Communication method, communication device and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, a communication device and a computer readable storage medium, and relates to the technical field of communication. The communication method is applied to network equipment, and specifically comprises the following steps: sending a low-power-consumption wake-up signal LP-WUS to terminal equipment; wherein, from the sending moment of the LP-WUS, the moment after the first time delay is the moment when the network device periodically sends the synchronization signal, and the first time delay is greater than or equal to the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device. According to the communication method provided by the embodiment of the invention, after the first receiver of the terminal equipment is awakened, the synchronization signal sent by the network equipment can be immediately received, so that the duration of waiting for receiving the synchronization signal after the first receiver is awakened is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment is further reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In the fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication technology, in order to reduce the power consumption of a terminal device, a primary receiver and a secondary receiver are provided in the terminal device. When the terminal device has no service requirements, the primary receiver is turned off / hibernated, and the secondary receiver is turned on and listens for a wake-up signal sent by a network device with a lower power. After the secondary receiver detects the wake-up signal, it wakes up the primary receiver. After the primary receiver wakes up, it synchronizes with the network device according to the synchronization signal sent by the network device and receives the scheduling of the network device, so as to realize communication with the network device.

[0003] In the above process, since both the wake-up process and the synchronization process of the primary receiver take a certain amount of time, and the time when the network device periodically sends the synchronization signal is fixed, this brings difficulties to the scheduling process of the network device and also brings relatively high power consumption to the terminal device. Therefore, how to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device on the premise of realizing the scheduling of the terminal device by the network device has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium, which are used to further reduce the power consumption of a terminal device on the premise of realizing the scheduling of the terminal device by a network device.

[0005] To solve the above technical problems, the following technical solutions are provided in this embodiment.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a communication method, which is applied to a network device and specifically includes: sending a low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS to a terminal device; where, starting from the sending time of the LP-WUS, the time after a first time delay is the time when the network device periodically sends a synchronization signal, and the first time delay is greater than or equal to the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device.

[0007] In this embodiment, based on the fact that the time when the network device periodically sends the synchronization signal is fixed, the network device can inversely determine a suitable sending time of the LP-WUS according to the sending time of the synchronization signal and the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device. In this way, the second receiver of the terminal device has enough time to wake up the first receiver after receiving the LP-WUS, and enables the first receiver to immediately receive the synchronization signal sent by the network device after waking up, reducing the duration for the first receiver of the terminal device to wait for receiving the synchronization signal after waking up, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0008] In some embodiments, before sending the LP-WUS to the terminal device, the method further includes: receiving the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device sent by the terminal device.

[0009] In some embodiments, the synchronization signal includes a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block SSB and a tracking reference signal TRS.

[0010] In a second aspect, the present embodiment provides a communication method applied to a terminal device. The terminal device includes a first receiver and a second receiver. The method includes: the second receiver receives a low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS; the second receiver wakes up the first receiver after a second time delay from the reception moment of the LP-WUS; wherein, after a second time delay from the reception moment of the LP-WUS, the time difference between the moment when the first receiver completes waking up and the reception moment of the first synchronization signal after waking up is less than a threshold.

[0011] Exemplarily, the threshold may be 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, etc., and the present embodiment does not limit this.

[0012] Through the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the duration for which the first receiver of the terminal device waits to receive the synchronization signal after waking up is short, that is, the synchronization signal can be received immediately after waking up, which helps to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0013] In some embodiments, when T2 - t lpwus2 ≥T ramp-up the second time delay satisfies the following formula:

[0014] t lpwus2 + offset2 + T ramp-up ≤T2

[0015] wherein, t lpwus2 is the reception moment of the LP-WUS, offset2 is the second time delay, T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, and T2 is the transmission moment of the next synchronization signal.

[0016] In some embodiments, when T2 - t lpwus2 <T ramp-up the second time delay satisfies the following formula:

[0017] t lpwus2 + offset2 + T ramp-up ≤T2 + T

[0018] wherein, t lpwus2 is the reception moment of the LP-WUS, offset2 is the second time delay, Tramp-up T1 is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, T2 is the transmission time of the first synchronization signal after the second receiver wakes up, and T is the period of the synchronization signal.

[0019] In some embodiments, the synchronization signal includes: Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) and Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).

[0020] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a network device and specifically includes: sending a Low Power Wake-up Signal (LP-WUS) to a terminal device; sending a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to the terminal device after a third time delay from the transmission time of the LP-WUS; wherein, after a third time delay from the transmission time of the LP-WUS, the second receiver of the terminal device can wake up the first receiver of the terminal device according to the LP-WUS, and the first receiver can complete synchronization with the network device.

[0021] Through the communication method provided in this embodiment, the network device can send the PDCCH to the terminal device after the terminal device wakes up and completes synchronization, thereby successfully scheduling the terminal device and improving the user experience.

[0022] In some embodiments, the third time delay has a correlation with at least one of the transmission time of the LP-WUS, the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device, and the synchronization duration of the first receiver of the terminal device.

[0023] In some embodiments, the third time delay satisfies the following formula:

[0024] offset3≥T ramp-up +n·T

[0025] where offset1 is the third time delay, T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, n is the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device receiving the LP-WUS to complete synchronization with the network device, and T is the period of the synchronization signal.

[0026] In some embodiments, the third time delay satisfies the following formula:

[0027] offset3≥(T2 - t lpwus1 )+(n - 1)·T

[0028] where offset1 is the third time delay, t lpwus1 is the transmission time of the LP-WUS, T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal, n is the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device to complete synchronization with the network device, T is the period of the synchronization signal, the time interval between T2 and t lpwus1 is greater than the wake-up duration of the first receiver, and T2 is greater than tlpwus1 。

[0029] In this embodiment, the network device sends a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to the terminal device after a third delay from the transmission time of the LP-WUS. The first receiver of the terminal device just completes synchronization. Therefore, this method can also reduce the waiting time for scheduling after the first receiver of the terminal device wakes up, further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, and improve the user experience.

[0030] In some embodiments, before determining the third delay, the method further includes: determining the number n of synchronization signals according to the service area quality of the terminal device.

[0031] In some embodiments, before determining the third delay, the method further includes: receiving first information, where the first information includes the number m of synchronization signals requested by the terminal device to use; determining the number n of synchronization signals actually used by the terminal device according to the number m, where m may be the same as or different from n; sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information includes the number n of synchronization signals.

[0032] In some embodiments, before determining the third delay, the method further includes: receiving the wake-up duration of the first receiver.

[0033] In some embodiments, the synchronization signals include: Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) and Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).

[0034] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a network device and includes: sending indication information to a terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate whether a candidate OFDM sequence of a Low-Power Wake-Up Signal (LP-WUS) carries information, and the candidate OFDM sequence is used for correlation operation with a local sequence of the terminal device.

[0035] Through the method provided in this embodiment, the terminal device can know whether the candidate OFDM sequence in the LP-WUS carries information, so as to determine subsequent processing operations on the LP-WUS.

[0036] In some embodiments, the indication information includes the number n of candidate OFDM sequences that can be carried on the LP-WUS, and n is used to indicate whether the candidate OFDM sequence of the LP-WUS carries information.

[0037] In some embodiments, the indication information is further used to indicate that the number n of candidate OFDM sequences that can be carried on the LP-WUS is n = 1, or n > 1.

[0038] In some embodiments, n = 1 is used to indicate that the candidate OFDM sequence does not carry information; n > 1 is used to indicate that the candidate OFDM sequence carries information.

[0039] Fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device or a network device, or a chip in a terminal device or a network device. The communication device includes at least one module, and the at least one module is configured to execute the communication method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect above.

[0040] Sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device or a network device, or a chip in a terminal device or a network device. The communication device includes a processor configured to execute the communication method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect above. The communication device may further include a transceiver, and the processor may control the transceiver to communicate with other devices or modules. When the communication device is a terminal or a network device, the transceiver may be a radio frequency module; when the communication device is a chip in a terminal or a network device, the transceiver may be an input / output interface, a pin, a circuit, etc. In addition, the communication device may include a memory, and the processor may execute at least one program instruction or code stored in the memory to implement the communication method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect above.

[0041] Seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. The terminal is configured to execute the communication method shown in the second aspect above. Additionally, the network device is configured to execute the communication method shown in the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect above.

[0042] Eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which instructions are stored. When the instructions are run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the communication method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect above.

[0043] Ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the communication method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, or the fourth aspect above.

[0044] It can be understood that for the beneficial effects of the fifth aspect to the ninth aspect above, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the first aspect to the fourth aspect above, and details are not repeated here. Description of the Drawings

[0045] Figure 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system to which the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is applicable;

[0046] Figure 2It is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the wake-up and synchronization process of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 4 It is a schematic structural diagram of OFDM provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of alternative positions of SSB within a 5ms half-frame provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 6 It is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the first time delay provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 8 It is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Figure 9A It is a schematic diagram of the second time delay provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 9B It is a schematic diagram of the second time delay provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Figure 10 It is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by yet another embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Figure 11 It is a schematic diagram of the transmission of synchronization signals within 2T provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] Figure 12 It is a schematic diagram of the third time delay provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Figure 13 It is a schematic diagram of the third time delay provided by another embodiment of the present application;

[0059] Figure 14 It is a schematic diagram of communication based on the first time delay and the third time delay provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Figure 15 It is a schematic diagram of communication based on the second time delay and the third time delay provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 16 It is a schematic diagram of the waveform modulation method of LP-WUS provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 17 It is a schematic diagram of an OFDM sequence on an LP-WUS waveform provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figures 18 to 21 It is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by different embodiments of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0064] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. This communication method is applicable to a 5G communication system, and can also be referred to as a new radio (NR) communication system, or a sixth generation (6G) communication system, or other future communication systems, a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), and communication systems that support subsequent protocol versions of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0065] Taking the 5G communication system as an example below, an exemplary description of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is given.

[0066] Figure 1 It is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system to which the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is applicable. Refer to Figure 1 As shown, this communication system includes at least one terminal device 100, a radio access network device 200, and a core network device 300. Among them, the terminal device 100 is connected to the radio access network device 200 wirelessly, and the radio access network device 200 is connected to the core network device 300 wirelessly or wiredly. The core network device 300 and the radio access network device 200 may be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network device 300 and the logical functions of the radio access network device 200 may be integrated on the same physical device, or the functions of part of the core network device 300 and part of the radio access network device 200 may be integrated on a physical device.

[0067] The location of the terminal device 100 can be fixed or movable. In this embodiment, the terminal device 100 includes, but is not limited to: user equipment (UE), access terminal device, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile platform, remote station, remote terminal device, mobile device, user terminal device, user agent or user device, etc. For another example, the terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiver function, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control, a wireless terminal device in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal device in smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation safety, a wireless terminal device in smart city, a wireless terminal device in smart home, a wireless terminal device in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) or a road side unit (RSU) of the wireless terminal device type, etc.

[0068] The radio access network device 200 is mainly used to implement functions such as wireless physical layer function, resource scheduling and radio resource management, radio access control, and mobility management.

[0069] In the embodiments of the present application, the radio access network device 200 includes, but is not limited to: evolved node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver Station (BTS), home network device (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission and reception point (TRP), transmission point (TP), etc.; it may also be a device used in 5G, 6G, etc. systems, such as gNB in an NR system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group of antenna panels of a network device in a 5G system (including multiple antenna panels), or, it may also be a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a distributed unit (DU), or a roadside unit (RSU) in a vehicle to everything (V2X) or intelligent driving scenario.

[0070] In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a radio unit (RU). The CU implements some functions of the gNB, and the DU implements some functions of the gNB. For example, the CU implements the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layers, and the DU implements the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, media access control (MAC) layer, and physical (PHY) layer. Since the information of the RRC layer will ultimately become the information of the PHY layer, or is transformed from the information of the PHY layer, in this architecture, high-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or sent by the DU + CU. It can be understood that the network device can be a CU node, or a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU can be classified as a network device in the radio access network (RAN), or the CU can be classified as a network device in the core network (CN). This application does not make any limitations in this regard.

[0071] The terminal device 100 and the radio access network device 200 can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on the water surface; they can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons, and satellites in the air. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of the radio access network device 200 and the terminal device 100. In addition, the radio access network device 200 and the terminal device 100 can communicate through authorized spectrum, or through unlicensed spectrum, or can communicate through both authorized spectrum and unlicensed spectrum at the same time. Between the radio access network device 200 and the terminal device 100, and between the terminal device 100 and the terminal device 100, they can communicate through a spectrum below 6G, or through a spectrum above 6G, or can also use a spectrum below 6G and a spectrum above 6G at the same time for communication. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used between the terminal device 100 and the radio access network device 200.

[0072] The core network device 300 includes functional units such as an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), and operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM). These functional units can work independently or be combined to implement certain control functions. For example, the AMF, SMF, and PCF can work together to complete access control and mobility management functions such as access authentication, security encryption, and location registration of the terminal device 100, as well as session management functions such as establishment, release, and change of the user plane transmission path, and functions such as analyzing some network slice-related data and terminal device 100-related data. In this embodiment, the core network device 300 can implement the above network element functions, and this embodiment does not limit the specific network element deployment method in the core network device 300.

[0073] It should be noted that Figure 1 is only an exemplary architecture diagram of a 5G communication system. In addition to including Figure 1 the devices shown, it may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices ( Figure 1 not shown in the figure). In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the number of terminal devices 100, radio access network devices 200, and core network devices 300 included in the communication system.

[0074] 5G communication technology supports higher rates and larger bandwidths, but it also means higher device power consumption. Therefore, with the large-scale commercial use of 5G communication technology, in addition to requiring communication latency, reliability, and feasibility in each communication scenario, higher requirements are also placed on the power consumption of terminal devices. For example, for terminal devices that cannot be continuously powered, such as some sensors deployed in monitoring devices and measurement devices, it is usually required that their battery life lasts for several years. Or, in the Internet of Things scenario, such as wearable devices and medical monitoring devices, it is usually required that these devices maintain a battery life of 1 to 2 weeks while maintaining performance. It can be seen that reducing the power consumption of terminal devices is crucial for a 5G communication system.

[0075] To achieve lower power consumption, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device based on a low power-wake up signal (LP-WUS) mechanism. The following is a specific description thereof.

[0076] Figure 2It is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Refer to Figure 2 As shown, the terminal device includes a first receiver and a second receiver connected to each other, which are specifically as follows.

[0077] The first receiver, also known as the main receiver (MR), is used to synchronize the terminal device with the network device, receive the scheduling of the network device, and perform data / service transmission with the network device. The first receiver operates based on the "use-it-or-lose-it" mode, that is, it is awakened to work when there is a service demand and shuts down / sleeps after the service processing is completed.

[0078] The second receiver, also known as the secondary receiver, or the low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR), abbreviated as LR, is used to listen for LP-WUS sent by the network device and wake up the first receiver according to the LP-WUS. Compared with the first receiver, the second receiver has lower hardware complexity and lower power consumption.

[0079] It should be noted that although Figure 2 not shown in the figure, in addition to the first receiver and the second receiver, the terminal device may further include a radio frequency circuit, a display, a memory, a processor, a power module, an input / output module, an audio module, a speaker, a microphone, etc. The structure of the terminal device is not specifically limited in this embodiment.

[0080] When the terminal device has no service demand, the first receiver is usually in the off / sleep state, while the second receiver is in the on state to listen for LP-WUS. When the network device needs to communicate with the terminal device, refer to Figure 3 As shown, it will first send LP-WUS to the terminal device. After the second receiver of the terminal device receives the LP-WUS, it sends a wake-up instruction to the first receiver. The first receiver first wakes up (ramp-up) according to the wake-up instruction, then receives the synchronization signal sent by the network side device to synchronize with the network device (re-sync), and finally, after the synchronization is completed, receives the scheduling information sent by the network device, such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), so as to perform data / service transmission. After the transmission task of the first receiver is completed, or when there is no ongoing transmission task, the first receiver shuts down / sleeps. It can be understood that since the first receiver of the terminal device is in the off / sleep state when not in use and can use the second receiver with lower power consumption to listen for LP-WUS, the power consumption of the terminal device is relatively low.

[0081] However, in the above process, since both the wake-up process and the synchronization process of the first receiver take a certain amount of time, and the terminal device can successfully receive the PDCCH sent by the network device only after completing synchronization. Therefore, in order to ensure that the terminal device can correctly receive the scheduling of the network device for communication and further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, the following contents need to be further clarified: (1) the timing for the network device to send LP-WUS; (2) the timing for the second receiver in the terminal device to wake up the first receiver after receiving LP-WUS; and (3) the timing for the network device to send PDCCH.

[0082] To this end, the present application provides a communication method, which can not only ensure the successful scheduling of the network device for the terminal device, but also further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, and has a good user experience.

[0083] First, the terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are explained.

[0084] (1) Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SS / PBCH Block, SSB)

[0085] In the 5G communication system, the SSB is a synchronization signal sent by the network device and is used for the terminal device to synchronize with the network device. As shown in Figure 4 An SSB includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0086] In the time domain, an SSB occupies 4 consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time domain units. Among them, one OFDM time domain unit is also called an OFDM symbol, and these 4 OFDM symbols are numbered from 0 to 3 in sequence. In the frequency domain, an SSB occupies 240 consecutive subcarriers, and these 240 subcarriers are numbered from 0 to 239 in ascending order of frequency. The signals carried by each OFDM symbol are as follows.

[0087] The 1st OFDM symbol (i.e., the OFDM symbol numbered 0) carries the PSS, and the subcarriers numbered 56, 57,..., 182 are the subcarriers occupied by the PSS. That is, the PSS is mapped to the subcarriers numbered 56, 57,..., 182 of the 1st OFDM symbol.

[0088] The second OFDM symbol (i.e., the OFDM symbol numbered 1) and the fourth OFDM symbol (i.e., the OFDM symbol numbered 3) carry the PBCH. That is, the PBCH is mapped to the subcarriers numbered 0 to 239 of the second OFDM and the fourth OFDM symbols.

[0089] The third OFDM symbol (i.e., the OFDM symbol numbered 2) carries the SSS and the PBCH. Among them, the subcarriers numbered 56, 57,..., 182 carry the SSS, and the subcarriers numbered 0, 1,..., 47, 192, 193,..., 239 carry the PBCH. That is, the SSS is mapped to the subcarriers numbered 56, 57,..., 182 of the third OFDM symbol. The PBCH is mapped to the subcarriers numbered 0, 1,..., 47, 192, 193,..., 239 of the third OFDM symbol.

[0090] In NR, the SSBs of a cell are concentrated within a 5 - ms half - frame (SSB burst). An SSB burst occupies multiple consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain, and there can be multiple SSBs at different positions within an SSB burst. According to different conditions such as sub - carrier spacing (SCS), frequency range, and communication mode, the first OFDM symbol of each SSB within a half - frame has 5 cases of alternative positions in the time domain as shown in Table 1. Among them, the communication mode includes time - division duplex (TDD) and frequency - division duplex (FDD).

[0091] Table 1 Alternative positions of SSBs within a 5 - ms half - frame

[0092]

[0093] Taking case A as an example, when the SSB sub - carrier spacing is 15 KHz and the communication frequency is less than 3 GHz, the possible positions of the first OFDM symbol of the SSB include the 2nd, 8th, 16th, and 22nd OFDM symbols in a half - frame, a total of 4 cases. When the SSB sub - carrier spacing is 15 KHz and the communication frequency is in the range of 3 GHz to 6 GHz, the possible positions of the first OFDM symbol of the SSB include the 2nd, 8th, 16th, 22nd, 30th, 36th, 44th, and 50th OFDM symbols in a half - frame, a total of 8 cases. For the remaining cases B - E in Table 1, no further elaboration will be given here.

[0094] In addition, the alternative positions of the SSB in Case A to Case E shown in Table 1 within a 5-ms half-frame can also be represented as Figure 5 as shown. The radio access network device 200 sends the SSB according to this alternative position.

[0095] When the terminal device synchronizes with the network device according to the SSB, it needs to synchronize according to n synchronization signals located in different half-frames, where n can be determined by the terminal device itself or determined according to the indication of the network device. It should be noted that the terminal device can receive one SSB within a half-frame or multiple SBBs. If the network device receives multiple SSBs within a half-frame, it preferentially selects one SSB for synchronization.

[0096] (2) Tracking reference signal (TRS)

[0097] The TRS of NR is a specialized channel state information reference signal (CSI), which is a relatively special reference signal. The terminal device can perform accurate time-frequency offset synchronization according to the TRS, and the synchronization accuracy using the TRS is higher than that using the SSB.

[0098] In NR, 3GPP has specified two frequency ranges, FR1 and FR2. FR1 represents the low-frequency band, and FR1 represents the millimeter-wave high-frequency band, as shown in Table 2 specifically.

[0099] Table 2 Frequency range

[0100] Frequency range name Corresponding frequency range Remarks FR1 450 MHz to 6000 MHz Frequency less than 6 GHz FR2 24250 MHz to 52600 MHz Frequency greater than 6 GHz, i.e., millimeter wave

[0101] In terms of time threshold, the TRS can be configured through one or more non-zero power channel state information reference signal resource sets (NZP CSI-RS resource set). For FR1, the TRS can be configured with one or more of these sets, and each set contains two consecutive time slots (slot), and each time slot includes 2 CSI-RS resources, totaling 4 CSI-RS resources. For FR2, the TRS can be configured with 4 CSI-RS resources or 2 CSI-RS resources. The transmission period of the TRS can be 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, or 80 ms. It should be noted that when the bandwidth is greater than 52 RBs, the period cannot be configured as 10 ms.

[0102] (3) PDCCH

[0103] The PDCCH is used to carry downlink control information (DCI). The DCI includes resource scheduling and other control information for one or more terminal devices, such as transmission format, resource allocation, uplink scheduling grant, power control, and uplink retransmission information. The terminal device needs to first demodulate the DCI in the PDCCH, and then it can demodulate its own physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the corresponding resource position to receive the data sent by the network device.

[0104] Based on the above basic content, the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be exemplarily described below in different aspects, including (i) the timing for the network device to send LP-WUS; (ii) the timing for the second receiver in the terminal device to wake up the first receiver according to the LP-WUS; and (iii) the timing for the network device to send the PDCCH.

[0105] (i) The timing for the network device to send LP-WUS

[0106] Figure 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application, which relates to the process of the network device sending LP-WUS to the terminal device, and specifically includes the following steps S600 to S605.

[0107] S600, the network device periodically sends synchronization signals.

[0108] In some embodiments, the network device usually continuously broadcasts synchronization signals at a fixed period, and the synchronization signals broadcast each time are the same. The synchronization signal can be the SSB or TRS shown above, and can also be other signals for synchronization.

[0109] S601, the terminal device sends the wake-up duration T of the first receiver of the network device to the network device ramp-up .

[0110] The first receiver wakes up according to the wake-up instruction (see the following for details). In this embodiment, the time difference between the moment when the first receiver receives the wake-up instruction and the moment when the wake-up is successful is called the wake-up duration of the first receiver, and this wake-up duration can be represented by T ramp-up .

[0111] It should be noted that S601 is an optional step. For example, the terminal device only needs to send T to the network device when communicating with the network device for the first time ramp-up . After receiving T ramp-up , the network device saves it locally for subsequent use.

[0112] S602. The network device sends LP-WUS to the terminal device. Here, starting from the sending time of LP-WUS, the time after the first time delay is the time when the network device periodically sends a synchronization signal.

[0113] The time delays involved in this embodiment (such as the first time delay, the second time delay, and the third time delay) are time parameters, and their time units can be system frame number (SFN), sub-frame, time slot, or symbol, or can also be time lengths (such as seconds s or milliseconds ms). This embodiment does not limit this.

[0114] In this embodiment, the first time delay is related to the first receiver wake-up duration T of the terminal device ramp-up For example Figure 7 As shown, the first time delay offset1 ≥ T ramp-up .

[0115] For ease of description, in this embodiment, the time when the network device sends LP-WUS is represented as t lpwus1 , which can be the start time or the end time when the network device sends LP-WUS. Additionally, the time when the terminal device receives LP-WUS is represented as t lpwus2 , which can be the start time or the end time when the terminal device receives LP-WUS. It should be noted that without considering the transmission time delay of the air interface and the processing time delay t delay of the terminal device, t lpwus1 = t lpwus2 , and both t lpwus1 and t lpwus2 can be represented as t lpwus . And when considering t delay , t lpwus2 = t lpwus1+ + t delay .

[0116] Based on this, S602 can also be described as that the network device, starting from t lpwus1 , sends the first synchronization signal after the first time delay at t lpwus1 . Or, the network device, starting from t lpwus1 , sends a synchronization signal after the first time delay.

[0117] S603. After the second receiver of the terminal device receives LP-WUS, it sends a wake-up instruction to the first receiver.

[0118] In this embodiment, after receiving the LP-WUS, the second receiver of the terminal device immediately sends a wake-up instruction to the first receiver of the terminal device, and the first receiver wakes up according to the wake-up instruction.

[0119] S604, the first receiver of the terminal device wakes up according to the wake-up instruction.

[0120] S605, starting from the moment when the network device sends the LP-WUS to the terminal device, the network device sends a synchronization signal to the terminal device after a first time delay.

[0121] It can be understood that since offset1≥T ramp-up , when the network device sends the synchronization signal to the terminal device after this first time delay starting from t lpwus1 , the first receiver of the terminal device has just woken up and can immediately receive this synchronization signal.

[0122] In summary, in this embodiment, based on the fact that the moment when the network device periodically sends the synchronization signal is fixed, the network device can determine a suitable transmission moment t ramp-up of the LP-WUS in reverse according to the transmission moment of the synchronization signal and the wake-up duration T lpwus1 of the first receiver of the terminal device lpwus1 so that the time interval between t ramp-up and the transmission moment T2 of the next synchronization signal is greater than T.

[0123] (2) Timing for the second receiver in the terminal device to wake up the first receiver according to the LP-WUS

[0124] Figure 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by another embodiment of this application. This method relates to the process of how the second receiver of the terminal device wakes up the first receiver after receiving the LP-WUS, and specifically includes S800 to S803.

[0125] S800, the network device periodically sends a synchronization signal. For details, refer to S600, which will not be elaborated here.

[0126] S801, the network device sends the LP-WUS to the terminal device. For details, refer to S602, which will not be elaborated here.

[0127] At S802, starting from the moment when the second receiver of the terminal device receives the LP-WUS, after a second time delay, it sends a wake-up instruction to the first receiver.

[0128] Since the first receiver of the terminal device is currently in the off / sleep state, while the second receiver is in the on state and listening for LP-WUS, therefore, on the terminal device side, specifically, the second receiver receives the LP-WUS at t lpwus2 . And, starting from t lpwus2 , after a second time delay offset2, the second receiver sends a wake-up instruction to the first receiver.

[0129] It should be noted that, starting from t lpwus2 , after a second time delay, the time difference between the moment when the first receiver of the terminal device completes waking up and the moment when it receives the first synchronization signal after waking up is less than a threshold. Exemplarily, the threshold is 1ms, 5ms, 10ms, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this. In other words, starting from t lpwus2 , after a second time delay, the first receiver of the terminal device just completes waking up and receives the first synchronization signal. It can be understood that this method can reduce the duration for which the first receiver of the terminal device waits to receive the synchronization signal after waking up, which helps to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0130] Since the wake-up process of the first receiver takes a certain amount of time, and the first receiver cannot receive the wake-up signal during the wake-up process. Therefore, in order to ensure that the first receiver can just receive a synchronization signal after waking up successfully, the specific time when the second receiver starts to wake up the first receiver needs to be determined in combination with the wake-up duration T ramp-up of the first receiver, and the time when the network device sends the synchronization signal after t lpwus2 . Specifically, it is as follows.

[0131] In some embodiments, the second receiver receives the LP-WUS at t lpwus2 and starts to wake up the first receiver, and the network device expects to send the next synchronization signal at T2. According to whether the time period ΔT between t lpwus2 and T2 is sufficient for the first receiver to perform a wake-up, the second time delay is specifically as follows.

[0132] If the time period ΔT between t lpwus2 and T2 is sufficient for the first receiver to perform a wake-up, that is, T2 - t lpwus2 ≥T ramp-up , then as shown in FIG. 9A, the second time delay satisfies the following formula (1):

[0133] t lpwus2 +offset2+T ramp-up ≤T2 (1)

[0134] Among them, t lpwus2 is the reception time of the LP-WUS, offset2 is the second time delay, and T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, and T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal.

[0135] If the time period AT between t lpwus2 and T2 is not enough for the first receiver to perform one wake-up, that is, T2 - t lpwus2 ≤T ramp-up , then as shown in 9B, the second time delay satisfies the following formula (2):

[0136] t lpwus2 + offset2 + T ramp-up ≤T2 + T (2)

[0137] Among them, t lpwus2 is the reception time of the LP-WUS, offset2 is the second time delay, and T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal, and T is the period of the synchronization signal.

[0138] S803, the first receiver of the terminal device wakes up according to the wake-up instruction.

[0139] In summary, through the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the duration for which the first receiver of the terminal device waits to receive the synchronization signal after waking up is shorter, which helps to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0140] (3) Timing for the network device to send PDCCH

[0141] Figure 10 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by another embodiment of the present application. This method involves the process of how the network device further sends PDCCH after sending LP-WUS to the terminal device, and specifically includes the following steps S1000 to S1005.

[0142] S1000, the network device periodically sends synchronization signals. For details, refer to S600, which will not be elaborated here.

[0143] S1001, the network device sends LP-WUS to the terminal device. For details, refer to S602, which will not be elaborated here.

[0144] S1002, after receiving the LP-WUS, the second receiver of the terminal device sends a wake-up instruction to the first receiver.

[0145] S1003, the second receiver of the terminal device wakes up according to the wake-up instruction.

[0146] S1004, The terminal device receives n synchronization signals to achieve synchronization with the network device.

[0147] It should be noted that when the terminal device needs to synchronize with the network device, it needs to receive n synchronization signals and synchronize with the network device according to these n synchronization signals.

[0148] S1005, Since the moment when the network device sends LP-WUS to the terminal device, it sends PDCCH to the terminal device after a third time delay.

[0149] In other words, in S1005, since the network device starts from t lpwus1 it sends PDCCH to the terminal device after a third time delay.

[0150] It should be noted that this third time delay is related to at least one of t lpwus1 , the wake-up duration T of the first receiver of the terminal device ramp-up , and the synchronization duration of the first receiver of this terminal device. And, since t lpwus1 after a third time delay, the second receiver of the terminal device can wake up the first receiver of the terminal device according to LP-WUS, and the first receiver can complete synchronization with the network device.

[0151] In some embodiments, the third time delay offset3 is a preset value. For example, offset3 = 20ms, offset3 = 40ms, or o offset3 = 60ms, etc. This embodiment does not limit this.

[0152] In other embodiments, the third time delay satisfies the following formula (3):

[0153] offset3 ≥ T ramp-up + n·T (3)

[0154] Wherein, n is the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device receiving LP-WUS to complete synchronization with the network device, and T is the period of the synchronization signal. Exemplarily, n = 1, n = 2, or n = 3.

[0155] It can be understood that within the duration of n·T, the network device can send at least n synchronization signals according to the period T and at most n + 1 synchronization signals according to the period T. Therefore, the terminal device will surely be able to receive n synchronization signals and achieve synchronization with the network device. Refer to Figure 11 As shown, within the duration of 2·T, the network device can send at least 2 synchronization signals according to the period T and at most 3 synchronization signals according to the period T.

[0156] Taking n = 1 as an example, offset3 = T ramp-up + T. Based on this, the schematic diagram of the network device sending PDCCH to the terminal device after the third time delay starting from t lpwus1 is shown in Figure 12 as follows.

[0157] In some other embodiments, the third time delay satisfies the following formula (4):

[0158] offset3 ≥ (T2 - t lpwus1 ) + (n - 1)·T (4)

[0159] where offset3 is the third time delay, t lpwus1 is the transmission time of LP-WUS, T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal, n is the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device and the network device to complete synchronization, T is the period of the synchronization signal, the time interval between T2 and t lpwus3 is greater than the wake-up duration T ramp-up of the first receiver, and T2 is greater than t lpwus1 . T ramp-up is received by the network device from the terminal device in advance before determining the third time delay.

[0160] In this embodiment, since T2 is the transmission time of the first synchronization signal after the first receiver wakes up, therefore, after a duration of (n - 1)·T from T2, the network device can send n synchronization signals. Correspondingly, the terminal device can also receive n synchronization signals and achieve synchronization with the network device.

[0161] Regarding formula (4), Figure 13 shows the scenario where offset3 = (T2 - t lpwus1 ) + (n - 1)·T and n = 1. It can be seen from the figure that since T2 is the transmission time of the first synchronization signal after the first receiver LP-WUS of the terminal device wakes up, therefore, after a duration of T2 - t lpwus1 from T2, the terminal device can exactly receive 1 synchronization signal and achieve synchronization with the network device.

[0162] It can be seen that in the above formulas (3) and (4), the third time delay is related to the number n of synchronization signals required by the terminal device. Before determining the third time delay, the network device can determine the number n of synchronization signals in any of the following ways.

[0163] In some embodiments, before determining the third time delay, the network device determines the number of synchronization signals required by the terminal device according to the worst channel quality or the best channel quality of the terminal device.

[0164] In some other embodiments, before determining the third time delay, the network device determines the number n of synchronization signals required for synchronization of the terminal device according to the correspondence between the service area quality of the terminal device and the synchronization signals, in combination with the service area quality of the terminal device. The service area quality is used to represent the service quality of the current serving cell of the terminal device. The higher the service quality level, the worse the service quality, and the larger the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device to synchronize. The service area quality includes at least one of parameters such as the reference signal receiving power (RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), and signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the serving cell.

[0165] Exemplarily, the correspondence between the service area quality and the synchronization signal quality is shown in Table 1.

[0166] Table 1 Correspondence

[0167] Service area quality level Number n of required synchronization signals 1 1 2 2 3 3

[0168] In some other embodiments, the network device determines in advance the number n of synchronization signals required by the terminal device according to the request of the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may report first information to the network device after actively or receiving a UE capability query message sent by the network device. The first information carries the number m of synchronization signals requested by the terminal device to be used. After receiving the first information, the network device determines the number n of synchronization signals actually used by the terminal device according to the number m, where m may be the same as or different from n. Finally, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, and the second information includes the number n of synchronization signals.

[0169] The first information may be referred to as auxiliary information, or energy-saving auxiliary information. Exemplarily, the first information may be carried in an uplink physical control channel (PUCCH), a physical random access channel (PRACH), or an uplink physical shared channel (PUSCH) by adding a new message bit and reported to the network device. Alternatively, the first information may also be carried in a radio resource control (RRC) message, or reported to the network device through user equipment assistance information (UAI). The specific form of the first information is not limited in this embodiment.

[0170] Optionally, the network device may further configure a reporting feedback period M for the terminal device. The reporting feedback period M is used to indicate that the information reported by the terminal device to the network device (such as the first information in this embodiment) becomes effective after the Mth discontinuous reception (DRX) period.

[0171] The second information may be an RRC message, a media access control control element (MAC CE) message, a DCI, LP-WUS, or a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS), etc. The specific type of the second information is not limited in this embodiment.

[0172] In summary, through the method provided in the embodiments of this application, starting from t lpwus1 , after a third time delay, the network device sends a PDCCH to the terminal device. The network device can send the PDCCH to the terminal device after the terminal device wakes up and completes synchronization, thereby successfully scheduling the terminal device. It can also reduce the waiting time for scheduling after the first receiver of the terminal device wakes up, further reducing the power consumption of the terminal device, and thus improving the user experience.

[0173] It should be noted that the methods in different embodiments of this application can be combined and used with each other.

[0174] For example, the method of the network device shown in S600 - S605 for sending LP-WUS according to the first time delay can be used in combination with the method of the network device shown in S1000 - S1005 for sending PDCCH according to the third time delay, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the network device successfully schedules the terminal device.

[0175] In this combination mode, taking the number of synchronization signals n = 2 required by the terminal device as an example, the communication process between the network device and the terminal device can be seen in Figure 14 as shown. That is, the network device sends LP-WUS to the terminal device at t lpwus1 and, starting from t lpwus1 after the first time delay, sends the synchronization signal SSB to the terminal device, and after the third time delay, sends PDCCH to the terminal device. The terminal device wakes up immediately after receiving LP-WUS, and immediately receives the first SSB after the end of the first time delay, and completes synchronization after receiving the second SSB at the end of the third time delay, and then immediately receives PDCCH after synchronization to establish a communication connection with the network device.

[0176] Also, for example, the method of the second receiver of the terminal device shown in S800 - S803 for waking up the first receiver according to LP-WUS with a second time delay can be used in combination with the communication method of the network device shown in S1000 - S1005 for delaying the third time delay to send PDCCH, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring the successful scheduling of the terminal device.

[0177] In this combination mode, taking the number of synchronization signals n = 2 required by the terminal device as an example, the communication process between the network device and the terminal device can be seen in Figure 15 as shown. That is, the network device sends LP-WUS to the terminal device at t lpwus1 and, starting from t lpwus1 after the third time delay, sends PDCCH to the terminal device. After the second receiver of the terminal device receives LP-WUS at t lpwus2 it wakes up the first receiver after the second time delay, and the first receiver immediately receives the first SSB after waking up and completes synchronization after receiving the second SSB, and then immediately receives PDCCH after synchronization to establish a communication connection with the network device.

[0178] In the above embodiments, the network device needs to wake up the first receiver of the terminal device through LP-WUS. The modulation method of LP-WUS and the carried information will be specifically described below.

[0179] The waveform modulation method of LP-WUS includes on-off Keying (OOK). The basic time unit of OOK modulation is the OOK symbol. An LP-WUS can have one or more OOK symbols. An OOK symbol includes multiple different parts (for example Figure 16 as shown, Part1#, Part2#, Part3#, Part4#), in different parts, different bit states (such as "0" or "1") indicate whether a signal is sent. For example, the bit state "0" indicates that the network device does not send any signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device does not need to detect the signal from the network device at the corresponding position. For another example, the bit state "1" indicates that the network device will send a signal to the terminal device, and the terminal device performs corresponding demodulation operations to obtain information from the network device.

[0180] Optionally, as Figure 17 shown, for an LP-WUS, an OFDM sequence can be superimposed on the part where the bit state is "1" in its OOK symbol. This OFDM sequence can carry information or not carry information.

[0181] When the OFDM sequence in LP-WUS carries information, the OFDM sequence superimposed on the OOK symbol can include one or more candidate OFDM sequences, and each candidate OFDM sequence is the same or different. In this embodiment, the candidate OFDM sequence is used for the correlation operation between the terminal device and the local sequence.

[0182] After receiving the LP-WUS, when the OFDM sequence carried by the terminal device carries information, the terminal device first determines the first-level information of each OOK symbol of the LP-WUS, that is, determines whether the bit state of each part of the OOK symbol is "0" or "1". Subsequently, the OFDM sequence superimposed on the waveform with the bit state of "1" in the OOK symbol is obtained.

[0183] For the OFDM sequence superimposed on the obtained OOK waveform, the terminal device can perform the following processing on it:

[0184] In one case, the terminal device only saves one of the candidate OFDM sequences locally, and judges whether the candidate OFDM sequence is the same as the local sequence through the correlation calculation with the local sequence to obtain the bit state. For example, when the candidate OFDM sequence is the same as the local sequence, the bit state is determined to be "1"; when the candidate OFDM sequence is different from the local sequence, the bit state is determined to be "0".

[0185] In another case, the terminal device obtains the information content carried by the candidate OFDM sequence through the correlation calculation between the candidate OFDM sequence superimposed on the OOK waveform and the local sequence.

[0186] For example, OFDM sequence 1 represents the bit state "00", OFDM sequence 2 represents the bit state "01", OFDM sequence 3 represents the bit state "10", and OFDM sequence 4 represents the bit state "11". Based on this, after the terminal device performs correlation calculation on the candidate OFDM sequence and the local sequence, it can identify which specific OFDM sequence the candidate OFDM sequence is and determine the bit state it represents. In this process, the local sequence can be one or more of the candidate OFDM sequences. For example, by correlation calculation, it is identified that a certain candidate OFDM sequence is OFDM sequence 1, so its bit state is determined to be "00". After the terminal device obtains the bit states of all or part of the candidate OFDM sequences on the LP-WUS, by parsing these bit states, it can obtain the information content carried by the OFDM sequence, that is, the content carried by the LP-WUS.

[0187] After the terminal device receives the LP-WUS, when the OFDM sequence carried thereon does not carry information, the OFDM sequence superimposed on the OOK symbol is used to improve the detection performance of OOK, and the terminal device obtains the information content sent by the network device only based on OOK.

[0188] In summary, whether the candidate OFDM sequence of the LP-WUS carries information will affect the subsequent processing behavior of the terminal device for the LP-WUS. Based on this, the network device can send indication information to the terminal device to indicate whether the candidate OFDM sequence of the LP-WUS carries information, so that the terminal device can perform corresponding processing for the LP-WUS.

[0189] In some embodiments, the indication information is directly used to indicate whether the candidate OFDM sequence of the LP-WUS carries information.

[0190] In other embodiments, the indication information includes the number n of OFDM candidate OFDM sequences that can be carried on the LP-WUS, where n is used to indicate whether the OFDM sequence on the LP-WUS carries information. For example, n = 1 indicates that the OFDM sequence does not carry information, and n > 1 indicates that the OFDM sequence carries information.

[0191] In still other embodiments, the indication information is used to indicate whether a single or multiple OFDM sequences can be superimposed on the OOK symbol of the LP-WUS modulated by OOK. Only a single OFDM sequence can be superimposed, indicating that the OFDM sequence does not carry information, and multiple OFDM sequences can be superimposed, indicating that the sequence carries information.

[0192] In other embodiments, the number of bits of the indication information and the bit state (i.e., "0" or "1") of each bit are combined to indicate whether the candidate OFDM sequence of the LP-WUS carries information.

[0193] For example, when the indication information is 1 bit, the bit state "1" indicates that the number of OFDM sequences is greater than 1, and the indication sequence carries information; the bit state "0" indicates that the number of sequences is 1, and the indication sequence does not carry information. Alternatively, when the indication information is 1 bit, the bit state "1" indicates that the sequence carries information, and the bit state "0" indicates that the sequence does not carry information.

[0194] For another example, when the indication information is 2 bits, the bit state "11" indicates that the number of candidate OFDM sequences is 4, the bit state "10" indicates that the number of candidate OFDM sequences is 3, the bit state "01" indicates that the number of candidate OFDM sequences is 2, and the bit state "00" indicates that the number of candidate OFDM sequences is 1.

[0195] In this embodiment, the indication information may be part of information such as LP-WUS and LP-SS. Alternatively, the indication information may be carried in LP-WUS, LP-SS, SIB, DCI, MAC CE, RRC, or PDSCH. Alternatively, the indication information is sent as a separate signal. This embodiment does not limit this.

[0196] Based on the same inventive concept, as an implementation of the above various communication methods, this embodiment also provides the following technical solutions.

[0197] Figure 18 It is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1800 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1800 includes a receiving module 1801 and a transmitting module 1802.

[0198] The receiving module 1801 is configured to receive the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device before sending LP-WUS to the terminal device.

[0199] The transmitting module 1802 is configured to send LP-WUS to the terminal device; wherein, starting from the sending moment of LP-WUS, the moment after the first time delay is the moment when the network device periodically sends a synchronization signal, and the first time delay is greater than or equal to the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device.

[0200] Figure 19 It is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1900 provided by another embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1900 includes a first receiver 1901 and a second receiver 1902.

[0201] The first receiver 1901 is configured to be woken up according to the wake-up instruction of the second receiver.

[0202] A second receiver 1902 is configured to receive a low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS; and, starting from the reception time of the LP-WUS, wake up a first receiver 1901 after a second time delay; wherein, starting from the reception time of the LP-WUS, after the second time delay, the time difference between the time when the first receiver completes waking up and the reception time of the first synchronization signal after waking up is less than a threshold. For the specific value of the second time delay, please refer to the previous text and will not be elaborated here.

[0203] Figure 20 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 2000 provided by another embodiment of the present application. The communication device 2000 includes a sending module 2001, a determining module 2002, and a receiving module 2003.

[0204] The sending module 2001 is configured to send a low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS to a terminal device; and, after a third time delay starting from the sending time of the LP-WUS, send a physical downlink control channel PDCCH to the terminal device; wherein, after the third time delay starting from the sending time of the LP-WUS, the second receiver of the terminal device can wake up the first receiver of the terminal device according to the LP-WUS, and the first receiver can complete synchronization with the network device. For the specific value of the third time delay, please refer to the previous text and will not be elaborated here.

[0205] Optionally, the determining module 2002 is configured to determine the number n of synchronization signals according to the service area quality of the terminal device.

[0206] Optionally, the receiving module 2003 is configured to receive a first piece of information, where the first piece of information includes the number m of synchronization signals requested to be used by the terminal device.

[0207] The determining module 2002 is configured to determine the number n of synchronization signals actually used by the terminal device according to the number m, where m may be the same as or different from n.

[0208] The sending module 2001 is further configured to send a second piece of information to the terminal device, where the second piece of information includes the number n of synchronization signals.

[0209] Optionally, the receiving module 2003 is further configured to receive the wake-up duration of the first receiver before determining the third time delay.

[0210] Figure 21 FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 2100 provided by another embodiment of the present application. The communication device 2100 includes a sending module 2101, configured to send indication information to a terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate whether a candidate OFDM sequence of a low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS carries information, and the candidate OFDM sequence is used for correlation operation with a local sequence of the terminal device. For the specific indication information, please refer to the previous text and will not be elaborated here.

[0211] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. The terminal is configured to execute the communication method shown in the second aspect above. In addition, the network device is configured to execute the communication method shown in the first aspect, the third aspect or the fourth aspect above.

[0212] It should be understood that the magnitudes of the sequence numbers of the steps in the above embodiments do not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined according to its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0213] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor and a memory. A computer program is stored in the memory, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the communication methods in the above embodiments are implemented.

[0214] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the communication methods provided in the above embodiments are implemented.

[0215] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program is run on an electronic device, the electronic device is enabled to implement the communication methods provided in the above embodiments.

[0216] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or 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. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0217] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. 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), which is used as an external cache. By way of example but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (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).

[0218] In the embodiments provided by the present application, the division of each framework or module is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple frameworks or modules may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed.

[0219] In addition, in each embodiment of the present application, each functional module may be integrated in a processing module, or each module may exist physically alone, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The above integrated module may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module.

[0220] It should be understood that in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or". For example, A / B may mean A or B; "and / or" herein is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships. For example, A and / or B may mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

[0221] In this embodiment, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the quantity of the indicated technical features. Thus, features defined with "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of such features. In the description of this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more.

[0222] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments and will not be elaborated herein.

[0223] The reference to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" etc. described in the specification of this application means that a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of this application. Thus, the statements "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in other some embodiments", "in still other embodiments", etc. that appear in different places in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in another way. The terms "comprising", "including", "having" and their variants all mean "including but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized in another way.

[0224] The above-described embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application and are not intended to limit them; although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments or perform equivalent replacements for some of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application and should all be included within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a network device, the method includes: Sending a Low-Power Wake-Up Signal (LP-WUS) to a terminal device: Wherein, starting from the sending time of the LP-WUS, the time after a first time delay is the time when the network device periodically sends a synchronization signal, and the first time delay is greater than or equal to the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein Before sending the LP-WUS to the terminal device, the method further includes: receiving the wake-up duration of the first receiver sent by the terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The synchronization signal includes a Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) and a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).

4. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a terminal device, the terminal device includes a first receiver and a second receiver, and the method includes: The second receiver receives a Low-Power Wake-Up Signal (LP-WUS); The second receiver wakes up the first receiver after a second time delay starting from the receiving time of the LP-WUS; Wherein, starting from the receiving time of the LP-WUS, after the second time delay, the time difference between the time when the first receiver completes waking up and the receiving time of the first synchronization signal after waking up is less than a threshold.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that At T2 - t lpwus2 ≥T ramp-up In the case 况 where, the second time delay satisfies the following formula: t lpwus2 +offset2+T ramp-up ≤T2 where t lpwus2 is the receiving time of the LP-WUS, offset2 is the second time delay, and T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, and T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that At T2 - t lpwus2 <T ramp-up In this case, the second time delay satisfies the following formula: t lpwus2 + offset2 + T ramp-up ≤ T2 + T where t lpwus2 is the receiving time of the LP-WUS, offset2 is the second time delay, T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal, and T is the period of the synchronization signal.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that The synchronization signal includes: a Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) and a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).

8. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a network device, the method includes: Sending a Low-Power Wake-Up Signal (LP-WUS) to a terminal device: Sending a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to the terminal device after a third time delay starting from the sending time of the LP-WUS; Wherein, after a third time delay starting from the sending time of the LP-WUS, the second receiver of the terminal device can wake up the first receiver of the terminal device according to the LP-WUS, and the first receiver can synchronize with the network device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The third time delay has a correlation relationship with at least one of the sending time of the LP-WUS, the wake-up duration of the first receiver of the terminal device, and the synchronization duration of the first receiver of the terminal device.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The third time delay satisfies the following formula: offset3≥T ramp-up +n·T where offset1 is the third time delay, T ramp-up is the wake-up duration of the first receiver, n is the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device receiving the LP-WUS to complete synchronization with the network device, and T is the period of the synchronization signal.

11. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The third time delay satisfies the following formula: offset3≥(T2 - t lpwus1 )+(n - 1)·T where offset1 is the third time delay, t lpwus1 is the transmission time of the LP-WUS, T2 is the transmission time of the next synchronization signal, n is the number of synchronization signals required for the terminal device to complete synchronization with the network device, T is the period of the synchronization signal, and the time interval between T2 and t lpwus1 is greater than the wake-up duration of the first receiver, and T2 is greater than t lpwus1 .

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, Before determining the third time delay, the method further includes: Determining the number n of the synchronization signals according to the service area quality of the terminal device.

13. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, Before determining the third time delay, the method further includes: Receiving first information, where the first information includes the number m of the synchronization signals requested by the terminal device to use; Determining the number n of the synchronization signals actually used by the terminal device according to the number m, where m is the same as or different from n; Sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information includes the number n of the synchronization signals.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that Before determining the third time delay, the method further includes: receiving the wake-up duration of the first receiver.

15. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 14, characterized in that The synchronization signal includes: a Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) and a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS).

16. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a network device, the method includes: Send indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate whether the candidate OFDM sequence of the low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS carries information, and the candidate OFDM sequence is used to perform a correlation operation with the local sequence of the terminal device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the indication information includes the number n of candidate OFDM sequences that can be carried on the LP-WUS, and n is used to indicate whether the candidate OFDM sequences of the LP-WUS carry information.

18. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The indication information is further used to indicate that the number n of candidate OFDM sequences that can be carried on the LP-WUS is n = 1, or n > 1.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein n = 1 is used to indicate that the candidate OFDM sequence does not carry information; n > 1 is used to indicate that the candidate OFDM sequence carries information.

20. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, or includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, or includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15, or includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 16 to 19.

21. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, or configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, or configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15, or configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 16 to 19.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium includes instructions that, when run by a processor, implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, or the method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15, or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 19.

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