Communication method and device

Abstract

The invention provides a communication method and device. The method comprises the following steps: monitoring a wake-up signal on a first link; and when the first link receives the wake-up signal, waking up the second link to enable the second link to enter a discontinuous reception (DRX) activation period, and stopping monitoring the wake-up signal on the first link in the DRX activation period, the power consumption of the first link being lower than that of the second link. While the power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced through the wake-up signal, the time delay of data transmission can be ensured.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a communication method and apparatus. Background Art

[0002] To reduce the power consumption of a terminal device, discontinuous reception (DRX) technology has been proposed. That is, in the DRX mode, the terminal device can periodically enter a sleep period and does not listen to the subframes carrying the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). When the terminal device needs to listen, it is awakened by a wake-up signal to enter the on duration from the sleep period. This can enable the terminal device to achieve the purpose of saving power and electricity.

[0003] How to further achieve power saving of the terminal device and effectively ensure timely data transmission while saving power are all issues that need to be considered. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method and apparatus, which can reduce the power consumption of the terminal device through a wake-up signal and also ensure the data transmission delay.

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method includes: listening for a wake-up signal on a first link; when the first link receives the wake-up signal, waking up a second link to cause the second link to enter the discontinuous reception (DRX) active period, and stopping listening for the wake-up signal on the first link during the DRX active period, where the power consumption of the first link is lower than that of the second link.

[0006] In the embodiments of this application, the "first link" may also be referred to as the "secondary link", and the "second link" may be referred to as the "primary link". However, it should be noted that the above names are only exemplary and do not limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. It only requires that the power consumption of the first link is lower than that of the second link.

[0007] In the above solution of the embodiments of this application, when the second link is already in the DRX active period, the first link is no longer used to listen for the wake-up signal, which can save the device power consumption.

[0008] For example, a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) can be configured. Among them, the secondary link listens for the LP-WUS, and after listening to the LP-WUS, wakes up the primary link to enter the DRX active period to listen for the subframes of the PDCCH. At this time, since the primary link is already in the listening state, the LP-WUS does not need to be listened for on the secondary link to wake up the primary link, thereby further saving power.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, listening for a wake-up signal on a first link includes: periodically listening for the wake-up signal on the first link, or listening for the wake-up signal within a first duration, where the first duration is a period of time before the start of the DRX active period.

[0010] Based on the above solution, listening for a wake-up signal on the first link includes two methods, periodically listening for the wake-up signal on the first link, or listening for the wake-up signal for a period of time before the terminal enters the DRX active period. Compared with continuously listening for the wake-up signal on the first link, the discontinuous listening in this application can achieve the purpose of more power saving.

[0011] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: determining a listening period and a listening offset of the wake-up signal; and determining a listening opportunity for periodically listening for the wake-up signal according to the listening period and the listening offset of the wake-up signal.

[0012] Based on the above solution, the terminal device can specifically determine the listening opportunity of the wake-up signal according to the listening period and the listening offset of the wake-up signal, such as listening to the system frame number and the sub-frame number, so as to be able to implement periodic listening for the wake-up signal, which can save more power compared with the continuous listening method.

[0013] One or more of the parameters such as the listening period and the listening offset can be determined by the terminal device itself, or can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device.

[0014] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal can determine the listening opportunity of the wake-up signal with different lengths of periods according to the size of the listening period parameter. The long listening period and the short listening period can be switched between each other.

[0015] For example, the terminal starts to wake up the signal with a long listening period on the first link by default, and switches to the short listening period to wake up the signal or directly enters the continuous listening wake-up signal mode after the first time the wake-up signal is detected. Detecting the wake-up signal indicates that there may be subsequent service scheduling. Whether it is a short listening period or a long listening period, it can achieve the effect of reducing service delay. If no wake-up signal is detected after a short listening period or continuous listening for a period of time, the terminal can switch back to the long listening period to achieve the effect of deep energy saving.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a second duration, and the second duration is the minimum time length for continuously listening for a wake-up signal; determining a listening opportunity for periodically listening for the wake-up signal, including: determining the listening opportunity for periodically listening for the wake-up signal according to the first indication information received by the network device, the listening period of the wake-up signal, and the listening offset.

[0017] Based on the above solution, the network device can indicate the second duration, so that the terminal device can determine the listening period, thereby achieving the effect of the network device flexibly controlling the periodic listening for the wake-up signal on the first link. For example, the network device can use the newly added timer information to indicate the above second duration.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the listening period and / or the listening offset are pre-defined by the protocol. In this way, there is no need for the network device to indicate parameters, saving signaling overhead.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving second indication information sent by the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate stopping listening for the wake-up signal during the DRX active period.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving third indication information sent by the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate listening for the wake-up signal on the first link after the end of the DRX active period.

[0021] Based on the above solution, the start and end of the terminal device listening for the wake-up signal on the first link can be indicated by the network device. For example, when the listening opportunity of the second link ends, the network device sends a signaling to indicate that the current listening opportunity of the first link can be the same as the previous listening opportunity of the first link; or, since the terminal device has just transmitted data on the second link, the possibility of data transmission in a short time is not very high, so a listening opportunity with a shorter listening duration or a larger period can be set for the first link to achieve a more power-saving purpose. The setting of the listening opportunity of the first link is not limited here.

[0022] In other implementations, the terminal device can determine by itself when to stop listening for LP-WUS on the first link. For example, when it is found that the LP-WUS listening opportunity falls within the DRX active period, it can stop listening for LP-WUS during the DRX active period by itself, thereby achieving the purpose of power saving.

[0023] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, receiving fourth indication information from a network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the first duration.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the fourth indication information is further used to indicate bandwidth part (BWP) resources, and the time domain resources corresponding to the BWP resources are within the first duration.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first duration is determined by the network device according to the sleep state of the second link.

[0026] Based on the above solution, the listening time period can be determined according to the sleep state of the second link, and the wake-up times for different sleep states are different. In this way, the network device configures a long time period according to the second link being in the deep sleep state, and configures a short time period according to the second link being in the light sleep state.

[0027] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method includes: the network device sends first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate a second duration, where the second duration is the minimum time length for continuously listening for a wake-up signal.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the network device sends second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate stopping listening for the wake-up signal during the DRX active period.

[0029] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the network device sends third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate listening for the wake-up signal on the first link after the end of the DRX active period.

[0030] Based on the above solution, the network device can indicate the start and end of the terminal device listening for the LP-WUS on the first link. For example, when the listening opportunity for the second link ends, the network device sends a signaling to indicate the current listening opportunity for the first link, which can be the same as the previous listening opportunity for the first link; since the terminal device has just completed the data transmission on the second link, the possibility of data transmission in a short time is not very high, so a listening opportunity for the first link with a shorter listening duration or a larger period can be set to achieve a more power-saving purpose.

[0031] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the network device sends fourth indication information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the first duration. The fourth indication information is further used to indicate bandwidth part (BWP) resources, and the time domain resources corresponding to the BWP resources are within the first duration.

[0032] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The device is used to execute the method provided in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect. Specifically, the device may include units and / or modules for executing the method provided in any one of the above implementations of any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, such as a processing unit and / or a communication unit.

[0033] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device). When the device is a communication device, the communication unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface; the processing unit may be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0034] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system or circuit used in a communication device. When the device is a chip, chip system or circuit used in a communication device, the communication unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin or related circuit, etc. on the chip, chip system or circuit; the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit or logic circuit, etc.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes: a memory for storing programs; at least one processor for executing the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory to execute the method provided by any one of the above-mentioned implementations in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0036] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0037] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system or circuit used in a communication device.

[0038] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a processor for executing the methods provided in the above aspects.

[0039] For operations such as sending and obtaining / receiving involved by the processor, if there is no special instruction, or if it does not conflict with its actual role or internal logic in the relevant description, it can be understood as operations such as output and input by the processor, and can also be understood as sending and receiving operations performed by the radio frequency circuit and the antenna. The present application does not make any limitation in this regard.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores program codes for a device to execute, and the program codes include methods for executing the methods provided by any one of the above-mentioned implementations in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0041] In a seventh aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided. When the computer program product runs on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the methods provided by any one of the above-mentioned implementations in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0042] In an eighth aspect, a chip is provided. The chip includes a processor and a communication interface. The processor reads instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface and executes the method provided by any one of the implementation manners in the above first aspect to the second aspect.

[0043] Optionally, as an implementation manner, the chip further includes a memory. A computer program or instructions are stored in the memory. The processor is configured to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the processor is configured to execute the method provided by any one of the implementation manners in the above first aspect to the second aspect.

[0044] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a first communication device and a second communication device. Among them, the first communication device is configured to execute the method provided by any one of the implementation manners in the first aspect, and the second communication device is configured to execute the method provided by any one of the implementation manners in the second aspect.

[0045] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes: a computer program (which can also be referred to as code or instructions). When the computer program is run, it causes a computer to execute the method in any one of the possible implementation manners in the above first aspect to the second aspect. Description of the Drawings

[0046] Figure 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of the communication system 100 of the present application.

[0047] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an example of the configuration of DRX of the present application.

[0048] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the LP-WUS wake-up mechanism of the present application.

[0049] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an example of the LP-WUS of the secondary link monitoring of the present application.

[0050] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the determination of the opportunistic listening position of the secondary link monitoring of the present application.

[0051] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of an example of the LP-WUS of the secondary link monitoring opportunity of the present application.

[0052] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of another example of the LP-WUS of the secondary link monitoring opportunity of the present application.

[0053] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of an example of the continuous LP-WUS of the secondary link of the present application.

[0054] Figure 9 It is a schematic diagram of another example of listening for LP-WUS at the auxiliary link listening opportunity of this application.

[0055] Figure 10 It is a schematic block diagram of an example of the communication device of this application.

[0056] Figure 11 It is a schematic block diagram of an example of the terminal device of this application.

[0057] Figure 12 It is a schematic block diagram of an example of the network device of this application. Detailed implementation manners

[0058] Next, the technical solutions in this application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, future 5th generation (5G) system or New Radio (NR), etc.

[0060] By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a user equipment, an access terminal device, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile terminal, a remote station, a remote terminal device, a mobile device, a user terminal device, a wireless communication device, a user agent or a user device. The terminal device may also 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 function, a computing device or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0061] By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. A wearable device may also be referred to as a wearable intelligent device, which is a general term for devices developed by applying wearable technologies to the intelligent design of daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes, etc. A wearable device is a portable device that is directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. A wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable intelligent devices include those with complete functions and large sizes that can realize complete or partial functions without relying on a smart phone, such as smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for physical sign monitoring.

[0062] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. The IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technologies, so as to realize an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection.

[0063] The network device in the embodiments of this application can be a device used to communicate with a terminal device. The network device can be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, or a NodeB (NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, or a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. Or the network device can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device in a future 5G network or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc. It can be an access point (AP) in a WLAN or a 5G base station (gNodeB, gNB) in an NR system. The embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0064] In addition, in the embodiments of this application, the access network device provides services for a cell, and the terminal device communicates with the access network device through the transmission resources used by this cell (for example, frequency domain resources, or in other words, spectrum resources). This cell can be a cell corresponding to the access network device (such as a base station). The cell can belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell. Here, the small cell can include: metro cell, micro cell, pico cell, femto cell, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of a small coverage range and low transmit power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services.

[0065] In addition, multiple cells can work on the same frequency on a carrier in an LTE system or a 5G system. In some special scenarios, it can also be considered that the concepts of the above carrier and cell are equivalent. For example, in a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario, when a secondary carrier is configured for a user equipment (UE), the carrier index of the secondary carrier and the cell identification (Cell ID) of the secondary cell operating on this secondary carrier will be carried at the same time. In this case, it can be considered that the concepts of the carrier and the cell are equivalent. For example, the UE accessing a carrier is equivalent to accessing a cell.

[0066] The core network device can be connected to multiple access network devices, used to control the access network devices, and can distribute the data received from the network side (e.g., the Internet) to the access network devices.

[0067] In addition, in this application, the network device can include a gNB, such as a macro station, a micro base station, an indoor hotspot, and a relay node, etc. Its function is to send radio waves to the terminal device, on the one hand, to achieve downlink data transmission, on the other hand, to send scheduling information to control uplink transmission, and to receive the radio waves sent by the terminal device to receive uplink data transmission.

[0068] Among them, the functions and specific implementation manners of the above-listed terminal device, access network device, and core network device are only for illustrative purposes, and this application is not limited thereto.

[0069] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and a memory (also called main memory). The operating system can be any one or more computer operating systems that implement service processing through processes, such as the Linux operating system, the Unix operating system, the Android operating system, the iOS operating system, or the windows operating system, etc. The application layer contains applications such as a browser, an address book, a word processing software, and an instant messaging software. Moreover, the embodiments of this application do not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of this application. As long as it can communicate according to the method provided in the embodiments of this application by running a program recorded with the code of the method provided in the embodiments of this application. For example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of this application can be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in the terminal device or the network device that can call and execute the program.

[0070] Additionally, various aspects or features of the present application can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used in the present application encompasses a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or medium. For example, the computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage devices (such as hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical discs (such as compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (such as erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). Additionally, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0071] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, multiple application programs can run at the application layer. In this case, the application program that executes the communication method of the embodiments of the present application and the application program used to control the receiving-end device to complete the actions corresponding to the received data can be different application programs.

[0072] To better understand the technical solution of the present application, the following describes it from the following aspects: communication system, communication method, and communication device.

[0073] I. Communication System

[0074] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system 100 capable of applying the communication method of the embodiments of the present application. As Figure 1 shown, the system 100 includes an access network device 102. The access network device 102 may include 1 antenna or multiple antennas. For example, antennas 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, and 114. Additionally, the access network device 102 may additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that they may both include multiple components related to signal transmission and reception (such as processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, or antennas, etc.).

[0075] The access network device 102 can communicate with multiple terminal devices (such as terminal device 116 and terminal device 122). However, it can be understood that the access network device 102 can communicate with any number of terminal devices similar to terminal device 116 or terminal device 122. Terminal devices 116 and 122 can be, for example, cellular phones, smart phones, laptop computers, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite radios, global positioning systems, PDAs, and / or any other suitable devices for communicating on the wireless communication system 100.

[0076] As Figure 1 shown, terminal device 116 communicates with antennas 112 and 114, where antennas 112 and 114 send information to terminal device 116 via the forward link (also known as the downlink) 118 and receive information from terminal device 116 via the reverse link (also known as the uplink) 120. In addition, terminal device 122 communicates with antennas 104 and 106, where antennas 104 and 106 send information to terminal device 122 via the forward link 124 and receive information from terminal device 122 via the reverse link 126.

[0077] In an embodiment of the present application, data or information can be carried by time-frequency resources, where the time-frequency resources can include resources in the time domain and resources in the frequency domain.

[0078] Among them, in the time domain, the time-frequency resources can include one or more time units. Among them, one time unit can be a symbol, or a mini-slot, or a slot, or a frame, or a subframe. A slot can be composed of multiple symbols, for example, 14 symbols; a mini-slot can include at least one symbol (for example, 2 symbols or 4 symbols or 7 symbols, or any number of symbols less than or equal to 14 symbols).

[0079] In the present application, in the time domain, it can be divided into frames (frame) with a time length of 10 ms, each frame is divided into 10 subframes (subframe) of the same size with a length of 1 ms, and each subframe can contain one or more slots, where the number of slots can be determined according to the subcarrier spacing.

[0080] To facilitate a better understanding of the technical solution of the present application, some related technologies involved in the technical solution of the present application are introduced.

[0081] 1) DRX: Discontinuous Reception. A DRX cycle can include an active period and a dormant period. The active period can also be referred to as the on duration. The terminal device can communicate with the network device during the active period. During the active period, the UE monitors the downlink PDCCH subframes, and during this time, the UE is in a wakeful state. The dormant period can also be referred to as the opportunity for DRX period. The terminal device can refrain from data transmission during the dormant period. As Figure 2 shown, during the dormant period, the UE enters a sleep state to save power and does not monitor the PDCCH subframes. The longer the time used for DRX sleep, the lower the power consumption of the UE, but correspondingly, the latency of service transmission will also increase.

[0082] 2) LP-WUS: Low Power Wake-up Signal. As Figure 3 shown, under the LP-WUS configuration, the terminal device adopts a mode combining the primary link and the secondary link. The secondary link detects (which can also be referred to as listens for) the LP-WUS signal, and after detecting the LP-WUS, wakes up the primary link to monitor the PDCCH.

[0083] 3) Combination of LP-WUS and DRX: As Figure 4 shown, to reduce the power consumption of the main receiver of existing terminal devices, a longer dormant period can be adopted, enabling the terminal device to be periodically turned on for communication, but this brings a relatively large communication latency. If the terminal device can be woken up on demand, both low-power performance and latency requirements can be taken into account. The low-power wake-up receiver can implement the on-demand wake-up function. By adding this auxiliary wake-up module to the main receiver of existing terminal devices, the main receiver of the terminal device is in an off or dormant state when there is no communication requirement, and only the low-power wake-up receiver is turned on to listen for the LP-WUS and wake up the main receiver in a timely manner. During the dormant period of DRX of the main receiver of the terminal device, when the secondary link of the terminal device detects the LP-WUS signal, it can wake up the main receiver to actively monitor the PDCCH, thereby completing the data transmission service.

[0084] 4) DRX Timer: It can also be referred to as the on duration timer. This timer is used to determine the minimum duration of the active period. During the running of this timer, or rather, before this timer times out, the terminal device is in the active period, and the terminal device can turn on the receiving antenna to monitor the PDCCH.

[0085] 5) Secondary Link: Detects and receives the LP-WUS and triggers the primary link to start.

[0086] 6) Main link: Used for data transmission and reception. Before being awakened, the main link has multiple sleep states such as ultra-deep sleep, deep sleep, light sleep, and micro-sleep. The difference between different states lies in the different wake-up times (ramp up). The wake-up time mainly refers to the time taken for the hardware related to the main link to turn on.

[0087] 7) Main receiver (MR): There is an MR or a main radio (MR) or a main module inside the UE, which is used for signal transmission and reception. The UE can work on the 5G NR main link through the MR. It is the receiver on the main link of the terminal device. The states of the main receiver can include the on state, the off state, and the sleep state. The sleep state can be divided into the deep sleep state, the ultra-deep sleep state, etc. according to the degree. The energy and time required to switch to the on state are different in different states. The main receiver mainly includes a radio frequency processing module and a baseband processing module.

[0088] 8) Low-power receiver: It is the receiver on the secondary link of the terminal device, also known as the low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR). Compared with the main receiver, the low-power receiver has lower complexity, lower power consumption, and lower processing capabilities (such as demodulation, calculation), and is used to receive LP-WUS, or low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS), or low-power reference signal.

[0089] Before introducing the solutions of the embodiments of this application, the following points are explained.

[0090] (1) In the embodiments of this application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, display indication, and implicit indication. When it is described that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0091] In this application, the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated. For example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indirectly indicate the information to be indicated by indicating other information, where there is an association relationship between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to only indicate a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or pre-agreed. For example, it is also possible to implement the indication of specific information by relying on the arrangement order of each piece of information pre-agreed (such as protocol regulations), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. In addition, the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or can be divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending periods and / or sending timings of these sub-information can be the same or different.

[0092] (2) In this application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as the destination of the information being XX, which can include directly sending through the air interface, and also includes indirectly sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as the source of the information being YY, which can include directly receiving from YY through the air interface, and can also include indirectly receiving from YY through the air interface from other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be carried out between devices, for example, between a network device and a terminal device, or can be carried out within a device, for example, sending or receiving between components within a device, between modules, between chips, between software modules or hardware modules through a bus, trace or interface.

[0093] (3) 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 internal logical relationships.

[0094] (4) In this application, "first" and "second" are only for convenience of description and are used to distinguish objects, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. Instead, they are not used to describe the order or sequence of features. It should be understood that the objects described in this way can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances so as to be able to describe solutions other than the embodiments of this application.

[0095] (5) In the embodiments of this application, the first link can be a secondary link, and the second link can be a primary link, where the power consumption of the first link is less than that of the second link. The embodiments of this application mainly use the primary link and the secondary link as examples for illustration, and these specific names do not limit the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0096] (6) In this application, the first link can also be a low-power wake-up receiver, which can be used to receive wake-up signals, and there is no limitation here.

[0097] (7) In this application, the first link can also be referred to as the first receiver, and the second link can also be referred to as the second receiver. These specific names do not limit the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0098] (8) In the embodiments of this application, the wake-up signal can be LP-WUS, or other types of wake-up signals, as long as its function is to wake up the main link to monitor the PDCCH. This embodiment mainly takes LP-WUS as an example for illustration, and this specific name does not limit the scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0099] II. Communication method

[0100] This application mainly solves the problem of how to ensure the data transmission delay while reducing the power consumption of the terminal device through LP-WUS.

[0101] Through the embodiments of this application, the LP-WUS listening opportunity of the secondary link can be determined. On this basis, further consider how LP-WUS can cooperate more effectively with DRX. Specifically: listen for wake-up signals on the secondary link; when the secondary link receives a wake-up signal, wake up the main link so that the main link enters the discontinuous reception DRX active period, and stop listening for wake-up signals on the secondary link during the DRX active period. Among them, the power consumption of the secondary link is lower than that of the main link. Therefore, compared with continuously listening for LP-WUS signals on the secondary link without distinguishing whether the main link has been woken up, the solution of the embodiments of this application can further reduce the device power consumption and achieve a more power-saving purpose.

[0102] The following details each solution of the embodiments of this application.

[0103] The terminal device can periodically listen for wake-up signals on the secondary link instead of continuously listening for wake-up signals, so as to achieve the purpose of power saving. Specifically, the terminal device can determine the listening opportunity for periodically listening for LP-WUS on the secondary link, such as the system frame number and sub-frame number of LP-WUS.

[0104] A possible implementation method is that the terminal device can determine the listening period and listening offset of LP-WUS; according to the listening period and listening offset of LP-WUS, determine the listening opportunity of LP-WUS.

[0105] Among them, the listening period and / or the listening offset can be predefined by a protocol, or determined through negotiation between a network device and a terminal device, or determined by the terminal device according to other information, such as according to an indication of the network device, or determined by itself according to other local information.

[0106] In an embodiment of this application, the secondary link of the terminal device starts listening for the LP-WUS signal at the determined listening opportunity. Among them, the specific position where the listening opportunity is located (including the system frame number and the subframe number) can be determined by the following formula 1:

[0107] [(SFN×10) + subframe number ] mod (LP-WUS cycle) = (LP-WUS offset) Formula 1

[0108] Among them, SFN represents the system frame number, and subframe number represents the subframe number. mod represents the remainder operation.

[0109] Among them, LP-WUS cycle represents the listening period of LP-WUS, that is, starting to listen for LP-WUS every several time units (for example, subframes). LP-WUS offset represents the listening offset of LP-WUS, that is, it refers to the time unit (for example, subframe) at which to start entering the LP-WUS listening period. The terminal device determines the listening period and the listening offset of LP-WUS, that is, determines LP-WUS cycle and LP-WUS offset in Formula 1. Thus, the terminal device can determine the monitoring opportunity of LP-WUS in each system frame starting from the starting system frame (for example, the frame number is 0). The monitoring opportunity of LP-WUS can be represented by (SFN, subframenumber).

[0110] It should be noted that the time unit scheduled in the time domain is a subframe (subframe), such as 1 ms. A radio frame includes 10 subframes, and the number of the radio frame is called the system frame number. If the number of subframes included in a frame is adjusted, the above Formula 1 can be corrected accordingly, and such correction also falls within the scope of the embodiment of this application. In addition, those skilled in the art can understand that the above Formula 1 is only a possible expression form, and any equivalent or equivalent calculation method should fall within the scope of the embodiment of this application.

[0111] A possible implementation is that the terminal device can receive first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a second duration, and the second duration is the minimum time length for continuously listening to the LP-WUS signal; determining the listening opportunity for periodically listening to the wake-up signal includes: determining the listening opportunity for periodically listening to the wake-up signal based on the first indication information received from the network device, the listening period of the wake-up signal, and the listening offset.

[0112] Wherein, the second duration is the minimum time length for continuously listening to the LP-WUS signal. For example, the second duration can be the timer duration, that is, the length of time for listening to the LP-WUS within one period. This timer can also be referred to as the LP-WUS timer, or have other names, and this application does not limit this.

[0113] Optionally, the first indication information for indicating the second duration can be directly sent by the network device to the terminal device, or can be relayed to the terminal device by a relay device. The first indication information can be carried in existing messages such as RRC reconfiguration messages, RRC establishment request messages, and RRC re-establishment request messages, etc., or a field representing the second duration can be added to the first indication information.

[0114] Wherein, the field of the second duration can include multiple optional values. For example, the multiple optional values included in this field are 4, 6, 8, indicating that the second duration can include 4 subframes, 6 subframes, or 8 subframes. The network device selects a certain value among them and sends it to the terminal device through RRC signaling. For example, the network device selects the field of the second duration to include 6 and sends this field to the terminal device. The terminal device can thereby determine that the second duration is 6 subframes. Optionally, these 6 subframes are consecutive subframes.

[0115] Optionally, the first indication information can also be predefined by the protocol, or the network device broadcasts it to the terminal device at a fixed time or through a Service Information Block (SIB), and this application does not limit this.

[0116] The following illustrates by way of example how to calculate the system frame number and subframe number for the terminal device to listen to the LP-WUS on the secondary link, which is represented as (SFN, subframe number).

[0117] Assume that the LP-WUS cycle is 5 subframes, the LP-WUS offset is 2 subframes, and the LP-WUS timer occupies 2 subframes.

[0118] Combined with Figure 5For Equation 1, when the system frame number SFN is 0, it can be obtained that Equation 1 is satisfied when the subframe number is 2 and 7; when the system frame number SFN is 1, it can be obtained that Equation 1 is satisfied when the subframe number is 2 and 7. Since the LP-WUS timer occupies 2 subframes, each LP-WUS listening opportunity occupies 2 subframes. Thus, the listening opportunities for the secondary link to listen to the LP-WUS signal are at (0, 2), (0, 7), (1, 2), (1, 7), etc., and the length of each listening opportunity is 2 subframes. That is, the secondary link of the terminal device Figure 5 listens to the LP-WUS signal at the blackened subframe positions.

[0119] When the LP-WUS timer cooperates with DRX, there is a problem that the LP-WUS listening opportunity of the secondary link coincides with the main link DRX cycle. When the main link is already in the wake-up state, there is no need for the secondary link to listen to the LP-WUS signal within this DRX cycle. Therefore, the embodiments of the present application also provide various ways to stop the secondary link from listening to LP-WUS during the active period of the main link DRX. Two ways to stop the secondary link from listening to LP-WUS during the active period of the main link DRX will be exemplarily provided below:

[0120] Method 1: As Figure 6 shown, the secondary link listens to LP-WUS during the listening period. When LP-WUS is detected, the main link is woken up to listen to PDCCH. When the listening opportunity of the secondary link LP-WUS does not coincide with the active period of the main link DRX, that is, Figure 6 the listening opportunities of the solid lines of the main link and the secondary link in the figure, the secondary link periodically listens to the LP-WUS signal. When the LP-WUS listening opportunity coincides with the DRX active period, that is, Figure 6 the listening opportunity of the dashed line in the figure, the terminal device determines by itself that the secondary link does not listen to the LP-WUS signal on this LP-WUS timer. In this way, the terminal device can determine by itself when to stop listening to the LP-WUS signal according to the overlap situation between the LP-WUS listening opportunity and the DRX active period, so as to further achieve the purpose of power saving and without signaling interaction, saving signaling overhead.

[0121] Method 2: As Figure 7As shown, the terminal device can receive the second indication information sent by the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate stopping listening for the wake-up signal during the DRX active period. Additionally, the terminal device can receive the third indication information sent by the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate listening for the wake-up signal on the secondary link after the end of the DRX active period. In this way, the terminal device can start and / or end listening for LP-WUS according to the indication of the network device, so that the network device can indicate when the terminal device performs what kind of listening, thereby further achieving the purpose of power saving and potentially improving the listening efficiency of the terminal device more specifically.

[0122] Optionally, the network device can send the fifth indication information, which is used to indicate stopping listening for the wake-up signal during the DRX active period and is also used to indicate listening for the wake-up signal on the secondary link after the end of the DRX active period. In this way, the network device does not need to wait to send the third indication information again after the main link DRX goes to sleep or during fast sleep.

[0123] Among them, the second indication information can be sent through RRC signaling or MAC control element (MACCE) signaling, and the third indication information can be sent through RRC signaling or MAC CE signaling.

[0124] Optionally, the LP-WUS listening period can be flexibly configured according to the actual situation of the service. For example, different listening periods can be achieved by adjusting the LP-WUS cycle length, such as a long listening period and a short listening period. It is possible to switch between the long listening period and the short listening period: for example, the initial default LP-WUS cycle of the terminal device's secondary link is a long listening period. If it is detected that there may be data transmission in the future after detecting LP-WUS, the LP-WUS cycle can be switched to a short listening period, thereby achieving the effect of further reducing latency. If LP-WUS is not detected for a period of time, it can be switched back to the long listening period again.

[0125] For example, the current listening opportunity of the secondary link LP-WUS is the same as that of the secondary link LP-WUS before the main link active period, that is, the listening opportunity of the secondary link LP-WUS is not changed.

[0126] For another example, the network device indicates to start the current listening opportunity of the secondary link LP-WUS through RRC signaling or MAC CE. Since the PDCCH subframe has just been listened to through the main link, that is, data has just been received. If the terminal completes the relevant service and may not immediately have data transmission after entering the secondary link, the listening opportunity of the secondary link LP-WUS with a long listening period can be set.

[0127] For example, the previous secondary link LP-WUS cycle is T1. After the main link DRX activation period, it enters the listening opportunity of the next secondary link LP-WUS, and the LP-WUS cycle is set to T2. Since the main link has just received data, the value of T2 can be set relatively long, so T2 > T1 can be set.

[0128] Flexibly configure the length of the LP-WUS listening period according to the actual business situation to achieve the purpose of more power saving.

[0129] As another embodiment, the wake-up signal can be listened to within the first time period, where the first time period is a period of time before the start of the DRX activation period.

[0130] Specifically, consider the DRX cycle when determining when to listen to LP-WUS, so that the setting of the LP-WUS listening time period is more reasonable and can save device power consumption.

[0131] For example, the LP-WUS listening time period can be set during the DRX sleep period, so that there is no need to listen to LP-WUS during the DRX activation period, thus saving power consumption.

[0132] For another example, the LP-WUS listening time period can occupy a part of the DRX sleep period, and there is no need to always listen to LP-WUS, thus further saving power consumption.

[0133] The terminal device receives the fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the first time period.

[0134] Among them, the fourth indication information is also used to indicate the bandwidth part BWP resource, and the time domain resource corresponding to the BWP resource is within the first time period.

[0135] Optionally, the fourth indication information can be sent from the network side to the terminal device.

[0136] Optionally, the fourth indication information can also be predefined by the protocol.

[0137] As Figure 8 shown, the network device configures the listening time period T.

[0138] It can be understood that the secondary link continuously listens to LP-WUS within the first time period. When the LP-WUS signal is detected, it wakes up the main link DRX activation period to listen to PDCCH.

[0139] A possible implementation method, such as Figure 8As shown in (a) therein, the listening time period T is a period of time before the main link DRX active period, and the active period starts after the end time of T. When LP-WUS is detected within T, the main link DRX active period monitoring PDCCH is immediately woken up.

[0140] A possible implementation method is as Figure 8 shown in (b) therein. The end time of the listening time period T is a short period of time before the main link DRX active period. This short period of time can be used for the terminal device to parse LP-WUS, avoiding the UE entering the active period before it has parsed LP-WUS.

[0141] Among them, the first duration is determined by the network device according to the sleep state of the main link.

[0142] Among them, before being woken up, the main link has multiple sleep states such as Ultra-deep sleep, deep sleep, light sleep, and micro-sleep. The difference between different states is the different ramp up times.

[0143] A possible implementation method is that it takes a longer time to wake up the main link in the deep sleep state. Therefore, when the main link is in the deep sleep state, the network device configures a relatively large first duration T1;

[0144] A possible implementation method is that the main link in the light sleep state requires a shorter wake-up time compared to the deep sleep state. The network device configures a relatively small first duration T2, where T1>T2. There can also be multiple durations corresponding to different sleep states here, which are not limited herein. For example, the ultra-deep sleep state corresponds to the network device configuring the first duration T1, the deep sleep state corresponds to the network device configuring the first duration T2, the light sleep state corresponds to the network device configuring the first duration T3, and the micro-sleep state corresponds to the network device configuring the first duration T4, where T1>T2>T3>T4.

[0145] A possible implementation method is that if the network device does not align with the sleep state of the main link, it defaults to using the larger first duration T1.

[0146] Optionally, after configuring the first duration, the secondary link is only turned on and listens for LP-WUS within this time period T. After detecting LP-WUS, it enters the DRX active period. The secondary link is turned off during the remaining time of the DRX dormant period outside this time period and no longer listens for the LP-WUS signal, thereby achieving further energy-saving effects.

[0147] As another embodiment, as Figure 9 shown, the terminal device can further periodically monitor LP-WUS within the first duration of the secondary link. This can further achieve the purpose of power saving.

[0148] Specifically, when periodically monitoring LP-WUS within the first duration, the way of configuring the period within the first duration of the secondary link can be the same as that of Figure 6 and Figure 7 which will not be elaborated herein again in the embodiments of this application.

[0149] III. Communication Device

[0150] Referring to Figure 10 , Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in the embodiments of this application. The device 1000 includes a transceiver unit 1010 and a processing unit 1020. The transceiver unit 1010 can be used to implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 1010 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit. The processing unit 1020 can be used to perform processing, such as waking up the second link.

[0151] Optionally, the device 1000 can further include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data. The processing unit 1020 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit to enable the device to implement the foregoing method embodiments.

[0152] As a design, the device 1000 can be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments (the device 1000 can implement the steps or processes corresponding to the terminal device in the above method embodiments. Among them, the transceiver unit 1010 can be used to perform the operations related to the transceiver of the network device in the above method embodiments (such as the operations of sending and / or receiving data or messages), and the processing unit 1020 can be used to perform the operations related to the processing of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or operations other than transceiver (such as operations other than sending and / or receiving data or messages).

[0153] In the embodiments of this application, the transceiver unit 1010 can have the ability to support multi-link monitoring, such as the above first link and second link, or the above primary link and secondary link. For example, the transceiver unit 1010 can include two sets of receivers, namely a primary receiver and a low-power wake-up receiver (not shown in the figure), where the primary link receiver is used to monitor and receive signals on the primary link, and the low-power wake-up receiver is used to monitor and receive signals on the secondary link. As a design, the power consumption of the low-power wake-up receiver can be lower than that of the primary link receiver.

[0154] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1010 can be used to monitor the wake-up signal on the first link. The processing unit 1020 can be used to wake up the second link when the transceiver unit 1010 receives the wake-up signal on the first link, so that the second link enters the DRX active period, and stop monitoring the wake-up signal on the first link during the DRX active period. The power consumption of the first link is lower than that of the second link.

[0155] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1010 can be specifically used to periodically monitor the wake-up signal on the first link, or monitor the wake-up signal within a first duration, where the first duration is a period of time before the start of the DRX active period.

[0156] Optionally, the processing unit 1020 can also be used to determine the monitoring period and monitoring offset of the wake-up signal; and determine the monitoring timing of periodically monitoring the wake-up signal according to the monitoring period and monitoring offset of the wake-up signal.

[0157] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1010 can also be used to receive first indication information from the network device, and the first indication information is used to indicate a second duration, where the second duration is the minimum time length of continuously monitoring the wake-up signal.

[0158] Optionally, the processing unit 1020 can be specifically used to determine the monitoring period and monitoring offset of the wake-up signal, and determine the monitoring period of the transceiver unit 1010 for the wake-up signal according to the first indication information received by the transceiver unit 1010 from the network device.

[0159] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1010 can also be used to receive second indication information sent by the network device, and the second indication information is used to indicate to stop monitoring the wake-up signal during the DRX active period.

[0160] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1010 can also be used to receive third indication information sent by the network device, and the third indication information is used to indicate to monitor the wake-up signal on the first link after the end of the DRX active period.

[0161] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1010 can also be used to receive fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the first duration.

[0162] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1010 can be specifically used to receive fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is also used to indicate the bandwidth part BWP resource, and the time-domain resource corresponding to the BWP resource is within the first duration.

[0163] It should be understood that the specific processes of each unit executing the above corresponding steps have been described in detail in the above method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0164] It should also be understood that the apparatus 1000 herein is embodied in the form of functional units. The term "unit" herein may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor, or a group of processors, etc.) for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a memory, a combined logic circuit, and / or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an alternative example, those skilled in the art can understand that the apparatus 1000 may specifically be the terminal device in the above embodiments (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver), and can be used to execute the respective processes and / or steps corresponding to the communication device in the above method embodiments. To avoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

[0165] The apparatus 1000 in each of the above solutions has the function of implementing the corresponding steps executed by the terminal device (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver) in the above method. The function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (for example, the sending unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as the processing unit, can be replaced by a processor to respectively execute the transceiver operations and related processing operations in each method embodiment.

[0166] In addition, the above transceiver unit 1010 may also be a transceiver circuit (for example, it may include a receiving circuit and a sending circuit), and the processing unit 1020 may be a processing circuit.

[0167] It should be noted that Figure 10 the apparatus in may be the device in the foregoing embodiments, or a chip or a chip system, for example: a system on chip (SoC). Among them, the transceiver unit may be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; the processing unit is a processor, a microprocessor, or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip. No limitation is made herein.

[0168] See Figure 11 , Figure 11 which is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus 1100 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 1100 includes a processing circuit 1110, which includes a circuit for executing the methods in the above method embodiments.

[0169] It should be understood that the specific processes for each circuit to execute the corresponding steps above have been described in detail in the above method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0170] Optionally, the processing circuit 1110 may be implemented by one or more processors, including the one or more processors or the processing parts in the one or more processors.

[0171] Optionally, the device 1100 further includes an interface circuit 1120. The interface circuit 1120 is used for receiving and / or sending signals. For example, the processing circuit 1110 is used to control the interface circuit 1120 to receive and / or send signals.

[0172] Optionally, the device 1100 may further include a memory. The processing circuit 1110 is coupled to the memory. The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions and / or data. The processing circuit 1110 can be used to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, or read the data stored in the memory. Optionally, the memory is one or more.

[0173] Optionally, the memory is located inside the above-mentioned processing circuit or is separately provided outside the above-mentioned processing circuit.

[0174] As an example, the processing circuit 1110 may have Figure 10 the functions of the processing unit 1020 shown in Figure 10 and the interface circuit 1120 may have

[0175] the functions of the transceiver unit 1010 shown in

[0176] As a solution, the device 1100 is used to implement the operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0177] That is to say, the device 1100 may be a terminal device, a network device, or a chip or chip system for a terminal device, a chip or chip system for a network device.

[0178] It should be understood that the processing circuit mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be one or more of the following processor devices, a central processing unit (CPU), and may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc., or the parts for processing functions in the foregoing processor devices. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0179] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM). For example, the RAM may be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, the RAM includes the following various forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0180] It should be noted that when the processing circuit is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, the memory (storage module) may be integrated in the processing circuit.

[0181] It should also be noted that the memories described herein are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

[0182] See Figure 12 , Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1200 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The chip system 1200 (or can also be referred to as a processing system) includes a logic circuit 1210 and an input / output interface 1220.

[0183] Among them, the logic circuit 1210 can be a processing circuit in the chip system 1200 for performing processing functions, such as compressing channel information. The input / output interface 1220 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system 1200 to output the information processed by the chip system 1200, or input the data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 1200 for processing.

[0184] Alternatively, the logic circuit 1210 can be coupled to a memory to execute the instructions in the memory, so that the chip system 1200 can implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0185] Specifically, for example, if the terminal device includes the chip system 1200, the logic circuit 1210 is coupled to the input / output interface 1220. The input / output interface 1220 can listen for a wake-up signal on the first link, and when the wake-up signal is listened on the first link, wake up the second link through the logic circuit 1210, so that the second link enters the DRX active period, and stop listening for the wake-up signal on the first link during the DRX active period. The power consumption of the first link is lower than that of the second link.

[0186] As a solution, the chip system 1200 is used to implement the operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0187] For example, the logic circuit 1210 is used to implement the processing-related operations performed by a terminal device (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver) in the above method embodiments; the input / output interface 1220 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by a communication device (such as the first communication device or the second communication device) in the above method embodiments.

[0188] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium, on which computer instructions for implementing the methods performed by a terminal device (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver) in the above method embodiments are stored.

[0189] For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement the methods executed by the terminal device (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver) in the above-described method embodiments.

[0190] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement the methods executed by the terminal device (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver) in the above-described method embodiments.

[0191] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system including the terminal device (such as the first link, the second link, the first receiver, the second receiver, the main receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver) in the above-described embodiments.

[0192] For the explanations and beneficial effects of the relevant content in any of the above-described devices, reference may be made to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and details are not described herein again.

[0193] In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed couplings or direct couplings or communication connections to each other can be through some interfaces, and the indirect couplings or communication connections of the devices or units can be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0194] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, 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 the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. For example, the computer can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center in a wired manner (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or a wireless manner (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that the computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or a data center that includes one or more integrated available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD), etc.). For example, the foregoing available media include, but are not limited to: USB flash drives, external hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical discs, etc., which can store program codes of various kinds.

[0195] As described above, the above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present application can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered by the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, it includes: listening for a wake-up signal on a first link; when the first link receives the wake-up signal, waking up a second link to cause the second link to enter a discontinuous reception (DRX) active period, and stopping listening for the wake-up signal on the first link during the DRX active period, where the power consumption of the first link is lower than that of the second link.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, listening for a wake-up signal on a first link includes: periodically listening for the wake-up signal on the first link, or listening for the wake-up signal within a first duration, where the first duration is a period of time before the start of the DRX active period.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, the method further includes: determining a listening period and a listening offset of the wake-up signal; determining a listening opportunity for periodically listening for the wake-up signal according to the listening period and the listening offset of the wake-up signal.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a second duration, and the second duration is the minimum time length for continuously listening for the wake-up signal; determining a listening opportunity for periodically listening for the wake-up signal includes: determining a listening opportunity for periodically listening for the wake-up signal according to the first indication information received from the network device, the listening period and the listening offset of the wake-up signal.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, the listening period and / or the listening offset are pre-defined by the protocol.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, the method further includes: receiving second indication information sent by a network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate stopping listening for the wake-up signal during the DRX active period.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, the method further includes: receiving third indication information sent by a network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate listening for the wake-up signal on the first link after the end of the DRX active period.

8. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, the method further includes: receiving fourth indication information from a network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the first duration.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, the fourth indication information is further used to indicate a bandwidth part (BWP) resource, and the time-domain resources corresponding to the BWP resource are within the first duration.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, the first duration is determined by the network device according to the sleep state of the second link.

11. A communication device, characterized in that, it includes a processor, and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in a memory, so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. The device according to claim 11, characterized in that, The device further includes the memory and / or a communication interface, and the communication interface is coupled to the processor, wherein the communication interface is configured to input and / or output information.

13. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program or instructions are stored on the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program or instructions are run on the communication device, the communication device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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