A communication method and apparatus thereof

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which are used for improving the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI. A terminal device receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that a first part of information and a second part of information included in a second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing; after receiving the first-level DCI, the second-level DCI is received; and the terminal device performs hybrid decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information. The second-level DCI is divided into two parts of information, the network device performs hybrid coding processing on the two parts of information, and the terminal device performs hybrid decoding on the two parts of information, so that the decoding performance of the second-level DCI is improved, and then the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI can be improved.

Description

A communication method and device thereof Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and apparatus thereof. Background Art

[0002] In a communication system, a terminal device sends uplink data and receives downlink data based on the scheduling of the network device. That is, before sending or receiving data, the terminal device generally receives downlink control information (DCI) sent by the network device, and then performs corresponding data sending or receiving operations according to the DCI to complete a scheduling.

[0003] DCI can be divided into two levels, for example, first-level DCI and second-level DCI. First-level DCI indicates the transmission resources for second-level DCI, while second-level DCI indicates control information for data transmission. A terminal device first receives the first-level DCI, then receives the second-level DCI on the transmission resources indicated by the first-level DCI, and then receives or sends data based on the control information indicated by the second-level DCI.

[0004] In order to ensure the reliability of data transmission, it is necessary to ensure the transmission reliability of DCI, especially the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI. Based on this, how to improve the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI is a technical problem that needs to be solved.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus thereof for improving the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a terminal device, or by other equipment including the functions of the terminal device, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional module, the chip system or functional module can realize the functions of the terminal device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the terminal device. The method includes: receiving first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing; after receiving the first-level DCI, receiving the second-level DCI; based on the first indication information, performing hybrid decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI.

[0008] In this embodiment of the present application, the information in the second-level DCI is divided into two parts, the sending device of the second-level DCI performs mixed encoding processing on the two parts of information, and the receiving device of the second-level DCI performs mixed decoding processing on the two parts of information, which can improve the decoding performance of the second-level DCI and thus improve the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the receiving the first indication information includes: receiving a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information.

[0010] In this implementation, the first indication information is carried in the first-level DCI, and the first-level DCI is only used to indicate the information encoding situation in the second-level DCI of this time. In multiple two-level DCI transmissions, in any two-level DCI transmitted, the first indication information in the first-level DCI can be the same or different, which can facilitate dynamic adjustment of the information encoding situation in the second-level DCI.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the receiving of the first indication information includes: receiving a first message, the first message including the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: high-layer signaling is a system information block (SIB), a radio resource control (RRC) message, or a media access control control element (MAC CE).

[0012] In this implementation, the first indication information is carried in high-layer signaling. The high-layer signaling can be applied to the transmission of two-level DCI within a period of time, which can reduce the number of indications and lower the signaling overhead.

[0013] In one possible implementation, when the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI have undergone hybrid coding processing, it specifically includes: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding; when the first part of information and the second part of information are hybrid decoded based on the first indication information, it specifically includes: using a hybrid decoding method corresponding to the type of hybrid coding to perform hybrid decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the type of hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

[0015] In one possible implementation, when the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; when the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes DCI, and the second part of information includes service data.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the first DCI includes DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes DCI in a second format; or the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format.

[0017] In this implementation, one DCI format corresponds to one service type of data. The second-level DCI includes two DCI formats, which can schedule data of both service types, achieving rapid scheduling of service data. Furthermore, the first-format DCI is further split into a first part (Part I) and a second part (Part II), and placed in the first and second parts of the information, respectively. This meets the requirement of a short code to long code length ratio of approximately 1:H in hybrid coding scenarios, where H is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, H = 5.

[0018] In one possible implementation, the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI and the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI are preconfigured; or, the first-level DCI further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the proportion of resource blocks occupied by the first part of the information or the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping order of the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Optionally, the third indication information is adjacent to the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is adjacent to the second DCI; or, the third indication information and the fourth indication information are both located before the first part of the information and the second part of the information.

[0019] In one possible implementation, when the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, and when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner, the first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

[0021] In a possible implementation, the DCI format includes one or more of the following: scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

[0022] In a possible implementation, hybrid decoding is performed on the first portion of information and the second portion of information, including: hybrid decoding is performed on the first portion of information and the second portion of information based on a priority of the first portion of information and a priority of the second portion of information.

[0023] Exemplarily, the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are preconfigured;

[0024] Exemplarily, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information being used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

[0025] Exemplarily, the second-level DCI further includes sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information.

[0026] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a network device, or by other equipment including network device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional module, the chip system or functional module can implement the functions of the network device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the network device. The method includes: sending first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to mixed coding processing; after sending the first-level DCI, sending the second-level DCI so that the device receiving the second-level DCI performs mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

[0027] In one possible implementation, the sending of the first indication information includes: sending a first-level DCI, the first-level DCI including the first indication information; or sending a first message, the first message including the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control unit MAC CE.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are processed by hybrid coding, specifically including: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the type of hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

[0030] In one possible implementation, when the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; when the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes DCI, and the second part of information includes service data.

[0031] In one possible implementation, the first DCI includes DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes DCI in a second format; or, the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format.

[0032] In one possible implementation, the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI and the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI are preconfigured; or, the first-level DCI further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the proportion of resource blocks occupied by the first part of the information or the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping order of the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0033] In one possible implementation, when the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, and when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

[0034] In a possible implementation manner, the first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the DCI format includes one or more of the following: scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information being used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein a mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before a mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and a mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before a mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; wherein the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information; or, the second-level DCI further includes sixth indication information, the sixth indication information being used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information.

[0037] The technical effects of the second aspect and its various possible implementation methods can refer to the technical effects of the first aspect and its various possible implementation methods, and will not be repeated.

[0038] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be the terminal device described in the first aspect. The communication device has the functions of the terminal device described above. The communication device may be, for example, a terminal device, or a larger device including a terminal device, or a functional module in a terminal device, such as a baseband device or a chip system. In one optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit is capable of performing both sending and receiving functions. When the transceiver unit performs the sending function, it may be referred to as a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module); when the transceiver unit performs the receiving function, it may be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, which is referred to as a transceiver unit and is capable of performing both sending and receiving functions; alternatively, the sending unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, with the transceiver unit being a general term for these functional modules.

[0039] In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so as to enable the communication device to perform the functions of the terminal device described in the first aspect above.

[0040] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is used to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to mixed coding processing; the transceiver unit is also used to receive the second-level DCI after receiving the first-level DCI; and the processing unit is used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to receive a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is specifically used to receive a first message, where the first message includes the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control unit MAC CE.

[0043] In a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information; wherein the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are pre-configured; or, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the second part of information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; or, the second-level DCI further includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information.

[0044] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be the network device described in the second aspect. The communication device has the functions of the network device described above. The communication device may be, for example, a network device, or a larger device including a network device, or a functional module in a network device, such as a baseband device or a chip system. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit is capable of implementing both sending and receiving functions. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it may be referred to as a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module); when the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it may be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, which is referred to as a transceiver unit, and which is capable of both sending and receiving functions; alternatively, the sending unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, with the transceiver unit being a general term for these functional modules.

[0045] In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so as to enable the communication device to perform the functions of the network device described in the second aspect above.

[0046] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is used to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to mixed coding processing; the transceiver unit is also used to send the second-level DCI after sending the first-level DCI, so that the device receiving the second-level DCI performs mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

[0047] In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is specifically configured to send a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information.

[0048] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is specifically used to send a first message, where the first message includes the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control unit MAC CE.

[0049] In a possible implementation, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information being used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein a mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before a mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and a mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before a mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; wherein the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information; or, the second-level DCI further includes sixth indication information, the sixth indication information being used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information.

[0050] The following multiple possible implementations may be applicable to the third aspect and also to the fourth aspect.

[0051] In one possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are processed by hybrid coding, specifically including: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding; the processing unit is specifically used to adopt a hybrid decoding method corresponding to the type of the hybrid coding to perform hybrid decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the type of hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

[0053] In one possible implementation, when the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; when the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes the DCI, and the second part of information includes service data.

[0054] In one possible implementation, the first DCI includes DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes DCI in a second format; or, the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format.

[0055] In one possible implementation, the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI and the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI are preconfigured; or, the first-level DCI further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the proportion of resource blocks occupied by the first part of the information or the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping order of the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0056] In one possible implementation, when the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, and when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

[0057] In a possible implementation manner, the first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

[0058] In a possible implementation, the DCI format includes one or more of the following: scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

[0059] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a terminal device, or a chip or chip system used in a terminal device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program. The processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instructions, the communication device executes the method performed by the terminal device in the above aspects.

[0060] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a network device, or a chip or chip system used in a network device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program. The processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instructions, the communication device executes the method performed by the network device in the above aspects.

[0061] In the seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and, optionally, a memory; the processor and the memory are coupled; the memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; the processor is used to execute part or all of the computer programs or instructions in the memory, and when the part or all of the computer programs or instructions are executed, it is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0062] In one possible implementation, the device may further include a transceiver configured to transmit a signal processed by the processor or receive a signal input to the processor. The transceiver may perform the transmitting action or receiving action performed by the terminal device in the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0063] In a possible implementation, the processing unit in the third aspect may be implemented by the processor, the storage unit in the third aspect may be implemented by the memory, and the transceiver unit in the third aspect may be implemented by the transceiver.

[0064] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor and, optionally, a memory; the processor and the memory are coupled; the memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; the processor is used to execute part or all of the computer programs or instructions in the memory, and when the part or all of the computer programs or instructions are executed, it is used to implement the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0065] In one possible implementation, the apparatus may further include a transceiver configured to transmit a signal processed by the processor or receive a signal input to the processor. The transceiver may perform the transmitting or receiving action performed by the network apparatus in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0066] In a possible implementation, the processing unit in the fourth aspect may be implemented by the processor, the storage unit in the fourth aspect may be implemented by the memory, and the transceiver unit in the fourth aspect may be implemented by the transceiver.

[0067] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a network device and a terminal device, wherein the terminal device is configured to execute the methods described in the aforementioned aspects and the terminal device is configured to execute the methods described in the aforementioned aspects. For example, the terminal device may be implemented by the communication device described in the third aspect, and the network device may be implemented by the communication device described in the fourth aspect. For example, the terminal device may be implemented by the communication device described in the fifth aspect, and the network device may be implemented by the communication device described in the sixth aspect. For another example, the terminal device may be implemented by the communication device described in the seventh aspect, and the network device may be implemented by the communication device described in the eighth aspect.

[0068] In a tenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is used to store computer programs or instructions, which, when executed, enable the methods described in the above aspects to be implemented.

[0069] According to an eleventh aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which enables the methods described in the above aspects to be implemented when the computer program product is run on the computer.

[0070] In the twelfth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is used to call and execute instructions from the interface so that the chip system implements the above-mentioned methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0071] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0072] FIG2a is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0073] FIG2b is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0074] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a second-level DCI provided by this application;

[0075] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by this application;

[0076] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a first-level DCI and a second-level DCI provided by the present application;

[0077] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a second-level DCI structure provided by this application;

[0078] FIG7 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0079] FIG8 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0080] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application. The communication system 1000 shown in Figure 1 includes a wireless access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 also includes the Internet 300. The wireless access network 100 may include at least one network device (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1) and may also include at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1). The terminal device is wirelessly connected to the network device, and the network device is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the core network 200. The core network device and the network device may be independent, distinct physical devices, or the core network device's functions and the network device's logical functions may be integrated into the same physical device, or a single physical device may integrate some of the core network device's functions and some of the network device's functions. Terminal devices and network devices may be interconnected via wired or wireless connections. Figure 1 is merely a schematic diagram; the communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1.

[0081] The radio access network 100 may be a cellular system related to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 4G, 5G, or an evolved system after 5G (e.g., a 6G mobile communication system). The radio access network 100 may also be an open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a WiFi system. The radio access network 100 may also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0082] A network device is a node in a radio access network (RAN), and can also be referred to as an access network device or a RAN node (or device). A network device is used to help terminal devices achieve wireless access. The multiple network devices in communication system 1000 can be nodes of the same type or different types.

[0083] In one possible scenario, a network device can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmitting and receiving point (TRP), a transmitting point (TP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB), a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, a satellite, an access point (AP) in a WiFi system, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a mobile switching center, or a network device in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system, i.e., it can be deployed on a high-altitude platform or satellite. The network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. The network device can also be a device that functions as a base station in device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, drone communication, or machine communication. Optionally, the network device may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an onboard device, etc. For example, the access network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU).

[0084] In another possible scenario, multiple network devices collaborate to assist the terminal device in achieving wireless access, and different network devices respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the network device can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). It can be understood that the network device can be a CU node, a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into a network device in the access network RAN, or the CU can be divided into a network device in the core network CN, which is not limited here.

[0085] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0086] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to or receive signals from a network device. Terminal devices include but are not limited to terminal devices, terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, 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), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can specifically be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, aircraft, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0087] Network devices and terminal devices can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; they can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons, and artificial satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of network devices and terminal devices.

[0088] The roles of network devices and terminal devices can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile network device. To terminal devices 120j that access the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal device 120i is a network device; however, to network device 110a, 120i is a terminal device, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via an interface protocol between network devices. In this case, 120i is also a network device relative to 110a. Therefore, both network devices and terminal devices can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with network device functionality, and 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with terminal device functionality.

[0089] Network devices and terminal devices, network devices and network devices, and terminal devices and terminal devices can communicate through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz simultaneously. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communications.

[0090] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem that includes the network device functions. The control subsystem that includes the network device functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device that includes the terminal device functions.

[0091] In this application, a network device sends a downlink signal or downlink information to a terminal device, and the downlink signal or downlink information is carried on a downlink channel. The terminal device sends an uplink signal or uplink information to the network device, and the uplink signal or uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order to communicate with the network device, the terminal device needs to establish a wireless connection with the cell controlled by the network device. The cell with which the terminal device has established a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal device.

[0092] The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a scenario in which a network device sends a first-level DCI and a second-level DCI to a terminal device, and the second-level DCI includes two parts of information. For example, the method can be applied to the fourth-generation mobile communication technology (the 4th generation, 4G) system (also known as the long-term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system), the 5G system (also known as the new radio (new radio, NR) system), or can also be applied to the next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems (such as the sixth-generation mobile communication technology (the 6th generation, 6G) system), etc., without specific limitation. In addition, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied in scenarios including but not limited to: terrestrial cellular communication, non-terrestrial communication (non-terrestrial network, NTN), satellite communication, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communication, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) communication, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) communication and other scenarios. In addition, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this application can also be applied to device-to-device (D2D) scenarios, such as NR-D2D scenarios, or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication scenarios, such as NR-V2X scenarios. For example, they can be used in fields such as intelligent driving, assisted driving, or intelligent connected vehicles. For another example, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this application can also be applied to factory manufacturing scenarios.

[0093] For another example, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a standalone (SA) scenario or a non-standalone (NSA) scenario. Figure 2a shows a schematic diagram of an SA communication system, in which a terminal device is connected to a single access network device, and the access network device to which the terminal device is connected and the core network to which the access network device is connected are of the same standard. For example, the core network is a 5G Core, the access network device is a 5G access network device, and the 5G access network device is directly connected to the 5G Core; for another example, the core network is a 6G Core, the access network device is a 6G access network device, and the 6G access network device is directly connected to the 6G Core.

[0094] For another example, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a dual connectivity (DC) scenario. Figure 2b shows a schematic diagram of a DC communication system, in which the terminal device is simultaneously connected to access network devices of different / same standards. For example, the core network is 5G Core, and the terminal device is simultaneously connected to the 5G access network device and the 6G access network device, wherein the 5G access network device serves as the main station and the 6G access network device serves as the auxiliary station. For another example, the core network is 6G Core, and the terminal device is simultaneously connected to the 6G access network device and the 5G access network device, wherein the 6G access network device serves as the main station and the 5G access network device serves as the auxiliary station. For another example, the core network is 6G Core, and the terminal device is simultaneously connected to two 6G access network devices, that is, the main station and the auxiliary station are both 6G access network devices.

[0095] The terminal device receives the DCI sent by the network device and sends uplink data or receives downlink data according to the DCI. DCI can be divided into two levels, for example, first-level DCI and second-level DCI. The first-level DCI indicates the transmission resources of the second-level DCI, and the second-level DCI indicates the control information for data transmission. The terminal device first receives the first-level DCI, receives the second-level DCI on the transmission resources indicated by the first-level DCI, and then receives or sends data based on the control information indicated by the second-level DCI. In order to ensure the reliability of data transmission, it is necessary to ensure the transmission reliability of DCI, especially the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI.

[0096] Based on this, an embodiment of the present application proposes a communication method, defining the second-level DCI to include a first part of information and a second part of information. The first part of information and the second part of information are processed by mixed coding, and the terminal device performs mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information to improve the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI.

[0097] In order to better describe the embodiments of the present application, the following describes the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Unless otherwise specified, the steps indicated by dotted lines in the accompanying drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application are all optional steps.

[0098] The methods provided in various embodiments of the present application may be applied to the network architectures shown in Figures 1, 2a, and 2b or other network architectures. Taking Figure 1 as an example, for example, the terminal device involved in various embodiments of the present application may be 120i, 120a, 120b, or 120c, and the network device involved in various embodiments of the present application may be 110a; for another example, the terminal device involved in various embodiments of the present application may be 120h or 120g, and the network device involved in various embodiments of the present application may be 120f; for another example, the terminal device involved in various embodiments of the present application may be 120e, and the network device involved in various embodiments of the present application may be 120a or 120d.

[0099] Below, some terms or concepts in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0100] 1) In the embodiment of the present application, "when" can be replaced with: if **, in the case of **, for example, "when the type of mixed coding is mixed coding of the first DCI and the second DCI" can be replaced with: if the type of mixed coding is mixed coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or, when the type of mixed coding is mixed coding of the first DCI and the second DCI.

[0101] 2) In the embodiments of the present application, method a1, method a2, method a3, method b1, method b2, method b3, method c1, method c2, method c3, etc., the methods are numbered only for the convenience of description, without any restrictions on the order of sequence or priority.

[0102] 3) The "domain" in the embodiment of the present application can be replaced with "field", and the domain / field carries indication information to indicate certain content. For example, the second-level DCI includes a hybrid coding indication domain, a partial bandwidth (BWP) switching indication domain, a retransmission-related indication domain, etc.

[0103] 4) Level 1 DCI and Level 2 DCI: The DCI used for data transmission scheduling is divided into Level 1 DCI and Level 2 DCI. The Level 1 DCI indicates the transmission resources for the Level 2 DCI, and the Level 2 DCI indicates the control information used for data transmission. Typically, the network device first sends the Level 1 DCI to the terminal device, and then sends the Level 2 DCI to the terminal device on the transmission resources indicated by the Level 1 DCI.

[0104] 5) First DCI and second DCI: Based on the information content carried in the second-level DCI indicating the control information for data transmission, the second-level DCI can be divided into two parts, namely the first part of information and the second part of information, as shown in (a) in Figure 3. Optionally, in addition to the first part of information and the second part of information, the second-level DCI may also include indication information, as shown in (c) and (d) in Figure 3. The indication information can be used to indicate one or more items such as priority, mapping location, and DCI format. The indication information is independent of the first part of information and the second part of information and is encoded / decoded separately.

[0105] In addition, in scenarios where indication information is required, the indication information may also be located in the first and second parts of information, as shown in (b) of Figure 3. In other words, the indication information may be located in the first and second parts of information, or may be independent of the first and second parts of information.

[0106] In FIG3 , the positional relationship among the first portion of information, the second portion of information, and the indication information is merely an example and does not limit the solution.

[0107] In a possible implementation a1, the first part is the DCI part, and the second part is the service data part, that is, the first part of information includes DCI, and the second part of information includes service data. The first part (ie, the DCI part) is used to indicate control information for data transmission.

[0108] In a possible implementation a2, the first part is a DCI part, and the second part is also a DCI part. That is, both the first part and the second part include DCI, the second-level DCI does not include service data, and both the first part and the second part are control information indicating data transmission. The DCI in the first part is referred to as first DCI, and the DCI in the second part is referred to as second DCI.

[0109] 6) The protocol defines a variety of DCI formats. For example, from the perspective of uplink and downlink data transmission, the DCI formats include: scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI. For example, from the perspective of service type, the DCI formats include: DCI in ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) format (which can be replaced by DCI for scheduling URLLC services), DCI in enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) format (which can be replaced by DCI for scheduling eMBB services). In addition, the DCI format can also be DCI in other formats defined by the protocol, such as a DCI format indicating a frame format, a DCI format indicating transmission control protocol (TPC) power control, a DCI format indicating a puncturing pattern, a DCI format indicating a wake-up signal (WUS), etc.

[0110] 7) DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format:

[0111] For example, in mode a1, the DCI portion (i.e., the first portion of information) in the second-level DCI includes DCI in the same format or different formats. For example, the DCI portion in the second-level DCI includes: DCI in the first format, or DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format.

[0112] For example, in method a2, the first DCI includes DCI of the same format or different formats, the second DCI includes DCI of the same format or different formats, and the formats of the DCI included in the first DCI and the second DCI are the same or different. In one possible implementation a21, the first DCI includes DCI of the first format, and the second DCI includes DCI of the second format. In another possible implementation a22, the first DCI includes DCI of the first format, and the second DCI includes DCI of the first format and DCI of the second format.

[0113] 8) The first and second parts of the DCI in the first format:

[0114] In mode a22, both the first DCI and the second DCI include DCI in the first format. Either DCI format includes one or more fields. To avoid duplication, the fields in the first format DCI included in the first DCI and the fields in the first format DCI included in the second DCI do not need to be the same. Based on this concept, the fields included in the first format DCI are divided into two parts, referred to as the first and second parts of the first format DCI, respectively. The first and second parts are placed in different DCI parts. For example, the first part is placed in the first DCI and the second part is placed in the second DCI. Mode a22 can specifically be: the first DCI includes the first part of the first format DCI, and the second DCI includes the second part of the first format DCI and the second format DCI. As shown in (e) and (f) of Figure 3, various possible structures of the second-level DCI are shown.

[0115] 9) The mapping locations in the second-level DCI include the following examples:

[0116] In one example: ## represents the bit position occupied by the second-level DCI. For example, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI can be understood as: the bit position occupied by the third indication information in the second-level DCI.

[0117] In one example, the resource block corresponding to ## is located within the resource block corresponding to the second-level DCI. This requirement for ## can be independently encoded and decoded, i.e., a separate resource carries ##. For example, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI can be understood as: the location of the resource block corresponding to the third indication information within the resource block corresponding to the second-level DCI, with the third indication information being carried on an independent resource.

[0118] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0119] Step 401: The network device sends first indication information; correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first indication information.

[0120] The first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing.

[0121] In addition, in order to facilitate the distinction between the first portion of information and the second portion of information, the first portion of information and the second portion of information can be referred to as a high priority portion and a low priority portion.

[0122] In a possible implementation a1, the first part of the information includes DCI, and the second part of the information includes service data. The format of the DCI can be referred to as described above and will not be repeated here. The service type of the data includes: URLLC service type and eMBB service type.

[0123] For example, the first portion of information includes DCI in a first format, the first format is a DCI format for scheduling eMBB services, and the second portion of information includes data of URLLC service types. For example, the first portion of information includes DCI in a second format, the second format is a DCI format for scheduling URLLC services, and the second portion of information includes data of eMBB service types. For example, the first portion of information includes DCI in a first format, the first format is a DCI format for scheduling eMBB services, and the second portion of information includes data of eMBB service types. For another example, the first portion of information includes DCI in a second format, the second format is a DC format for scheduling URLLC services, and the second portion of information includes data of URLLC service types.

[0124] In another possible implementation a2, the first part of the information includes the first DCI, and the second part of the information includes the second DCI. In other words, the second-level DCI includes DCI but does not include service data. In this method a2, the DCI formats included in the first DCI and the second DCI may be the same or different. In a possible implementation a21, the first DCI includes DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes DCI in a second format. In another possible implementation a22, the first DCI includes the first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes the second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in a second format. In the methods a21 and a22, the second-level DCI includes two formats of DCI, which can schedule service type data of two formats, thereby realizing rapid scheduling of service data. In this method a22, the DCI of the first format is further split into a first part (Part I) and a second part (Part II), which are placed in the first part information and the second part information respectively to match the requirement that the length ratio of the short code to the long code in the hybrid coding scenario is approximately 1:H, where H is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, H=5.

[0125] Step 402: After sending the first-level DCI, the network device sends the second-level DCI; correspondingly, after receiving the first-level DCI, the terminal device receives the second-level DCI.

[0126] In a possible implementation b1, the first indication information is located in the first-level DCI. That is, the network device sends the first-level DCI, the terminal device receives the first-level DCI, and the first-level DCI includes the first indication information. Then, the network device sends the second-level DCI, and the terminal device receives the second-level DCI. In this implementation b1, the first indication information is carried in the first-level DCI, and the first-level DCI is only used to indicate the information encoding situation in the second-level DCI of this time. In multiple two-level DCI transmissions, in any two-level DCI, the first indication information in the first-level DCI can be the same or different, which can facilitate dynamic adjustment of the information encoding situation in the second-level DCI.

[0127] In a possible implementation b2, the first indication information is located in the first message, and the first message may be high-level signaling. For example, the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control element MAC CE. That is, the network device sends a first message and sends a first-level DCI. The first message includes the first indication information, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the first message and the first-level DCI. Then, the network device sends a second-level DCI, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the second-level DCI. In this implementation b2, the first indication information is carried in high-level signaling, and the high-level signaling can be applied to the transmission of two-level DCI within a period of time, which can reduce the number of indications and reduce signaling overhead.

[0128] For mode b1 (the first indication information is located in the first-level DCI), the following is introduced:

[0129] The first-level DCI includes a mixed traffic indicator field, which occupies at least 1 bit, and the first indication information is carried in the field.

[0130] For example, this field can be used to indicate whether the first part of information and the second part of information have been mixed coded, or whether the first part of information and the second part of information have not been mixed coded. For example, this field occupies 1 bit. When this field is 0, it indicates that the first part of information and the second part of information have been mixed coded; when this field is 1, it indicates that the first part of information and the second part of information have not been mixed coded.

[0131] For another example, this field can be used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information are subjected to hybrid coding processing and the type of hybrid coding. Among them, the types of hybrid coding include the following: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, and hybrid coding of DCI and service data. In order to facilitate the distinction between the first part of information and the second part of information, the first part of information and the second part of information can be referred to as the high priority part and the low priority part. Correspondingly, the first DCI and the second DCI can be referred to as high priority (HP) DCI and low priority (LP) DCI. Therefore, hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI can be replaced by hybrid coding of high priority DCI and low priority DCI. For the convenience of description, it is defined as Type I: HP DCI & LP DCI. In addition, service data is carried in the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). Therefore, service data can also be replaced by PDSCH. Then, hybrid coding of DCI and service data can be replaced by coding of DCI and PDSCH. For the convenience of description, it is defined as Type II: DCI & PDSCH. In other words, this field is used to indicate the type of hybrid coding, which includes: the first part of the information and the second part of the information are processed by hybrid coding, the first DCI and the second DCI are hybrid coded (ie Type I: HP DCI & LP DCI), and the DCI and service data are hybrid coded (ie Type II: DCI & PDSCH).

[0132] As shown in Table 1, the indication function of this field is introduced. This field occupies 2 bits. When this field is 00, it is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information are not mixed coded; when this field is 01, it is used to indicate that the first DCI and the second DCI are mixed coded; when this field is 10, it is used to indicate that the DCI and service data are mixed coded.

[0133] Table 1: Indication functions of the hybrid coding indication field.

[0134] It can be understood that the type of hybrid coding corresponds to the content included in the first part of the information and the second part of the information. When the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of DCI and service data (i.e., Type II: DCI & PDSCH), the first part of the information includes DCI, and the second part of the information includes service data (corresponding to method a1). When the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI (i.e., Type I: HP DCI & LP DCI), the first part of the information includes the first DCI, and the second part of the information includes the second DCI (corresponding to method a2).

[0135] For another example, this field is used to indicate the type of hybrid coding, which includes the following types: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI (i.e., Type I: HP DCI & LP DCI), and hybrid coding of DCI and service data (i.e., Type II: DCI & PDSCH). Whether the first part of information and the second part of information have been subjected to hybrid coding processing can be indicated to the terminal device through high-level signaling, rather than being indicated to the terminal device through the first-level DCI. For example, the high-level signaling is a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control element MAC CE. When the high-level signaling indicates that the first part of information and the second part of information have not been subjected to hybrid coding processing, the hybrid coding indication field does not exist in the first-level DCI; when the high-level signaling indicates that the first part of information and the second part of information have been subjected to hybrid coding processing, the hybrid coding indication field exists in the first-level DCI. This field is used to indicate whether the type of hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI or hybrid coding of DCI and service data.

[0136] Method b2 (the first indication information is located in the first message) is introduced as follows: the first message carries the first indication information to indicate whether the first part of the information and the second part of the information have undergone mixed coding processing or not, and there is no need to indicate the type of mixed coding to the terminal device.

[0137] Step 403: The terminal device performs mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

[0138] If the first indication information is used to indicate the type of hybrid coding, the terminal device uses a hybrid decoding method corresponding to the type of hybrid coding to perform hybrid decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information.

[0139] When the first part of the information and the second part of the information are mixed and decoded, the first part of the information can be regarded as a long code (the long code can also be called a long data block), and the second part of the information can be regarded as a short code (the short code can also be called a short data block); or, the first part of the information can be regarded as a short code, and the second part of the information can be regarded as a long code. In a specific example, the first part of the information includes a DCI in a first format, and the first format is a DCI format for scheduling eMBB services. The second part of the information includes data of a URLLC service type, and the data of the URLLC service type is a short code, and the DCI for scheduling eMBB services is a long code. Figure 5 shows a possible structural diagram of the first-level DCI and the second DCI. The second-level DCI includes the first part of the information and the second part of the information. The first part of the information corresponds to the short code, and the second part of the information corresponds to the long code.

[0140] Generally, short codes support both independent and joint decoding. For example, the terminal device first attempts to independently decode the short code. If independent decoding of the short code succeeds, the short code content is used to assist in decoding the long code. If independent decoding of the short code fails, the short and long codes are jointly decoded. Generally, long codes support joint decoding, requiring the terminal device to jointly decode the short and long codes to decode the long code content. This collaboration between short and long codes can significantly improve overall decoding performance, particularly the decoding performance of short codes.

[0141] In this application, the second-level DCI is divided into two parts of information, the network device performs mixed encoding processing on the two parts of information, and the terminal device performs mixed decoding on the two parts of information, thereby improving the decoding performance of the second-level DCI and thus improving the transmission reliability of the second-level DCI.

[0142] When the terminal device performs mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, it needs to know which part of the information corresponds to the long code and which part of the information corresponds to the short code. In one possible implementation method, the first part of the information and the second part of the information are mapped to the short code and the long code by priority. For example, high priority corresponds to the short code and low priority corresponds to the long code. For another example, high priority corresponds to the long code and low priority corresponds to the short code. In this way, the terminal device can perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information based on the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information.

[0143] The following describes several possible implementations of obtaining the priorities of the first part of information and the second part of information:

[0144] In a possible implementation manner c1, the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are preconfigured.

[0145] For example, the standard protocol specifies the priority rules for the first and second parts of information, and the terminal device is pre-configured with the priority rules for the first and second parts of information before leaving the factory. For another example, high-layer signaling pre-configures the priority rules for the first and second parts of information for the terminal device.

[0146] For example, the priority rule is: the priority is reflected by the mapping position. For example, the front mapping position corresponds to a high priority, and the back mapping position corresponds to a low priority, that is, if the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI is before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, then the priority of the first part of the information is a high priority, and the priority of the second part of the information is a low priority. For another example, the front mapping position corresponds to a low priority, and the back mapping position corresponds to a high priority, that is, if the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI is before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, then the priority of the first part of the information is a low priority, and the priority of the second part of the information is a high priority. The mapping position of the first part of the information / the second part of the information in the second-level DCI can be understood as: the position of the bits occupied by the first part of the information / the second part of the information in the second-level DCI, or as the position of the resource block corresponding to the first part of the information / the second part of the information in the resource block corresponding to the second-level DCI.

[0147] For example, the priority rule is: the priority of DCI is higher than the priority of business data, or the priority of DCI is lower than the priority of business data. This priority rule is applicable to the scenario where the second-level DCI includes DCI and business data (corresponding to method a1).

[0148] By pre-configuring the priorities of the first part of information and the second part of information, there is no need to set a priority field in the first-level DCI or the second-level DCI to indicate the priorities of the first part of information and the second part of information, which can save signaling overhead.

[0149] In a possible implementation method c2, the second-level DCI also includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information. It can be understood that the second-level DCI includes a priority field, and the priority field carries priority indication information. Exemplarily, the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information. For example, the sixth indication information occupies 1 bit. When the value of 1 bit is 0, it indicates that the priority of the first part of information is higher than the priority of the second part of information. When the value of 1 bit is 1, it indicates that the priority of the first part of information is lower than the priority of the second part of information. Exemplarily, the sixth indication information is located before the first part of information and the second part of information.

[0150] Optionally, if the first-level DCI or high-level signaling indicates that the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI have been processed by hybrid coding, the second-level DCI includes the priority field, which may occupy at least 1 bit; if the first channel information and the second part of the information have not been processed by hybrid coding, the second-level DCI does not include the priority field.

[0151] In a possible implementation manner c3, the second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information being used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information. The field in the second-level DCI used to carry the third indication information and the fourth indication information can be called a header field. The following introduces various examples of the mapping positions of the third indication information and the fourth indication information (i.e., the header field) in the second-level DCI:

[0152] In one example, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI. Optionally, any part of the information is adjacent to the corresponding indication information, that is, the third indication information is adjacent to the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is adjacent to the second part of the information; or, the third indication information and the fourth indication information are both located before the first part of the information and the second part of the information. In this example, the header in the second-level DCI is encoded independently, that is, there is a separate resource for carrying the header, and after the terminal device obtains the header indication, it also obtains the priority.

[0153] FIG6 shows various structures of the second-level DCI. FIG6 is illustrated by taking the mapping position of the first part of information in the second-level DCI before the mapping position of the second part of information in the second-level DCI as an example.

[0154] As shown in FIG6(a), the third indication information and the fourth indication information are both located before the first portion of information and the second portion of information.

[0155] As shown in FIG6(b), the third indication information is located before the first partial information, the fourth indication information is located before the second partial information, and the third indication information is adjacent to the first partial information, and the fourth indication information is adjacent to the second partial information.

[0156] Combined with the structure shown in (b) of Figure 6 and the method a22 introduced above (the first part of the information includes the first DCI, the second part of the information includes the second DCI, the first DCI includes the first part of the DCI in the first format, and the second DCI includes the second part of the DCI in the first format and the DCI in the second format), the structure shown in (c) of Figure 6 can be obtained.

[0157] As shown in (b) and (c) of Figure 6, for the second-level DCI structure, for a terminal device, the second-level DCI is received and demodulated in the order of header, first part of information, header, and second part of information. In the structure shown in Figure (c), when the second part of information includes the second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format, the second part of information is demodulated in the order of the second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in the second format.

[0158] In another example, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0159] As shown in (d) of FIG6 , the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information.

[0160] Combined with the structure shown in (d) of Figure 6 and the method a22 introduced above (the first part of the information includes the first DCI, the second part of the information includes the second DCI, the first DCI includes the first part of the DCI in the first format, and the second DCI includes the second part of the DCI in the first format and the DCI in the second format), the structure shown in (e) can be obtained.

[0161] As shown in (d) and (e) of FIG6 , for a terminal device, the second-level DCI is received and demodulated in the order of the first part of information and the second part of information.

[0162] The following introduces various examples of using the third indication information and the fourth indication information to indicate the priority:

[0163] In one example, the third indication information and the fourth indication information include displayed priority indication information, and the priority of the corresponding part of the information is indicated by the displayed priority indication information. It can be understood that the header field includes a priority field (priority field), and the priority field carries the displayed priority indication information. For example, the displayed priority indication information occupies 1 bit, for example, when 1 bit is 1, it indicates high priority, and when 1 bit is 0, it indicates low priority. In one possible implementation, the 1 bit occupied by the third indication information is 1, and the 1 bit occupied by the fourth indication information is 0, the priority of the first part of the information is high, and the priority of the second part of the information is low. In another possible implementation, the 1 bit occupied by the third indication information is 0, and the 1 bit occupied by the fourth indication information is 1, the priority of the first part of the information is low, and the priority of the second part of the information is high.

[0164] In one example, the third indication information and the fourth indication information include DCI format indication information, and the DCI format is used to implicitly indicate the priority of the DCI in the corresponding part of the information. This is applicable to the scenario where the first part of the information includes the first DCI and the second part of the information includes the second DCI (corresponding to method a2). It can be understood that the header field includes the DCI format field, and the DCI format carries implicit priority indication information. For example, DCI in URLLC format is high-priority DCI, and DCI in non-URLLC format (such as eMBB format) is low-priority DCI.

[0165] In one example, the third and fourth indication information may include both displayed priority indication information and DCI format indication information. This can be understood as the header field including the priority field and the DCI format. In this case, the displayed priority indication information indicates the priority, and the DCI format no longer indicates the priority. Tables 2 and 3 describe the indication information for the high-priority portion and the low-priority portion.

[0166] Table 2: Schematic representation of the high priority section.

[0167] Table 3: Schematic representation of the indication of the low priority part.

[0168] The HP DCI formats in Tables 2 and 3 use compact DCI suitable for URLLC services, while the LP DCI formats include other DCI formats. Tables 2 and 3 use uplink and downlink scheduling for non-URLLC services as an example. A represents uplink and B represents downlink. From the perspective of uplink and downlink scheduling, Case 1 represents scheduling uplink DCI, Case 2 represents scheduling downlink DCI, and Case 3 represents scheduling both uplink and downlink DCI.

[0169] The format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI may be indicated in the first-level DCI or in the second-level DCI.

[0170] The following describes an example in which the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI is indicated in the first-level DCI:

[0171] The first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI. This example can be applied to a scenario where the second-level DCI includes DCI and service data (corresponding to method a1), and can also be applied to a scenario where the second-level DCI includes the first DCI and the second DCI but does not include service data (corresponding to method a2).

[0172] The following describes an example of how the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI is indicated in the second-level DCI:

[0173] In a scenario where the second-level DCI includes the first DCI and the second DCI but does not include service data (corresponding to method a2), the second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, wherein the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI. The field used to carry the third indication information and the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI can be called a header field, and the header field includes the DCI format. The following introduces various examples of the mapping positions of the third indication information and the fourth indication information (i.e., the header field) in the second-level DCI:

[0174] In one example, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI. Optionally, any part of the information is adjacent to the corresponding indication information, that is, the third indication information is adjacent to the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is adjacent to the second part of the information; or, the third indication information and the fourth indication information are both located before the first part of the information and the second part of the information. In this example, the header in the second-level DCI is encoded independently, that is, there is a separate resource for carrying the header, and after the terminal device obtains the header indication, it also obtains the format of the DCI.

[0175] In another example, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1. For example, the format of the DCI includes: scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI, then at least 2 bits are required to indicate the format of the DCI, for example, N=2, M=2.

[0176] The possible structure of the second-level DCI can be referred to as shown in FIG6 , and will not be repeated here.

[0177] In the previous section, a possible implementation method a22 was described, in which the first part of information includes the first part of DCI in a first format, and the second part of information includes the second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in a second format. In this method a22, the DCI in the first format is further split into a first part (Part I) and a second part (Part II), and the information is placed in the first and second parts of information, respectively. When splitting the DCI in the first format into the first part (Part I) and the second part (Part II), the principle is as follows: among all fields included in the DCI in the first format, the fields related to the current transmission are placed in Part I, and the other fields are placed in Part II. In addition, for fields that appear in both the DCI in the first format and the DCI in the second format, these repeated fields can be carried in both the DCI in the first format and the DCI in the second format. To save transmission resources, these repeated fields can be carried only in DCI of one format and not in DCI of the other format. For example, for fields that appear in both URLLC-formatted DCI and non-URLLC-formatted (e.g., eMBB-formatted) DCI, these recurring fields can be carried and sent only in non-URLLC-formatted DCI. In other words, whether some fields in URLLC-formatted DCI are sent depends on how the URLLC DCI is sent; if the second-level DCI only includes URLLC-formatted DCI and does not include non-URLLC-formatted DCI, these fields are sent in URLLC-formatted DCI; if the second-level DCI includes both URLLC-formatted DCI and non-URLLC-formatted DCI, these fields are sent in non-URLLC-formatted DCI and not in URLLC-formatted DCI.

[0178] Taking the uplink URLLC format as an example, one or more of the following fields are placed in Part I. Part I is located in the first part of the information. Since the first part of the information is the high-priority DCI part, Part I is also the high-priority DCI part:

[0179] Identifier for DCI formats, Carrier indicator, UL / SUL indicator, Frequency domain resource assignment, Time domain resource assignment, Frequency hopping flag, Modulation and coding scheme, New data indicator, Redundancy version, HARQ process number, SRS resource set indicator, SRS resource indicator, Second SRS resource indicator, Precoding information and number of layers, Second Precoding information, Antenna ports, SRS request, SRS offset indicator, CSI request, DMRS sequence initialization, UL-SCH indicator, Invalid symbol pattern indicator.

[0180] Taking the uplink URLLC format as an example, if one or more of the following fields are placed in Part II, Part II is in the second part of the information, and the second part of the information is the low-priority DCI part, then Part II is also the low-priority DCI part:

[0181] BWP switching indication (bandwidth part indicator), downlink assignment index, PUSCH power control adjustment (TPC command for scheduled PUSCH), PUSCH second power control adjustment (second TPC command for scheduled PUSCH), DMRS and PTRS association (PTRS-DMRS association), second DMRS and PTRS association (second PTRS-DMRS association), power control offset when PUSCH carries UCI (beta_offset indicator), open-loop power control parameter P0 indication (open-loop power control parameter set indication), scheduling priority indication (priority indicator).

[0182] Taking the uplink URLLC format as an example, one or more of the following fields that appear repeatedly are only carried in DCI sent in non-URLLC format and not in DCI sent in URLLC format:

[0183] ChannelAccess-CPext-CAPC, R17PDCCH monitoring adaptation indication.

[0184] Taking the following URLLC format as an example, one or more of the following fields are placed in Part I. Part I is located in the first part of the information. Since the first part of the information is the high-priority DCI part, Part I is also the high-priority DCI part:

[0185] Identifier for uplink and downlink DCI formats, carrier indicator, frequency domain resource assignment, time domain resource assignment, VRB-to-PRB mapping, PRB bundling size indicator, Rate matching indicator, ZP CSI-RS trigger, modulation and coding scheme, new data indicator, redundancy version, HARQ process number, antenna port(s), transmission configuration indication, DMRS sequence initialization.

[0186] Taking the following URLLC format as an example, one or more of the following fields are placed in Part II. Part II is located in the second part of the information. Since the second part of the information is the low-priority DCI part, Part II is also the low-priority DCI part:

[0187] bandwidth part indicator, downlink assignment index, PUSCH TPC command for scheduled PUSCH, second TPC command for scheduled PUSCH, PUCCH resource indicator, PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, One-shot HARQ-ACK request, enhanced type 3 codebook indicator, HARQ-ACK retransmission indicator, SRS request, SRS offset indicator, priority indicator, PDCCH monitoring adaptation indication, PUCCH cell indicator.

[0188] Taking the following URLLC format as an example, one or more of the following repeated fields are only carried and sent in DCI in non-URLLC format and are not carried and sent in DCI in URLLC format: ChannelAccess-Cpext.

[0189] In order to correctly demodulate the second-level DCI, the terminal device needs to know the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI and the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI. The following describes several possible implementation methods for knowing the mapping positions of the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI:

[0190] In a possible implementation manner d1, the mapping positions of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI are pre-configured. Pre-configuration can save signaling overhead.

[0191] For example, the mapping positions of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI specified in the standard protocol, the terminal equipment has been pre-configured with the mapping position rules before leaving the factory. For another example, high-level signaling pre-configures the mapping position rules for the terminal equipment. The mapping position rules are: the bits / resource blocks occupied by the first part of the information are the first 1 / 3 of the bits / resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI, and the bits / resource blocks occupied by the second part of the information are the last 2 / 3 of the bits / resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI. Alternatively, the bits / resource blocks occupied by the first part of the information are the first F bits / resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI, and the second part of the information occupies the remaining bits / resource blocks. Alternatively, the bits / resource blocks occupied by the second part of the information are the first 2 / 3 of the bits / resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI, and the bits / resource blocks occupied by the first part of the information are the last 1 / 3 of the bits / resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI.

[0192] In a possible implementation method d2, the first-level DCI includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the ratio of the first part of information / the second part of information occupied by the resource block in the second-level DCI. At the same time, the mapping order of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI is pre-configured. For example, the standard protocol specifies the mapping order of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI, and the terminal equipment has been pre-configured with the mapping order rules before leaving the factory. For another example, high-level signaling configures the mapping order rules for the terminal equipment. The mapping order rule is to map the first part of information first and then the second part of information, or to map the second part of information first and then the first part of information.

[0193] Once the terminal device knows the mapping order and the proportion of resource blocks, it can know the mapping positions of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second DCI. For example, the second-level DCI occupies 12 resource blocks, the second indication information indicates that the first part of information occupies 4 resource blocks, or the second indication information indicates that the first part of information occupies 1 / 3 of the resource blocks of the second DCI. The pre-configured mapping order rule is to map the first part of information first and then map the second part of information. It can be known that among the 12 resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI, the first 4 resource blocks are resource blocks occupied by the first part of information, and the last 8 resource blocks are resource blocks occupied by the second part of information.

[0194] In addition, the resource block mapping method of the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI can refer to the resource mapping method of the PDSCH, that is, the resource block mapping is performed in the frequency domain first and then the time domain. For example, the second-level DCI is sent on multiple symbols, and each symbol includes 6 RBs. The resource blocks occupied by the second-level DCI are first mapped in the order of the 6 RBs on the first symbol from low to high, and then mapped in the order of the 6 RBs on the second symbol from low to high, and so on, until all the resource blocks occupied by the second DCI are mapped. For example, the second-level DCI occupies 12 resource blocks, the first part of the information occupies the first 4 resource blocks, and the second part of the information occupies the last 8 resource blocks. Then, among the 6 RBs on the first symbol, in order from low to high, the first 4 RBs carry the first part of the information, and the last 2 RBs on the first symbol and the 6 RBs on the second symbol carry the second part of the information.

[0195] In another possible implementation d3, the second-level DCI includes third indication information and fourth indication information, wherein the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of information. The field used to carry the third indication information and the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI can be called a header field. The following describes various examples of the mapping locations of the third indication information and the fourth indication information (i.e., the header field) in the second-level DCI:

[0196] In one example, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI. Optionally, any part of the information is adjacent to the corresponding indication information, that is, the third indication information is adjacent to the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is adjacent to the second part of the information; or, the third indication information and the fourth indication information are both located before the first part of the information and the second part of the information. In this example, the header in the second-level DCI is encoded independently, that is, there is a separate resource for carrying the header. After the terminal device obtains the header indication, it also obtains the mapping position of the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second-level DCI.

[0197] In another example, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0198] The possible structure of the second-level DCI can be referred to as shown in FIG6 , and will not be repeated here.

[0199] It is understood that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the terminal devices and network devices include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a manner driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0200] Figures 7 and 8 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the network device or terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be one of the terminals 120a-120j shown in Figure 1, or it can be the base station 110a or 110b shown in Figure 1, or it can be a module (such as a chip) applied to the network device or terminal device.

[0201] As shown in Figure 7, a communication device 700 includes a processing unit 710 and a transceiver unit 720. The communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the network device or terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4 above.

[0202] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4 , the transceiver unit 720 can perform the receiving and sending actions performed by the network device in the method embodiment. The processing unit 710 can perform other actions, except for the sending and receiving actions, among the actions performed by the network device in the method embodiment.

[0203] Exemplarily, when the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4: the transceiver unit 720 is used to send the first indication information, the first level DCI, and the second level DCI to the terminal device; the processing unit 710 is used to generate the first indication information, the first level DCI, and the second level DCI.

[0204] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4 , the transceiver unit 720 can execute the receiving and sending actions performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment. The processing unit 710 can execute the actions performed by the terminal device in the method embodiment, except for the sending and receiving actions.

[0205] Exemplarily, when the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4: the transceiver unit 720 is used to receive the first indication information, the first level DCI, and the second level DCI from the network device; the processing unit 710 is used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information in the second level DCI based on the first indication information.

[0206] A more detailed description of the processing unit 710 and the transceiver unit 720 can be directly obtained by referring to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG4 , and is not repeated here.

[0207] The processing unit 710 may be implemented by a processor, and the transceiver unit 720 may be implemented by a transceiver.

[0208] As shown in Figure 8, communication device 800 includes a processor 810 and an interface circuit 820. Processor 810 and interface circuit 820 are coupled to each other. It will be appreciated that interface circuit 820 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 800 may further include a memory 830 for storing instructions executed by processor 810, input data required by processor 810 to execute instructions, or data generated after processor 810 executes instructions.

[0209] The communication device 800 is used to implement the functions of the network device or terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4 .

[0210] When the communication device 800 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 4 , the processor 810 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 710 , and the interface circuit 820 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 720 .

[0211] When the communication device is a chip used in a network device, the network device chip implements the network device functions of the above method embodiments. The network device chip receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or the network device chip sends information to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device.

[0212] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a terminal device, the terminal device module implements the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The terminal device module receives information from other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device; or, the terminal device module sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device. The terminal device module here can be a baseband chip of the terminal device, or it can be a DU or other module. The DU here can be a DU under the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0213] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0214] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform the above-mentioned communication method. In other words, the computer program includes instructions for implementing the above-mentioned communication.

[0215] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, including: computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the communication method provided above.

[0216] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes: a network device and a terminal device that execute the above-mentioned communication method.

[0217] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0218] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0219] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0220] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A or B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following items" or "one or more of them" and other similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c, or one or more of a, b, or c, means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c. Each of a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0221] In the embodiments of this application, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between multiple objects and are not used to define the size, content, sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects. Furthermore, such designations do not indicate differences in the content, sender / receiver, transmission order, size, application scenario, priority, or importance of the two pieces of information. Furthermore, the step numbers in the various embodiments described in this application are only used to distinguish between the different steps and are not used to define the order of the steps.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: receiving first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that first part of information and second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing; After receiving the first level DCI, receiving the second level DCI; Based on the first indication information, the first part of information and the second part of information are mixedly decoded.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The receiving first indication information comprises: receiving a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information; or, Receive a first message, where the first message includes the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control element MAC CE.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are processed by hybrid coding, and specifically includes: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding; The hybrid decoding of the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information includes: The first part of information and the second part of information are hybrid decoded by using a hybrid decoding method corresponding to the type of the hybrid coding.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The type of the hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that When the type of the hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; When the type of the hybrid coding is hybrid coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes the DCI, and the second part of information includes the service data.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The first DCI includes a DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a DCI in a second format; Alternatively, the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in a second format.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: A mapping position of the first part of information in the second level DCI and a mapping position of the second part of information in the second level DCI are preconfigured; or, The first-level DCI further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate a ratio of resource blocks occupied by the first part of information or the second part of information in the second-level DCI, and a mapping order of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of the information; wherein, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that When the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The DCI format includes one or more of the following: Scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: Performing mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information, including: Based on the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information, the first part of information and the second part of information are Mixed decoding of divided information; The priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are preconfigured; or, The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; or, The second-level DCI also includes sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information.

12. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing; After sending the first-level DCI, the second-level DCI is sent, so that a device receiving the second-level DCI performs mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The sending of the first indication information includes: Sending a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information; or, Send a first message, where the first message includes the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control element MAC CE.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that The first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are processed by hybrid coding, specifically including: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The type of the hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that When the type of the hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; When the type of the mixed coding is mixed coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes the DCI, and the second part of information includes the service data.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The first DCI includes a DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a DCI in a second format; Alternatively, the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in a second format.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that: A mapping position of the first part of information in the second level DCI and a mapping position of the second part of information in the second level DCI are preconfigured; or, The first-level DCI further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate a ratio of resource blocks occupied by the first part of information or the second part of information in the second-level DCI, and a mapping order of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of the information; wherein, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that When the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

20. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 19, characterized in that: The first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that The DCI format includes one or more of the following: Scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

22. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 21, characterized in that: The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; wherein the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information; or, The second-level DCI also includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information; wherein the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver unit, configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing; The transceiver unit is further configured to receive the second-level DCI after receiving the first-level DCI; A processing unit is used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

24. The device according to claim 23, characterized in that The transceiver unit is specifically configured to receive a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information; or, The transceiver unit is specifically used to receive a first message, where the first message includes the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control unit MAC CE.

25. The device according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that The first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are processed by hybrid coding, and specifically includes: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding; The processing unit is specifically configured to perform hybrid decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information by adopting a hybrid decoding method corresponding to the type of hybrid coding.

26. The device according to claim 25, characterized in that The type of the hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

27. The device according to claim 26, characterized in that When the type of the hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; When the type of the hybrid coding is hybrid coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes the DCI, and the second part of information includes the service data.

28. The device according to claim 27, characterized in that The first DCI includes a DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a DCI in a second format; Alternatively, the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in a second format.

29. The device according to any one of claims 23 to 28, characterized in that A mapping position of the first part of information in the second level DCI and a mapping position of the second part of information in the second level DCI are preconfigured; or, The first-level DCI further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate a ratio of resource blocks occupied by the first part of information or the second part of information in the second-level DCI, and a mapping order of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, The second-level DCI further includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of information in the second-level DCI; or The third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

30. The device according to claim 29, characterized in that When the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

31. The device according to any one of claims 23 to 29, characterized in that The first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

32. The device according to claim 30 or 31, characterized in that The DCI format includes one or more of the following: Scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

33. The device according to any one of claims 23 to 32, characterized in that The processing unit is specifically configured to perform mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information; The priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are preconfigured; or, The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; or, The second-level DCI also includes sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information.

34. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver unit, configured to send first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are subjected to hybrid coding processing; The transceiver unit is further configured to send the second level DCI after sending the first level DCI, so that a device receiving the second level DCI performs mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information based on the first indication information.

35. The device according to claim 34, characterized in that The transceiver unit is specifically configured to send a first-level DCI, where the first-level DCI includes the first indication information; or, The transceiver unit is specifically used to send a first message, where the first message includes the first indication information; wherein the first message is any one of the following: a system message block SIB, a radio resource control RRC message, or a media access control control unit MAC CE.

36. The device according to claim 34 or 35, characterized in that The first indication information is used to indicate that the first part of information and the second part of information included in the second-level DCI are processed by hybrid coding, specifically including: the first indication information is used to indicate the type of the hybrid coding.

37. The device according to claim 36, characterized in that The type of the hybrid coding is: hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, or hybrid coding of the DCI and service data.

38. The device according to claim 37, characterized in that When the type of the hybrid coding is hybrid coding of the first DCI and the second DCI, the first part of information includes the first DCI, and the second part of information includes the second DCI; When the type of the mixed coding is mixed coding of DCI and service data, the first part of information includes the DCI, and the second part of information includes the service data.

39. The device according to claim 38, characterized in that The first DCI includes a DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a DCI in a second format; Alternatively, the first DCI includes a first part of DCI in a first format, and the second DCI includes a second part of DCI in the first format and DCI in a second format.

40. The device according to any one of claims 34 to 39, characterized in that A mapping position of the first part of information in the second level DCI and a mapping position of the second part of information in the second level DCI are preconfigured; or, The first-level DCI further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate a ratio of resource blocks occupied by the first part of information or the second part of information in the second-level DCI, and a mapping order of the first part of information and the second part of information in the second-level DCI is preconfigured; or, The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the second part of the information; wherein, the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits in the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits in the second part of the information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

41. The device according to claim 40, characterized in that When the first part of information includes the first DCI and the second part of information includes the second DCI, when the second-level DCI includes the third indication information and the fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the format of the first DCI, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the format of the second DCI.

42. The device according to any one of claims 34 to 41, characterized in that The first-level DCI includes fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the format of the DCI included in the second-level DCI.

43. The device according to claim 41 or 42, characterized in that The DCI format includes one or more of the following: Scheduling uplink DCI, scheduling downlink DCI, scheduling uplink DCI and downlink DCI.

44. The device according to any one of claims 34 to 43, characterized in that The second-level DCI also includes: third indication information and fourth indication information, the third indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the second part of the information; wherein the mapping position of the third indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the first part of the information in the second-level DCI, and the mapping position of the fourth indication information in the second-level DCI is located before the mapping position of the second part of the information in the second-level DCI; or, the third indication information occupies the first N bits of the first part of the information, and the fourth indication information occupies the first M bits of the second part of the information, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; wherein the priority of the first part of the information and the priority of the second part of the information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of the information and the second part of the information; or, The second-level DCI also includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information; wherein the priority of the first part of information and the priority of the second part of information are used to perform mixed decoding on the first part of information and the second part of information.

45. A communication device, characterized in that: comprising a processor coupled to a memory; The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; The processor is used to execute part or all of the computer programs or instructions in the memory, and when the part or all of the computer programs or instructions are executed, it is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

46. ​​A communication device, characterized in that: including a processor and a memory; The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; The processor is used to execute part or all of the computer programs or instructions in the memory, and when the part or all of the computer programs or instructions are executed, it is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22.

47. A communication device, characterized in that: It includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 22 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

48. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The storage medium stores a computer program or an instruction, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22 is implemented.

49. A communication system, characterized in that: The communication system comprises: a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 and a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

50. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises: computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 22 is implemented.

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