Communication method, communication device and communication system

Abstract

The invention provides a communication method, a communication device and a communication system, and relates to the technical field of communication. In the method, when a terminal device monitors a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) in a DRX (Discontinuous Reception) activation period, if first indication information for indicating an energy-saving strategy from a network device is received, the energy-saving strategy is executed in response to the received first indication information. Wherein the energy-saving strategy comprises stopping monitoring the PDCCHs in the specific search space or monitoring a part of PDCCHs. Therefore, compared with the mode that the terminal equipment monitors all the PDCCHs in the specific search space in the DRX activation period, after the terminal equipment receives the first indication information, the purpose of reducing the power consumption of the equipment is achieved by reducing the number of the monitored PDCCHs.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, communication device and communication system. Background Technology

[0002] To reduce power consumption of connected terminal devices, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard protocol introduced the Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mechanism. Terminal devices configured with DRX are divided into "wake-up state" and "sleep state." In the "wake-up state," the terminal device can continuously monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to transmit service data. After remaining in the "wake-up state" for a period of time, the terminal device enters the "sleep state," where it no longer monitors the PDCCH, thus achieving power saving. The "wake-up state" can also be referred to as the "active period" or "active phase," while the "sleep state" can be referred to as the "inactive period" or "inactive phase."

[0003] However, the continuous monitoring of PDCCH by the terminal device throughout the entire DRX activation period still results in wasted device power consumption. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method, communication device, and communication system that effectively reduces the power consumption of the terminal device during the DRX activation period.

[0005] Firstly, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a terminal device, or by a component (such as a circuit, chip, or chip system) configured in the terminal device, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the terminal device. This application does not limit this approach. The following description uses a terminal device as an example.

[0006] The method includes: when a terminal device monitors a PDCCH during the DRX activation period, if the terminal device receives a first indication information from a network device indicating an energy-saving strategy, then in response to receiving the first indication information, it executes an energy-saving strategy. The energy-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a subset of PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0007] In this method, when the terminal device is in the DRX activation period, after receiving the first instruction information indicating the power saving strategy, it stops monitoring all or part of the number of PDCCHs in the specific search space based on the power saving strategy. Compared with the terminal device monitoring all the number of PDCCHs in the specific search space during the DRX activation period, the terminal device in this application achieves the purpose of reducing device power consumption by reducing the number of monitored PDCCHs.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the first indication information includes a first bit field. When the first bit field has a first value, the power-saving strategy is to stop monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space; when the first bit field has a second value, the power-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0009] In this implementation, since the values ​​of the first bit field are different, the first indication information indicates different energy-saving strategies. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the energy-saving strategy indicated by the first indication information based on the value of the first bit field. The terminal device does not need to receive other indication information, which helps to reduce signaling overhead.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the first indication information includes a second bit field, which indicates the target policy group to which the power-saving strategy applies, and the target policy group is associated with at least one specific search space. In response to receiving the first indication information, executing the power-saving strategy includes: if the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is the target policy group, executing the power-saving strategy.

[0011] In this implementation, since the values ​​of the second bit field are different, the target strategy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies is different. This allows the terminal device to determine the target strategy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies and at least one specific search space to which the energy-saving strategy applies based on the value of the second bit field after receiving the first instruction information.

[0012] In addition, after receiving the first instruction information, the terminal device will only execute the power-saving policy if it determines that the policy group it belongs to is the target policy group indicated by the second bit field. This avoids the terminal device stopping monitoring the PDCCH in the wrong specific search space, which would affect the normal operation of the service.

[0013] In one possible implementation, the communication method further includes: a terminal device receiving first configuration information from a network device. The first configuration information is used to configure at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group within the at least one policy group. The at least one policy group includes a target policy group, and each policy group includes at least one terminal device with the same energy-saving policy.

[0014] In this implementation, the network device pre-configures at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group to the terminal device through the first configuration information. This allows the terminal device to determine the target policy group indicated by the second bit field and the specific search space associated with the target policy group based on the value of the second bit field included in the first instruction information after receiving the first instruction information. This eliminates the need for the terminal device to request the network device to configure the specific search space, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0015] In one possible implementation, the first indication information includes a third bit field, which is used to indicate the execution parameters associated with the power-saving strategy; the execution parameters include the monitoring timing, or the execution parameters include the monitoring timing and the percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored; stopping monitoring of PDCCHs in a specific search space includes stopping monitoring of PDCCHs in the specific search space during the monitoring timing; monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space includes monitoring K PDCCHs in the specific search space during the monitoring timing, where K is determined based on the percentage of the number and the total number of blind decoding candidates.

[0016] In this implementation, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy based on the third bit field included in the first indication information, without requiring the terminal device to request the network device to send the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy separately, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0017] In one possible implementation, in response to receiving a first indication, an energy-saving strategy is executed, including: the terminal device, in response to receiving the first indication, starts a first timer; the duration of the first timer is determined based on the monitoring timing; during the operation of the first timer, the terminal device executes the energy-saving strategy. In response to the end of the first timer, the terminal device resumes monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0018] In this implementation, the terminal device executes a power-saving strategy during the first timer's execution. Upon the expiration of the first timer, the terminal device resumes monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space. This effectively monitors the execution duration of the power-saving strategy, avoiding the problem of wasted power caused by the terminal device continuously monitoring all PDCCHs during the strategy's execution. Furthermore, the network device does not need to send additional instructions to the terminal device to resume monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space; the terminal device can continue monitoring all PDCCHs immediately after the first timer expires, thus saving signaling overhead.

[0019] In one possible implementation, the third bit field corresponds to at least one candidate value, and the method further includes: the terminal device receiving second configuration information from the network device; the second configuration information is used to configure the execution parameters corresponding to each of the at least one candidate value.

[0020] In this implementation, the network device pre-configures the candidate values ​​of the third bit field and the corresponding execution parameters to the terminal device through the second configuration information. This allows the terminal device to determine the corresponding execution parameters based on the value of the third bit field included in the first indication information after receiving the first indication information, without requiring the terminal device to request the network device to configure the execution parameters again, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0021] In one possible implementation, the K PDCCHs are selected from the candidate PDCCH set based on a filtering rule. In this implementation, the terminal device selects the K PDCCHs with better channel quality from the candidate PDCCH set for monitoring based on the filtering rule, which helps to reduce device power consumption while ensuring normal service operation.

[0022] In one possible implementation, the K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) ranks among the top K; the K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set after sorting multiple aggregation levels according to priority; each aggregation level includes at least one candidate PDCCH sorted from high to low according to average received power; the K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose beam transmission quality ranks among the top K; and the K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose decoding success rate ranks among the top K in the candidate PDCCH set over a historical time period.

[0023] Therefore, the terminal equipment selects K PDCCHs with better channel quality for monitoring, which helps to reduce equipment power consumption while ensuring normal service operation.

[0024] In one possible implementation, beam transmission quality is obtained by weighting a weighted average of the PDCCH's average received power and the Doppler frequency offset estimate.

[0025] In this implementation, the terminal device characterizes the channel quality of the PDCCH based on multiple dimensions, making the calculated beam transmission quality more accurately reflect the transmission reliability of the beam, which helps to improve the comprehensiveness and reliability of beam transmission quality assessment.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the communication method further includes: the terminal device receiving third configuration information from the network device; the third configuration information is used to configure filtering rules.

[0027] In this implementation, the network device pre-configures the filtering rules to the terminal device through third configuration information. This allows the terminal device to determine the number of PDCCHs to be monitored and then filter out the PDCCHs to be monitored based on the filtering rules. The terminal device does not need to request the network device to configure the filtering rules again, which not only reduces signaling overhead but also improves the efficiency of determining the PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0028] In one possible implementation, when the filtering rule is that K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs whose beam transmission quality is among the top K in the candidate PDCCH set, the third configuration information is also used to configure the weighting coefficients.

[0029] In this implementation, the weighting coefficients are pre-configured by the network device through third-party configuration information, which can adapt to different scenario requirements and make the beam transmission quality in different scenarios more in line with the actual beam transmission quality.

[0030] Secondly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by a component (such as a circuit, chip, or chip system) configured in the network device, or by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the network device. This application does not limit this. The following description uses a network device as an example.

[0031] The method includes: a network device sending a first indication message to a terminal device in the DRX activation period, the first indication message instructing the terminal device to execute a power-saving strategy, causing the terminal device to execute the power-saving strategy in response to receiving the first indication message. The power-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space.

[0032] In this method, when the terminal device is in the DRX activation period, the network device dynamically indicates the first indication information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device stops monitoring all or part of the number of PDCCHs in a specific search space based on the energy-saving strategy indicated by the first indication information, thereby achieving the purpose of dynamically controlling the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0033] The relevant description of the first instruction information can be found in the introduction in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0034] In one possible implementation, when the downlink buffer is empty and no uplink request message is received from the terminal device, the power-saving strategy is to stop monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space; when the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is less than a first threshold and no uplink request message is received from the terminal device, the power-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0035] In this implementation, the network device determines the energy-saving strategy to be indicated to the terminal device based on the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer and whether an uplink request message sent by the terminal device has been received. This enables the distribution of differentiated energy-saving strategies to the terminal device, thereby reducing the device's power consumption while ensuring the normal operation of the terminal device's services.

[0036] In one possible implementation, when the execution parameters include monitoring timing, the monitoring timing is determined based on the policy group to which the terminal device belongs and / or a first duration, the first duration being the duration during which the downlink buffer is empty and no uplink request message is received from the terminal device.

[0037] In this implementation, since different policy groups correspond to different services with different latency requirements, the network device determines the monitoring timing based on the policy group to which the terminal device belongs and / or the first duration, which can reduce device power consumption while ensuring service latency requirements.

[0038] In one possible implementation, when the execution parameters include the monitoring timing and the percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored, the value of the third bit field is related to at least one of the following: the policy group to which the terminal device belongs; the data volume range in which the data cached in the downlink buffer is located; and the signal quality range in which the sounding reference signal (SRS) is located.

[0039] In this implementation, when determining the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored and the timing of monitoring, the network device considers at least one of the following: the policy group to which the terminal device belongs, the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer, or the signal quality of the SRS. This achieves a refined determination of the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored, which not only avoids invalid monitoring of PDCCHs by the terminal device, but also reduces device power consumption.

[0040] The second aspect is the implementation on the network device side, which corresponds to the first aspect. The explanations, supplements, and descriptions of the beneficial effects of the first aspect also apply to the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0041] Thirdly, a communication device is provided, comprising a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module is used by a terminal device to monitor PDCCH during DRX activation; if it receives a first indication message from a network device, it executes a power-saving strategy in response to receiving the first indication message. The first indication message indicates the power-saving strategy; the power-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0042] Fourthly, a communication device is provided, comprising a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module is used to send first indication information to a terminal device in the DRX activation period; the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to execute a power-saving strategy, such that the terminal device, in response to receiving the first indication information, executes the power-saving strategy, which includes stopping monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0043] The third and fourth aspects are the implementation on the device side, which correspond to the first and second aspects. The explanations, supplements, and descriptions of the beneficial effects of the first and second aspects also apply to the third and fourth aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0044] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, including a processor. The processor is coupled to a memory and can be used to execute instructions or data in the memory to implement the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect described above. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0045] In one implementation, the communication interface can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface.

[0046] In another implementation, the communication device is a chip configured in a terminal device. When the communication device is a chip configured in a terminal device, the communication interface can be an input / output interface.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, including a processor. The processor is coupled to a memory and can be used to execute instructions or data in the memory to implement the method in any possible implementation of the second aspect described above. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0048] In one implementation, the communication interface can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface.

[0049] In another implementation, the communication device is a chip configured in a network device. When the communication device is a network device configured in a satellite, the communication interface can be an input / output interface.

[0050] In a seventh aspect, a processor is provided, comprising: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is used to receive signals through the input circuit and to transmit signals through the output circuit, causing the processor to execute a method in any possible implementation of any aspect.

[0051] In specific implementation, the processor can be one or more chips, the input circuit can be input pins, the output circuit can be output pins, and the processing circuit can be transistors, gate circuits, flip-flops, and various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit can be received and input by, for example, but not limited to, a receiver, and the signal output by the output circuit can be, for example, but not limited to, output to and transmitted by a transmitter. Furthermore, the input circuit and the output circuit can be the same circuit, which is used as both the input circuit and the output circuit at different times. This application does not limit the specific implementation of the processor and various circuits.

[0052] Eighthly, a communication device is provided, including a processor and a memory. The processor is used to read instructions stored in the memory, receive signals via a receiver, and transmit signals via a transmitter to execute the method in any possible implementation of any of the preceding aspects.

[0053] Optionally, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories.

[0054] Ninthly, a computer program product is provided, comprising: a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed, causes a computer to perform a method in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects.

[0055] In a tenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided that stores a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects.

[0056] Eleventhly, a chip system is provided, comprising one or more processors for calling and executing instructions stored in memory, such that the methods in any of the foregoing aspects or any possible implementations of the foregoing aspects are executed. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0057] The chip system may include input circuits or interfaces for transmitting information or data, and output circuits or interfaces for receiving information or data.

[0058] In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, including the aforementioned terminal device and network device. Optionally, the communication system may further include other devices that communicate with the terminal device and / or network device. Attached Figure Description

[0059] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 2 An example diagram of a DRX cycle provided in this application embodiment; Figure 3 An example diagram illustrating the division of the DRX activation period is provided for an embodiment of this application; Figure 4 An example diagram illustrating an energy-saving strategy provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 6 An example diagram illustrating the format of downlink control information provided in this application embodiment; Figure 7 A scenario example diagram illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 8 An example diagram illustrating a communication method provided in this application that is applied to an industrial Internet of Things (IoT) scenario; Figure 9 An example diagram illustrating a communication method provided in this application applied to a vehicle-road cooperative scenario; Figure 10 A schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application; Figure 11 A schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0060] The technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0061] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) systems, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, sidelink communication systems, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication systems, 5th generation (5G) mobile communication systems, or new radio access technology (NR). Among these, 5G mobile communication systems can include non-standalone (NSA) and / or standalone (SA) networking. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems. This application does not limit the scope of these applications.

[0062] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication system 100 may include a network device 110 and a terminal device 120. The network device 110 and the terminal device 120 can communicate via a wireless link, for example, through the communication method provided in this application.

[0063] It should be understood that Figure 1 An exemplary network device 110 and a terminal device 120 are shown. Optionally, the communication system 100 may also include multiple network devices and / or multiple terminal devices.

[0064] The network equipment in this application can be network-side equipment such as access network equipment and core network equipment. Access network equipment is sometimes also called an access node. Access network equipment has wireless transceiver capabilities for communicating with terminal equipment. Access network equipment includes, but is not limited to, base stations, evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), transmission reception points (TRPs) in the aforementioned communication systems, next-generation NodeBs (gNBs) in 5G mobile communication systems, access network equipment or modules of access network equipment in open RAN (ORAN) systems, satellites in NTN communication systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, or access nodes in WiFi systems. Access network equipment can also be modules or units capable of implementing some of the functions of a base station. Access network equipment can be a macro base station, micro base station, indoor station, relay node, donor node, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. Optionally, access network equipment can also be a server, wearable device, or vehicle-mounted equipment, etc. For example, the access network equipment in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology can be a roadside unit (RSU). Multiple access network devices in a communication system can be base stations of the same type or different types. Base stations can communicate with terminals directly or via relay stations. Terminals can communicate with multiple base stations using different access technologies. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology or device form used in the access network equipment. In this application, the access network equipment is referred to as a network device.

[0065] In this application, the means for implementing the functions of a network device can be a network device itself, or a means capable of supporting the network device in implementing those functions, such as a processor, circuit, chip, or chip system. This means can be installed in or connected to the network device. In the technical solutions provided in this application, the example of a network device being used to implement the functions of a network device is used to describe the technical solutions provided in this application.

[0066] The terminal device in this application can be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and instruction information. The wireless terminal device can be a device providing voice and / or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with wireless connectivity, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. For example, the terminal device can communicate with one or more core networks or the Internet via a radio access network (RAN). The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, or satellite communication, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, aircraft (such as drone, helicopter, airplane), hot air balloon, ship, robot, robotic arm, or smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the form of the terminal device.

[0067] In this application, the apparatus for implementing the functions of a terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or any apparatus capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing those functions, such as a processor, circuit, chip, or chip system. This apparatus can be installed in or connected to the terminal device. In the technical solutions provided in this application, the example of a terminal device being used to implement the functions of a terminal device is used to describe the technical solutions provided in this application.

[0068] Taking network devices as access network devices and terminal devices as terminals as an example, access network devices and / or terminals can be fixed or mobile. Access network devices and / or terminals can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can be deployed in the air on airplanes, balloons, and artificial satellites. This application does not limit the application scenarios of access network devices and terminals. Access network devices and terminal devices can be deployed in the same or different scenarios. For example, access network devices and terminal devices can be deployed simultaneously on land; or, access network devices can be deployed on land and terminal devices can be deployed on water, etc., and so on.

[0069] In practical applications, multiple network devices can collaborate to assist terminals in achieving wireless access, with different network devices each implementing a portion of the base station's functions. For example, network devices can be central units (CUs), distributed units (DUs), CUs (control planes, CPs), CUs (user planes, UPs), or radio units (RUs), etc. CUs and DUs can be set up separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RUs can be included in radio frequency equipment or radio frequency units, such as remote radio units (RRUs), active antenna units (AAUs), or remote radio heads (RRHs).

[0070] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, in an ORAN system, CU can also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU can also be called O-DU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software and hardware modules. CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, and RU can implement different protocol layer functions.

[0071] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the terminology used in this application is first briefly explained. Optionally, the explanation of some terms can also be found in the 3GPP standard protocols. It should be understood that the technical terms in this application are for illustrative purposes only and not as limiting. For example, as technology evolves, technical terms may also change; where the technical meaning remains the same, other technical terms should also apply to this application.

[0072] 1. DRX mechanism DRX (Device Response Model) is an effective energy-saving technology. When DRX is configured for a terminal device, it allows the device to enter a sleep state during certain periods. During this time, the terminal device is in a "sleep state," also known as an "inactive period" or "inactive time period," and does not need to monitor the PDCCH. When the terminal device needs to monitor the PDCCH to receive downlink service data, it wakes up from the "sleep state" and enters a "wake-up state," which is the "active period" or "active time period." This allows the terminal device to achieve energy savings.

[0073] For example, a typical DRX cycle is as follows: Figure 2 As shown: DRX Activation Period: After the terminal device is woken up, it enters a fixed-duration DRX activation period, also known as on-duration. If the terminal device receives a scheduled PDCCH during the on-duration period, it will remain in the woken-up state and extend the DRX activation period. The duration of the on-duration is configured by the network device for the terminal device.

[0074] DRX inactive period: This period is the sleep time in the DRX mechanism, that is, the time period during which the terminal device enters a sleep state and does not monitor the PDCCH in order to save power.

[0075] DRX cycle: an on-duration repetition period, which is the duration between the time when a terminal device previously enters a DRX activation period and the time when it enters a DRX activation period again. A DRX cycle consists of a DRX activation period and a DRX inactivity period.

[0076] Optionally, in real-world scenarios, such as Figure 3 As shown, network devices can divide the DRX activation period into an active period, a low-traffic period, and a silent period based on the frequency at which terminal devices receive downlink scheduling signaling during the DRX activation period.

[0077] The active period refers to the time period during which the terminal device receives downlink scheduling signaling at a high frequency and continuously transmits data with the network device, requiring full monitoring of the PDCCH. For example, taking a smartphone as the terminal device, social applications on a smartphone frequently transmit instant messages, video playback applications continuously transmit video streams, and background services continuously transmit data streams, etc.

[0078] Low-traffic periods refer to the time periods during which terminal devices only sporadically receive downlink scheduling signaling and do not require full monitoring of the PDCCH. Examples include the transmission of heartbeat packets in the background of social applications and the periodic data reporting by IoT devices (e.g., smart meters reporting electricity consumption data every 15 minutes, environmental sensors reporting temperature and / or humidity data every hour, and smart water meters reporting water consumption data daily).

[0079] The silent period refers to the time period during which a terminal device does not receive downlink scheduling signaling, has no downlink data scheduling, and does not need to monitor the PDCCH. For example, the waiting period after a webpage finishes loading, the operation interval when extended reality (XR) devices (such as augmented reality (AR) glasses, virtual reality (VR) helmets, etc.) receive data transmission generated by user-triggered virtual object operations, and the interval between data transmission in navigation services and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services (such as real-time traffic updates).

[0080] like Figure 3 As shown, when the network device determines that a low-traffic period or silent period of the terminal device is about to arrive (e.g., in the next 5ms), the network device does not instruct the terminal device to stop monitoring PDCCH during the low-traffic period or silent period. This causes the terminal device to continue monitoring the full number of PDCCHs during the low-traffic period and silent period of DRX activation, resulting in a large amount of energy being consumed by the terminal device in invalid "empty monitoring". This leads to a problem of energy waste during the low-traffic period and silent period.

[0081] In view of this, this application provides a communication method in which, during the DRX activation period, a terminal device monitors PDCCHs. Upon receiving first indication information from a network device indicating a power-saving strategy, the terminal device executes the power-saving strategy in response to receiving the first indication information. The power-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a subset of PDCCHs. Thus, during the DRX activation period, the network device dynamically instructs the terminal device to execute the power-saving strategy through the first indication information, causing the terminal device to stop monitoring all or part of the PDCCHs in the specific search space. By reducing the number of PDCCHs monitored, the terminal device achieves the goal of reducing its power consumption.

[0082] For example, such as Figure 4 As shown, during the continuous monitoring of PDCCH during the DRX activation period, the terminal device receives a first indication message. In response to receiving the first indication message, it stops monitoring PDCCH during the silent period, or monitors a portion of the PDCCH during the low-traffic period.

[0083] The solution provided in this application will be described in detail below with reference to the corresponding flowcharts. It is understood that the illustrative flowcharts provided in this application primarily use different devices (e.g., terminal devices, network devices) as examples of the execution subjects of this interactive illustration to illustrate the method, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interactive illustrations. For example, the devices (e.g., terminal devices, network devices) in the illustrative flowcharts can also be chips, chip systems, or processors that support the implementation of this method on the device, or logic modules or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the device.

[0084] As a general statement, the message or signaling interactions involved in the interaction process of this application embodiment can be standard messages or signaling or newly introduced messages or signaling. This application embodiment does not make specific limitations on this.

[0085] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. It can be understood that... Figure 5 The terminal device in the middle can be Figure 1 Any terminal device in the context of network equipment can refer to any component within that terminal device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system). Network equipment can be... Figure 1 Network equipment can also refer to devices within network equipment (such as processors, chips, or chip systems). For example... Figure 5 As shown, the method includes the following steps S510 to S530.

[0086] S510, during the DRX activation period, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH.

[0087] In this application, since the terminal device switches from the DRX inactive period to the DRX active period when it needs to monitor the PDCCH to receive downlink service data, the terminal device continuously monitors the PDCCH after entering the DRX active period. That is, it remains as before. Figure 4 As shown, after switching to the DRX active period, the terminal device receives downlink scheduling signaling at a high frequency and immediately enters the active period of the DRX active period. During the active period, the terminal device continuously monitors all PDCCHs. The specific implementation of the terminal device's monitoring of PDCCHs refers to existing technologies and will not be elaborated here.

[0088] S520, the network device sends a first instruction message to the terminal device, and the corresponding terminal device receives the first instruction message.

[0089] The first indication information is used to instruct power-saving strategies, which may include ceasing monitoring of PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a subset of PDCCHs in the specific search space. When the power-saving strategy includes ceasing monitoring of PDCCHs in a specific search space, the network device instructs the terminal device to cease monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space via the first indication information. In effect, the terminal device completely skips monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space; this can be referred to as ceasing PDCCH monitoring, without emphasizing that it stops monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space. When the power-saving strategy includes monitoring a subset of PDCCHs in the specific search space, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to monitor a subset of PDCCHs in the specific search space. In effect, the network device instructs the terminal device to cease monitoring another subset of PDCCHs in the specific search space via the first indication information.

[0090] In this embodiment, during the DRX activation period, while the terminal device monitors the PDCCH, the network device determines in real time whether the terminal device is continuously in an active period, or has switched to a low-traffic period or a silent period. Optionally, the network device determines whether the terminal device is in an active period, has switched to a low-traffic period, or is silent based on the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer and whether an uplink request message sent by the terminal device has been received, and determines the content of the first indication information to be sent to the terminal device based on the determination result. This includes, but is not limited to, the following three situations: In the first scenario, if the network device determines that the downlink buffer is empty and has not received an uplink request message from the terminal device, the network device determines that the terminal device is in a silent period.

[0091] It should be understood that when a network device determines that its downlink buffer is empty, it means that the network device has determined that it has no data to send to the terminal device at the moment. When the network device does not receive an uplink request message from the terminal device, it means that the terminal device also has no data to send to the network device. Therefore, when the network device determines that there is no data transmission between it and the terminal device, the network device determines that the terminal device is in a silent period.

[0092] In this scenario, the network device sends a first indication message to the terminal device, indicating a power-saving strategy of stopping PDCCH monitoring. Upon receiving the first indication message, the terminal device can determine this power-saving strategy based on it. Since there is no data transmission between the terminal device and the network device during the silent period, the terminal device stops monitoring the PDCCH, completely skipping the monitoring of all PDCCHs in the specific search space, thereby maximizing power savings.

[0093] It should be noted that when the network device determines that the terminal device is in a silent period, it can also predict the duration of the silent period. The duration of the silent period refers to the time during which the downlink buffer is empty and no uplink request messages are received from the terminal device; this will be referred to as the first duration. Thus, the network device can instruct the terminal device to stop monitoring all PDCCHs in a specific search space within the first duration. The specific implementation of the network device instructing the terminal device to stop monitoring all PDCCHs in a specific search space within the first duration will be described in the subsequent section on implementation method one for the third bit field; it will not be detailed here.

[0094] In this application, the network device sends a first indication message to the terminal device during idle transmission when the terminal device is in the DRX activation period, so as to avoid the situation where the terminal device is receiving downlink control signaling when the network device sends the first indication message to the terminal device, resulting in data transmission conflict and affecting the normal operation of other services of the terminal device.

[0095] In the second scenario, if the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is less than the first threshold and no uplink request message has been received from the terminal device, the network device determines that the terminal device will be in a low-traffic period for a period of time in the future.

[0096] It should be understood that when a network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is less than a first threshold, the network device determines that a small amount of data needs to be sent to the terminal device. When the network device does not receive an uplink request message from the terminal device, it means that the terminal device has no data to send to the network device. Therefore, if the network device determines that a small amount of data needs to be sent to the terminal device, and the terminal device does not send any data to the network device, the network device determines that the terminal device is in a low-traffic period for a future period. For example, assuming the first threshold is 100 kilobytes (KB), if the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is less than 100 KB and has not received an uplink request message from the terminal device, then the network device determines that the terminal device is in a low-traffic period for a future period.

[0097] In this scenario, the network device sends a first indication to the terminal device, indicating a power-saving strategy of monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space. Upon receiving the first indication, the terminal device can determine the power-saving strategy based on it. Since the terminal device only needs to receive a small amount of data during periods of low traffic, compared to monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space, this application achieves power saving by monitoring only a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0098] It should be noted that the network device can predict the duration of a low-traffic period for the terminal device. Therefore, the network device can instruct the terminal device to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space for a given duration. The specific implementation of this instruction by the network device to the terminal device to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space will be described in the second implementation of the third bit field in subsequent embodiments, and will not be detailed here.

[0099] In the third scenario, the network device determines that the terminal device is in an active period when it determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to the first threshold, or when it receives an uplink request message from the terminal device.

[0100] It should be understood that when a network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to a first threshold, the network device determines that a large amount of data needs to be sent to the terminal device. When the network device receives an uplink request message from the terminal device, it indicates that the terminal device also has data to send to the network device. Therefore, when the network device determines that a large amount of data needs to be sent to the terminal device, or when the terminal device also has data to send to the network device, the network device determines that the terminal device will be in an active period for a future time. For example, assuming the first threshold is still 100 kilobytes (KB), if the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to 100 KB, or receives an uplink request message from the terminal device, the network device determines that the terminal device will be in an active period for a future time.

[0101] In this scenario, since the terminal device continues to receive downlink scheduling signaling at a high frequency during the active period, it needs to continuously monitor all PDCCHs in the specific search space. Therefore, the network device does not need to send the first indication information to the terminal device, and does not trigger the terminal device to execute power-saving strategies. Alternatively, assuming the terminal device is currently in a low-traffic period or a quiet period, if the terminal device receives a second indication information from the network device, which instructs the terminal device to resume monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space, the terminal device will resume monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space in response to receiving the second indication information.

[0102] In the first and second scenarios described above, the network device can assign different values ​​to the bit field of the first indication information to indicate different power-saving strategies to the terminal device. Optionally, the first indication information includes a first bit field; different values ​​for the first bit field indicate different power-saving strategies. For example, when the first bit field has a first value, the power-saving strategy is to stop monitoring the PDCCH. When the first bit field has a second value, the power-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space.

[0103] For example, a network device can set the first bit field to a 2-bit binary number. By assigning different binary values ​​to the first bit field, the first indication information can indicate different power-saving strategies. When the first bit field is 01, the power-saving strategy is to stop monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space. When the first bit field is 10, the power-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space. When the first bit field is 00, the first indication information indicates to resume monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0104] It should be understood that network devices can also define the first bit field as other types of values ​​or parameters, without limitation. For example, a network device can set the first bit field to a 1-bit binary number, and indicate different power-saving strategies by assigning different binary values ​​to the first bit field. When the first bit field is 1, the power-saving strategy indicated by this first indication information is to stop monitoring PDCCH. When the first bit field is 0, the power-saving strategy indicated by this first indication information is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space. For example, when the first bit field is TRUE, the power-saving strategy indicated by the first indication information is to stop monitoring PDCCH. When the first bit field is FALSE, the power-saving strategy indicated by the first indication information is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space.

[0105] It should be noted that the first instruction information in this application instructs the terminal device to stop monitoring all or part of the PDCCHs in a specific search space, but does not stop monitoring PDCCHs in the public search space, so as to avoid affecting the normal operation of the terminal device's business.

[0106] In one example, a specific search space can be indicated to the terminal device by the network device. For instance, the first indication information may also indicate the specific search space corresponding to the energy-saving strategy, and the first indication information may carry an identifier for the specific search space. Thus, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the specific search space to be saved based on the identifier of the specific search space carried in the first indication information.

[0107] In another example, the specific search space can be a default one. After receiving the energy-saving policy indicated by the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the specific search space corresponding to the energy-saving policy without the network device needing to further indicate the specific search space corresponding to the energy-saving policy, which helps reduce signaling overhead.

[0108] In another example, the network device does not directly indicate the specific search space to the terminal device. Instead, it pre-configures at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group within that policy group, and then indicates the target policy group to which the terminal device belongs via the first indication information. Upon receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the specific search space associated with the target policy group indicated by the first indication information based on the pre-configured policy groups and the characteristic search spaces associated with those policy groups. Therefore, the network device does not need to indicate a specific search space to the terminal device; it only needs to indicate the target policy group to which the terminal device belongs via the first indication information, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0109] Optionally, the network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device. This first configuration information configures at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group. Each policy group includes at least one terminal device with the same power-saving policy. Each policy group is associated with at least one specific search space. For example, policy group A is associated with two specific search spaces, USS-1 and USS-2, and policy group B is associated with one specific search space, USS-3. If the network device indicates through the first indication information that the target policy group to which the terminal device belongs is policy group A, then the terminal device can determine that the specific search spaces are USS-1 and USS-2.

[0110] In this application, the network device can assign at least one terminal device to a policy group based on one or more service characteristics such as service type, device type, latency requirements, and quality requirements. Optionally, the network device can group terminal devices with the same service type or device type into a policy group.

[0111] For example, Table 1 below shows the policy groups to which terminal devices of different service types or device types belong. For instance, the network device may assign terminal devices performing low-latency services to the latency-sensitive group, or assign both XR devices and in-vehicle navigation devices to the latency-sensitive group; the network device may assign terminal devices performing low-activity services to the power-sensitive group, or assign IoT devices (e.g., smart meters, environmental sensors) to the latency-sensitive group; the network device may assign terminal devices performing general services (e.g., social services) to the balance group, or assign smartphones to the balance group; and the network device may assign terminal devices performing high-reliability services to the high-reliability assurance group, or assign devices such as remote medical terminals or emergency communication terminals to the high-reliability assurance group. For example, assuming the terminal device reports a device type of smartphone and a service type of social service (including general services) to the network device, the network device configures the balance group and the specific search space associated with the balance group using the first configuration information.

[0112] Table 1

[0113] It should be noted that the number of policy groups shown in Table 1 above, as well as the device type and service type of the terminal device corresponding to each policy group, are only examples. The actual configuration of the network device shall prevail, and no limitation shall be made thereto.

[0114] The first configuration information is carried in radio resource control (RRC) signaling. For example, network devices configure at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group to terminal devices through fields in the RRC signaling (such as the groupUssMapping field).

[0115] Optionally, the network device can configure different values ​​for the second bit field of the first indication information to indicate the target policy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies, and the target policy group is associated with at least one specific search space. The target policy group belongs to at least one policy group configured in the first configuration information. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines the target policy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies and the at least one specific search space associated with the target policy group based on the value of the second bit field. Thus, the first indication information sent by the network device to the terminal device does not need to carry information related to the specific search space to indicate the specific search space to which the energy-saving strategy applies, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0116] For example, a network device can set the second bit field to a 2-bit binary number. By assigning different binary values ​​to the second bit field, the first indication information can indicate the target policy group to which the power-saving strategy applies. As shown in Table 1 above, when the second bit field is 00, the first indication information indicates that the power-saving strategy applies to the latency-sensitive group. When the second bit field is 01, the first indication information indicates that the power-saving strategy applies to the power-consumption-sensitive group. When the second bit field is 10, the first indication information indicates that the power-saving strategy applies to the balanced group. When the second bit field is 11, the first indication information indicates that the power-saving strategy applies to the high-reliability guarantee group.

[0117] It should be understood that network devices can also define the second bit field as other types of values ​​or parameters, without limitation. For example, a network device can set the second bit field to a 3-bit binary number, and by assigning different binary numbers to the second bit field, the first indication information can indicate the target policy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies.

[0118] In this embodiment, the first indication information is used not only to indicate the energy-saving strategy but also to indicate the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy. Specifically, when the energy-saving strategy is to stop monitoring, the execution parameters include the monitoring timing; or, when the energy-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs, the execution parameters include the monitoring timing and the percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored. The monitoring timing corresponds to the duration for which the terminal device executes the energy-saving strategy. Assuming one monitoring timing is 1 millisecond (ms), then two monitoring timings are 2 ms. The percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored refers to the ratio of a portion of the PDCCHs monitored by the terminal device in a specific search space to all PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set. For example, the percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored could be 20%, 25%, 30%, etc.

[0119] It should be noted that the 1ms monitoring time in this application is only an example. In reality, the duration of one monitoring time is related to the operating frequency band of the terminal device. For example, when the operating frequency band of the terminal device is 15KHz, one monitoring time is 1ms, and when the operating frequency band of the terminal device is 15KHz, one monitoring time is 0.5ms.

[0120] For a detailed introduction to the candidate PDCCH set, and the specific implementation of how to determine the number of PDCCHs to be monitored based on the proportion of the number of PDCCHs to be monitored and the candidate PDCCH set, please refer to the subsequent embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0121] Optionally, the network device can configure different values ​​for the third bit field of the first indication information to indicate the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy. For details on the implementation process, please refer to the description of the following embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0122] In this embodiment, the network device may transmit the first indication information to the terminal device by carrying it in the payload of general downlink control information (DCI); or, the network device may transmit the first indication information to the terminal device by carrying it in a newly defined DCI. This newly defined DCI is specifically designed to carry the first indication information. The terminal device decodes the DCI information in a common search space to obtain the first indication information carried in the DCI information.

[0123] For example, the format of DCI information is as follows: Figure 6 As shown, the DCI information carries first indication information, which includes a first bit field, a second bit field, and a third bit field. The DCI information also carries other bit fields. For Figure 6The content indicated by the first, second, and third bit fields at different values ​​is described in the above embodiments and will not be repeated here. Other bit fields represent other information carried by the DCI information or information to be used for future expansion of the DCI information, and are not limited thereto.

[0124] S530: Upon receiving the first instruction information, the terminal device executes the energy-saving strategy.

[0125] In this application, after receiving the first instruction information, the terminal device executes an energy-saving strategy in response to receiving the first instruction information. Specifically, this includes the following two situations.

[0126] In scenario one, if the energy-saving strategy includes stopping PDCCH monitoring, the terminal device stops monitoring PDCCH in response to receiving the first instruction information.

[0127] For example, assuming that the first bit field of the first indication information received by the terminal device is 01, the second bit field is 10, and the third bit field is 00, then in response to receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines that the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is the target policy group indicated by the second bit field, and the two monitoring opportunities indicated by the third bit field correspond to 2ms, and the terminal device stops monitoring PDCCH within 2ms.

[0128] In scenario two, where the energy-saving strategy includes monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs, the terminal device, in response to receiving the first instruction information, monitors a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space and stops monitoring another portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0129] For example, assuming the terminal device receives a first indication information where the first bit field has a value of 10, the second bit field has a value of 10, and the third bit field has a value of 10, the terminal device, in response to receiving the first indication information, determines that the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is the target policy group indicated by the second bit field. Based on the value of the third bit field and the pre-configured correspondence between the candidate values ​​corresponding to the third bit field and the number of monitoring opportunities and the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored, the terminal device determines that the two monitoring opportunities indicated by the third bit field correspond to 2ms, and the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored indicated by the third bit field is 33%. That is, the terminal device monitors 33% of the PDCCHs in a specific search space within 2ms.

[0130] After determining the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored based on the value of the third bit field, the terminal device determines the total number of PDCCHs to be monitored based on this proportion and the total number of PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set. Further, the terminal device selects the PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set. The specific implementation of how the terminal device selects the PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set is detailed in subsequent embodiments and will not be elaborated here.

[0131] In the examples of Situations 1 and 2 above, the terminal device receives the first indication information and only executes the power-saving policy if it determines that the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is the target policy group indicated by the second bit field. In this way, the specific search space that the terminal device stops monitoring is at least one specific search space associated with the target policy group, avoiding the situation where the terminal device stops monitoring the PDCCH in the wrong specific search space, thus affecting the normal operation of services.

[0132] Optionally, the terminal device can be configured with a first timer, the duration of which is determined based on the monitoring timing. For example, assuming one monitoring timing corresponds to 1ms, and the first indication information indicates two monitoring timings via the third bit field, the terminal device determines the duration of the first timer to be 2ms. In response to receiving the first indication information, the terminal device starts the first timer, and during its operation, it executes a power-saving strategy. Thus, the terminal device executes a power-saving strategy during the first timer's operation by setting a timer. In response to the first timer ending, the terminal device resumes monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space. This effectively monitors the execution duration of the power-saving strategy, avoiding the problem of wasted power consumption caused by the terminal device continuously monitoring all PDCCHs during the execution of the power-saving strategy. Furthermore, the network device does not need to send additional instructions to the terminal device to instruct it to resume monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space; the terminal device can continue monitoring all PDCCHs after the first timer ends, thus saving signaling overhead.

[0133] It should be noted that during the first timer's operation, if the terminal device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and / or the terminal device sends an uplink request message to the network device, the terminal device controls the first timer to stop running and resumes monitoring of all PDCCHs in the specific search space. Therefore, when the terminal device determines that the service status has changed, it resumes monitoring of all PDCCHs, avoiding disruption to normal service operation.

[0134] During the first timer's operation, if the terminal device receives an instruction to resume monitoring of all PDCCHs in a specific search space, the terminal device controls the first timer to stop running and resumes monitoring of all PDCCHs in the specific search space to avoid affecting the normal operation of the service.

[0135] In summary, during the DRX activation period, when the terminal device monitors PDCCHs, it receives a first instruction from the network device indicating a power-saving strategy. This power-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring of PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a subset of PDCCHs. Upon receiving the first instruction, the terminal device executes the power-saving strategy. Therefore, by stopping monitoring of PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a subset of PDCCHs after receiving the first instruction, the terminal device reduces the number of monitored PDCCHs compared to monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space, thus achieving the goal of reducing device power consumption.

[0136] The following section details the specific implementation process of how network devices use the third bit field to indicate the execution parameters associated with energy-saving strategies.

[0137] In this embodiment, when the energy-saving strategies indicated by the first indication information are different, the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategies indicated by the third bit field are also different. Specifically, this includes the following two implementation methods: In the first implementation method, if the energy-saving strategy indicated by the first indication information includes stopping the monitoring of the PDCCH, the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy indicated by the third bit field include the monitoring timing.

[0138] In this method, the network device can set the third bit field to a 2-bit binary number. By assigning different binary values ​​to the third bit field, the first indication information can indicate different numbers of monitoring opportunities. Optionally, when the third bit field is 00, the first indication information indicates 2 monitoring opportunities. When the third bit field is 01, the first indication information indicates 4 monitoring opportunities. When the third bit field is 10, the first indication information indicates 8 monitoring opportunities. When the third bit field is 11, the first indication information indicates 16 monitoring opportunities.

[0139] It should be noted that the number of monitoring opportunities indicated by the first indication information when the third bit field has different values ​​is only an example. The specific number of monitoring opportunities is based on the correspondence between at least one candidate value corresponding to the third bit field and the number of monitoring opportunities pre-configured by the network device through the second configuration information. This is not limited. In other words, the network device sends the second configuration information to the terminal device, which is used to configure the number of monitoring opportunities corresponding to each of the at least one candidate value. Therefore, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the monitoring opportunities based on the value of the third bit field and the pre-configured correspondence between at least one candidate value corresponding to the third bit field and the number of monitoring opportunities. This eliminates the need for the terminal device to request additional configuration of monitoring opportunities from the network device, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0140] For example, Table 2 shows the candidate values ​​for the third bit field and the corresponding monitoring opportunities for each candidate value. As shown in Table 2, when the candidate value is 00, there are 2 monitoring opportunities; when the candidate value is 01, there are 4 monitoring opportunities; when the candidate value is 10, there are 8 monitoring opportunities; and when the candidate value is 11, there are 16 monitoring opportunities. In this way, the network device pre-configures at least one monitoring opportunity for each candidate value in the third bit field. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the monitoring opportunity for implementing the energy-saving strategy based on the value of the third bit field.

[0141] Table 2

[0142] The second configuration information is carried in RRC signaling. For example, the network device configures the number of monitoring opportunities corresponding to each candidate value in at least one of the candidate values ​​of the third bit field to the terminal device through fields in the RRC signaling (such as the groupParamMap field).

[0143] Optionally, the network device can determine the value of the third bit field based on the predicted duration of the terminal device's silent period and the policy group to which the terminal device belongs, in order to instruct the terminal device to stop monitoring the PDCCH for a certain duration.

[0144] For example, if the network device determines that the terminal device belongs to a latency-sensitive policy group, and the network device predicts that the first duration is less than the second duration, then the network device determines that the monitoring time for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 2 monitoring times, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 00. If the network device predicts that the first duration is greater than or equal to the second duration, then the network device determines that the monitoring time for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 4 monitoring times, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 01. Assuming the second duration is 5ms, and the terminal device is an in-vehicle navigation device, if the network device predicts that the duration of the in-vehicle navigation device's silent period is 3ms (less than 5ms), then the network device determines that the monitoring time for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 2 monitoring times, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 00. If the network device predicts that the duration of the in-vehicle navigation device's silent period is 8ms (greater than 5ms), then the network device determines that the monitoring time for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 4 monitoring times, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 01.

[0145] It should be understood that since services in the latency-sensitive group have high latency requirements, network devices assign values ​​to the third bit field to instruct terminal devices to stop monitoring the PDCCH for a short period of time, thereby ensuring service latency requirements while reducing device power consumption.

[0146] If the network device determines that the terminal device belongs to a power-sensitive policy group, and the network device predicts that the first duration is greater than or equal to the third duration and less than the fourth duration, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 8 monitoring periods, i.e., the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 10. If the network device predicts that the first duration is greater than or equal to the fourth duration, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 16 monitoring periods, i.e., the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 11. Assuming the third duration is 5ms, the fourth duration is 10ms, and the terminal device is a smart meter, if the network device predicts that the smart meter will be in a silent period of 8ms, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 8 monitoring periods, i.e., the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 10. If the network device predicts that the smart meter will be in a silent period of 15ms, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 16 monitoring periods, i.e., the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 11.

[0147] It should be understood that since power-sensitive group services can tolerate higher latency, network devices can instruct terminal devices to stop monitoring PDCCH for a longer period of time by assigning a value to the third bit field, thereby reducing device power consumption.

[0148] If the network device determines that the terminal device belongs to the balanced policy group, and the network device predicts that the first duration is less than the fifth duration, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 4 monitoring periods, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 01. If the network device predicts that the first duration is greater than or equal to the fifth duration, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 8 monitoring periods, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 10. Assuming the fourth duration is 5ms and the terminal device is a smartphone, if the network device predicts that the smartphone will be in a silent period of 3ms, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 4 monitoring periods, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 01. If the network device predicts that the smartphone will be in a silent period of 7ms, then the network device determines that the monitoring period for stopping PDCCH monitoring is 8 monitoring periods, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 10.

[0149] When the network device determines that the terminal device belongs to the high reliability guarantee group, since the services in the high reliability guarantee group have extremely high requirements for data transmission reliability, in order to ensure the normal operation of the services, the network device will not instruct the terminal device to stop monitoring the PDCCH, regardless of the length of the predicted silent period of the terminal device.

[0150] In the second implementation method, when the energy-saving strategy indicated by the first indication information includes monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space, the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy indicated by the third bit field include the monitoring timing and the percentage of the PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0151] In this method, the network device can set the third bit field to a 2-bit binary number. By assigning different binary values ​​to the third bit field, the first indication information indicates different percentages of the PDCCHs to be monitored. Optionally, when the third bit field is 00, the first indication information indicates 2 monitoring opportunities and a PDCCH count of 20% to be monitored. When the third bit field is 01, the first indication information indicates 4 monitoring opportunities and a PDCCH count of 25% to be monitored. When the third bit field is 10, the first indication information indicates 8 monitoring opportunities and a PDCCH count of 33% to be monitored. When the third bit field is 11, the first indication information indicates 16 monitoring opportunities and a PDCCH count of 50% to be monitored.

[0152] It should be noted that when the third bit field has different values, the number of monitoring opportunities indicated by the first indication information and the proportion of the number of PDCCHs to be monitored are only examples. The specific correspondence between the candidate values ​​of the third bit field pre-configured by the network device through the second configuration information and the number of monitoring opportunities and the proportion of the number of PDCCHs to be monitored shall prevail, and no limitation shall be made in this regard.

[0153] In this implementation, the network device can determine the value of the third bit field based on at least one of the policy group to which the terminal device belongs, the data volume range in which the data volume cached in the downlink buffer is located, and the signal quality range in which the SRS signal quality is located, so as to indicate the duration for which the terminal device monitors a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space and the percentage of the number of PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0154] Optionally, the network device can determine the uplink signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) based on the SRS transmitted by the terminal device. Specific implementation details are found in existing technologies and will not be elaborated here. Further, the network device determines the signal quality interval to which the SRS signal quality belongs and / or the channel level to which the candidate PDCCH belongs based on the magnitude of the uplink SINR value. For example, if the network device determines that the uplink SINR value is greater than a first value (e.g., 20 dB), then it determines that the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality interval A, and the candidate PDCCH has good channel quality, belonging to channel level A. If the network device determines that the uplink SINR value is less than or equal to the first value and greater than a second value (e.g., 10 dB), then it determines that the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality interval B, and the candidate PDCCH belongs to channel level B. If the network device determines that the uplink SINR value is less than or equal to the second value, then it determines that the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality interval C, and the candidate PDCCH has poor channel quality, belonging to channel level C.

[0155] When the network device determines that the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is a latency-sensitive group, the network device determines that the terminal device needs to monitor half of the PDCCHs in a specific search space. The monitoring duration for a portion of the PDCCHs in the specific search space is 16 monitoring opportunities, that is, the network device assigns a value of 11 to the third bit field. In this way, the goal of reducing device power consumption is achieved while prioritizing the operation of low-latency services.

[0156] If the network device determines that the terminal device belongs to a power-sensitive policy group, and if the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is less than the first data amount, and the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality range A, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 20%, meaning the network device sets the third bit field to 00. If the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is less than the first data amount, and the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality range B or C, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, meaning the network device sets the third bit field to 10. If the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to the first data amount and less than the second data amount, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, meaning the network device sets the third bit field to 10.

[0157] It should be noted that the correspondence between the value of the third bit field and the duration of monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space can reuse the correspondence from one of the above implementation methods, or it can be a correspondence pre-configured by the network device. There are no restrictions on this, and it will not be described in detail here. This implementation method mainly introduces the correspondence between the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored determined by the network device and the value of the third bit field.

[0158] Taking a first data volume of 50KB and a second data volume of 100KB as an example, when the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is 20KB (less than 50KB), if the network device determines that the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality range A, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 20%, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 00; if the network device determines that the SRS signal quality belongs to signal quality range B or C, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 10. When the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is 80KB (greater than 50KB and less than 100KB), the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, that is, the network device sets the third bit field to 10.

[0159] It is evident that when the network device determines that the SRS signal quality is good, it can instruct the terminal device to monitor a smaller number of PDCCHs to save power consumption. Conversely, when the network device determines that the SRS signal quality deteriorates or the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer increases, the proportion of PDCCHs that the network device instructs the terminal device to monitor will increase accordingly to improve the reliability of service transmission and reduce power consumption.

[0160] If the network device determines that the terminal device belongs to the policy group of the balanced group, and if the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is less than the first data amount, and the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval A, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 25%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 01. If the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is less than the first data amount, and the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval B, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 10. If the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is less than the first data amount, and the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval C, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 50%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 11. If the network device determines that the amount of data buffered in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to the first data amount, and the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval A or B, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 10. If the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is greater than or equal to the first data amount, and the signal quality of the SRS belongs to the signal quality range C, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 50%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field a value of 11.

[0161] Taking a first data volume of 50KB as an example, when the network device determines that the data volume cached in the downlink buffer is 20KB (less than 50KB), if the network device determines that the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval A, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 25%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field value to 01; if the network device determines that the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval B, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field value to 10; if the network device determines that the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality interval C, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 50%, that is, the network device assigns the third bit field value to 11. When the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is 60KB (greater than 50KB), if the network device determines that the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality range A or B, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, that is, the network device assigns the value of the third bit field to 10; if the network device determines that the signal quality of the SRS belongs to signal quality range C, then the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 50%, that is, the network device assigns the value of the third bit field to 11.

[0162] When the network device determines that the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is the high reliability guarantee group, since the services of the high reliability guarantee group have extremely high requirements for data transmission reliability, in order to ensure the normal operation of the services, the network device does not instruct the terminal device to stop monitoring the PDCCH in the specific search space.

[0163] The following section details how the terminal device determines the number of PDCCHs to be monitored, and how it selects the PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set.

[0164] In this embodiment, the terminal device determines the number of PDCCHs to be monitored (e.g., K PDCCHs) based on the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored and the total number of blind decoding candidates. The total number of blind decoding candidates corresponds to the total number of PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set. Optionally, the terminal device determines the number of PDCCHs to be monitored as the product of the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored and the total number of PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set.

[0165] The candidate PDCCH set is the sum of the number of candidate PDCCHs (nrofCandidates) corresponding to each aggregation level (AL) in at least one specific search space associated with the policy group to which the terminal device belongs. An aggregation level is the number of consecutive control channel elements (CCEs) occupied by a PDCCH. For example, aggregation level 1 (AL1) means one PDCCH occupies one CCE; AL2 means one PDCCH occupies two CCEs; AL4 means one PDCCH occupies four CCEs; AL8 means one PDCCH occupies eight CCEs; and AL16 means one PDCCH occupies sixteen CCEs.

[0166] The network device pre-configures the number of candidate PDCCHs corresponding to each aggregation level in a specific search space for the terminal device via RRC signaling. Taking aggregation levels 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 supported by the terminal device as an example, the network device pre-configures the number of candidate PDCCHs for AL1 as 6, AL2 as 6, AL4 as 12, AL8 as 12, and AL16 as 28. The terminal device determines that the total number of PDCCHs included in the candidate PDCCH set in this specific search space is 6 + 6 + 12 + 12 + 28 = 64.

[0167] The process by which the terminal device determines the candidate PDCCH set is as follows: First, the terminal device determines the time-frequency resource pool (CORESET) associated with a specific search space. The CORESET contains multiple CCEs. Then, based on all supported aggregation levels, the terminal device generates all candidate PDCCHs on the CCE resources of the CORESET. The set consisting of all candidate PDCCHs is called the candidate PDCCH set.

[0168] The aforementioned K is determined based on the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored and the total number of blind decoding candidates. The total number of blind decoding candidates is the total number of PDCCHs included in the candidate PDCCH set. For example, assuming the third bit field value is 10 and the total number of PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set is 64, after receiving the first indication information, the terminal device determines, based on the value of the third bit field, that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored indicated by the third bit field is 33%. The terminal device calculates K = max(1, floor(64 × 33%)) = 21. Here, floor is the floor function, and the max function ensures that K is at least 1, ensuring that the terminal device monitors at least one candidate PDCCH, preventing the terminal device from stopping monitoring all PDCCHs and thus interrupting the PDCCH monitoring process.

[0169] In this embodiment, after determining the number of PDCCHs to be monitored (e.g., K PDCCHs), the terminal device selects the K PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set based on a filtering rule. Thus, the terminal device selects K PDCCHs with better channel quality for monitoring, which helps reduce device power consumption while ensuring normal service operation.

[0170] The filtering rules include, but are not limited to, the following rules.

[0171] Rule 1: The K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose SINR values ​​rank among the top K.

[0172] SINR refers to the ratio of the signal to the sum of interference and noise.

[0173] Optionally, the process by which the terminal device determines K PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set is as follows: The terminal device calculates the SINR value of each candidate PDCCH, sorts all candidate PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set in descending order of SINR value, and determines the top K PDCCHs as the PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0174] For each candidate PDCCH, the terminal device performs channel estimation based on the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the candidate PDCCH. Optionally, the terminal device calculates the instantaneous received signal power (P_signal) of the candidate PDCCH and derives the interference plus noise power (P_interf_noise) on the candidate PDCCH based on the residual error between the estimated channel and the actual received signal. Further, the terminal device calculates the SINR value of each candidate PDCCH based on the formula SINR = P_signal / P_interf_noise.

[0175] It should be noted that when the terminal device sorts the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set, it does so only based on the size of the SINR value corresponding to each candidate PDCCH, without considering the difference in aggregation level, in order to select the K PDCCHs with the best channel conditions.

[0176] Rule 2: The K PDCCHs are the top K PDCCHs after sorting multiple aggregation levels according to priority.

[0177] Optionally, the terminal device sorts multiple aggregation levels in a specific search space according to 3GPP standard conventions or the priority order configured by the network device. For each aggregation level, the terminal device calculates its average received power (P_avg) based on the received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the DMRS within each candidate CCE. The specific calculation process is based on existing technologies and will not be elaborated here. Further, the terminal device sorts all candidate PDCCHs corresponding to the aggregation level in descending order of average received power. That is, each aggregation level includes at least one candidate PDCCH sorted in descending order of average received power. The terminal device concatenates the PDCCHs included in each aggregation level according to the priority of the aggregation level to form a global candidate PDCCH list. The terminal device then selects the top K candidate PDCCHs from this candidate PDCCH list as the PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0178] Taking aggregation levels AL1 (6 candidate PDCCHs), AL2 (6 candidate PDCCHs), AL4 (12 candidate PDCCHs), AL8 (12 candidate PDCCHs), and AL16 (28 candidate PDCCHs) as an example, with the aggregation level priority being AL16>AL8>AL4>AL2>AL1, for each aggregation level, the terminal device sorts the candidate PDCCHs included in the aggregation level in descending order of average received power. Then, according to the priority of the aggregation level, the PDCCHs included in each aggregation level are sequentially concatenated to obtain the candidate PDCCH list. In other words, the candidate PDCCH list includes 64 candidate PDCCHs. The first 28 candidate PDCCHs are AL16, comprising 28 candidate PDCCHs, and these 28 candidate PDCCHs are sorted from highest to lowest average received power. The 29th to 40th candidate PDCCHs are AL8, comprising 12 candidate PDCCHs, and these 12 candidate PDCCHs are also sorted from highest to lowest average received power. The 41st to 52nd candidate PDCCHs are A... L4 includes 12 candidate PDCCHs, which are sorted from highest to lowest average received power. Candidate PDCCHs 53 to 58 are the 6 candidate PDCCHs included in AL2, also sorted from highest to lowest average received power. Candidate PDCCHs 59 to 64 are the 6 candidate PDCCHs included in AL1, also sorted from highest to lowest average received power. If the terminal device selects 21 PDCCHs from the candidate PDCCH set for monitoring, then the terminal device determines the first 21 candidate PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH list as the PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0179] Therefore, the terminal device sorts all PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set based on the average received power of the candidate PDCCHs and the priority of the aggregation level, in order to select K PDCCHs with better channel quality. Since the computational complexity of the average received power of the PDCCH is low, the terminal device can select the K PDCCHs to be monitored without complex calculations, which reduces the computational complexity of the device and helps to save device power consumption.

[0180] Rule 3: The K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose beam transmission quality ranks among the top K.

[0181] Among them, the beam transmission quality of the candidate PDCCH refers to the signal quality evaluation result obtained by the terminal equipment after measuring the reference signal carrying the candidate PDCCH in a specific receiving beam direction.

[0182] Optionally, for each PDCCH in the candidate PDCCH set, the terminal device determines the beam transmission quality corresponding to that PDCCH based on the average received power and the estimated Doppler frequency offset. The specific implementation of the terminal device determining the estimated Doppler frequency offset based on the reference signal is described in existing standards and will not be repeated here. For example, the terminal device uses weighted coefficients to sum the average received power and the estimated Doppler frequency offset of the PDCCH to obtain the beam transmission quality corresponding to that PDCCH. The beam transmission quality corresponding to the PDCCH is determined using the following formula (1).

[0183] Score=α*P_ref+β*(1 / |D_est|) formula (1); Wherein, Score refers to the beam quality score of PDCCH, which is used to measure the beam transmission quality; α and β are weighting coefficients, the sum of α and β is 1, and α≥β; P_ref is the average received power of PDCCH; D_est is the Doppler frequency offset estimate.

[0184] Optionally, the terminal device obtains the Transmission Configuration Index (TCI) status for the Target Control Resource Set (CORESET), activated by the media access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling. The TCI status includes one or more quasi-co-location (QCL) pieces of information, each QCL including an ID of a reference signal (or synchronization signal block) and a QCL type. For example, the terminal device may need to determine the beam for receiving the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) based on the TCI status indicated by the network device. For instance, the reference signal can be one or more of the following: synchronization signal, broadcast channel, broadcast demodulated signal, synchronous signal / PBCH block (SSB), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or cell specific reference signal (CS-RS).

[0185] The average received power and Doppler frequency offset estimates of the PDCCH mentioned above are obtained by the terminal equipment through long-term statistical measurements of the reference signal determined based on the TCI state, and are not instantaneous measurements.

[0186] The weighting coefficients α and β in formula (1) above are pre-configured by the network device. Optionally, the network device sends third configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the third configuration information is used to configure the filtering rule as rule 3 and to configure the weighting coefficients α and β. To adapt to different scenario requirements, the network device can pre-configure different weighting coefficients. For example, in a scenario where the location of the terminal device is relatively fixed, the network device pre-configures α as 0.7 and β as 0.3; in a scenario where the terminal device moves, the network device pre-configures α as 0.6 and β as 0.4.

[0187] Furthermore, after receiving the third configuration information, the terminal device configures the filtering rules and weighting coefficients based on the third configuration information, and calculates a beam quality score to measure the beam transmission quality of each candidate PDCCH. The terminal device identifies the candidate PDCCHs with the top K beam quality scores as the PDCCHs that need to be monitored. For example, the terminal device sorts the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set according to the beam quality scores from high to low, and identifies the top K PDCCHs as the PDCCHs that need to be monitored.

[0188] Rule 4: The K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose decoding success rate ranks among the top K in the historical time period.

[0189] The decoding success rate refers to the ratio between the number of times the terminal device successfully decodes DCI information on a candidate PDCCH within a historical time period and the total number of times that candidate PDCCH is detected. The historical time period belongs to the terminal device's DRX cycle.

[0190] Optionally, the terminal device establishes and maintains a database A, which stores the number of times the terminal device successfully decodes DCI information on each candidate PDCCH, as well as the total number of times the terminal device detects that candidate PDCCH. Each candidate PDCCH stored in database A is uniquely identified by a CCE starting index and an aggregation level. The CCE starting index indicates the starting position number of the CCE in the CCE resource pool. When the total number of times the terminal device detects a candidate PDCCH is less than a threshold, the terminal device can determine the total number of times it detects that candidate PDCCH as a preset number to avoid large errors caused by statistical randomness.

[0191] The terminal device can calculate the decoding success rate of each candidate PDCCH based on the number of times DCI information was successfully decoded on each candidate PDCCH within a certain historical time period stored in the database, and the total number of times the terminal device detected that candidate PDCCH. Then, the terminal device identifies the top K candidate PDCCHs with the highest decoding success rates within that historical time period as the PDCCHs that need to be monitored. For example, the terminal device can sort the candidates according to their decoding success rates from highest to lowest and identify the top K candidate PDCCHs as the PDCCHs that need to be monitored.

[0192] It should be noted that when the terminal enters a new DRX cycle or re-establishes an RRC connection, the terminal device partially resets the number of times it successfully decoded DCI information on each candidate PDCCH stored in the database, as well as the total number of times the terminal device detected that candidate PDCCH. This is to ensure that the terminal device can adapt to the slow changes in services by using the PDCCHs that need to be monitored as determined by rule 4.

[0193] In this embodiment, after the network device configures the aforementioned arbitrary filtering rules to the terminal device through third configuration information, the terminal device receives the third configuration information and stores the filtering rules configured in the third configuration information. When the terminal device receives the first indication information indicating that the energy-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs, the terminal device filters out the PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set based on the stored filtering rules. When the network device does not configure new filtering rules to the terminal device, the terminal device filters out the PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set based on the stored filtering rules. For example, assuming the terminal device receives the third configuration information from the network device with the filtering rule configured as rule 1, and the terminal device receives the first indication information indicating that the energy-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs, the terminal device determines the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose SINR values ​​are among the top K as the PDCCHs to be monitored.

[0194] In this embodiment, after the network device configures the filtering rules to the terminal device through third configuration information, the network device also filters the PDCCHs to be actually scheduled from the candidate PDCCHs based on the filtering rules, so that the PDCCHs scheduled by the network device are highly consistent with the K PDCCHs monitored by the terminal device. Specifically, this includes the following situations: In scenario A, when the network device configures the terminal device to select K PDCCHs from the candidate PDCCH set using the aforementioned rule 1 through the third configuration information, the network device selects K actually scheduled PDCCHs from the candidate PDCCH set based on the equivalent channel gain of the candidate PDCCHs.

[0195] Among them, the equivalent channel gain is the gain that characterizes the overall transmission strength of the channel after scalarizing the channels such as antenna, multi-carrier, beamlining or spatial multiplexing.

[0196] In this case, after receiving the SRS sent by the terminal device, the network device measures and estimates the uplink channel based on the SRS to obtain the uplink channel matrix. The uplink channel matrix characterizes the amplitude, phase, and spatial characteristics of the uplink channel between the transmitting antenna of the terminal device and the receiving antenna of the network device. For the specific implementation of the network device measuring and estimating the uplink channel based on the SRS to obtain the uplink channel matrix, please refer to existing technologies; it will not be repeated here. After determining the uplink channel matrix, the network device uses the reciprocity of the uplink and downlink channels to obtain the downlink channel matrix. That is, the downlink channel matrix is ​​the transpose of the uplink channel matrix. After obtaining the downlink precoding matrix, the network device determines the equivalent channel gain of each candidate PDCCH based on the downlink channel matrix and the downlink precoding matrix. Furthermore, the network device determines the K candidate PDCCHs with the largest equivalent channel gains as the K PDCCHs actually scheduled by the network device. For example, the network device can use the following formula (2) to calculate the equivalent channel gain of the candidate PDCCHs.

[0197] Formula (2); in, This represents the equivalent channel gain of the candidate PDCCH. Represents the downlink channel matrix. This represents the downlink precoding matrix, which is a known matrix. This represents the square of the norm.

[0198] In scenario B, when the network device configures the terminal device to select K PDCCHs from the candidate PDCCH set using the above rule 2 through the third configuration information, the network device sorts the multiple aggregation levels according to priority and determines the top K PDCCHs as the K PDCCHs to be actually scheduled.

[0199] Unlike the terminal device side, the network device determines the channel level of the candidate PDCCH based on the SRS measurement results, and then prioritizes the aggregation levels based on the channel level. For example, the aggregation level corresponding to channel level A is AL1 or L2, the aggregation level corresponding to channel level B is AL2 or AL4, and the aggregation level corresponding to channel level C is AL8 or AL16. The specific implementation method for the network device to determine the channel level of the candidate PDCCH is detailed in the second method of implementing the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy indicated by the third bit field, and will not be repeated here.

[0200] Furthermore, the network device determines the average power of each candidate PDCCH based on the downlink channel matrix. After sorting the candidate PDCCHs included in each aggregation level in descending order of average power, the top K PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set are determined as the K PDCCHs to be actually scheduled according to the priority order of the aggregation level.

[0201] For example, a network device may use the following formula (3) to determine the average power of a candidate PDCCH.

[0202] Formula (3); in, This represents the average power of the candidate PDCCH. Represents the downlink channel matrix. This represents the downlink precoding matrix, which is a known matrix. Represents the square of the norm. This represents the number of REGs contained in the CCE corresponding to the candidate PDCCH.

[0203] In scenario C, when the network device configures the terminal device to select K PDCCHs from the candidate PDCCH set using the above rule 3 through the third configuration information, the network device determines the PDCCHs with the highest beam transmission quality in the candidate PDCCH set as the PDCCHs to be actually scheduled.

[0204] Unlike the terminal equipment, when determining the beam transmission quality of each candidate PDCCH in the candidate PDCCH set, the network equipment obtains the reference signal received power and the absolute value of the Doppler frequency offset based on the received SRS. The network equipment then uses weighted coefficients to perform a weighted summation of the average received power and the estimated Doppler frequency offset of the PDCCH to obtain the beam transmission quality corresponding to that PDCCH. The specific process by which the network equipment determines the beam transmission quality of each candidate PDCCH can be found in Rule 3 above, and will not be elaborated here.

[0205] In case D, when the network device configures the terminal device to select K PDCCHs from the candidate PDCCH set using the above rule 4 through the third configuration information, the network device determines the PDCCH with the highest success rate of SRS scheduling as the PDCCH to be actually scheduled.

[0206] Similar to the terminal device side, the network device establishes and maintains a database B, which stores the number of times the network device successfully schedules SRS on each candidate PDCCH, as well as the total number of times the network device schedules SRS. Each candidate PDCCH stored in database A is uniquely identified by a CCE starting index and aggregation level. The network device determines the PDCCHs with the highest SRS scheduling success rate (ranking in the top K) as the PDCCHs to be actually scheduled.

[0207] In this embodiment of the application, if the network device determines that the terminal device will be in a low traffic period in the future, and if the network device cannot receive the SRS sent by the terminal device, or if the SINR value corresponding to the received SRS is less than the SINR threshold (e.g., -10dB), the network device can trigger the terminal device to monitor all PDCCHs in a specific search space to avoid the situation where the channel quality is poor and the terminal device fails to receive the data sent by the network device.

[0208] The following example uses a smartphone as the terminal device and instant messaging as the service scenario to illustrate the communication method provided in this application. For example, Figure 7 As shown, it specifically includes the following four stages.

[0209] Phase 1: The pre-configuration phase performed by network devices.

[0210] After a successful RRC connection is established between the network device and the terminal device, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device via RRC signaling. This includes, for example, the first, second, and third configuration information mentioned above. Upon receiving the configuration information, the terminal device stores the contents of all configuration information. The specific implementation process is described in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0211] Optionally, the terminal device reports its device type and service type to the network device. Upon receiving the reported device type and service type from the terminal device, the network device determines the policy group to which the terminal device belongs as a load balancing group based on the received information. The network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device via RRC signaling to configure the specific search space corresponding to the load balancing group. The network device then sends third configuration information to the terminal device via RRC signaling to configure the terminal device to use rule 1 described above to select the PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set.

[0212] Phase 2: Determine energy-saving strategies for network equipment.

[0213] During the DRX activation period, the terminal device determines whether to send an uplink request message based on its own service needs. If the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is less than a first threshold, no uplink request message has been received from the terminal device, and the uplink SINR measured based on SRS is greater than the SINR threshold, the network device determines that the terminal device will be in a low-traffic period for a future time. For example, if the network device determines that the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is 30KB, no uplink request message has been received from the terminal device, and the uplink SINR measured based on SRS is 15dB, the network device determines that the terminal device will be in a low-traffic period for a future time. Since the network device determines that the amount of data stored in the downlink buffer is less than the first data amount, the network device determines that the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored is 33%, meaning the network device assigns a value of 10 to the third bit field. Since the network device determines that the energy-saving strategy for the low-traffic period is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space, the network device determines that the value of the first bit field is 10. The network device, in conjunction with Table 1 above, determines that the value of the second bit field is 10 based on the device type and service type reported by the terminal device.

[0214] Optionally, the network device selects the PDCCHs to be scheduled from the candidate PDCCH set based on SRS. Assuming the network device determines that the candidate PDCCH set in a specific search space includes 64 candidate PDCCHs, then the number of PDCCHs to be scheduled determined by the network device is K = 64 × 33% = 21.

[0215] Phase 3: The network device issues the first instruction message.

[0216] The network device transmits the first indication information, which includes a first bit field value of 10, a second bit field value of 10, and a third bit field value of 10, in the DCI information to the terminal device. Upon receiving the DCI information, the terminal device parses it to obtain the first indication information and determines an energy-saving strategy based on it.

[0217] Phase 4: The terminal device executes the energy-saving strategy based on the energy-saving strategy indicated by the first instruction information.

[0218] Upon receiving the first indication information, the terminal device executes an energy-saving strategy in response. Optionally, taking an example where the candidate PDCCH set in a specific search space includes 64 candidate PDCCHs, the terminal device determines the number of PDCCHs to be monitored, K = 64 × 33% = 21, based on the value of the third bit field, the pre-configured candidate values ​​of the third bit field, and the corresponding execution parameters. The terminal device uses pre-configured rule 1 to select 21 PDCCHs to be monitored from the candidate PDCCH set. The terminal device starts timer A (e.g., monitoringAdaptationTimer), setting the timer's runtime to 8ms. During the operation of timer A, the terminal device performs blind decoding only on the 21 identified PDCCHs to be monitored, skipping the monitoring of the other 43 candidate PDCCHs. Correspondingly, the network device determines that the K PDCCHs to be scheduled are also 21. In response to timer A expiring, the terminal device resumes monitoring all PDCCHs in the specific search space.

[0219] Therefore, it can be seen that when the terminal device is in the DRX activation period, the network device can sense in real time whether the terminal device is in the quiet period or the low traffic period of the DRX activation period, and dynamically send the first indication information to instruct the terminal device to execute the corresponding energy saving strategy. With the help of a unified timer management mechanism, millisecond-level, low-overhead, on-demand monitoring energy saving control is achieved, thereby achieving the goal of saving device power consumption.

[0220] The above example illustrates the communication method of this application using a smartphone as the terminal device and instant messaging as the service being performed. Furthermore, the communication method of this application is also applicable to industrial IoT and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenarios. The following provides an exemplary description of industrial IoT and V2X scenarios.

[0221] like Figure 8As shown, in industrial IoT scenarios, a large number of IoT devices (such as temperature sensors and robotic arm controllers) need to be in RRC (Remote Controlled Controller) connected state for extended periods, and their operations exhibit characteristics of "periodic data reporting (device temperature every 5 seconds), sudden control signals (such as robotic arm emergency stops), and long periods of inactivity (such as device standby)." IoT devices are deployed in complex environments (e.g., difficult cabling, limited power supply) and are extremely sensitive to power consumption in connected state. Simultaneously, sudden control signals require low-latency responses. Therefore, network devices can control IoT devices to execute corresponding energy-saving strategies based on device type and service status. For example, if the network device determines that an IoT device is in an inactivity period, and if the network device determines that the IoT device belongs to a power-sensitive policy group, the network device can instruct the IoT device to stop monitoring all PDCCHs in a specific search space associated with the power-sensitive group, thereby significantly reducing device power consumption. If a network device determines that an IoT device is in a low-traffic period, and if the network device identifies the IoT device as belonging to a power-sensitive or latency-sensitive policy group, the network device can instruct the IoT device to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs within a specific search space to reduce device power consumption. During the execution of power-saving strategies by the terminal device, if the network device detects a sudden control signal transmission, indicating that the IoT device has switched to an active period, the network device instructs the terminal device to resume normal monitoring, meaning the network device instructs the terminal device to monitor all PDCCHs.

[0222] For example, such as Figure 9 As shown, in the vehicle-road cooperative scenario, during vehicle operation, the on-board terminal communicates in real time with roadside units and other vehicles. The services performed by the on-board terminal exhibit characteristics such as "periodic data reporting (e.g., reporting vehicle speed and location every 100ms), sudden alarms (e.g., emergency braking, road obstacles), and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services (e.g., real-time navigation)." In other words, the DRX activation period of the on-board terminal can also be divided into a low-traffic period (the period of periodic status reporting), an active period (e.g., the timing of sudden alarm signal transmission), and a silent period (e.g., the period when the vehicle is traveling at a constant speed and there are no navigation updates).

[0223] During vehicle operation, if the network device determines that the vehicle-mounted terminal is periodically reporting vehicle speed or location, indicating a low-traffic period, the network device can send a first instruction message to the vehicle-mounted terminal to instruct it to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs. This significantly reduces the terminal's power consumption while ensuring service latency requirements are met. If the network device determines that the vehicle-mounted terminal is traveling at a constant speed, indicating a quiet period, it can send a first instruction message to instruct the terminal to stop monitoring PDCCHs, further reducing power consumption and extending battery life. If, during the process of stopping PDCCH monitoring, the network device determines that a sudden alarm signal is pending transmission, indicating an active period, it can send a first instruction message to instruct the terminal to resume monitoring all PDCCHs. This ensures the terminal receives the sudden alarm signal promptly, preventing missed alarms and improving vehicle safety.

[0224] When the network device determines that the vehicle terminal is in a low-traffic period, it can dynamically adjust the proportion of PDCCHs to be monitored based on the vehicle speed. For example, when the vehicle terminal is traveling at high speed, to ensure the reliability of vehicle operation, the network device can instruct the terminal device to monitor a larger proportion of PDCCHs. When the vehicle terminal is traveling at low speed, the network device can instruct the terminal device to monitor a smaller proportion of PDCCHs, in order to minimize vehicle power consumption.

[0225] It should be noted that the communication method proposed in this application is also applicable to other scenarios, which will not be described in detail in this application.

[0226] It should be understood that Figures 1 to 9 The flowcharts or scene diagrams shown are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the embodiments of this application to the examples illustrated. In fact, those skilled in the art can interpret the embodiments based on... Figures 1 to 9 The examples in the document can be transformed into equivalent ways to obtain more implementations.

[0227] The above text combined Figures 1 to 9 This document describes in detail the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application. The following will combine... Figures 10 to 11 The device embodiments of this application are described in detail below. It should be understood that the communication device of this application embodiment can execute the various communication methods of the foregoing embodiments of this application, that is, the specific working processes of the various products below can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments.

[0228] In the embodiments described above, the terminal device may execute some or all of the steps in each embodiment; the network device may execute some or all of the steps in each embodiment. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application may also perform other operations or variations thereof. Furthermore, the steps may be executed in different orders as presented in the embodiments, and it is not necessary to execute all the operations in the embodiments of this application. Moreover, the sequence number of each step does not imply the order of execution; the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0229] Figure 10 This is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 10 As shown, the communication device may include a communication module 1020. The communication module 1020 can implement corresponding communication functions, which can be internal communication functions of the communication device or communication functions between the communication device and other devices. Optionally, the communication module 1020 may also be referred to as a communication interface or transceiver module. Optionally, the communication device may also include a processing module 1010. The processing module 1010 can implement corresponding processing functions.

[0230] Optionally, the communication device further includes a storage module, which can be used to store instructions and / or data; the processing module 1010 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage module so that the communication device can implement the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0231] In one possible design, the communication device may correspond to the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or to a component (such as a circuit, chip, or chip system) configured in the terminal device. The communication device can be used to execute the steps or processes performed by the terminal device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0232] For example, the communication module 1020 is used to monitor the PDCCH during the DRX activation period; after receiving first indication information from the network device, it executes a power-saving strategy in response to receiving the first indication information. The first indication information is used to indicate the power-saving strategy; the power-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring of PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the number of PDCCHs.

[0233] The above are merely examples; for detailed steps or procedures, please refer to the descriptions in the foregoing embodiments.

[0234] In one possible design, the communication device may correspond to the network device in the above method embodiments, or to a component (such as a circuit, chip, or chip system) configured in the network device. The communication device can be used to perform the steps or processes executed by the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0235] For example, the communication module 1020 is used to send a first indication message to a terminal device that is in the DRX activation period; the first indication message is used to instruct the terminal device to execute a power-saving strategy, so that the terminal device executes the power-saving strategy in response to receiving the first indication message, the power-saving strategy including stopping monitoring PDCCH in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the number of PDCCH.

[0236] The above are merely examples; for detailed steps or procedures, please refer to the descriptions in the foregoing embodiments.

[0237] Figure 11 This is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication device may be a chip, chip system, or processor, etc., in a terminal device or network device that implements the above-described method. This communication device can be used to implement the methods described in the above-described method embodiments; for details, please refer to the descriptions in the above-described method embodiments.

[0238] like Figure 11 As shown, the communication device may include one or more processors 1110, which may also be referred to as processing units or processing modules, and can implement certain control functions. The processor 1110 can be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor, such as a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the central processing unit can be used to control the communication device (e.g., base station, baseband chip, user, user chip), execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

[0239] In an alternative design, the processor 1110 may also store instructions and / or data, which can be executed by the processor 1110 to cause the communication device to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments.

[0240] In another alternative design, the communication device may include a communication interface 1120 for implementing receiving and transmitting functions. For example, the communication interface 1120 may be a transceiver circuit, interface, interface circuit, or transceiver. The transceiver circuit, interface, interface circuit, or transceiver for implementing receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The aforementioned transceiver circuit, interface, interface circuit, or transceiver may be used for reading and writing code / data, or it may be used for transmitting or relaying signals.

[0241] Optionally, the communication device may include one or more memories 1130, which may store instructions that can be executed on the processor 1110, causing the communication device to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memories 1130 may also store data. Optionally, the processor 1110 may also store instructions and / or data. The processor 1110 and the memories 1130 may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0242] It should be understood that, in one possible design, the steps in the method embodiments provided in this application can be implemented by integrated logic circuits in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software form. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software modules can reside in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. This storage medium is located in memory, and the processor reads information from the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are not provided here.

[0243] In one implementation, the communication device may correspond to the terminal device in the above method embodiments and may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The processor 1110 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 1130, and when the processor 1110 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 1110 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above method embodiments corresponding to the terminal device.

[0244] In another implementation, the communication device may correspond to the network device in the above method embodiments and may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes executed by the network device in the above method embodiments. The processor 1110 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 1130, and when the processor 1110 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 1110 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above method embodiments corresponding to the network device.

[0245] It should be understood that the aforementioned processing device can be one or more chips. For example, the processing device can be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system-on-chip (SoC), a central processor unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other integrated chips.

[0246] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be 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 random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory used in the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0247] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a chip system, which includes one or more processors for calling and executing instructions stored in memory, thereby causing the method described in the embodiments of this application to be executed. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0248] The chip system may include input circuits or interfaces for transmitting information or data, and output circuits or interfaces for receiving information or data.

[0249] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a communication system, which includes the aforementioned network device and terminal device.

[0250] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the various steps or processes executed by the network device or terminal device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0251] According to the method provided in the embodiments of this application, this application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing program code, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the various steps or processes executed by the network device or terminal device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0252] The computer-readable storage medium may be the aforementioned volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or it may include both volatile memory and non-volatile memory.

[0253] In the embodiments of this application, the terms and English abbreviations are exemplary examples given for ease of description and should not be construed as limiting the application in any way. This application does not preclude the possibility of defining other terms that can achieve the same or similar functions in existing or future agreements.

[0254] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When these computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated.

[0255] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0256] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of this application, the sequence number of each process does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0257] In summary, the above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the technical solution of this application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a terminal device, the method includes: During the discontinuous reception DRX activation period, monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Receive first indication information from network devices; the first indication information is used to indicate a power-saving strategy; the power-saving strategy includes stopping monitoring PDCCHs in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space; Upon receiving the first instruction information, the energy-saving strategy is executed.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first indication information includes a first bit field. When the first bit field has a first value, the energy-saving strategy is to stop monitoring the PDCCH in the specific search space; When the first bit field has the second value, the energy-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first indication information includes a second bit field, which is used to indicate the target strategy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies, and the target strategy group is associated with at least one specific search space; In response to receiving the first indication information, the energy-saving strategy is executed, including: If the policy group to which the terminal device belongs is the target policy group, the energy-saving policy is executed.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: The system receives first configuration information from the network device; the first configuration information is used to configure at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group in the at least one policy group, the at least one policy group includes the target policy group, and each policy group includes at least one terminal device with the same energy-saving policy.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first indication information includes a third bit field, which is used to indicate the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy; the execution parameters include the monitoring timing, or the execution parameters include the monitoring timing and the percentage of PDCCHs that need to be monitored; The cessation of monitoring PDCCH in a specific search space includes ceasing monitoring of the PDCCH in the specific search space during the monitoring period; The monitoring of a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space includes monitoring K PDCCHs in the specific search space within the monitoring time, where K is determined based on the proportion of the number and the total number of blind decoding candidates.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The step of responding to receiving the first indication information and executing the energy-saving strategy includes: In response to receiving the first indication information, a first timer is started; the duration of the first timer is determined based on the monitoring timing. The energy-saving strategy is executed during the operation of the first timer; In response to the expiration of the first timer, monitoring of all PDCCHs in the specific search space resumes.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, The third bit field corresponds to at least one candidate value, and the method further includes: The system receives second configuration information from the network device; the second configuration information is used to configure the execution parameters corresponding to each of the at least one candidate values.

8. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, The K PDCCHs are selected from the candidate PDCCH set based on the filtering rules.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The filtering rule is any one of the following: The K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) ranks among the top K. The K PDCCHs are the top K PDCCHs after sorting multiple aggregation levels according to priority; each aggregation level includes at least one candidate PDCCH sorted from high to low according to average received power. The K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose beam transmission quality ranks among the top K; The K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs in the candidate PDCCH set whose decoding success rate ranks among the top K in the historical time period.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The beam transmission quality is obtained by weighting the weighting coefficients, the average received power of the PDCCH, and the Doppler frequency offset estimate.

11. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive third configuration information from the network device; the third configuration information is used to configure the filtering rules.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, When the filtering rule is that the K PDCCHs are the PDCCHs whose beam transmission quality is among the top K in the candidate PDCCH set, the third configuration information is also used to configure the weighting coefficients.

13. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to network devices, the method includes: Send a first indication message to a terminal device that is in a discontinuous DRX activation period; the first indication message is used to instruct the terminal device to execute a power-saving strategy, such that the terminal device executes the power-saving strategy in response to receiving the first indication message, the power-saving strategy including stopping monitoring PDCCH in a specific search space or monitoring a portion of the PDCCH in a specific search space.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The first indication information includes a first bit field. When the first bit field has a first value, the energy-saving strategy is to stop monitoring the PDCCH in the specific search space; When the first bit field has the second value, the energy-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space.

15. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, If the downlink buffer is empty and no uplink request message is received from the terminal device, the power-saving strategy is to stop monitoring the PDCCH in a specific search space; If the amount of data cached in the downlink buffer is less than a first threshold and no uplink request message is received from the terminal device, the power-saving strategy is to monitor a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space.

16. The method according to any one of claims 13-15, characterized in that, The first indication information includes a second bit field, which is used to indicate the target strategy group to which the energy-saving strategy applies, and the target strategy group is associated with at least one specific search space.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send first configuration information to the terminal device; the first configuration information is used to configure at least one policy group and a specific search space associated with each policy group in the at least one policy group, the at least one policy group includes the target policy group, and each policy group includes at least one terminal device with the same energy-saving policy.

18. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The first indication information includes a third bit field, which is used to indicate the execution parameters associated with the energy-saving strategy; the execution parameters include: monitoring timing, or the execution parameters include monitoring timing and the percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored; The cessation of monitoring PDCCH in a specific search space includes ceasing monitoring of the PDCCH in the specific search space during the monitoring period; The monitoring of a portion of the PDCCHs in a specific search space includes monitoring K PDCCHs in the specific search space within the monitoring time, where K is determined based on the proportion of the number and the total number of blind decoding candidates.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The third bit field corresponds to at least one candidate value, and the method further includes: Send second configuration information to the terminal device; the second configuration information is used to configure the execution parameters corresponding to each of the at least one candidate values.

20. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, When the execution parameters include the monitoring timing, the value of the third bit field is determined based on the policy group to which the terminal device belongs and / or the first duration, where the downlink buffer is empty and no uplink request message is received from the terminal device.

21. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, When the execution parameters include the monitoring timing and the percentage of PDCCHs to be monitored, the value of the third bit field is related to at least one of the following: The policy group to which the terminal device belongs; The range of data volume within the downlink cache; The signal quality range in which the detection reference signal SRS is located.

22. A communication device comprising one or more processors, a memory, and a computer program stored in the memory, characterized in that, The processor executes the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 1-12; and / or, to implement the method of any one of claims 13-21.

23. A chip system comprising a memory and a processor, characterized in that, When the program / instructions stored in the memory are executed by the processor, they implement the method of any one of claims 1-12; and / or, implement the method of any one of claims 13-21.

24. A communication system, characterized in that, It includes terminal equipment and network equipment; wherein the terminal equipment is used to perform the method of any one of claims 1-12; and / or to implement the method of any one of claims 13-21.

25. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program / instructions stored thereon, characterized in that, When the computer program / instructions are executed by the processor, they implement the method of any one of claims 1-12; and / or, implement the method of any one of claims 13-21.

26. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes: a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-12; and / or to implement the method of any one of claims 13-21.

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