Communication method and device

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication method and device. In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment in the sleep state can enter the wake-up state when the scheduling request or the NACK needs to be sent, and can receive the physical downlink control channel for scheduling resources for the scheduling request or the NACK in the sleep time period without receiving the physical downlink control channel after the sleep time period is ended, so that the physical downlink control channel is not required to be received after the sleep time period is ended. Therefore, while the power consumption of the terminal equipment is saved, the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the uplink data scheduling corresponding to the scheduling request or the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the downlink retransmission data scheduling corresponding to the NACK is ensured to be received as soon as possible, and the delay of the physical downlink control channel is reduced.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application. The application number of the original application is 201910027928.1, and the original application date is January 11, 2019. The entire content of the original application is incorporated into this application by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0003] The terminal device monitors the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), which can be used to indicate the time-frequency resources of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). However, statistics show that in the existing long-term evolution (LTE) network, most of the PDCCH monitoring performed by the terminal device does not detect any indication, and these PDCCH monitorings without any indication contribute a considerable amount of power consumption to the terminal device. Therefore, it is necessary to consider how to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. One direction to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device is to reduce the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH monitoring) without causing too much impact on scheduling, such as excessive increase in scheduling delay.

[0004] Currently, one technology to reduce PDCCH monitoring is to dynamically instruct the terminal device to skip PDCCH monitoring, also known as Go-To-Sleep (GTS) technology, that is, using GTS signals or signaling to instruct the terminal device to skip PDCCH monitoring for a period of time.

[0005] However, after adopting the GTS technology, there is a problem of increased delay in certain data scheduling. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus to reduce the delay of certain data scheduling while saving power consumption of terminal equipment.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. In the method, a terminal device sends first information to a network device during a sleep period. The first information may be a scheduling request or a negative acknowledgement (NACK). After sending the first information, the terminal device monitors a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) during a first time period within the sleep period.

[0008] Optionally, the first information may be sent by a terminal device in a sleep state.

[0009] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. In this method, a network device sends sleep indication information to a terminal device. The sleep indication information may instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state. Furthermore, after sending the sleep indication information to the terminal device, and within a sleep time period, the network device receives first information from the terminal device. The network device further sends a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) corresponding to the first information to the terminal device.

[0010] In this aspect, a terminal device in a sleep state can enter an awake state when it needs to send a scheduling request or NACK, and can receive the physical downlink control channel of the scheduling resource for the scheduling request or NACK within the sleep period, without having to wait until the end of the sleep period to receive the physical downlink control channel. This saves power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the scheduling request or the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the downlink retransmission data scheduling corresponding to the NACK is received as soon as possible, thereby reducing the delay of the physical downlink control channel.

[0011] In one implementation, the first time period may be: a time period starting from the next symbol after the last symbol occupied by the first information to the end of the sleep time period; or a time period starting from the next time slot after the time slot occupied by the first information to the end of the sleep time period; or a time period starting from the next symbol after the last symbol occupied by the first information to the time period when the terminal device detects the first PDCCH from the network device within the sleep time period; or a time period starting from the next time slot after the time slot occupied by the first information to the time period when the first PDCCH from the network device is detected within the sleep time period.

[0012] In this implementation, after sending the first information, the terminal device enters the awake state and no longer enters the sleep state until the end of the entire sleep time period, which can ensure that data scheduling will not be delayed; or after sending the first information, if a data scheduling indication is received from the network device during the sleep time period, it continues to enter the sleep state to save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0013] In another implementation, the first information may be a NACK, and the first time period may be a time period starting from the end of the third time period to the end of the sleep time period, wherein the third time period is a time period starting from the end of sending the last symbol of the NACK, and the duration of the third time period is semi-statically configured by radio resource control RRC signaling, and each downlink HARQ process may have its own corresponding third time period timer. A possible name for the third time period is HARQ round trip time.

[0014] In another implementation, the first information may be a scheduling request, and the first time period may be a time period starting from the end of a fourth time period to the time when the terminal device detects the first PDCCH from the network device during the sleep time period, wherein the fourth time period is a time period starting from the end of the last symbol of the scheduling request, and the length of the fourth time period is semi-statically configured by RRC signaling. A possible name for the fourth time period is the scheduling request round trip time.

[0015] In another implementation, the first information may be the NACK corresponding to the first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process. The first time period may be: a time period from the start of a downlink retransmission timer to the end of the sleep time period; or a time period of a downlink retransmission timer; or a time period from the start of a downlink retransmission timer to the detection of a first PDCCH from the network device.

[0016] In this implementation, when the terminal device is configured for discontinuous reception, the first time period starts from the start of the downlink retransmission timer and ends at the end of the sleep time period. The terminal device enters the awake state and no longer enters the sleep state, which can ensure that data scheduling will not be delayed; or when the terminal device is configured for discontinuous reception, the first time period starts from the start of the downlink retransmission timer. If a data scheduling indication is received from the network device or the downlink retransmission timer stops during the sleep time period, the terminal device continues to enter the sleep state to save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0017] In another implementation, the first information may be the NACK, the NACK corresponds to the first HARQ process, and the first PDCCH carries the retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process. Before the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, the method further includes: the terminal device receives a second PDCCH for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process. Furthermore, the terminal device sends the first information to the network device, including: when the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH, the terminal device sends the NACK to the network device.

[0018] In this implementation, in the retransmission scheduling scenario, the terminal device wakes up in time and sends a NACK to the network device, ensuring timely scheduling.

[0019] In another implementation, the terminal device is in the sleep state during a second time period before the downlink retransmission timer starts timing, the second time period is a downlink HARQ round-trip time timer timing time period, and the downlink retransmission timer and the downlink HARQ round-trip time timer correspond to the first HARQ process.

[0020] In this implementation, the terminal device is in a sleep state during the second time period before the downlink retransmission timer starts timing, which can save power consumption of the terminal device as much as possible.

[0021] In yet another implementation, the sleep time period is greater than or equal to a threshold.

[0022] In this implementation, the above solution is implemented when the sleep period is greater than or equal to the threshold. For longer sleep periods, frequent sleep indication transmission can be avoided, saving the resource overhead of sending sleep indication information. However, longer sleep periods result in longer scheduling delays. This solution avoids the impact of longer scheduling delays on scheduling requests and downlink retransmissions.

[0023] In another implementation, before the terminal device sends the first information to the network device during the sleep time period, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving sleep indication information from the network device, where the sleep indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state.

[0024] In this implementation, the terminal device enters a sleep state when not performing data scheduling, which can save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0025] In another implementation, the method further includes: after the terminal device receives the sleep entry instruction information from the network device, the terminal device starts a sleep timer, wherein the timing length of the sleep timer may be equal to the sleep time period.

[0026] In this implementation, after the terminal device enters the sleep state, a timer is used to count the sleep time period.

[0027] In yet another implementation, the method further includes: the terminal device sending first information to the network device and turning off the sleep timer.

[0028] In this implementation, after the terminal device sends the first information, the sleep timer is turned off and the terminal device enters the awake state.

[0029] In another implementation, if the end time of the first time period is before the end time of the sleep time period, the terminal device is in a sleep state from the end time of the first time period to the end time of the sleep time period.

[0030] In this implementation, during the sleep time period and when the terminal device is not performing data scheduling, the terminal device enters a sleep state, which can save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0031] In another implementation, the network device sends the first PDCCH corresponding to the first information to the terminal device, including: the network device sends the first PDCCH to the terminal device during the sleep time period, or, the network device sends the first PDCCH to the terminal device after the sleep time period.

[0032] In another implementation, the first information is the NACK, the NACK corresponds to the first HARQ process, and the first PDCCH carries a retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process. Before the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, the method further includes: the network device sends a second PDCCH for scheduling PDSCH to the terminal device. The PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process. Further, the network device receives the first information from the terminal device, including: when the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH, the network device receives the NACK.

[0033] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided that can implement the communication method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip (such as a communication chip) or a terminal device. The method can be implemented using software, hardware, or hardware executing corresponding software.

[0034] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor and a memory; the processor is configured to support the device in performing the corresponding functions of the above-described communication method. The memory is coupled to the processor and stores the necessary programs (instructions) and / or data for the device. Optionally, the communication device may also include a communication interface to support communication between the device and other network elements.

[0035] In another possible implementation, the communication device may include a unit or module that performs corresponding actions in the above method.

[0036] Wherein, the device comprises:

[0037] a transceiver unit, configured to send first information to the network device during a sleep period, where the first information is a scheduling request or a negative acknowledgement (NACK);

[0038] The processing unit is configured to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) within a first time period within the sleep time period after the transceiver unit sends the first information.

[0039] In another possible implementation, a processor and a transceiver are coupled to the transceiver, and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions to control the transceiver to receive and transmit information. When the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the processor is further configured to implement the above method. The transceiver may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or an input / output interface. When the communication device is a chip, the transceiver is a transceiver circuit or an input / output interface.

[0040] In another possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor configured to support the device in executing the corresponding functions of the above communication method. The communication device may be a chip system, a terminal device, or a network device.

[0041] In another possible implementation, the structure of the communication device includes a processor, and the processor is configured to be coupled to a memory, read instructions in the memory, and implement the above method according to the instructions.

[0042] In another possible implementation, the structure of the communication device includes a transceiver for implementing the above communication method.

[0043] When the communication device is a chip, the transceiver may be an input / output unit, such as an input / output circuit or a communication interface. When the communication device is a user equipment, the transceiver may be a transmitter / receiver or a transmitter / receiver.

[0044] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided that can implement the communication method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. For example, the communication device can be a chip (such as a baseband chip or a communication chip) or a network device, and can implement the above method through software, hardware, or hardware executing corresponding software.

[0045] In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a processor and a memory; the processor is configured to support the device in performing the corresponding functions of the above-described communication method. The memory is coupled to the processor and stores the necessary programs (instructions) and data for the device. Optionally, the communication device may also include a communication interface to support communication between the device and other network elements.

[0046] In another possible implementation, the communication device may include a unit module for executing corresponding actions in the above method.

[0047] Wherein, the device comprises:

[0048] a transceiver unit, configured to send sleep indication information to a terminal device, wherein the sleep indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state;

[0049] The transceiver unit is further configured to, after the transceiver sends sleep indication information to the terminal device and when the terminal device is in a sleep time period, receive first information from the terminal device;

[0050] The transceiver unit is further configured to send a first physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to the first information to the terminal device.

[0051] In another possible implementation, a processor and a transceiver are coupled to the transceiver, and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions to control the transceiver to receive and transmit information. When the processor executes the computer program or instructions, the processor is further configured to implement the above method. The transceiver may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or an input / output interface. When the communication device is a chip, the transceiver is a transceiver circuit or an input / output interface.

[0052] In another possible implementation, the structure of the communication device includes a processor; the processor is configured to support the device in executing corresponding functions in the above communication method.

[0053] In another possible implementation, the structure of the communication device includes a processor, and the processor is configured to be coupled to a memory, read instructions in the memory, and implement the above method according to the instructions.

[0054] In another possible implementation, the structure of the communication device includes a transceiver for implementing the above communication method.

[0055] When the communication device is a chip, the transceiver may be an input / output unit, such as an input / output circuit or a communication interface. When the communication device is a network device, the transceiver may be a transmitter / receiver (also referred to as a transmitter / receiver).

[0056] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the method described in the first or second aspect above is implemented.

[0057] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method described in the first or second aspect above.

[0058] In a seventh aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising the communication device according to the third and fourth aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0059] Figure 1 This is an example of using GTS technology to save power consumption in terminal equipment;

[0060] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing the scheduling delay caused by the network device needing to schedule data for the terminal device during the sleep period;

[0061] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a communication system involved in this application;

[0062] Figure 4 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figure 5 A flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a terminal device sending a NACK after entering a sleep state;

[0065] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a terminal device configured with DRX sending a NACK after entering a sleep state;

[0066] Figure 8 A flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of a terminal device sending a scheduling request after entering a sleep state;

[0068] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] Figure 11 A schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] Figure 12 A simplified schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] Figure 13 A simplified schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0072] The embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0073] like Figure 1 The figure shows an example of using GTS technology to save power in a terminal device. A base station (e.g., a gNB) instructs a terminal device to skip PDCCH monitoring for a period of time equal to the sleep period (GTS duration) through signaling or physical layer signals (e.g., GTS signals or signaling). For example, the GTS signal can be sent via a PDCCH with a specific format, such as an existing downlink control information (DCI) format or a new DCI format, or a newly designed physical layer signal or channel. The GTS duration can be predefined by the protocol or semi-statically configured for the terminal device by the gNB. It can be one or more values ​​(a single value requires only one bit of indication information to be carried by the GTS signal, while multiple values ​​require more than one bit of indication information to be carried by the GTS signal). When the terminal device receives the GTS signal, it skips PDCCH monitoring for the period of time equal to the GTS duration as instructed. By using this technology, the power saved by the terminal device is the difference between the power consumption of not monitoring PDCCH during the GTS duration and the power consumption of monitoring PDCCH during the GTS duration.

[0074] exist Figure 1 In the "PDCCH-only" state, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH but does not detect any grants. The corresponding power consumption is primarily due to PDCCH monitoring. The "PDCCH+PDSCH" state indicates that the terminal device detects downlink data (PDSCH). The corresponding power consumption includes both PDCCH monitoring and PDSCH reception. The "GTS signal" state indicates that the terminal device detects the GTS signal sent by the gNB and, as instructed, skips PDCCH monitoring during the GTS duration. Therefore, the power consumption during this period is relatively low. It is generally believed that the power consumption of GTS signal detection is no greater than that of PDCCH detection.

[0075] GTS's L1 dynamic indication brings benefits in terms of saving power consumption of terminal equipment, but also increases scheduling delay. Figure 2As shown in the figure, if there is downlink or uplink data that needs to be scheduled during the GTS duration, it must wait until the indicated GTS duration ends before scheduling, so the maximum scheduling delay can be the GTS duration. Generally speaking, the longer the GTSduration, the greater the power consumption savings, but the corresponding scheduling delay will also be greater. Therefore, if the GTS duration is set to be longer in order to gain more power consumption savings, it may cause a greater scheduling delay; and if the GTS duration is reduced according to the low scheduling delay requirement, the power consumption saved will be reduced (i.e., the power consumption savings will be sacrificed), and the resource overhead for sending GTS signals may increase due to the need to send GTS signals more frequently.

[0076] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method and apparatus, by which a terminal device can receive a physical downlink control channel that is a scheduling resource for a scheduling request or NACK during a sleep period when the terminal device needs to send the scheduling request or NACK, without having to wait until the sleep period ends to receive the physical downlink control channel. This saves power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the scheduling request or the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the downlink retransmission data scheduling corresponding to the NACK is received as early as possible, thereby reducing the delay of the physical downlink control channel.

[0077] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a communication system involved in the present application is provided, which may include at least one network device 100 (only one is shown) and one or more terminal devices 200 connected to the network device 100 .

[0078] The network device 100 can be a device that can communicate with the terminal device 200. The network device 100 can be any device with wireless transceiver functions. Including but not limited to: base station NodeB, evolved base station eNodeB, base station in the fifth generation (5G) communication system, base station or network equipment in future communication systems, access node in WiFi system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, etc. The network device 100 can also be a wireless controller in the cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. The network device 100 can also be a small station, a transmission reference point (TRP), etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0079] The terminal device 200 is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities and can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable, or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water, such as on a ship; and can also be deployed in the air, such as on an airplane, a balloon, and a satellite. The terminal device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical care, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, and the like. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios. Terminal equipment may sometimes also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal equipment, UE unit, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal equipment, mobile device, terminal, wireless communication equipment, UE agent or UE device, etc.

[0080] It should be noted that the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "Multiple" refers to two or more. In view of this, in the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" can also be understood as "at least two". "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / ", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the previous and subsequent associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0081] The sleep state may mean that the type of PDCCH that the terminal device in the sleep state does not need to monitor includes at least one of the following types:

[0082] PDCCH corresponding to the cell RNTI (C-RNTI), PDCCH corresponding to the configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI), PDCCH corresponding to the interruption RNTI (INT-RNTI), PDCCH corresponding to the slot format indicator RNTI (SFI-RNTI), PDCCH corresponding to the semi-persistent channel state information RNTI (SP-CSI-RNTI), PDCCH corresponding to the transmit power control RNTI (PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI), PDCCH corresponding to the transmit power control RNTI (PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI), and PDCCH corresponding to the transmit power control-sounding reference signal RNTI (TPC-SRS-RNTI).

[0083] In the above, the PDCCH corresponding to the RNTI may refer to cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the DCI carried by the PDCCH being scrambled with the RNTI.

[0084] A terminal device in a sleep state may not monitor at least one of the above types of PDCCHs, but may monitor other types of PDCCHs. Alternatively, it may not monitor all of the above types of PDCCHs, but may monitor other types of PDCCHs. A terminal device in a sleep state may also not monitor all PDCCHs.

[0085] The sleep state also includes: the terminal device does not receive PDSCH in the sleep state.

[0086] The awake state means that the terminal device is in the awake state when it is not in the sleep state.

[0087] Figure 4 The following is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which can be applied to the above communication system.

[0088] S401: The network device sends sleep indication information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the sleep indication information.

[0089] The sleep indication information may indicate that the terminal device enters a sleep state.

[0090] Optionally, the sleep indication information may be a GTS signal, or the sleep indication information may be a signal carried in GTS signaling.

[0091] Optionally, the sleep indication information includes sleep time period indication information, which is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state during the sleep time period. In this embodiment, the sleep time period may be a GTS duration. In a specific implementation, the network device sends a radio resource control (RRC) message to the terminal device, or other messages may also be used. The RRC message includes one or more GTS durations. Thus, one or more GTS durations can be configured for the terminal device via the RRC message. Optionally, the one or more GTS durations may be the number of slots, the number of symbols, or a combination of both, or an absolute time length (e.g., milliseconds). The indication information may indicate one of the GTS durations. The gNB sends a GTS signal or signaling to the UE, instructing the UE not to perform the above-mentioned type of PDCCH monitoring (hereinafter referred to as "not performing PDCCH monitoring" or "not monitoring PDCCH") during one of the configured GTS durations. The UE receives the GTS signal or signaling and, starting from the symbol following the last symbol of the received GTS signal or signaling, or starting from the slot following the slot in which the GTS signal or signaling was received, does not monitor the PDCCH.

[0092] S402: After receiving the sleep instruction information, the terminal device enters the sleep state.

[0093] After the terminal device enters the sleep state, the power consumption is low, thereby saving the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0094] In the present application, when a terminal device enters a sleep state, the terminal device may not receive any information or data except the PDCCH from the network device; or the terminal device may receive any information or data from the network device after entering the sleep state. This is not limited here.

[0095] S403: The terminal device sends first information to the network device during the sleep period. The first information may be a scheduling request (SR) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK).

[0096] Correspondingly, the network device receives the first information from the terminal device when the terminal device is in the sleep time period.

[0097] For example, in one scenario, before the terminal device receives the sleep indication information, the network device sends a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to the terminal device. After that, the terminal device receives the sleep indication information and enters a sleep state, or the terminal device receives the sleep indication information, enters a sleep state, and receives PDSCH, but the terminal device fails to receive or decode the PDSCH, and the terminal device needs to send a NACK to the network device; for another example, in another scenario, the terminal device needs to send a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to the network device. Before sending the PUSCH, the network device needs to schedule and send an SR to the network device. After the terminal device enters the sleep state, that is, the terminal device is still in the sleep time period, the terminal device enters the wake-up state and sends the first information to the network device. The first information is SR or NACK.

[0098] S404: After sending the first information, the terminal device monitors the physical downlink control channel within the first time period within the sleep time period.

[0099] After the terminal device sends the first information, it needs to receive scheduling information from the network device, that is, it needs to monitor the PDCCH. Specifically, after the terminal device sends the first information, it monitors the PDCCH in a first time period within the sleep time period.

[0100] For example, in the retransmission scenario described above, the gNB sends a PDCCH (DL grant) to the UE. This PDCCH indicates the PDSCH time-frequency resources, the corresponding HARQ process ID, and the PUCCH resources used to feedback the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH. For another example, in the SR scenario described above, the gNB sends a PDCCH to the UE, which includes scheduling request feedback information.

[0101] S405. The network device sends a first PDCCH corresponding to the first information to the terminal device.

[0102] Optionally, after receiving the first information sent by the terminal device, the network device may send a first PDCCH to the terminal device during the sleep period, or send the first PDCCH to the terminal device after the sleep period. Thus, the network device can send the physical downlink control channel for the scheduling request or NACK scheduling resources during the sleep period, without having to wait until the end of the sleep period to send the physical downlink control channel. This saves power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the scheduling request or the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the downlink retransmission data scheduling corresponding to the NACK is received as early as possible, thereby reducing the transmission delay of the physical downlink control channel.

[0103] In one implementation, the first time period is:

[0104] A time period starting from the next symbol after the last symbol occupied by the first information to the end of the sleep time period; or

[0105] A time period starting from the next time slot after the time slot occupied by the first information and ending at the end of the sleep time period; or

[0106] A time period starting from a symbol next to the last symbol occupied by the first information to a time period during which a first PDCCH from the network device is detected within the sleep time period; or

[0107] The time period starts from a time slot next to the time slot occupied by the first information and ends at a time period when a first PDCCH from the network device is detected within the sleep time period.

[0108] Optionally, the first PDCCH carries a retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process. Optionally, the terminal device may detect the first PDCCH during the sleep time period, or may detect the first PDCCH after the sleep time period ends.

[0109] In the embodiments of the present application, the time when the first PDCCH is detected may refer to the time when the PDCCH candidate is successfully decoded. If the first time period in the above embodiment is the case where the first PDCCH from the network device is detected, the end of the first time period may refer to the time when the first PDCCH is successfully decoded. The same applies to the case where the PDCCH from the network device is detected in the time period in subsequent embodiments.

[0110] Optionally, the terminal device may monitor a PDCCH for scheduling resources for other requests within the first time period.

[0111] In this implementation, after sending the first information, the terminal device can enter the awake state and no longer enter the sleep state until the end of the entire sleep time period, thereby ensuring that data scheduling will not be delayed; or after sending the first information, if the terminal device receives a data scheduling indication from the network device during the sleep time period, it will continue to enter the sleep state to save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0112] In another implementation, when the terminal device is configured with discontinuous reception (DRX), the first information is the NACK, and the first time period is:

[0113] The time period from the start of the downlink retransmission timer to the end of the sleep time period; or

[0114] The timing period of the downlink retransmission timer; or

[0115] The time period starts from the downlink retransmission timer to the detection of the first PDCCH from the network device.

[0116] In this implementation, when the terminal device is configured for discontinuous reception, the first time period starts from the start of the downlink retransmission timer and ends at the end of the sleep time period. The terminal device enters the awake state and no longer enters the sleep state, which can ensure that data scheduling will not be delayed; or when the terminal device is configured for discontinuous reception, the first time period starts from the start of the downlink retransmission timer. If a data scheduling indication is received from the network device or the downlink retransmission timer stops during the sleep time period, the terminal device continues to enter the sleep state to save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0117] Optionally, the method further includes: during the sleep time period and before sending the first information, the terminal device is in a sleep state, which can save power consumption of the terminal device.

[0118] According to a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device in a sleep state can receive a physical downlink control channel for scheduling resources for a scheduling request or NACK within the sleep period when it needs to send a scheduling request or NACK, without having to wait until the end of the sleep period to receive the physical downlink control channel. This saves power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the scheduling request or the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the downlink retransmission data scheduling corresponding to the NACK is received as early as possible, thereby reducing the delay of the physical downlink control channel.

[0119] Specifically, the method shown in the above embodiment can be applied to the following scenarios:

[0120] (1) Scheduling of PDSCH hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions;

[0121] (2) PUSCH scheduling when SR is pending.

[0122] In the first scenario, if the terminal device fails to receive or decode the PDSCH, it needs to send a NACK to the network device. In the second scenario, if the terminal device wants to send a PUSCH to the network device, it needs to send an SR to the network device.

[0123] The embodiments of the present application provide for rules that differ from conventional GTS rules. In summary, when a terminal device is waiting for these two types of scheduling, it can break the rule of "skipping PDCCH monitoring during the GTS duration" when a GTS signal or signaling indication is detected, and still perform PDCCH monitoring.

[0124] The communication method shown in the above embodiment is further described in detail below based on specific data scheduling scenarios:

[0125] See also Figure 5 , is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. In which:

[0126] S501. A network device sends a second PDCCH for scheduling a PDSCH to a terminal device, where the PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process.

[0127] Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second PDCCH for scheduling the PDSCH.

[0128] The network device sends a second PDCCH to the terminal device, where the second PDCCH is used to schedule the PDSCH.

[0129] Optionally, the network device also sends an RRC message to the terminal device to configure PDSCH time domain resource parameters and PUCCH resources for feedback of HARQ-ACK of PDSCH for the terminal device.

[0130] The network device sends the PDSCH to the terminal device on the indicated PDSCH time domain resources.

[0131] S502. The network device sends a PDSCH to the terminal device.

[0132] Accordingly, the terminal device receives the PDSCH.

[0133] S503: The network device sends sleep instruction information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the sleep instruction information.

[0134] The sleep indication information may indicate that the terminal device enters a sleep state.

[0135] The network device instructs the terminal device through the GTS signal or signaling not to monitor the PDCCH for a period of time equal to the GTS duration, that is, to instruct the terminal device to enter the sleep state. The terminal device enters the sleep state. The specific implementation of this step can be referred to Figure 4 Step S401 of the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0136] It should be noted that the order of S502 and S503 is not limited, that is, the network device may send the PDSCH before sending the sleep indication information; or may send the PDSCH after sending the sleep indication information.

[0137] S504: After receiving the sleep indication information, the terminal device starts a sleep timer and enters a sleep state.

[0138] The terminal device times the sleep period through the sleep starter, that is, the timing time length of the sleep timer is equal to the sleep period.

[0139] S505: During the sleep period, and when the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH, the terminal device sends a NACK to the network device.

[0140] Correspondingly, the network device receives the NACK, wherein the NACK corresponds to the first HARQ process.

[0141] The terminal device receives and decodes the PDSCH. If the UE receives and decodes the PDSCH correctly, it feeds back an ACK on the PUCCH resource indicated by the PDCCH for feeding back HARQ-ACK, and keeps not monitoring the PDCCH until the GTS duration ends. Optionally, the terminal device can feed back an ACK after the GTS duration ends.

[0142] If, after receiving the GTS signal or signaling, the terminal device has a PDSCH decoding error in any process (e.g., the first HARQ process) in the downlink HARQ process (i.e., the decoding cannot pass the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the PDSCH), and has not yet received a retransmission scheduling indication, the terminal device may not comply with the GTS indication after feeding back a NACK.

[0143] PDCCH monitoring can be performed in the following ways:

[0144] In one implementation, Figure 6 The terminal device shown in FIG. 1 sends NACK after entering the sleep state. The terminal device starts from the next symbol of the last symbol occupied by NACK (eg Figure 6 t1 as shown), or starting from the next slot occupied by NACK (as shown Figure 6 The t shown 1a ), or from the end of the third period (e.g. Figure 6 The t shown 1b ) until the end of the GTS duration. The third time period begins at the end of the last symbol sent as a NACK. The duration of the third time period is semi-statically configured by RRC signaling. Each downlink HARQ process can have its own corresponding third time period timer. One possible name for the third time period is HARQ round trip time.

[0145] In another implementation, Figure 6 As shown, the terminal device starts from the next symbol of the last symbol occupied by NACK (such as Figure 6 t2 as shown), or starting from the next slot occupied by NACK (as shown in Figure 6 The t shown 2a ), or from the end of the third period (e.g. Figure 6 The t shown 2b ), until the first PDCCH of the HARQ process corresponding to the NACK is detected, PDCCH monitoring is performed. Wherein, the first PDCCH carries the retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process.

[0146] S506: After sending the NACK, the terminal device monitors the physical downlink control channel within the first time period within the sleep time period.

[0147] Optionally, in this step, the terminal device may also turn off the sleep timer.

[0148] After the terminal device sends a NACK, it needs to monitor the first PDCCH within the first time period within the sleep time period.

[0149] When the terminal device sends a NACK, the sleep timer is turned off and the terminal device enters the awake state.

[0150] Optionally, when sending NACK, the terminal device may not turn off the sleep timer. In this case, the sleep timer counts the entire sleep time period, and the terminal device starts another timer to count the first time period.

[0151] S507. The network device sends a first PDCCH corresponding to the NACK to the terminal device.

[0152] Optionally, after receiving the first information sent by the terminal device, the network device may send a first PDCCH to the terminal device during the sleep period, or send the first PDCCH to the terminal device after the sleep period. Accordingly, the network device can send the physical downlink control channel that is the resource for the NACK scheduling during the sleep period, without having to wait until the end of the sleep period to send the physical downlink control channel. This saves power consumption of the terminal device while ensuring that the physical downlink control channel corresponding to the downlink retransmission data scheduling corresponding to the NACK is received as early as possible, thereby reducing the transmission delay of the physical downlink control channel.

[0153] Optionally, the above rule applies when the GTS duration is greater than or equal to a first threshold. The first threshold may be preconfigured or predefined. That is, the above solution is implemented when the sleep period is greater than or equal to the first threshold, thereby avoiding frequent transmission of sleep indication information and saving resource overhead for transmitting sleep indication information.

[0154] That is, the terminal device determines that the GTS duration is greater than or equal to the first threshold, then after sending the NACK, the terminal device monitors the physical downlink control channel within the first time period within the sleep time period.

[0155] Conventional technologies require retransmissions to wait until the GTS duration expires. Otherwise, the UE cannot detect the PDCCH indicating retransmissions, resulting in significant retransmission latency. In this embodiment, the gNB can schedule PDSCH retransmissions for HARQ processes that require retransmissions within the "GTS-non-compliance" timeframe, reducing retransmission latency.

[0156] like Figure 7 Schematic diagram of a terminal device configured with DRX sending a NACK after entering a sleep state. Figure 5 The difference between the shown embodiments is that the terminal device is configured with DRX parameters, and the first time period is the time period from the start of the downlink retransmission timer to the end of the sleep time period; or the timing time period of the downlink retransmission timer; or the time period from the start of the downlink retransmission timer to the receipt of the first PDCCH from the network device.

[0157] Specifically, the gNB configures DRX parameters for the UE, including the downlink HARQ round-trip time timer (drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerDL) and downlink retransmission timer (drx-RetransmissionTimerDL), by sending an RRC message carrying the information element (IE) DRX-Config to the UE. Optionally, if the gNB has configured DRX parameters for the UE, the gNB sends a PDCCH to the UE during the UE's DRX active time.

[0158] When a terminal device configured with DRX parameters fails to receive or decode the PDSCH and sends a NACK, it can perform PDCCH monitoring according to the following implementation methods:

[0159] In one implementation, the downlink retransmission timer of the HARQ process corresponding to the NACK starts counting until the GTS duration ends, and the PDCCH (such as Figure 7 t1 shown).

[0160] In another implementation, during the downlink retransmission timer period of the HARQ process corresponding to the NACK, the PDCCH (eg Figure 7 t3 shown).

[0161] In another implementation, the downlink retransmission timer of the HARQ process corresponding to the NACK starts timing until the first PDCCH of the HARQ process corresponding to the NACK is detected, and PDCCH monitoring is performed (eg Figure 7 t2 shown).

[0162] In this embodiment, the downlink retransmission timer and the downlink HARQ round trip timer correspond to the above-mentioned first HARQ process.

[0163] Optionally, the above rule applies when the GTS duration is greater than or equal to a second threshold. The second threshold may be preconfigured or predefined. That is, the above solution is implemented when the sleep period is greater than or equal to the second threshold, thereby avoiding frequent transmission of sleep indication information and saving resource overhead for transmitting sleep indication information.

[0164] Conventional technologies require retransmissions to be scheduled only after the GTS duration has expired. Otherwise, the UE cannot detect the PDCCH indicating retransmissions, resulting in significant retransmission latency. In this embodiment, the gNB can schedule PDSCH retransmissions for the HARQ process requiring retransmissions within the "GTS-non-compliance" timeframe, reducing retransmission latency.

[0165] See also Figure 8 , is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. In which:

[0166] S801: A network device sends sleep instruction information to a terminal device, and the terminal device receives the sleep instruction information.

[0167] The sleep indication information may indicate that the terminal device enters a sleep state.

[0168] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to Figure 4 Step S401 of the embodiment shown, or Figure 5 Step S503 of the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0169] S802: After receiving the sleep indication information, the terminal device starts a sleep timer and enters a sleep state.

[0170] The timing time length of the sleep timer is equal to the sleep time period.

[0171] The network device sends a GTS signal or signaling to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device not to monitor the PDCCH during one of the configured GTSduration periods. The UE receives the GTS and does not monitor the PDCCH starting from the next symbol after the last symbol of the GTS, or starting from the next slot after the slot in which the GTS was received. For the specific implementation of this step, please refer to Figure 5 Step S504 of the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0172] Optionally, before S801, the network device sends a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR to the terminal device.

[0173] Optionally, the network device configures one or more GTS durations and a group of PUCCH resources for SR for the UE by sending an RRC message to the UE.

[0174] S803: The terminal device in the sleep state sends a scheduling request to the network device during the sleep period.

[0175] In this step, the terminal device may also turn off the sleep timer.

[0176] Accordingly, the network device receives the scheduling request.

[0177] If the terminal device has uplink data to send, it sends an SR on one of the configured SR resources.

[0178] S804: After sending the scheduling request, the terminal device monitors the physical downlink control channel within the first time period within the sleep time period.

[0179] like Figure 9 The terminal device sends a scheduling request after entering the sleep state. The terminal device can monitor the PDCCH in the following manner:

[0180] In one implementation, the terminal device starts from the symbol next to the last symbol occupied by the SR (e.g. Figure 9 As shown in t1), until the end of the GTS duration, PDCCH monitoring is performed.

[0181] In another implementation, starting from the next slot occupied by the SR (e.g. Figure 9 As shown in t2), until the end of the GTS duration, PDCCH monitoring is performed.

[0182] In another implementation, starting from the end of the fourth time period (eg Figure 9 PDCCH monitoring is performed from t3 shown in the figure until the end of GTSduration. The fourth time period starts at the end of the last symbol occupied by the SR. The duration of the fourth time period is semi-statically configured by RRC signaling. One possible name for the fourth time period is the scheduling request round trip time.

[0183] S805. The network device sends a first PDCCH corresponding to the scheduling request to the terminal device.

[0184] The specific implementation of this step can be referred to Figure 4 Step S405 of the embodiment shown, or Figure 5 Step S507 of the illustrated embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0185] Optionally, if the end time of the first time period is before the end time of the sleep time period, the terminal device is in the sleep state from the end time of the first time period to the end time of the sleep time period, so as to save power consumption of the terminal device as much as possible.

[0186] Optionally, the above rule is valid when the GTS duration is greater than or equal to a third threshold value. The third threshold value may be pre-configured or pre-defined.

[0187] The existing technology must wait until the GTS duration ends before scheduling the PUSCH required by the UE. Otherwise, the UE cannot detect the PDCCH indicating the PUSCH, and the SR delay is large. When the GTS duration is greater than a certain threshold, so that the impact on the SR scheduling delay is too large, the gNB can Figure 9 The PUSCH required by the UE is scheduled within the time range t shown, reducing the SR delay.

[0188] This embodiment provides an apparatus for implementing the above method embodiment. It should be noted that the specific details of this embodiment can be referred to the above description, and will not be repeated in this embodiment.

[0189] Based on the same concept of the communication method in the above embodiment, Figure 10 As shown, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device 1000, which can be used to implement the above Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 8 The communication method shown in FIG. The communication device 1000 may be as follows Figure 3 The terminal device 200 shown may also be a component (eg, a chip) applied to the terminal device 200. The communication device 1000 includes a transceiver 101 and a processor 102.

[0190] The transceiver 101 is configured to send first information to the network device during a sleep period, where the first information is a scheduling request or a negative acknowledgement (NACK);

[0191] The processor 102 is configured to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) within a first time period within the sleep time period after the transceiver sends the first information.

[0192] In one implementation, the first information is the NACK, the NACK corresponds to the first HARQ process, and the first PDCCH carries a retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process, wherein:

[0193] The transceiver 101 is further configured to receive a second PDCCH for scheduling a PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process;

[0194] The transceiver 101 is further configured to send the NACK to the network device when the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH.

[0195] In yet another implementation, the transceiver 101 is further configured to receive sleep indication information from the network device, where the sleep indication information is configured to instruct the terminal device to enter the sleep state.

[0196] In yet another implementation, the processor 102 is further configured to start a sleep timer after the transceiver receives sleep entry indication information from the network device, where the timing length of the sleep timer is equal to the sleep time period.

[0197] In yet another implementation, the transceiver 101 is further configured to send the first information to the network device;

[0198] The processor 102 is further configured to disable the sleep timer.

[0199] For a more detailed description of the transceiver 101 and the processor 102, please refer to the above Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 8 The relevant description of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown is directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0200] It should be noted that the above-mentioned transceiver can be an integrated device with transceiver functions, or can be composed of independent receivers with receiving functions and transmitters with sending functions, which are logically called "transceivers".

[0201] Based on the same concept of the communication method in the above embodiment, Figure 11 As shown, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device 1100, which can be applied to the above Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 8 The communication method shown in FIG. The communication device 1100 may be as follows Figure 3 The network device 100 shown may also be a component (eg, a chip) applied to the network device 100. The communication apparatus 1100 includes: a transceiver 111.

[0202] in:

[0203] The apparatus 1100 includes:

[0204] The transceiver 111 is configured to send sleep indication information to a terminal device, where the sleep indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state;

[0205] The transceiver 111 is further configured to, after the transceiver sends sleep indication information to the terminal device and when the terminal device is in a sleep time period, receive first information from the terminal device;

[0206] The transceiver 111 is further configured to send a first physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to the first information to the terminal device.

[0207] In one implementation, the transceiver 111 is further configured to send the first PDCCH to the terminal device during the sleep time period, or to send the first PDCCH to the terminal device after the sleep time period.

[0208] In another implementation, the first information is the NACK, the NACK corresponds to a first HARQ process, and the first PDCCH carries a retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process, wherein:

[0209] The transceiver 111 is further configured to send a second PDCCH for scheduling a PDSCH to the terminal device, wherein the PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process;

[0210] The transceiver 111 is further configured to receive the NACK when the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH.

[0211] For a more detailed description of the transceiver 111, please refer to the above Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 8 The relevant description of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG can be directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0212] It should be noted that the above-mentioned transceiver can be an integrated device with transceiver functions, or can be composed of independent receivers with receiving functions and transmitters with sending functions, which are logically called "transceivers".

[0213] The present application also provides a communication device for executing the above communication method. Part or all of the above communication method can be implemented by hardware or software.

[0214] Optionally, the communication device may be a chip or an integrated circuit in specific implementation.

[0215] Optionally, when part or all of the communication methods in the above embodiments are implemented by software, the communication device includes: a memory for storing a program; a processor for executing the program stored in the memory, and when the program is executed, the communication device can respectively implement the above Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 8 The communication method provided by the terminal device and the network device in the illustrated embodiment.

[0216] Optionally, the memory may be a physically independent unit or integrated with the processor. The memory may also be used to store data.

[0217] Optionally, when part or all of the communication methods in the above embodiments are implemented via software, the communication device may include only a processor. The memory for storing the program is located outside the communication device, and the processor is connected to the memory via circuits / wires to read and execute the program stored in the memory.

[0218] The processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), or a combination of a CPU and a NP.

[0219] The processor may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a generic array logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

[0220] The memory may include volatile memory, such as random-access memory (RAM); the memory may also include non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD); the memory may also include a combination of the above types of memory.

[0221] It can be understood that the units in the above-mentioned various communication device embodiments can also be called modules.

[0222] Figure 12 The following is a simplified schematic diagram of the terminal device. Figure 12 In this article, the terminal device is a mobile phone. Figure 12As shown, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and input and output devices. The processor is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, as well as to control the terminal device, execute software programs, process software program data, etc. The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used to convert baseband signals into radio frequency signals and process radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, displays, keyboards, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by users and output data to users. It should be noted that some types of terminal devices may not have input and output devices.

[0223] When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit performs RF processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the RF signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal device, the RF circuit receives the RF signal through the antenna, converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor. The processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For the sake of explanation, Figure 12 Only one memory and processor are shown. In actual terminal device products, one or more processors and one or more memories may exist. Memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device. The memory may be provided independently of the processor or integrated with the processor, and this is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0224] In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and radio frequency circuit with transceiver functions can be regarded as the receiving unit and sending unit of the terminal device (also collectively referred to as the transceiver unit), and the processor with processing function can be regarded as the processing unit of the terminal device. Figure 12 As shown, the terminal device includes a transceiver unit 121 and a processing unit 122. The transceiver unit 121 can also be called a receiver / transmitter (transmitter), a receiver / transmitter, a receiving / transmitting circuit, etc. The processing unit 122 can also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. The transceiver unit 121 is used to implement Figure 10 In the embodiment shown, the functions of the transceiver unit 101 and the processing unit 122 are used to implement Figure 10 Functionality of the processing unit 102 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0225] For example, in one embodiment, the transceiver unit 121 is used to perform Figure 4 The functions of the terminal device in steps S401 and S403 in the embodiment shown; and the processing unit 122 is used to execute Figure 4 Steps S402 and S404 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0226] For example, in one embodiment, the transceiver unit 121 is used to execute Figure 5 The functions of the terminal device in steps S501 to S503 and S505 in the embodiment shown; and the processing unit 122 is used to execute Figure 5 Steps S504 and S506 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0227] For example, in one embodiment, the transceiver unit 121 is used to execute Figure 8 The functions of the terminal device in steps S801 and S803 in the embodiment shown; and the processing unit 122 is used to execute Figure 8 Steps S802 and S804 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0228] Figure 13 A simplified structural diagram of a network device is shown. The network device includes a radio frequency signal receiving and transceiving part and a part 132, and the radio frequency signal receiving and transceiving part further includes a transceiver unit 131. The radio frequency signal receiving and transceiving part is mainly used for receiving and transceiving radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals to baseband signals; the part 132 is mainly used for baseband processing, controlling the network device, etc. The transceiver unit 131 can also be called a receiver / transmitter, a receiver / transmitter, a receiving / transmitting circuit, etc. The part 132 is usually the control center of the network device, which can usually be called a processing unit, which is used to control the source network device to perform the above Figure 4 、 Figure 5 、 Figure 8 The steps performed by the network device in the embodiment of the present invention are as follows. For details, please refer to the description of the relevant parts above. The transceiver unit 131 can be used to implement Figure 11 Functionality of the transceiver 111 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0229] Section 132 may include one or more boards, each of which may include one or more processors and one or more memories. The processors are used to read and execute programs in the memories to implement baseband processing functions and control network devices. If multiple boards are present, the boards may be interconnected to increase processing power. As an optional implementation, multiple boards may share one or more processors, multiple boards may share one or more memories, or multiple boards may simultaneously share one or more processors.

[0230] For example, in one embodiment, the transceiver unit 131 is used to perform Figure 4 The functions of the network devices in steps S401 and S403 in the embodiment shown; part 132 is used to perform Figure 4 The function of step S405 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0231] For example, in another embodiment, the transceiver unit 131 is used to execute Figure 5The functions of the network device in steps S501 to S503 and S505 in the embodiment shown; part 132 is used to perform Figure 5 Step S507 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0232] For example, in one embodiment, the transceiver unit 131 is used to execute Figure 8 The functions of the network device in steps S801 and S803 in the embodiment shown; part 132 is used to perform Figure 8 The function of step S805 in the illustrated embodiment.

[0233] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the methods described in the above aspects are implemented.

[0234] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the methods described in the above aspects.

[0235] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including the above-mentioned communication device.

[0236] Those skilled in the art will 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 aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0237] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways. 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. The mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0238] Units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0239] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented 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, all or part of the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted via the computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape, a magnetic disk, or an optical medium such as a digital versatile disc (DVD), or a semiconductor medium such as a solid state disk (SSD).

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first information to the network device during the sleep period, where the first information is a scheduling request or a negative acknowledgement (NACK); After sending the first information, the physical downlink control channel PDCCH is monitored starting from the time slot occupied by the first information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first time period is: A time period starting from the next symbol after the last symbol occupied by the first information to the end of the sleep time period; or a time period starting from the time slot next to the time slot occupied by the first information and ending at the end of the sleep time period; or A time period starting from the next symbol after the last symbol occupied by the first information to the time period when the terminal device detects the first PDCCH from the network device within the sleep time period; or The time period starts from a time slot next to the time slot occupied by the first information and ends at a time period when a first PDCCH from the network device is detected within the sleep time period.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The first information is the NACK, and the NACK corresponds to a first hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ process; The first time period is: The time period from the start of the downlink retransmission timer to the end of the sleep time period; or The timing period of the downlink retransmission timer; or The time period starts from the downlink retransmission timer to the detection of the first PDCCH from the network device.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: The first information is the NACK, the NACK corresponds to the first HARQ process, and the first PDCCH carries a retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process, wherein: Before sending the first information to the network device, the method further includes: receiving a second PDCCH for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process; The sending of the first information to the network device includes: When the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH, the NACK is sent to the network device.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: The terminal device is in the sleep state during a second time period before the downlink retransmission timer starts timing, the second time period is the downlink HARQ round-trip time timer timing time period, and the downlink retransmission timer and the downlink HARQ round-trip time timer correspond to the first HARQ process.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The sleep time period is greater than or equal to a threshold.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: Before sending the first information to the network device during the sleep time period, the method further includes: The receiving of sleep indication information from the network device, wherein the sleep indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to enter the sleep state.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein Also includes: After receiving the sleep entry indication information from the network device, the terminal device starts a sleep timer, and the timing time length of the sleep timer is equal to the sleep time period.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein Also includes: The first information is sent to the network device and the sleep timer is turned off.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: If the end time of the first time period is before the end time of the sleep time period, the terminal device is in a sleep state from the end time of the first time period to the end time of the sleep time period.

11. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending sleep indication information to the terminal device, wherein the sleep indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state; After sending sleep indication information to the terminal device, and when the terminal device is in a sleep time period, receiving first information from the terminal device; After the time slot occupied by the first information, a first physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to the first information is sent to the terminal device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein The sending the first PDCCH corresponding to the first information to the terminal device includes: The first PDCCH is sent to the terminal device during the sleep time period, or the first PDCCH is sent to the terminal device after the sleep time period.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein: The first information is the NACK, the NACK corresponds to the first HARQ process, and the first PDCCH carries a retransmission scheduling indication of the first HARQ process, wherein: Before receiving the first information from the terminal device, the method further includes: Sending a second PDCCH for scheduling a PDSCH to the terminal device, wherein the PDSCH corresponds to the first HARQ process; The receiving first information from the terminal device includes: When the terminal device fails to decode the PDSCH, the NACK is received.

14. A communication device comprising a processor, configured to implement the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

15. A communication device comprising a processor, configured to implement the communication method according to any one of claims 11 to 13.

16. A computer program product for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or any one of claims 11 to 14 when executed on a computing device.

17. A computer program product, configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or any one of claims 11 to 13 when the computer program product is executed on a computing device.

18. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or the method according to any one of claims 11 to 14 is implemented.

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