Communication method and device

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication method and device, relates to the technical field of communication, and can reduce the power consumption of terminal equipment on the basis of reducing the number of blind tests, thereby improving the communication performance. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment acquires first indication information; receiving first-level control information from the network equipment; receiving the second-level control information from the network equipment according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information; and obtaining one or more pieces of control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information. Wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the format of each piece of control information in the first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks comprises one or more pieces of control information; the first-level control information comprises scheduling information of the second-level control information; the second level control information includes a first set of control information blocks.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to communication methods and devices. Background Art

[0002] In a communication system, a network device may send group common downlink control information (group common DCI, referred to as group DCI for short) to a terminal device, and the terminal device may receive the group DCI by blind detection.

[0003] However, the terminal device has a large number of blind detection times when receiving group DCI, resulting in high power consumption of the terminal device.

[0004] Therefore, how to reduce the power consumption of terminal equipment while reducing the number of blind detections has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which can reduce the power consumption of a terminal device while reducing the number of blind detections.

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device. Unless otherwise specified, the "terminal device" in this application can refer to the terminal device itself, or a component in the terminal device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device. The method includes: the terminal device obtains first indication information; receives first-level control information from a network device; receives second-level control information from a network device according to scheduling information of the second-level control information; obtains one or more control information in a first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information; the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; and the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks.

[0007] Based on the first aspect, the terminal device detects the first-level control information through blind detection. At the same time, the terminal device does not need to perform blind detection on the second-level control information, but instead obtains and parses the second-level control information according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information in the first-level control information, and then obtains the first group of control information blocks in the second-level control information. Therefore, when the terminal device receives the first group of control information blocks, it can reduce the power consumption of the terminal device on the basis of reducing the number of blind detections; in addition, the terminal device can determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the format, which can improve the reliability of communication and improve communication performance.

[0008] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is predefined; or, the first indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0009] Based on this possible implementation, on the one hand, compared with the network device sending the first indication information to the terminal device, when the first indication information is predefined, the transmission overhead can be reduced; on the other hand, when the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the network device can dynamically determine the control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the actual communication situation, which can improve the flexibility of the control information included in the first group of control information blocks. At the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information from the network device, which can improve the effectiveness of communication.

[0010] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is a bit map; wherein each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether there is control information of a format corresponding to the bit; and one bit corresponds to a format of control information.

[0011] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can determine whether control information in the format corresponding to the bit exists according to the bit map, and then determine the format of one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks, providing a feasible solution for the implementation form of the first indication information.

[0012] In one possible implementation, a terminal device receives search space information from a network device; determines the format of each control information in a first group of control information blocks based on the format of control information corresponding to one or more search spaces; wherein the search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces.

[0013] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can determine the format of the control information according to the search space information, providing a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks.

[0014] In one possible implementation, the terminal device receives second indication information from the network device; based on the second indication information, determines the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks; wherein the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length (size, which can also be expressed as size) of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information; the third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0015] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can send the same first group of control information blocks to multiple terminal devices, which can improve the working efficiency of the network device and reduce the load of the network device; further, the terminal device can receive second indication information from the network device, and determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks based on the second indication information, and can parse the control information corresponding to the position, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device.

[0016] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0017] Based on this possible implementation, the second indication information may be located in the above-mentioned several types of information, providing several feasible solutions for the transmission of the second indication information.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the terminal device receives fourth indication information from the network device; wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

[0019] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can explicitly determine whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks according to the fourth indication information, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device and further improve the reliability of communication, and provide a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks.

[0020] In one possible implementation, fifth indication information is obtained; based on the fifth indication information, one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks are obtained; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

[0021] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can explicitly determine the format of one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the format, which can improve communication reliability and communication performance.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the fifth indication information is predefined; or, the fifth indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0023] Based on this possible implementation, on the one hand, compared with the network device sending the fifth indication information to the terminal device, when the fifth indication information is predefined, the transmission overhead can be reduced; on the other hand, when the network device sends the fifth indication information to the terminal device, the network device can dynamically determine the control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the actual communication situation, which can improve the flexibility of the control information included in the second group of control information blocks. At the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information from the network device, which can improve the effectiveness of communication.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the control information includes sixth indication information; wherein the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

[0025] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can explicitly determine whether the control information includes one or more extended domains according to the sixth indication information, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device and provide a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine whether the control information includes one or more extended domains.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the second-level control information is carried on a transport block (TB); or, the second-level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0027] Based on this possible implementation, the second-level control information can be carried on a transmission block or on a physical downlink shared channel, providing two feasible solutions for the transmission of the second-level control information.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the length of the transport block is determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

[0029] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can dynamically determine the length of the transmission block according to the actual communication scenario, which can improve the flexibility of determining the length of the transmission block, improve the effectiveness of the communication, and thus improve the communication performance.

[0030] In one possible implementation, the terminal device parses the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) in the transmission block; or, the terminal device parses the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, the fifth indication information, the second group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

[0031] Based on this possible implementation, when the transmission block includes a first group of control information blocks and a second group of control information blocks, the network device can send the transmission block to one or more terminal devices. The network device does not need to send different transmission blocks to the terminal devices according to the capabilities of different terminal devices (i.e., the capabilities of the group control information blocks supported by the terminal devices), which can improve the working efficiency of the network device and reduce the load of the network device; at the same time, the terminal device can parse the group control information block according to the capabilities of the terminal device, and the group control information blocks that cannot be parsed can be directly discarded, which can improve the effectiveness of communication and thereby improve communication performance.

[0032] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device. Unless otherwise specified, the "network device" in this application can refer to the network device itself, or a component in the network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions. The method includes: the network device sends first-level control information to the terminal device; sends second-level control information to the terminal device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; the second-level control information includes a first group of control information blocks; and the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information.

[0033] Based on the second aspect, the network device sends first-level control information to the terminal device. Since the size of the first-level control information is fixed, the terminal device can detect the first-level control information through blind detection. At the same time, the network device can send second-level control information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can obtain and parse the second-level control information according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information in the first-level control information, and then obtain the first group of control information blocks in the second-level control information. Therefore, when the terminal device receives the first group of control information blocks, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced on the basis of reducing the number of blind detections.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks.

[0035] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can dynamically determine the control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the actual communication situation, which can improve the flexibility of the control information included in the first group of control information blocks. At the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information, which can improve the effectiveness of communication.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0037] Based on this possible implementation, the first indication information may be located in the above-mentioned several types of information, providing several feasible solutions for the transmission of the first indication information.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is a bit map; wherein each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether there is control information of a format corresponding to the bit; and one bit corresponds to a format of control information.

[0039] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can determine whether control information in the format corresponding to the bit exists according to the bit map, and then determine the format of one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks, providing a feasible solution for the implementation form of the first indication information.

[0040] In a possible implementation, a network device sends search space information to a terminal device; wherein the search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces.

[0041] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can determine the format of the control information according to the search space information, providing a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks.

[0042] In one possible implementation, the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device; wherein the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information; the third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0043] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can send the same first group of control information blocks to multiple terminal devices without determining the first group of control information blocks associated with each terminal device based on actual communication conditions, which can improve the working efficiency of the network device and reduce the load of the network device; further, the network device can send second indication information to the terminal device, which can enable the terminal device to determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks according to the second indication information, and can enable the terminal device to decode the control information corresponding to the position, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0045] Based on this possible implementation, the second indication information may be located in the above-mentioned several types of information, providing several feasible solutions for the transmission of the second indication information.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device; wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

[0047] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can send a fourth indication information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can explicitly determine whether the second-level control information also includes a second group of control information blocks based on the fourth indication information, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device and further improve the reliability of communication, and provide a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine whether the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

[0048] In a possible implementation, the network device sends fifth indication information to the terminal device; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

[0049] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can send a fifth indication information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can explicitly determine the format of one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the format, which can improve the reliability of communication and improve communication performance.

[0050] In a possible implementation, the fifth indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0051] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can dynamically determine the control information included in the second group of control information blocks according to the actual communication situation, and the flexibility of the control information included in the second group of control information blocks can be improved. At the same time, the network device can send the fifth indication information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can determine the format of one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information, thereby improving the effectiveness of communication.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the control information includes sixth indication information; wherein the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

[0053] Based on this possible implementation, the terminal device can explicitly determine whether the control information includes one or more extended domains according to the sixth indication information, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device and provide a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine whether the control information includes one or more extended domains.

[0054] In a possible implementation, the second-level control information is carried on a transmission block; or, the second-level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0055] Based on this possible implementation, the second-level control information can be carried on a transmission block or on a physical downlink shared channel, providing two feasible solutions for the transmission of the second-level control information.

[0056] In one possible implementation, the length of the transport block is determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

[0057] Based on this possible implementation, the network device can dynamically determine the length of the transmission block according to the actual communication scenario, which can improve the flexibility of determining the length of the transmission block, improve the effectiveness of the communication, and thus improve the communication performance.

[0058] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, for implementing the method in the first aspect. The communication device may be the terminal device in the first aspect, or a device or component included in the terminal device, such as a chip.

[0059] The communication device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the above method, which can be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

[0060] In some possible implementations, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module may include a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The processing module may be used to implement the processing functions in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation thereof. Exemplarily, the processing module is used to obtain first indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information; the transceiver module is used to receive first-level control information from a network device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; the transceiver module is also used to receive second-level control information from the network device according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information; wherein the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks; the processing module is also used to obtain one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information.

[0061] Optionally, the transceiver module and processing module of the communication device in the third aspect can also perform the corresponding functions in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. Please refer to the detailed description in the method example for details. The beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be referred to the aforementioned related content.

[0062] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, for implementing the method in the second aspect. The communication device may be the network device in the second aspect, or a device or component included in the network device, such as a chip.

[0063] The communication device includes a module, unit, or means corresponding to the above method, which can be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

[0064] In some possible implementations, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module may include a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The processing module may be used to implement the processing functions in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation thereof. Exemplarily, the transceiver module is used to send first-level control information to the terminal device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; the transceiver module is also used to send second-level control information to the terminal device; wherein the second-level control information includes a first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information.

[0065] Optionally, the transceiver module and processing module of the communication device in the fourth aspect can also perform the corresponding functions in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. Please refer to the detailed description in the method example for details. The beneficial effects that can be achieved can also be referred to the aforementioned related content.

[0066] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor, the processor being configured to execute computer instructions stored in a memory or through a logic circuit, so that the communication device performs the method described in any one of the above aspects or any possible implementation of any one of the aspects. The communication device may be a terminal device in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or a device or component included in the terminal device, such as a chip; or the communication device may be a network device in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or a device or component included in the network device, such as a chip.

[0067] In some possible implementations, the communication device further includes a memory for storing computer instructions and / or configuration files of logic circuits. Optionally, the memory is integrated with the processor, or the memory is independent of the processor.

[0068] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to input and / or output signals; the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes the method described in any of the above aspects. The communication device can be a terminal device in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or a device or component included in the terminal device, such as a chip; or the communication device can be a network device in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or a device or component included in the network device, such as a chip.

[0069] In some possible implementations, the communication interface is an interface circuit for reading and writing computer instructions. For example, the interface circuit is used to receive computer execution instructions (computer execution instructions are stored in a memory, may be read directly from the memory, or may pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0070] In some possible implementations, the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device.

[0071] In some possible implementations, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system. When the device is a chip system, the chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0072] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a logic circuit and an interface circuit; the interface circuit is used to input information and / or output information; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any of the above aspects, and process and / or generate output information according to the input information. The communication device can be a terminal device in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or a device or component included in the terminal device, such as a chip; or the communication device can be a network device in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or a device or component included in the network device, such as a chip.

[0073] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, the method described in any one of the above aspects is executed.

[0074] According to a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which, when executed by a processor, enables the method described in any one of the above aspects to be executed.

[0075] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the third aspect to the seventh aspect is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action / function can be understood as output information, and the above-mentioned receiving action / function can be understood as input information.

[0076] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any implementation method from the third aspect to the ninth aspect can refer to the technical effects brought about by the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or refer to the technical effects brought about by the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0077] In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the terminal device described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect and the network device described in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0078] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided for this application;

[0079] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided for this application;

[0080] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided for this application;

[0081] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0082] Figure 5An interactive schematic diagram of a communication method provided by this application;

[0083] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a first group of control information blocks provided by the present application;

[0084] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a transmission group DCI based on a two-level DCI structure provided in this application;

[0085] Figure 8 An interactive schematic diagram of a communication method provided by this application;

[0086] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the location of control information associated with a terminal device provided in the present application on a first group of control information blocks;

[0087] Fig.10 An interactive schematic diagram of a communication method provided by this application;

[0088] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of a first group of control information blocks and a second group of control information blocks provided by the present application;

[0089] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of a first group of control information blocks and a second group of control information blocks provided by the present application;

[0090] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of a transmission block provided by the present application;

[0091] Fig.14 A schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device provided for this application;

[0092] Fig.15 A schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided for this application;

[0093] Fig.16 A schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0094] The implementation of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0095] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship, for example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in this application is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural.

[0096] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0097] In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art can understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit the difference.

[0098] In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

[0099] It is understood that the "embodiment" mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the various embodiments in the entire specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It is understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application.

[0100] It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented independently in certain scenarios without relying on other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects, or may be combined with other features according to needs in certain scenarios. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also realize these features or functions accordingly, which will not be elaborated here.

[0101] In this application, unless otherwise specified, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can refer to each other. In each embodiment of this application, if there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships. The following description of the implementation methods of this application does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this application.

[0102] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, a brief introduction to the related technologies of the present application is first given as follows.

[0103] 1) Communication status

[0104] Due to the introduction of new features such as large bandwidth, massive antennas, and / or high speed in communication systems, as well as the fact that devices in communication systems can support higher transmission power, the energy consumption problem of fifth-generation (5G) terminal devices is more serious than that of fourth-generation (4G) terminal devices, becoming one of the important reasons affecting the user experience of 5G networks.

[0105] Therefore, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardization organization has carried out research related to energy saving of new radio (NR) terminal equipment.

[0106] For example, the R15 protocol version is mainly optimized for energy saving of connected terminal devices, such as discontinuous reception and energy saving of part of the bandwidth; the R16 protocol version is mainly based on the R15 protocol version, and further optimizes the energy saving for connected terminal devices, such as dormant auxiliary carriers and limiting the number of multiple antenna layers; the R17 protocol version is mainly optimized for energy saving of idle terminal devices, such as advance paging indication and synchronization based on tracking reference signals.

[0107] 2) DCI

[0108] Optionally, the network device can send DCI to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device can detect the DCI through blind detection and obtain the scheduling information of the data in the DCI. Further, the terminal device can communicate with the network device based on the scheduling information of the data.

[0109] However, since there are multiple DCIs in different formats and several possible DCI sizes, the terminal device needs to perform multiple blind detections to obtain the DCI, which increases the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0110] Therefore, the number of blind detections of terminal devices can be reduced through a two-stage DCI structure.

[0111] 3) Two-level DCI structure

[0112] The two-level DCI structure includes a first-level DCI and a second-level DCI.

[0113] Among them, the first level DCI (or described as DCI-1, 1 st DCI) is carried in the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is used to indicate the second-level DCI (or described as DCI-2, 2 nd The DCI) contains scheduling information (such as time-frequency-space resources, modulation order, code rate, etc.).

[0114] The second-level DCI is carried in the PDSCH, indicating downlink scheduling information, or uplink scheduling information, or downlink scheduling information and uplink scheduling information.

[0115] Exemplarily, when there is a second-level DCI, the terminal device can receive the second-level DCI based on the first-level DCI, and determine the scheduling information of the data based on the second-level DCI; or, when there is no second-level DCI, the terminal device can receive the first-level DCI and determine the scheduling information of the data based on the first-level DCI.

[0116] It can be understood that the first-level DCI may include scheduling information of the second-level DCI, and the second-level DCI includes scheduling information of the data; or, the first-level DCI may also include scheduling information of the second-level DCI and scheduling information of part of the data, and the second-level DCI may include scheduling information of all or part of the data.

[0117] It is understandable that the transmission unit on the PDSCH is a physical resource block (PRB) in the frequency domain and a time slot in the time domain. The entire PRB in the time slot can be used to transmit the second-level DCI, so that the size of the second-level DCI has great flexibility.

[0118] Based on the description of the two-level DCI, in a possible embodiment, the terminal device can detect the first-level DCI by blind detection on the PDCCH and parse the first-level DCI. At the same time, the terminal device can obtain and parse the second-level DCI on the PDSCH according to the scheduling information of the second-level DCI without blind detection of the second-level DCI, which can effectively reduce the number of blind detections and reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0119] 4) Group DCI

[0120] Optionally, the network device may send DCI to the terminal device group, which is referred to as group DCI, or group common DCI; correspondingly, the terminal device may receive the group DCI by blind detection.

[0121] Among them, the protocol supports group DCI in multiple formats, and the terminal device can parse the group DCI according to the scrambling sequence of the DCI.

[0122] However, the number of blind detections when the terminal device receives the group DCI is relatively large, resulting in high power consumption of the terminal device and affecting communication performance.

[0123] Therefore, how to reduce the power consumption of terminal equipment while reducing the number of blind detections and thus improve communication performance has become an urgent problem to be solved.

[0124] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a communication method, which includes: a terminal device obtains first indication information; receives first-level control information from a network device; receives second-level control information from the network device according to scheduling information of the second-level control information; obtains one or more control information in a first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information; the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; and the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks.

[0125] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can detect the first-level control information through blind detection. At the same time, the terminal device may not need to perform blind detection on the second-level control information, but instead obtain and parse the second-level control information based on the scheduling information of the second-level control information in the first-level control information, and then obtain the first group of control information blocks in the second-level control information. Therefore, when the terminal device receives the first group of control information blocks, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced on the basis of reducing the number of blind detections. In addition, the terminal device can determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the first indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the format, which can improve the reliability of communication and improve communication performance.

[0126] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be used in various communication systems, and the communication system can be a 3GPP communication system, for example, 4G, long term evolution (LTE), 5G mobile communication system, NR, or a system of LTE and 5G hybrid networking, or a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system, or a mobile communication system evolved after 5G such as the sixth generation (6G), a vehicle to everything (V2X) system, or a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, the Internet of Things (IoT), a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), other next-generation communication systems, a perception communication integrated system, a satellite communication system, etc. The communication system can also be a non-3GPP communication system, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) system such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), without limitation.

[0127] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication scenarios, for example, one or more of the following communication scenarios: business scenarios with low latency and high reliability requirements, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC), machine type communication (MTC), massive machine type communications (mMTC), enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), IoT, narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), customer premise equipment (CPE), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), D2D, V2X, vehicle to vehicle (V2V), etc.

[0128] The embodiments of the present application are applicable to both homogeneous and heterogeneous network scenarios, and there is no restriction on the transmission points. It can be multi-point coordinated transmission between macro base stations, micro base stations, and macro base stations. It is applicable to frequency division multiplexing systems, time division multiplexing systems, duplex systems, access backhaul systems, relay systems, etc. The embodiments of the present application are applicable to low-frequency scenarios (sub 6G), high-frequency scenarios (above 6G), terahertz, optical communications, etc., without restriction.

[0129] The above-mentioned communication systems and communication scenarios applicable to the present application are merely examples, and the communication systems and communication scenarios applicable to the present application are not limited thereto, and the above-mentioned description does not impose any limitation on the solutions of the present application.

[0130] For example, the following Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by the present application. The communication system may include network equipment and terminal equipment.

[0131] Among them, the communication system can perform certain functions, such as synchronization, channel estimation, or perception.

[0132] in, Figure 1 Unless otherwise specified, the network device in the network device may refer to the network device itself, a component in the network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device.

[0133] in, Figure 1 Unless otherwise specified, the terminal device may refer to the terminal device itself, a component in the terminal device (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the terminal device.

[0134] Among them, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application can be located within the beam / cell coverage of the network device, and the network device can provide communication services for the terminal device.

[0135] The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device with wireless transceiver function or a chip or chip system that can be set in the device, which can allow the user to access the network and is a device for providing voice and / or data connectivity to the user. The terminal device may also be called user equipment (UE), subscriber unit (subscriberunit), terminal (terminal) or mobile station (MS) or mobile terminal (MT), etc.

[0136] Optionally, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a user-side device for implementing a wireless communication function, such as a terminal or a chip that can be used in a terminal, etc. The terminal may be a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a terminal unit, a terminal station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a wireless communication device, a terminal agent or a terminal device, etc. in a 5G network or a public land mobile network (PLMN) evolved after 5G. The access terminal may be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a drone, a robot, a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a customer-premises equipment (CPE) or a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, etc. Alternatively, the terminal may be a terminal with a communication function in IoT, such as a terminal in V2X (eg, a vehicle networking device), a terminal in D2D communication, or a terminal in M2M communication, etc. The terminal may be mobile or fixed.

[0137] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be any device deployed in the access network and capable of wirelessly communicating with the terminal device, or a chip or chip system that can be set in the above device, or a logical node or a logical module or a function implemented in software, which can be used to implement wireless physical control functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, wireless access control, mobility management, etc. Specifically, the network device may be a device that supports wired access or a device that supports wireless access.

[0138] Optionally, the network device in the embodiment of the present application is a device that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. The network device may be a node in a radio access network (RAN), or may be a base station, which may be referred to as a radio access network node (or device).

[0139] For example, the network device may include an evolved NodeB (eNB or e-NodeB) in an LTE system or an enhanced LTE (LTE-advanced, LTE-A) system, such as a traditional macro eNB and a micro eNB in ​​a heterogeneous network scenario. Alternatively, it may include a next generation node B (gNB) in an NR system. Alternatively, it may include a transmission reception point (TRP), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), a base band pool (BBUpool), or a Wi-Fi access point (AP), etc. Alternatively, it may include a base station in an NTN, that is, it may be deployed on a flying platform or a satellite. In the NTN, the network device may serve as a layer 1 (L1) relay, or as a base station, or as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node. Alternatively, the network device may be a device that implements a base station function in IoT, such as a device that implements a base station function in drone communications, V2X, D2D, or machine to machine (M2M).

[0140] The network device may also be a module or unit that can implement some functions of the base station. For example, the network device may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be separately configured or may be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0141] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, the network device may be a network device or a module of a network device in an open radio access network (open RAN, ORAN) system. In the ORAN system, CU may also be referred to as open (open, O)-CU, DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, and RU may also be referred to as O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0142] Optionally, the base station in the embodiments of the present application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, home base stations, TRPs, transmitting points (TP), or mobile switching centers, etc., which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0143] Based on the above description of network devices and terminal devices, this application proposes several possible communication scenarios:

[0144] The first possible communication scenario is the single connectivity (SC) scenario, as follows Figure 2 As shown, taking the network device as a base station as an example, the terminal device can be connected to a single base station, and the base station can be connected to the core network.

[0145] Among them, the standard of the base station to which the terminal device is connected is the same as the standard of the base station to which the core network is connected. For example, when the core network is a 5G core network, the base station is a 5G base station; or, when the core network is a 6G core network, the base station is a 6G base station.

[0146] The second possible communication scenario is the dual connectivity (DC) scenario, as follows Figure 3 As shown, taking the network device as a base station as an example, the terminal device can be connected to base stations of different and / or the same standards at the same time.

[0147] Among them, the terminal device can be a connected UE.

[0148] Exemplarily, the core network is a 5G core network, and the terminal device can be connected to a 5G base station and a 6G base station at the same time, the 5G base station can be used as the main station, and the 6G base station can be used as the auxiliary station; or, the core network is a 6G core network, and the terminal device can be connected to a 6G base station and a 5G base station at the same time, wherein the 6G base station can be used as the main station, and the 5G base station can be used as the auxiliary station; or, the core network is a 6G core network, and the terminal device can be connected to two 6G base stations at the same time, that is, both the main station and the auxiliary station are 6G base stations.

[0149] It should be noted that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0150] When it comes to specific implementation, Figures 1 to 3 As shown in the figure, each network device and terminal device can use Figure 4 The structure shown, or including Figure 4 Parts shown. Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device 40 provided in an embodiment of the present application, wherein the communication device 40 may be a network device or a chip or a system on chip in a network device; or may be a terminal device or a chip or a system on chip in a terminal device.

[0151] like Figure 4 As shown, the communication device 40 includes one or more processors 401. Further, the communication device 40 may also include a communication bus 402 and at least one communication interface ( Figure 4 The above description is merely exemplary, and the communication device 40 includes a communication interface 404 and a processor 401 as an example for explanation). Optionally, the communication device 40 may further include a memory 403.

[0152] Processor 401 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application, or a processing core for processing data (such as computer program instructions). The processor may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor.

[0153] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 401 may include one or more CPUs, such as Figure 4 CPU0 and CPU1 in.

[0154] The communication bus 402 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Figure 4 The communication bus 402 is represented by only one thick line, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. The communication bus 402 is used to connect different components in the communication device 40 so that different components in the communication device 40 can communicate with each other.

[0155] The communication interface 404 may be a transceiver module for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), or wireless local area network (WLAN). Exemplarily, the communication interface 404 may be a device such as a transceiver or a transceiver. Alternatively, the communication interface 404 may also be a transceiver circuit located in the processor 401 to implement signal input and signal output of the processor.

[0156] The memory 403 may be a device with a storage function. For example, it may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory may exist independently and be connected to the processor via the communication bus 402. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

[0157] Exemplarily, the memory 403 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 401. The processor 401 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 403, thereby implementing the method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0158] Alternatively, optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the processor 401 may also perform processing-related functions in the method provided in the following embodiments of the present application, and the communication interface 404 is responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0159] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0160] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 40 may further include an output device 405 and an input device 406. The output device 405 communicates with the processor 401 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 405 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 406 communicates with the processor 401 and may receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 406 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0161] It should be noted that Figure 4 The structure shown in the figure does not constitute a limitation on the communication device, except Figure 4 In addition to the components shown, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0162] Below in conjunction with accompanying drawing, the communication method that embodiment of the present application provides is described.It is understandable that, in embodiment of the present application, network equipment or terminal equipment can perform part or all of the steps in embodiment of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples, and embodiment of the present application can also perform other operations or the deformation of various operations.In addition, each step can be performed in the different order presented in embodiment of the present application, and it is possible not to perform all the operations in embodiment of the present application.

[0163] as follows Figure 5 As shown, it is an interaction diagram of a communication method provided by the present application. The communication method is explained by taking the interaction between a network device and a terminal device as an example. Of course, the subject that executes the network device action in the method can also be a device / module in the network device, such as a chip, processor, processing unit, etc. in the network device; the subject that executes the terminal device action in the method can also be a device / module in the terminal device, such as a chip, processor, processing unit, etc. in the terminal device, and the present application embodiment does not specifically limit this. In the embodiment of the present application, the processing performed by a single execution subject (for example, a network device or a terminal device) can also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects can be logically and / or physically separated. For example, see Figure 5 , the communication method comprises the following steps:

[0164] S501. The terminal device obtains first indication information.

[0165] Among them, the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks (the format can also be described as the format of the control information, or the control information format, etc., without limitation, and the following embodiments use this description for explanation).

[0166] The first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information.

[0167] Optionally, the control information may be DCI or any other control information without limitation.

[0168] Exemplarily, the first group control information block may be a group DCI block.

[0169] In a first possible implementation, N formats may be predefined, and the first indication information may indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the predefined N formats.

[0170] As an exemplary example, taking the predefined format including 8 formats as an example, the first indication information may indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the 8 formats.

[0171] For example, taking the first group of control information blocks including 8 control information as an example, the first indication information may indicate that the format of the first control information in the first group of control information blocks is the first format among the 8 formats, the format of the second control information in the first group of control information blocks is the second format among the 8 formats, ..., the format of the eighth control information in the first group of control information blocks is the 8th format among the 8 formats.

[0172] For another example, taking the first group of control information blocks including 3 control information, the first indication information may indicate that the format of the first control information in the first group of control information blocks is the first format among 8 formats, the format of the second control information in the first group of control information blocks is the third format among the 8 formats, and the format of the third control information in the first group of control information blocks is the fifth format among the 8 formats.

[0173] In a second possible implementation, the first indication information may also indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on M formats among N predefined formats.

[0174] Wherein, N and M are positive integers, and M is less than or equal to N.

[0175] Exemplarily, taking the case where the predefined formats include 8 formats and the M formats are 5 of the 8 formats, the first indication information may indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the 5 formats.

[0176] For example, taking the first group of control information blocks including 5 control information as an example, the first indication information may indicate that the format of the first control information in the first group of control information blocks is the first format among the 5 formats, the format of the second control information in the first group of control information blocks is the second format among the 5 formats, ..., the format of the fifth control information in the first group of control information blocks is the fifth format among the 5 formats.

[0177] For another example, taking the first group of control information blocks including 2 control information, the first indication information may indicate that the format of the first control information in the first group of control information blocks is the first format among 5 formats, and the format of the second control information in the first group of control information blocks is the fourth format among the 5 formats.

[0178] Optionally, M formats may be determined from N formats according to one or more of the following: a state of the terminal device, a format supported by the terminal device, an actual communication scenario, etc.

[0179] Exemplarily, taking the example of determining M formats from N formats according to the state of the terminal device, the M formats can be used for the connected terminal device, and the NM formats can be used for the idle terminal device or the inactive terminal device.

[0180] Based on the above description of the first indication information, in a first possible embodiment, the first indication information may be a bit map.

[0181] Each bit in the bitmap is used to indicate whether there is control information in a format corresponding to the bit.

[0182] It can be understood that, as shown in the first possible implementation above, the bit map can be N bits; or, as shown in the second possible implementation above, the bit map can also be M bits, with one bit corresponding to one format.

[0183] It can be understood that the starting bit of the bitmap can be the highest bit, or the starting bit of the bitmap can be the lowest bit, without limitation.

[0184] Optionally, the bit value of a bit in the bitmap may be set to 1 to indicate that there is control information of the format corresponding to the bit; the bit value of a bit in the bitmap may be set to 0 to indicate that there is no control information of the format corresponding to the bit. Alternatively, the bit value of a bit in the bitmap may be set to 0 to indicate that there is control information of the format corresponding to the bit; the bit value of a bit in the bitmap may be set to 1 to indicate that there is no control information of the format corresponding to the bit.

[0185] In an exemplary embodiment, taking N as 8, the starting bit of the bitmap as the highest bit, and the bit value of 1 indicating the existence of control information of the format corresponding to the bit as an example, it is assumed that the format corresponding to the first bit may be format 11, the format corresponding to the second bit may be format 12, ..., and the format corresponding to the eighth bit may be format 18. When the bitmap is 10001000, it may indicate that the first group of control information blocks includes control information corresponding to format 11 and control information corresponding to format 15; or, when the bitmap is 11000100, it may indicate that the first group of control information blocks includes control information corresponding to format 11, control information corresponding to format 12, and control information corresponding to format 16.

[0186] In another exemplary embodiment, taking M as 5, the starting bit of the bitmap as the highest bit, and the bit value of 1 indicating the existence of control information of the format corresponding to the bit as an example, it is assumed that the format corresponding to the first bit may be format 21, the format corresponding to the second bit may be format 22, ..., and the format corresponding to the fifth bit may be format 25. When the bitmap is 10001, it may indicate that the first group of control information blocks includes control information corresponding to format 21 and control information corresponding to format 25; or, when the bitmap is 11010, it may indicate that the first group of control information blocks includes control information corresponding to format 21, control information corresponding to format 22, and control information corresponding to format 24.

[0187] Based on the first possible embodiment, the terminal device can determine whether control information in the format corresponding to the bit exists according to the bit map, and then determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks, providing a feasible solution for the implementation form of the first indication information.

[0188] In a second possible embodiment, the first indication information may be search space information.

[0189] The search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces, and each search space is associated with one or more formats.

[0190] Optionally, the network device may send search space information to the terminal device; correspondingly, the terminal device may receive search space information from the network device. Further, the terminal device may determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the format corresponding to one or more search spaces.

[0191] Exemplarily, taking search space 1 associating M1 formats, search space 2 associating M2 formats, and search space 3 associating M3 formats as an example, assuming that the search space information indicates search space 1 and search space 2, it can be determined that the formats indicated by the first indication information are the above-mentioned M1 formats and the above-mentioned M2 formats.

[0192] Wherein, M1, M2, and M3 are all positive integers, and M1 is less than or equal to N, M2 is less than or equal to N, and M3 is less than or equal to N.

[0193] Based on the second possible embodiment, the terminal device can determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the search space information, providing a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks.

[0194] Optionally, the first indication information may be predefined, or the first indication information may be sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0195] Exemplarily, the network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device through one or more of the following: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0196] It can be understood that, on the one hand, compared with the network device sending the first indication information to the terminal device, when the first indication information is predefined, the transmission overhead can be reduced; on the other hand, when the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the network device can dynamically determine the control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the actual communication situation, which can improve the flexibility of the control information included in the first group of control information blocks. At the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information, which can improve the effectiveness of communication.

[0197] S502: The network device sends the first level control information; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first level control information from the network device.

[0198] The first level control information includes scheduling information of the second level control information.

[0199] Exemplarily, the scheduling information of the second-level control information may include one or more of the following: a time domain resource allocation indication, a frequency domain resource allocation indication, or a modulation coding indication, etc.

[0200] Exemplarily, the first-level control information may be a first-level DCI, or may be other control information, without limitation.

[0201] The first level control information is used to indicate that the second level control information includes a first group of control information blocks.

[0202] Exemplarily, the network device may scramble the first level control information based on the first group of control information blocks.

[0203] For example, taking the identifier of the first group of control information blocks as the group radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI), the network device can scramble the first-level control information according to the G-RNTI, and accordingly, the terminal device can determine that the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks based on the G-RNTI.

[0204] S503. The network device sends the second-level control information to the terminal device; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second-level control information from the network device according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information.

[0205] Exemplarily, taking the case where the scheduling information of the second-level control information includes a time domain resource allocation indication and a frequency domain resource allocation indication, the terminal device can determine the time-frequency resources associated with the second-level control information based on the time domain resource allocation indication and the frequency domain resource allocation indication, and receive the second-level control information on the time-frequency resources associated with the second-level control information.

[0206] Optionally, the second-level control information may be a second-level DCI or other control information without limitation.

[0207] The second level control information may include a first group of control information blocks.

[0208] The first group of control information blocks may include one or more control information.

[0209] For example, the first group of control information blocks includes N control information as follows: Figure 6 As shown, the first group of control information blocks may include control information corresponding to format 11 (such as control information 1), control information corresponding to format 12 (such as control information 2), ..., and control information corresponding to format 1N (such as control information N).

[0210] S504. The terminal device obtains one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information.

[0211] Among them, the terminal device can determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the first indication information. Further, the terminal device can parse one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the determined format to obtain one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks.

[0212] Optionally, the terminal device may parse the control information corresponding to the format supported by the terminal device according to the format.

[0213] In a possible embodiment, taking the control information as DCI, the second-level DCI including the first indication information and the first indication information as a bitmap as an example, as follows Figure 7 As shown, the terminal device can obtain the second-level DCI (the second-level DCI includes a bit map and a first group of DCI blocks) based on the scheduling information of the second-level DCI in the first-level DCI; further, the terminal device can determine the format of the DCI in the first group of DCI blocks based on the bit map.

[0214] Exemplarily, taking N as 8, the starting bit of the bitmap as the highest bit, and the bit value 1 indicating the existence of control information of the format corresponding to the bit as an example, it is assumed that the format corresponding to the first bit may be format 11, the format corresponding to the second bit may be format 12, ..., the format corresponding to the eighth bit may be format 18, and the bitmap is 10011010. The terminal device may determine that the format of DCI1 is format 11, the format of DCI2 is format 14, the format of DCI3 is format 15, and the format of DCI4 is format 17 according to the bitmap; further, the terminal device may parse the DCI according to the format based on actual needs (e.g., when the terminal device supports DCI corresponding to format 11, the terminal device may parse DCI1 according to format 11).

[0215] Understandably, Figure 5 The order of the steps is not fixed. For example, when the first indication information is predefined, or the first indication information is located in the system message / radio resource control reconfiguration information, S501 can be before S502, between S502 and S503, or between S503 and S504, without limitation. When the first indication information is located in the first-level control information, S501 and S502 can be one step. When the first indication information is located in the second-level control information, S501 and S503 can be one step.

[0216] Based on the above Figure 5 According to the communication method shown, the terminal device can detect the first-level control information through blind detection. At the same time, the terminal device does not need to perform blind detection on the second-level control information, but instead obtains and parses the second-level control information according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information in the first-level control information, and then obtains the first group of control information blocks in the second-level control information. Therefore, when the terminal device receives the first group of control information blocks, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced on the basis of reducing the number of blind detections. In addition, the terminal device can determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the format, which can improve the reliability of communication and improve communication performance.

[0217] Optionally, the network device may send a first group of control information blocks to one or more terminal devices, in which the control information associated with different terminal devices may be the same or different. The present application also proposes a communication method as follows: Figure 8 As shown, the terminal device can determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, and the specific steps can be as follows:

[0218] S801. The network device sends second indication information to the terminal device; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device.

[0219] The second indication information may include one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information.

[0220] The third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0221] Optionally, the second indication information may be located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0222] S802. The terminal device determines the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks according to the second indication information.

[0223] Among them, based on the terminal device determining the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the present application proposes the following two possible embodiments:

[0224] In a first possible embodiment, the terminal device may determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks according to the length of the control information associated with the terminal device and the third indication information.

[0225] For example, the following Fig. 9 As shown, the terminal device can determine the starting position (such as position 1) of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks based on the third indication information. Further, the terminal device can determine the ending position (such as position 2) of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks based on position 1 and the length of the control information associated with the terminal device. Therefore, the terminal device can determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0226] In a second possible embodiment, the terminal device may determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks according to the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0227] For example, the following Fig. 9 As shown, the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks may be bits between position 1 and position 2, so the terminal device may determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0228] Based on the above Figure 8 According to the communication method shown, the network device can send the same first group of control information blocks to multiple terminal devices, which can improve the working efficiency of the network device and reduce the load of the network device; further, the terminal device can receive second indication information from the network device, and determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks according to the second indication information, and can parse the control information corresponding to the position, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device.

[0229] Based on the above Figure 5-Figure 9 The communication method shown in the figure, the second-level control information may also include a second group of control information blocks (the second group of control information blocks may include one or more control information), and the present application also proposes a communication method that can enable the terminal device to determine that the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks. The specific steps may be as follows Fig.10 As shown:

[0230] S1001. The network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth indication information from the network device.

[0231] The fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks.

[0232] Exemplarily, the fourth indication information may be one bit, and when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks; when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the second-level control information does not include the second group of control information blocks. Alternatively, when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks; when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the second-level control information does not include the second group of control information blocks.

[0233] It can be understood that the fourth indication information can be carried in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0234] Optionally, when the fourth indication information indicates that the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks, the terminal device may determine that the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

[0235] For example, the fourth indication information may be located after the first indication information, and the terminal device may determine that a second group of control information blocks exists after the first group of control information blocks associated with the first indication information.

[0236] It can be understood that when the terminal device supports the second group of control information blocks, the second group of control information blocks can be parsed, and the specific steps can be as follows:

[0237] S1002. The terminal device obtains fifth indication information.

[0238] The fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

[0239] Optionally, the fifth indication information is predefined; or, the fifth indication information may also be sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0240] Exemplarily, the network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device through one or more of the following: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0241] It should be noted that the description of the fifth indication information may refer to the above description of the first indication information, which will not be repeated here.

[0242] It can be understood that, on the one hand, compared with the network device sending the fifth indication information to the terminal device, when the fifth indication information is predefined, the transmission overhead can be reduced; on the other hand, when the network device sends the fifth indication information to the terminal device, the network device can dynamically determine the control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the actual communication situation, which can improve the flexibility of the control information included in the second group of control information blocks. At the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information, which can improve the effectiveness of communication.

[0243] It should be noted that there may be another fourth indication information (such as fourth indication information 2), and the fourth indication information 2 may be located after the fifth indication information, and is used to indicate whether other groups of control information blocks (such as the third group of control information blocks) exist, that is, when the bit value of the fourth indication information 2 is 1, it can indicate that the second-level control information includes the third group of control information blocks; when the bit value of the fourth indication information 2 is 0, it can indicate that the second-level control information does not include the third group of control information blocks; or, when the bit value of the fourth indication information 2 is 0, it can indicate that the second-level control information includes the third group of control information blocks; when the bit value of the fourth indication information 2 is 1, it can indicate that the second-level control information does not include the third group of control information blocks.

[0244] S1003. The terminal device obtains one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information.

[0245] Among them, S1003 is similar to the above-mentioned S504 in which the terminal device parses one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information, and will not be repeated here.

[0246] In a possible embodiment, the terminal device may determine whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks according to the fourth indication information. Assume that the bit value of the fourth indication information is 1, indicating that the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks.

[0247] An exemplary one is as follows Fig.11 As shown in (a), the bit value of the fourth indication information is 0. The terminal device can determine that there is no second group of control information blocks after the first group of control information blocks based on the fourth indication information. The terminal device can determine the format of the control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the first indication information, and then parse the control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the format.

[0248] Another exemplary example is as follows Fig.11 As shown in (b), the bit value of the fourth indication information 1 is 1, the terminal device can determine that there is a second group of control information blocks after the first group of control information blocks, and the terminal device can determine the format of the control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the first indication information, and then parse the control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the format; at the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of the control information in the second group of control information blocks based on the fifth indication information, and then parse the control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the format.

[0249] Among them, since the bit value of the fourth indication information 2 is 0, the terminal device can determine that there are no other groups of control information blocks after the second group of control information blocks.

[0250] Optionally, even if the terminal device does not receive the fourth indication information from the network device, when the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks and the terminal device supports the second group of control information blocks, the terminal device can still obtain the fifth indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the fifth indication information.

[0251] In a possible embodiment, the terminal device may directly parse one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks in the second-level control information according to the fifth indication information.

[0252] For example, the following Fig.12 As shown, the second-level control information includes a first group of control information blocks and a second group of control information blocks. The terminal device can determine the format of the control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the first indication information, and then parse the control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the format; at the same time, the terminal device can determine the format of the control information in the second group of control information blocks based on the fifth indication information, and then parse the control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the format.

[0253] It is understandable that the second-level control information may also include other groups of control information blocks (such as the third group of control information blocks), and the terminal device may Fig.10 The communication method shown obtains one or more control information in the third group of control information blocks, that is, the terminal device can determine that the second-level control information includes the third group of control information blocks based on another fourth indication information, and then obtain the seventh indication information (the seventh indication information is similar to the first indication information or the fifth indication information, and is used to indicate the format of each control information in the third group of control information blocks), and parse one or more control information in the third group of control information blocks according to the seventh indication information.

[0254] Based on the above Fig.10 According to the communication method shown, the terminal device can explicitly determine whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks based on the fourth indication information, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device, and further improve the reliability of communication, and provide a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks; the terminal device can explicitly determine the format of one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks based on the fifth indication information, and then parse one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks according to the format, which can improve the reliability of communication and improve communication performance.

[0255] It can be understood that the second indication information can also indicate the location of the control information associated with the terminal device on other groups of control information blocks (such as the second group of control information blocks or the third group of control information blocks), which is not elaborated here.

[0256] Optionally, the control information may include sixth indication information.

[0257] The sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

[0258] It should be noted that the control information may include multiple domains (the number of domains is predefined). When the domain of the control information is extended (i.e., one or more extended domains are added), the sixth indication information may be used to indicate that the control information includes one or more extended domains.

[0259] Exemplarily, the sixth indication information may be one bit, and when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the control information includes one or more extension fields; when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the control information does not include one or more extension fields. Alternatively, when the bit value is 0, it may indicate that the control information includes one or more extension fields; when the bit value is 1, it may indicate that the control information does not include one or more extension fields.

[0260] It can be understood that the sixth indication information can be located on a bit before the extended field, or the sixth indication information can be located on any bit before the extended field without limitation.

[0261] It can be understood that the terminal device can explicitly determine whether the control information includes one or more extended fields based on the sixth indication information, which can improve the working efficiency of the terminal device and provide a feasible solution for the terminal device to determine whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

[0262] Optionally, the second-level control information is carried on a transmission block; or, the second-level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0263] It can be understood that the second-level control information can be carried on a transmission block or on a physical downlink shared channel, which provides two feasible solutions for the transmission of the second-level control information.

[0264] The length of the transport block (TB size, TBS) may be determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

[0265] It can be understood that the terminal device or network device can dynamically determine the length of the transmission block according to the actual communication scenario, which can improve the flexibility of determining the length of the transmission block, improve the effectiveness of the communication, and thus improve the communication performance.

[0266] Exemplarily, the length of the transport block may be predefined, as specifically shown in the following Table 1, where the unit of the length of the transport block is bit.

[0267] Table 1 Transport block length

[0268]

[0269]

[0270] It should be noted that when the length of the transport block is determined, the length of the transport block is fixed, that is, when the length of the second-level control information is smaller than the length of the transport block, bits can be padded to make the length of the second-level control information equal to the length of the transport block.

[0271] In an exemplary manner, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the first indication information is located in the second-level control information, the useful bits in the transmission block (i.e., the bits corresponding to the content that the terminal device can parse) may be the bits occupied by the first indication information, the bits occupied by the first group of control information blocks, and the bits occupied by the cyclic redundancy check, and the other bits may be discarded or processed (such as the bit value of the other bits is 0); or, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the second group of control information blocks, and the first indication information and the fifth indication information are located in the second-level control information, the useful bits in the transmission block may be the bits occupied by the first indication information, the bits occupied by the fifth indication information, the bits occupied by the first group of control information blocks, the bits occupied by the second group of control information blocks, and the bits occupied by the cyclic redundancy check, and the other bits may be discarded or processed.

[0272] Another exemplary embodiment, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the first indication information is not located in the second-level control information, the useful bits in the transmission block may be the bits occupied by the first group of control information blocks and the bits occupied by the cyclic redundancy check, and the other bits may be discarded or processed; or, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the second group of control information blocks, and the first indication information and the fifth indication information are not located in the second-level control information, the useful bits in the transmission block may be the bits occupied by the first group of control information blocks, the bits occupied by the second group of control information blocks, and the bits occupied by the cyclic redundancy check, and the other bits may be discarded or processed.

[0273] This application proposes a possible embodiment as follows: Fig.13 As shown, taking the transmission block length of 408 bits, the control information of DCI, and the CRC of 24 bits as an example, assuming that the first group of DCI blocks is the group DCI block of R21 version, the sum of the length of the group DCI block of R21 version and the length of the bit map of R21 version is A bits; the second group of DCI blocks is the group DCI block of R22 version, the sum of the length of the group DCI block of R22 version and the length of the bit map of R22 version is B bits, and the length of the padding bits is 408-AB-24 bits.

[0274] Among them, for terminal devices that support the R21 version of the group DCI block, the useful bits in the transmission block are A+24 bits, and the padding bits and B bits are discarded; for terminal devices that support the R21 version and R22 version of the group DCI block, the useful bits in the transmission block are A+B+24 bits, and only the padding bits are discarded.

[0275] Optionally, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the first indication information is located in the second-level control information, the terminal device can parse the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; or, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the second group of control information blocks, and the first indication information and the fifth indication information are located in the second-level control information, the terminal device can parse the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, the fifth indication information, the second group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block.

[0276] It can be understood that when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the first indication information is not located in the second-level control information, the terminal device can parse the first group of control information blocks and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; or, when the terminal device supports the first group of control information blocks and the second group of control information blocks, and the first indication information and the fifth indication information are not located in the second-level control information, the terminal device can parse the first group of control information blocks, the second group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block.

[0277] In a possible embodiment, taking the first group of control information blocks as a group DCI block as an example, when the network device and the terminal device both support the R21 version of the group DCI block, the transmission block sent by the network device to the terminal device may include the R21 version of the group DCI block, and the terminal device may parse the R21 version of the group DCI block. When the network device supports the R21 version of the group DCI block and the R22 version of the group DCI block, and there are terminal device 1 supporting the R21 version of the group DCI block and terminal device 2 supporting the R22 version of the group DCI block within the coverage of the network device, the transmission block sent by the network device to terminal device 1 and terminal device 2 may include the R21 version of the group DCI block and the R22 version of the group DCI block, terminal device 1 may parse the R21 version of the group DCI block, and terminal device 1 may parse the R21 version of the group DCI block and the R22 version of the group DCI block.

[0278] It can be understood that when the transmission block includes a first group of control information blocks and a second group of control information blocks, the network device can send the transmission block to one or more terminal devices. The network device does not need to send different transmission blocks to the terminal devices according to the capabilities of different terminal devices (i.e., the capabilities of the group control information blocks supported by the terminal devices), which can improve the working efficiency of the network device and reduce the load of the network device; at the same time, the terminal device can parse the group control information block according to the capabilities of the terminal device, and the group control information blocks that cannot be parsed can be directly discarded, which can improve the effectiveness of communication and thereby improve communication performance.

[0279] It should be noted that the various embodiments of the present application can be implemented independently or in combination without limitation. If there is no special explanation or logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions of the different embodiments provided in the present application are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0280] It is understandable that in the embodiments of the present application, the execution subject may execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples. The embodiments of the present application may also execute other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps may be executed in different orders presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be executed.

[0281] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the present application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. Accordingly, the present application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the above various methods. The communication device can be a network device in the above method embodiment, or a device including the above network device, or a component that can be used for the network device; or, the communication device can be a terminal device involved in the above method embodiment, or a device including the terminal device, or a component that can be used for the terminal device.

[0282] It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0283] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

[0284] In one implementation scenario, taking the communication device as the terminal device in the above method embodiment as an example, Fig.14The schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device 140 is shown. The terminal device 140 includes a processing module 1401 and a transceiver module 1402 .

[0285] In some embodiments, the terminal device 140 may further include a storage module ( Fig.14 ), for storing program instructions and data.

[0286] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1402, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is used to implement the sending and / or receiving functions. The transceiver module 1402 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

[0287] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1402 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to execute the receiving and sending steps performed by the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 1401 may be used to execute the processing steps (such as determination, generation, etc.) performed by the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

[0288] Exemplarily, the processing module 1401 is used to obtain first indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information; the transceiver module 1402 is used to receive first-level control information from the network device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; the transceiver module 1402 is also used to receive second-level control information from the network device according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information; wherein the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks; the processing module 1401 is also used to obtain one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information.

[0289] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is predefined; or, the first indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0290] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is a bit map; wherein each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether there is control information of a format corresponding to the bit; and one bit corresponds to a format of control information.

[0291] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1402 is also used to receive search space information from a network device; wherein the search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces; the processing module 1401 is also used to determine the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks based on the format of the control information corresponding to one or more search spaces.

[0292] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1402 is also used to receive second indication information from the network device; wherein the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information; the third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks; the processing module 1401 is also used to determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks based on the second indication information.

[0293] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0294] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1402 is further used to receive fourth indication information from the network device; wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes the second group of control information blocks.

[0295] In one possible implementation, the processing module 1401 is also used to obtain fifth indication information; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks; the processing module 1401 is also used to obtain one or more control information in the second group of control information blocks based on the fifth indication information.

[0296] In a possible implementation, the fifth indication information is predefined; or, the fifth indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0297] In a possible implementation, the control information includes sixth indication information; wherein the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

[0298] In a possible implementation, the second-level control information is carried on a transmission block; or, the second-level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0299] In one possible implementation, the length of the transport block is determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

[0300] In one possible implementation, the terminal device parses the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; or, the terminal device parses the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, the fifth indication information, the second group of control information blocks, and the cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

[0301] In the present application, the terminal device 140 is presented in the form of dividing various functional modules in an integrated manner. The "module" here may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and a memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions.

[0302] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may imagine that the terminal device 140 may use Figure 4 The form of the communication device 40 is shown.

[0303] As an example, Fig.14 The function / implementation process of the processing module 1401 in Figure 4 The processor 401 in the communication device 40 shown calls the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 403 to implement. Fig.14 The function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1402 can be Figure 4 The communication interface 404 in the communication device 40 is shown to be implemented.

[0304] In some embodiments, when Fig.14 When the terminal device 140 is a chip or a chip system, the function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1402 can be implemented through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or the chip system, and the function / implementation process of the processing module 1401 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or the chip system.

[0305] Since the terminal device 140 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0306] In another implementation scenario, taking the communication device as the network device in the above method embodiment as an example, Fig.15 The schematic diagram of the structure of a network device 150 is shown. The network device 150 includes a processing module 1501 and a transceiver module 1502 .

[0307] In some embodiments, the network device 150 may also include a storage module ( Fig.15 ), for storing program instructions and data.

[0308] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1502, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is used to implement the sending and / or receiving functions. The transceiver module 1502 may be composed of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver or a communication interface.

[0309] In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1502 may include a receiving module and a sending module, which are respectively used to execute the receiving and sending steps performed by the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 1501 may be used to execute the processing steps (such as determination, generation, etc.) performed by the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and / or used to support other processes of the technology described herein.

[0310] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1502 is used to send first-level control information to the terminal device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; the transceiver module 1502 is also used to send second-level control information to the terminal device; wherein the second-level control information includes a first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information.

[0311] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1502 is further used to send first indication information to the terminal device; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks.

[0312] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0313] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is a bit map; wherein each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether there is control information of a format corresponding to the bit; and one bit corresponds to a format of control information.

[0314] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1502 is further used to send search space information to the terminal device; wherein the search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces.

[0315] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 1502 is also used to send second indication information to the terminal device; wherein the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information; the third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

[0316] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0317] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1502 is further used to send fourth indication information to the terminal device; wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

[0318] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1502 is further used to send fifth indication information to the terminal device; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

[0319] In a possible implementation, the fifth indication information is located in one or more of the following information: first-level control information, second-level control information, system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

[0320] In a possible implementation, the transceiver module 1502 is further configured to control the information to include sixth indication information; wherein the sixth indication information is configured to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

[0321] In a possible implementation, the second-level control information is carried on a transmission block; or, the second-level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

[0322] In one possible implementation, the length of the transport block is determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

[0323] In the present application, the network device 150 is presented in the form of dividing each functional module in an integrated manner. Here, the "module" may refer to a specific application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and a memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions.

[0324] In some embodiments, in terms of hardware implementation, those skilled in the art may imagine that the network device 150 may adopt Figure 4The form of the communication device 40 is shown.

[0325] As an example, Fig.15 The function / implementation process of the processing module 1501 in Figure 4 The processor 401 in the communication device 40 shown calls the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 403 to implement. Fig.15 The function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1502 can be Figure 4 The communication interface 404 in the communication device 40 is shown to be implemented.

[0326] In some embodiments, when Fig.15 When the network device 150 is a chip or a chip system, the function / implementation process of the transceiver module 1502 can be implemented through the input and output interface (or communication interface) of the chip or the chip system, and the function / implementation process of the processing module 1501 can be implemented through the processor (or processing circuit) of the chip or the chip system.

[0327] Since the network device 150 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0328] As a possible product form, the network device or terminal device described in the embodiments of the present application can also be implemented using the following: one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), programmable logic devices (PLD), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits that can perform the various functions described throughout the present application.

[0329] As another possible product form, the network device or terminal device described in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a general bus architecture. Fig.16 , Fig.16 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 160 provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the communication device 160 includes a processor 1601 and a transceiver 1602. The communication device 160 may be a network device, or a chip or module therein; or, the communication device 160 may be a terminal device, or a chip or module therein. Fig.16 Only main components of the communication device 160 are shown. In addition to the processor 1601 and the transceiver 1602, the communication device may further include a memory 1603.

[0330] Optionally, the processor 1601 is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, and to control the entire communication device, execute the software program, and process the data of the software program. The memory 1603 is mainly used to store the software program and data. The transceiver 1602 may include a radio frequency circuit and an antenna. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves.

[0331] Optionally, the processor 1601, the transceiver 1602, and the memory 1603 may be connected via a communication bus.

[0332] When the communication device is turned on, the processor 1601 can read the software program in the memory 1603, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1601 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit performs RF processing on the baseband signal and then sends the RF signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the RF circuit receives the RF signal through the antenna, converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1601. The processor 1601 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0333] In another implementation, the RF circuit and antenna may be arranged independently of the processor performing baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the RF circuit and antenna may be arranged remotely from the communication device.

[0334] In some embodiments, the present application also provides a communication device, which includes a processor, and is used to implement the method in any of the above method embodiments. The communication device can be a network device or a terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[0335] As a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary computer programs and data. The computer program may include instructions, and the processor may call the instructions in the computer program stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute the method in any of the above method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be in the communication device.

[0336] As another possible implementation, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is a code / data read / write interface circuit, which is used to receive computer execution instructions (computer execution instructions are stored in a memory, may be read directly from the memory, or may pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0337] As another possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device.

[0338] It can be understood that the communication device can be a chip or a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0339] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the functions of any of the above method embodiments are implemented.

[0340] The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0341] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0342] It is understood that the systems, devices and methods described in the present application can also be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0343] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, i.e., they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed over multiple network units. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0344] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0345] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loading and executing computer program instructions on a computer, all or part of the processes (or functions) described in the embodiments of the present application are implemented. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or may contain one or more servers, data centers and other data storage devices that can be integrated with the medium. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state drive (SSD)), etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the computer may include the aforementioned device.

[0346] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art may understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments by viewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "one" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit may implement several functions listed in a claim. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0347] Although the present application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it is obvious that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to have covered any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Acquire first indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in a first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information; Receiving first-level control information from a network device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; receiving the second-level control information from the network device according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information; wherein the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks; One or more control information in the first group of control information blocks are obtained according to the first indication information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The obtaining of the first indication information includes: The first indication information is predefined; or, The first indication information is located in one or more of the following information: the first level control information, the second level control information, a system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The first indication information is a bit map; wherein each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether there is control information of a format corresponding to the bit; and one bit corresponds to a format of control information.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Receiving search space information from the network device; wherein the search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces; The format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks is determined according to the format of the control information corresponding to the one or more search spaces.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving second indication information from the network device; wherein the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information; the third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks; According to the second indication information, determine the position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The second indication information is located in one or more of the following information: the first level control information, the second level control information, a system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive fourth indication information from the network device; wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The second level control information includes the second group of control information blocks, and the method further includes: Acquire fifth indication information; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks; One or more control information in the second group of control information blocks are obtained according to the fifth indication information.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The fifth indication information is predefined; or, The fifth indication information is located in one or more of the following information: the first level control information, the second level control information, a system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The control information includes sixth indication information; wherein the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: The second-level control information is carried on a transmission block; or, The second level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The length of the transmission block is determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The terminal device parses the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, and a cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; or, The terminal device parses the first indication information, the first group of control information blocks, the fifth indication information, the second group of control information blocks, and a cyclic redundancy check in the transmission block; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first-level control information to a terminal device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; The second-level control information is sent to the terminal device; wherein the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks; and the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that Sending first indication information to the terminal device; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the first group of control information blocks.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The first indication information is located in one or more of the following information: the first level control information, the second level control information, a system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that The first indication information is a bit map; wherein each bit in the bit map is used to indicate whether there is control information of a format corresponding to the bit; and one bit corresponds to a format of control information.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, characterized in that: Send search space information to the terminal device; wherein the search space information is used to indicate one or more search spaces.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Sending second indication information to the terminal device; wherein the second indication information includes one or more of the following: the bits occupied by the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks, the length of the control information associated with the terminal device, or third indication information; the third indication information is used to indicate the starting position of the control information associated with the terminal device in the first group of control information blocks.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The second indication information is located in one or more of the following information: the first level control information, the second level control information, a system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send fourth indication information to the terminal device; wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate whether the second-level control information includes a second group of control information blocks.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, characterized in that: Send fifth indication information to the terminal device; wherein the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in the second group of control information blocks.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The fifth indication information is located in one or more of the following information: the first level control information, the second level control information, a system message, or radio resource control reconfiguration information.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, characterized in that: The control information includes sixth indication information; wherein the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the control information includes one or more extended fields.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, characterized in that: The second-level control information is carried on a transmission block; or, The second level control information is carried on a physical downlink shared channel.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The length of the transmission block is determined according to one or more of the following: time-frequency resources, modulation and coding strategy, or the number of transmission layers.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processing module, configured to obtain first indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the format of each control information in a first group of control information blocks; the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information; A transceiver module, configured to receive first-level control information from a network device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of second-level control information; The transceiver module is further configured to receive the second-level control information from the network device according to the scheduling information of the second-level control information; wherein the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks; The processing module is further used to obtain one or more control information in the first group of control information blocks according to the first indication information.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver module, configured to send first-level control information to a terminal device; wherein the first-level control information includes scheduling information of the second-level control information; The transceiver module is further used to send the second-level control information to the terminal device; wherein the second-level control information includes the first group of control information blocks; and the first group of control information blocks includes one or more control information.

29. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device includes a processor; the processor is used to run a computer program or instruction, or to use a logic circuit to enable the communication device to execute the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-13, or to enable the communication device to execute the communication method as described in any one of claims 14-26.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs, which, when executed on a computer, enable the communication method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13, or enable the communication device to execute the communication method as described in any one of claims 14 to 26.

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