it and the set of first cells {Cell#2, Cell#4}. In this case, if the predefined rules stipulate or the network device indicates that the information domain should not be applied to the first cell, then it can be determined that the BWP information domain should not be used for any cell. If the predefined rules stipulate or the network device indicates that this situation is an error case, then the terminal can treat this situation as an error case and abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0119] In one embodiment, the terminal does not expect that there is no overlap between the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells and the at least one second cell.

[0120] Since there is no intersection between the first cell and the second cell, the terminal will determine that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to any cell, or it will abandon parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, which to some extent wastes communication resources. Therefore, the terminal does not expect that there is no intersection between the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells and the at least one second cell. Correspondingly, when the network device sends the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells to the terminal, it can set that there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. This helps to avoid the waste of communication resources.

[0121] Figure 7 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating a cell determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cell determination method shown in this embodiment can be executed by a network device that can communicate with a terminal. The network device includes, but is not limited to, base stations in communication systems such as 4G base stations, 5G base stations, and 6G base stations. The terminal includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices.

[0122] like Figure 7 As shown, the cell determination method may include the following steps:

[0123] In step S701, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied is determined according to predefined rules or indicated to the terminal via indication signaling.

[0124] In step S702, at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined;

[0125] In step S703, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied is determined based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0126] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied may be determined according to predefined rules or instruction signaling of network devices before receiving the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. The at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells may be the at least one first cell actually scheduled in this instance of the received downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, determined upon receiving the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. The cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied is the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is actually applied.

[0127] Since there are various possibilities between the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied and the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, such as all the same, all different, or partially the same, for each case, it is necessary to reasonably determine the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is actually applied.

[0128] In cases where at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied to cells that are all the same as at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, it can be determined that at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is actually applied.

[0129] However, when the cells to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied are all different or partially the same as the cells to which at least one first cell is scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, the process of determining the cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is relatively complex, and will be explained in detail in subsequent embodiments.

[0130] The method for determining the at least one first cell actually scheduled in each received downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be set as needed. For example, it can be indicated by the network device or determined based on predefined rules. This disclosure does not impose any restrictions.

[0131] In one embodiment, downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be simply referred to as MC-DCI. MC-DCI is used to schedule multiple cells, specifically referring to data that can be used to schedule multiple cells, such as the PUSCH, PDSCH, etc. of one or more cells, thus realizing the scheduling of multiple cells through a single DCI. Here, MC stands for Multi-cell.

[0132] In one embodiment, the format of downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be the same as the format of legacy DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, etc.), or a newly defined format, such as DCI format 0_3, DCI format 1_3, etc., can be used.

[0133] In one embodiment, downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be scrambled using a temporary radio network identifier (RNTI). For example, it can be scrambled using a cell temporary radio network identifier (C-RNTI) or a newly defined RNTI.

[0134] In one embodiment, downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells may include multiple information fields. When scheduling cells using downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells, the information fields in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to the scheduled cells. The terminal can determine the information of the scheduled cell to which the information field is applied or perform an operation on the scheduled cell to which the information field is applied based on the information indicated by the information field. For example, taking the bandwidth portion (BWP) information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells as an example, if it is determined that the BWP information field is applied to cell #1, then the terminal can perform a BWP handover operation on cell #1 based on the information indicated by the BWP information field.

[0135] Due to network environment requirements, the cells to which information fields in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied can be restricted. According to embodiments of this disclosure, a terminal can determine, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0136] The downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can contain multiple information fields. Only a portion of these information fields are applied to all scheduled cells. Another portion (e.g., Type 1 information fields) may only be applied to a portion of the scheduled cells, considering scheduling flexibility and MC DCI signaling overhead. Therefore, determining which cells this other portion of information fields is actually applied to is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0137] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the network can determine, based on predefined rules or by indicating to the terminal via signaling, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied. Furthermore, when sending the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells to the terminal, it can also determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells, i.e., the cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells. Then, based on the relationship between the first cell actually scheduled by MD-DCI and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied can be determined. Therefore, even if the cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells differs from the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is specifically applied can still be reasonably determined.

[0138] Wherein, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is not applied to all scheduled cells, but only to some scheduled cells. For example, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be a Type 1-C type information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or it can be other types of information fields. The specific choice can be made as needed, and this disclosure does not limit it.

[0139] In one embodiment, the indication signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0140] Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling;

[0141] Media access control layer signaling, such as MAC CE;

[0142] Physical layer signaling, such as DCI.

[0143] In one embodiment, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied include at least one of the following:

[0144] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell, for example, it can be applied to some cells (some cells belong to the second cells) among the cells that the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can schedule.

[0145] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell, for example, it cannot be applied to any cell that the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can schedule.

[0146] In this context, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied can be understood as a set of cells. When at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell, this set is an empty set; when at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell, the elements contained in this set are at least one second cell.

[0147] In one embodiment, if there is no overlap between the first cell actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells and a cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, this situation can be called an error case. The terminal can either give up parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or the terminal can continue to parse the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, but at least one information field of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to any cell, which helps to save terminal resources.

[0148] In one embodiment, when at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell, there may be an overlap between the first and second cells actually scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or there may be no overlap. The specific situation will be described in detail in subsequent embodiments.

[0149] The following embodiments mainly illustrate the technical solution of this disclosure by demonstrating that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell.

[0150] Figure 8 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 8 As shown, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, as determined according to predefined rules or indicated to the terminal via indication signaling, include:

[0151] In step S801, at least one second cell is determined according to predefined rules or indicated to the terminal via indication signaling, that each information domain in the at least one information domain can be applied to.

[0152] In one embodiment, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be multiple information fields, and the cells to which each information field can be applied can be different, for example, partially different or completely different. According to this embodiment, the network device can determine, based on predefined rules or by indicating to the terminal via signaling, the second cell to which each information field can be applied.

[0153] For example, for two information fields, field#1 and field#2, it can be determined that information field#1 can be applied to cell#1 and cell#2, and that field#2 can be applied to cell#2 and cell#3.

[0154] Figure 9 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 9 As shown, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, as determined according to predefined rules or indicated to the terminal via indication signaling, include:

[0155] In step S901, at least one second cell that the at least one information domain can jointly apply is determined according to predefined rules or indicated to the terminal via indication signaling.

[0156] In one embodiment, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be multiple information fields, and the cells to which each information field can be applied can be the same. According to this embodiment, the network device can determine, based on predefined rules or by indicating to the terminal via signaling, a second cell to which multiple information fields can be jointly applied.

[0157] For example, for two information fields, field#1 and field#2, it can be determined that information fields field#1 and field#2 can be jointly applied to cells#1 and#2. Specifically, field#1 can be applied to cells#1 and#2, and field#2 can also be applied to cells#1 and#2.

[0158] In one embodiment, the predefined rule includes at least one of the following:

[0159] The cell identified by the predefined identifier is determined to be the at least one second cell;

[0160] After sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell according to a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell.

[0161] In one embodiment, a predefined rule can specify that a cell with a predefined identifier (e.g., cell ID) is a second cell, so the terminal can determine that the cell with the predefined identifier is the second cell.

[0162] For example, if the predefined identifiers are 1 and 3, then Cell#1 (cell ID 1) and Cell#3 (cell ID 3) can be identified as the second cell. Furthermore, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells applies can be determined based on the relationship between the second cell and the first cell, as will be explained in subsequent embodiments.

[0163] In one embodiment, a predefined rule can specify that after cells are sorted according to a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are designated as the second cells. The sorted cells include, but are not limited to, cells that can be scheduled by downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, and at least one first cell. Then, the network device can determine the cell in the predefined order as the second cell from the sorted cells.

[0164] For example, if the predefined order is 1 and 3, then in the cells ordered according to the predefined order, cells with sequence numbers 1 and 3 can be determined as the second cell. Furthermore, based on the relationship between the second cell and the first cell, the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells applies can be determined, as will be explained in subsequent embodiments.

[0165] It should be noted that the predefined order is not limited to the order in the above embodiments. For example, it can also be the order of cell identifiers from largest to smallest, or the order of cell identifiers from smallest to largest, etc.

[0166] In one embodiment, instructing the terminal via indication signaling that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell includes at least one of the following:

[0167] The terminal is indicated by the instruction signaling to be identified as at least one second cell;

[0168] After instructing the terminal via instruction signaling that the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells or the at least one first cell are sorted according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the instruction signaling is the at least one second cell.

[0169] In one embodiment, the network device can send an identifier to the terminal via indication signaling, and the terminal can determine that the cell corresponding to the identifier indicated by the indication signaling is the second cell. The identifier indicated by the network device can be the identifier of a cell among those that can be scheduled by downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0170] For example, if the network device indicates that the identifiers are 1 and 3 through the indication signaling, then the terminal can determine that the two cells Cell#1 (cell ID is 1) and Cell#3 (cell ID is 3) are the second cell.

[0171] In one embodiment, the network device can send a sequence number to the terminal via indication signaling. The terminal can determine the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling as the second cell from cells sorted in a predefined order. The cells sorted include, but are not limited to, cells that can be scheduled by downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, and at least one first cell.

[0172] Taking the sorting of four cells, Cell#1, Cell#2, Cell#3, and Cell#4, as an example, the sorting result is Cell#2, Cell#4, Cell#1, and Cell#3. If the sequence number indicated by the network device is 1 and 3, it can be determined that Cell#2, ranked 1st, and Cell#1, ranked 3rd, are the second cells. If the sequence number indicated by the network device is 3 and 5, since there is no cell ranked 5th in the sorting, only Cell#1, ranked 3rd, is determined to be the second cell. If the sequence number indicated by the network device is 5, since there is no cell ranked 5th in the sorting, it can be determined that there is no second cell, or the second cell is described as an empty set. In this case, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell. If the sorting is performed for at least one first cell, it can be determined that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be used for any cell.

[0173] It should be noted that the predefined order is not limited to the order in the above embodiments. For example, it can also be the order of cell identifiers from largest to smallest, or the order of cell identifiers from smallest to largest, etc.

[0174] Figure 10 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 10 As shown, determining the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, includes:

[0175] In step S1001, when the at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field applies to the at least one first cell, or that the information field does not apply to any cell, or that parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0176] In one embodiment, when at least one first cell is a subset of at least one second cell, that is, when the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells all belong to the second cells to which at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied, then it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to at least one first cell, or it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is not applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is abandoned.

[0177] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0178] For example, the terminal is indicated by the indication signaling that the corresponding cell is at least one second cell. For example, the second cells to which the BWP information field can be applied are Cell#1 and Cell#2, and the first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal this time is Cell#1. It can be determined that {Cell#1} is a subset of {Cell#1, Cell#2}, so it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to Cell#1.

[0179] For example, by instructing the terminal via indication signaling, after sorting the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling is the at least one second cell. For example, the second cells to which the BWP information field can be applied are the cells corresponding to sequence number 1 and sequence number 2. The first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal this time is Cell#1, which is Cell#1 after being sorted according to a predefined order. There is only the cell Cell#1 in the first order, and there is no cell in the second order. The set {the cell corresponding to sequence number 1} is a subset of the set of second cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 1 and the cell corresponding to sequence number 2}. Therefore, it is determined that the BWP information field is applied to the cell Cell#1 corresponding to sequence number 1, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells received this time is abandoned.

[0180] In one embodiment, when the at least one second cell is a subset of the at least one first cell, it is determined that the information field applies to the at least one second cell, or that the information field does not apply to any cell, or that parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0181] In one embodiment, when at least one second cell is a subset of at least one first cell, that is, when at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied to second cells that belong to the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, then it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is applied to at least one second cell, or it can be determined that at least one information field of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is not applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is abandoned.

[0182] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0183] For example, the terminal is indicated by the instruction signaling to identify the corresponding cell as at least one second cell. The second cell to which the BWP information field can be applied is Cell#1. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time are Cell#1 and Cell#2. It can be determined that {Cell#1} is a subset of {Cell#1, Cell#2}. Therefore, it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to Cell#1, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time should be abandoned.

[0184] For example, by instructing the terminal via indication signaling that, after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, or the at least one first cell, according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling is the at least one second cell. For example, after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the predefined order or sequence number is determined to be the at least one second cell. The second cell to which the BWP information field can be applied is the cell corresponding to sequence number 2. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal this time are Cell#1 and Cell#2. After being sorted according to a predefined order (e.g., from smallest to largest identifier), they are Cell#1 and Cell#2, which include not only the cell with sequence number 2 but also the cell with sequence number 1. It can be determined that the set of the second cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 2} is a subset of the set of the first cells {the cell corresponding to sequence number 1 and the cell corresponding to sequence number 2}. Therefore, it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to the cell Cell#2 corresponding to sequence number 2, or that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, or that the parsing of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells received this time is abandoned.

[0185] Figure 11 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 11 As shown, determining the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, includes:

[0186] In step S1101, when there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field is applied to the cells in the intersection, or that the information field is not applied to any cell, or that parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0187] In one embodiment, when there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, that is, when some cells in the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells belong to the second cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be applied, then some cells in the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell are the same, while other cells are different.

[0188] In response to this situation, three approaches can be taken. The first approach primarily considers the existence of conflicts, in which case this situation can be considered an error case, and the terminal will abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells. The second approach primarily considers the non-conflicting portion, i.e., the intersection between at least one first cell and at least one second cell, in which case at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells can be determined to be applied to the cells in the intersection. The third approach determines that the information field should not be applied to any cell. In this approach, the terminal still needs to parse the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells, but the information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells (i.e., at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells) should not be applied to any cell, while other information fields in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells should still be applied normally to the cells to which they should be applied.

[0189] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0190] For example, the terminal is indicated by the instruction signaling to identify the corresponding cell as at least one second cell. For example, the second cells that the BWP information field can apply to are Cell#1 and Cell#2, and the first cells scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal this time are Cell#1 and Cell#3. It can be determined that there is an intersection {Cell#1} between {Cell#1, Cell#3} and {Cell#1, Cell#2}. In this case, it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to Cell#1 in the intersection {Cell#1}, or this case can be regarded as an error case, and it can be determined that the terminal will abandon parsing the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells; or, it can be determined that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, but information fields other than the BWP information field are still normally applied to the cells to which they should be applied, for example, the Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field is still normally applied to the cells to which the FDRA field should be applied.

[0191] For example, by instructing the terminal via indication signaling, after sorting the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells in a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling is the at least one second cell. For example, the second cells that can be applied to the BWP information domain are the cells corresponding to sequence numbers 1 and 3. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal this time are Cell#1 and Cell#3. After sorting according to the predefined order, they are Cell#1 and Cell#3. There are only cells ranked 1st and 2nd, and no cell ranked 3rd. It can be determined that the second cell is Cell#1. There is an intersection {Cell#1} between the set of second cells {Cell#1} and the set of first cells {Cell#1, Cell#2}, and {Cell#1, Cell#2} is not a subset of {Cell#1}. In this situation, it can be determined that the BWP information field is applied to cell #1 in the intersection {Cell#1}, or this situation can be regarded as an error case, and it can be determined that the terminal abandons parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells; or, it can be determined that the BWP information field is not applied to any cell, but information fields other than the BWP information field are still normally applied to the cells to which they should be applied, for example, the frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field is still normally applied to the cells to which the FDRA field should be applied.

[0192] Figure 12 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another cell determination method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 12 As shown, determining the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells is applied, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, includes:

[0193] In step S1201, when there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field should not be applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is abandoned.

[0194] In one embodiment, when there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, if the first cell scheduled by the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells does not have the same cell as the second cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, then at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells shall not be applied to any cell.

[0195] Therefore, in this situation, it can be determined that at least one information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells should not be applied to any cell, or this situation can be regarded as an error case, and it can be determined that the terminal will give up parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0196] It should be noted that determining that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to the first cell is different from determining that the terminal should not parse the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. Determining that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to any cell means that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is not applied to any cell. However, information fields other than at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can still be applied normally to cell I scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells.

[0197] Take the BWP information field in the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells as an example.

[0198] For example, the terminal is indicated by the instruction signaling to identify the corresponding cell as at least one second cell. For instance, the second cells that the BWP information field can apply to are Cell#1 and Cell#3, and the first cells scheduled in the downlink control information sent to the terminal for scheduling multiple cells are Cell#2 and Cell#4. It can be determined that there is no overlap between {Cell#1, Cell#3} and {Cell#2, Cell#4}. In this case, it can be determined that the BWP information field should not be used for any cell, or this situation can be considered an error case, and the terminal should abandon parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells.

[0199] For example, by instructing the terminal via indication signaling, after sorting the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling is the at least one second cell. For instance, the second cells that the BWP information field can apply to are the cells corresponding to sequence numbers 3 and 4. The first cells scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal this time are Cell#2 and Cell#4. After sorting according to a predefined order, they are Cell#2 and Cell#4. Only the cells ranked 1st and 2nd exist; the cells ranked 3rd and 4th do not exist. It can be determined that the set of second cells is empty and has no intersection with the set of first cells {Cell#2, Cell#4}. In this case, it can be determined that the BWP information field should not be used for any cell, or this situation can be considered an error case, and the terminal should abandon parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells.

[0200] In one embodiment, the terminal does not expect that there is no overlap between the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells and the at least one second cell.

[0201] Since there is no intersection between the first cell and the second cell, the terminal will determine that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells should not be applied to any cell, or it will abandon parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells, which to some extent wastes communication resources. Therefore, the terminal does not expect that there is no intersection between the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells and the at least one second cell. Correspondingly, when the network device sends the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells to the terminal, it can set that there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells. This helps to avoid the waste of communication resources.

[0202] Corresponding to the aforementioned embodiments of the cell determination method, this disclosure also provides embodiments of the cell determination apparatus.

[0203] Figure 13 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating a cell determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cell determination device shown in this embodiment can be a terminal, or a device composed of modules within a terminal. The terminal includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices. The terminal can communicate with network devices, including, but not limited to, network devices in 4G, 5G, and 6G communication systems, such as base stations and core networks.

[0204] like Figure 13 As shown, the cell determination device includes:

[0205] The processing module 1301 is configured to, based on predefined rules or signaling from network devices, determine at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells that can be applied to; determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells; and, based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied, determine the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied.

[0206] In one embodiment, the indication signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0207] Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling;

[0208] Media access control layer signaling;

[0209] Physical layer signaling.

[0210] In one embodiment, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied include at least one of the following:

[0211] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell;

[0212] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell.

[0213] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices, at least one second cell to which each of the at least one information domains can be applied.

[0214] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine at least one second cell that the at least one information domain can be jointly applied to, based on predefined rules or signaling instructions from network devices.

[0215] In one embodiment, the predefined rule includes at least one of the following:

[0216] The cell identified by the predefined identifier is determined to be the at least one second cell;

[0217] After sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell according to a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell.

[0218] In one embodiment, determining, based on the instruction signaling of the network device, that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell includes at least one of the following:

[0219] The cell corresponding to the identifier indicated by the instruction signaling is determined to be the at least one second cell;

[0220] After sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the indication signaling is determined to be the at least one second cell.

[0221] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine that the information domain applies to the at least one first cell when the at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell.

[0222] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine that the information field applies to the cells in the intersection when there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell; or, abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0223] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine that the information field should not be applied to the first cell when there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, or to abandon parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells.

[0224] In one embodiment, the terminal does not expect that there is no overlap between the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells and the at least one second cell.

[0225] Figure 14 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating a cell determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cell determination device shown in this embodiment can be a network device, or a device composed of modules within a network device, which can communicate with a terminal. The terminal includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices. The network device includes, but is not limited to, network devices in 4G, 5G, and 6G communication systems, such as base stations and core networks.

[0226] like Figure 14 As shown, the cell determination device:

[0227] The processing module 1401 is configured to determine, according to predefined rules or by indicating to the terminal, at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells that can be applied to the cells; determine at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells; and determine the cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is applied based on the relationship between the at least one first cell and the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied.

[0228] In one embodiment, the indication signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0229] Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling;

[0230] Media access control layer signaling;

[0231] Physical layer signaling.

[0232] In one embodiment, the cells to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied include at least one of the following:

[0233] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell;

[0234] At least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells cannot be applied to any cell.

[0235] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine, according to predefined rules or by indicating signaling to the terminal, at least one second cell that can be applied to each of the at least one information domain.

[0236] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine, according to predefined rules or by indicating to the terminal, at least one second cell that the at least one information domain can jointly apply.

[0237] In one embodiment, the predefined rule includes at least one of the following:

[0238] The cell identified by the predefined identifier is determined to be the at least one second cell;

[0239] After sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell according to a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell.

[0240] In one embodiment, instructing the terminal via indication signaling that at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied to at least one second cell includes at least one of the following:

[0241] The terminal is indicated by the instruction signaling to be identified as at least one second cell;

[0242] After instructing the terminal via instruction signaling that the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells or the at least one first cell are sorted according to a predefined order, the cell corresponding to the sequence number indicated by the instruction signaling is the at least one second cell.

[0243] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine that the information domain applies to the at least one first cell when the at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell.

[0244] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine that the information field applies to the cells in the intersection when there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell; or, abandon parsing the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells.

[0245] In one embodiment, the processing module is configured to determine that the information field should not be applied to the first cell when there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, or to abandon parsing the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells.

[0246] In one embodiment, the terminal does not expect that there is no overlap between the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells and the at least one second cell.

[0247] Regarding the apparatus in the above embodiments, the specific manner in which each module performs its operation has been described in detail in the embodiments of the relevant methods, and will not be elaborated upon here.

[0248] For the device embodiments, since they basically correspond to the method embodiments, the relevant parts can be referred to in the description of the method embodiments. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without creative effort.

[0249] Embodiments of this disclosure also propose a cell determination system, including a terminal and a network device, wherein the terminal is configured to implement the cell determination method executed by the terminal as described in any of the above embodiments, and the network device is configured to implement the cell determination method executed by the network device as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0250] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a communication device, including: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the cell determination method executed by a terminal as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0251] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a communication device, including: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the cell determination method executed by a network device as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0252] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the cell determination method executed by a terminal as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0253] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the cell determination method performed by a network device as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0254] like Figure 15 As shown, Figure 15 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus 1500 for cell determination according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 1500 can be provided as a base station. (Refer to...) Figure 15 The apparatus 1500 includes a processing component 1522, a wireless transmit / receive component 1524, an antenna component 1526, and a signal processing section specific to the wireless interface. The processing component 1522 may further include one or more processors. One of the processors in the processing component 1522 may be configured to implement the cell determination method performed by a network device as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0255] Figure 16 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating a cell determination device 1600 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, device 1600 may be a mobile phone, computer, digital broadcast terminal, messaging device, game console, tablet device, medical device, fitness equipment, personal digital assistant, etc.

[0256] Reference Figure 16 The device 1600 may include one or more of the following components: a processing component 1602, a memory 1604, a power supply component 1606, a multimedia component 1608, an audio component 1610, an input / output (I / O) interface 1612, a sensor component 1614, and a communication component 1616.

[0257] Processing component 1602 typically controls the overall operation of device 1600, such as operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communication, camera operation, and recording operations. Processing component 1602 may include one or more processors 1620 to execute instructions to perform the cell determination method executed by the terminal in any of the above embodiments. Furthermore, processing component 1602 may include one or more modules to facilitate interaction between processing component 1602 and other components. For example, processing component 1602 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between multimedia component 1608 and processing component 1602.

[0258] Memory 1604 is configured to store various types of data to support the operation of device 1600. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on device 1600, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, etc. Memory 1604 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic storage, flash memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk.

[0259] Power supply component 1606 provides power to various components of device 1600. Power supply component 1606 may include a power management system, one or more power sources, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power to device 1600.

[0260] Multimedia component 1608 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 1600 and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touchscreen to receive input signals from the user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touches, swipes, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensors may sense not only the boundaries of the touch or swipe action but also the duration and pressure associated with the touch or swipe operation. In some embodiments, multimedia component 1608 includes a front-facing camera and / or a rear-facing camera. When the device 1600 is in an operating mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode, the front-facing camera and / or the rear-facing camera may receive external multimedia data. Each front-facing camera and rear-facing camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have focal length and optical zoom capabilities.

[0261] Audio component 1610 is configured to output and / or input audio signals. For example, audio component 1610 includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when device 1600 is in an operating mode, such as call mode, recording mode, and voice recognition mode. The received audio signals may be further stored in memory 1604 or transmitted via communication component 1616. In some embodiments, audio component 1610 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

[0262] I / O interface 1612 provides an interface between processing component 1602 and peripheral interface modules, such as keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to, home buttons, volume buttons, power buttons, and lock buttons.

[0263] Sensor assembly 1614 includes one or more sensors for providing status assessments of various aspects of device 1600. For example, sensor assembly 1614 may detect the on / off state of device 1600, the relative positioning of components such as the display and keypad of device 1600, changes in position of device 1600 or a component of device 1600, the presence or absence of user contact with device 1600, orientation or acceleration / deceleration of device 1600, and temperature changes of device 1600. Sensor assembly 1614 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. Sensor assembly 1614 may also include an optical sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, sensor assembly 1614 may also include an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure sensor, or temperature sensor.

[0264] Communication component 1616 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between device 1600 and other devices. Device 1600 can access wireless networks based on communication standards, such as WiFi, 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G NR, or combinations thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, communication component 1616 receives broadcast signals or broadcast-related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, communication component 1616 also includes a near-field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, Infrared Data Association (IrDA) technology, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

[0265] In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 1600 may be implemented by one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other electronic components to perform the cell determination method executed by the terminal in any of the above embodiments.

[0266] In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions is also provided, such as a memory 1604 including instructions, which can be executed by a processor 1620 of the device 1600 to complete the cell determination method executed by the terminal in any of the above embodiments. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, random access memory (RAM), CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, and optical data storage device, etc.

[0267] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of this disclosure are indicated by the following claims.

[0268] It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the precise structures described above and shown in the accompanying drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of this disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

[0269] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. The terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0270] The methods and apparatus provided in the embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above. Specific examples have been used to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of this disclosure. The descriptions of the embodiments above are only for the purpose of helping to understand the methods and core ideas of this disclosure. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope based on the ideas of this disclosure. Therefore, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for determining a cell, characterized in that, The method, executed by a terminal, includes: Based on predefined rules, at least one second cell is determined to be applicable to at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells; The predefined rules include: after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells in a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell. The at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell, and at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be used for the at least one first cell; or, If there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, then at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be applied to the cell in the intersection.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The determination, based on predefined rules, of at least one second cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied includes: According to predefined rules, at least one second cell can be applied to each of the at least one information domains.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The determination, based on predefined rules, of at least one second cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied includes: At least one second cell that can be jointly applied by the at least one information domain is determined according to predefined rules.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: When there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field should not be applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is abandoned.

5. A method for determining a cell, characterized in that, Performed by a network device, the method includes: According to predefined rules, at least one second cell can be applied to at least one information field in the downlink control information sent to the terminal for scheduling multiple cells. The predefined rules include: after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells in a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell. The at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell, and at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be used for the at least one first cell; or, If there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, then at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be applied to the cell in the intersection.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The determination, based on predefined rules, of at least one second cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied includes: According to predefined rules, at least one second cell can be applied to each of the at least one information domains.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The determination, based on predefined rules, of at least one second cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied includes: At least one second cell that can be jointly applied by the at least one information domain is determined according to predefined rules.

8. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The method further includes: When there is no intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, it is determined that the information field should not be applied to any cell, or the parsing of the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells is abandoned.

9. A cell determination device, characterized in that, The device includes: The processing module is configured to determine, according to predefined rules, at least one second cell to which at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells can be applied; The predefined rules include: after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells in a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell. The at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell, and at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be used for the at least one first cell; or, If there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, then at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be applied to the cell in the intersection.

10. A cell determination device, characterized in that, The device includes: The processing module is configured to determine, according to predefined rules, at least one second cell to which at least one information field of the downlink control information for scheduling multiple cells sent to the terminal can be applied; The predefined rules include: after sorting the cells that can be scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells or the at least one first cell scheduled by the downlink control information used to schedule multiple cells in a predefined order, the cells in the predefined order are the at least one second cell. The at least one first cell is a subset of the at least one second cell, and at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be used for the at least one first cell; or, If there is an intersection between the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell, and the at least one first cell is not a subset of the at least one second cell, then at least one information field in the downlink control information used for scheduling multiple cells is determined to be applied to the cell in the intersection.

11. A cell determination system, characterized in that, The device includes a terminal and a network device, wherein the terminal is configured to implement the cell determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and the network device is configured to implement the cell determination method according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

12. A communication device, characterized in that, include: processor; Memory used to store computer programs; When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the cell determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

13. A communication device, characterized in that, include: processor; Memory used to store computer programs; When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the cell determination method according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

14. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the cell determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

15. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the cell determination method according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

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