Downlink control information transmission method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a downlink control information transmission method and apparatus. The method includes a terminal determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first corresponding non-dormant bandwidth portion (BWP) of a secondary cell SCell during an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant bandwidth portion (BWP) of a secondary cell outside the active time, and monitoring the first DCI on a PDCCH candidate of a primary cell PCell based on the quantity of information bits of the first DCI. The first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the PCell and / or data transmission of the SCell. The solution disclosed in the present application helps to accurately determine the size of the DCI and improve information transmission performance.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202211230567.9, entitled "DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION TRANSMISSION METHOD AND APPARATUS," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on September 30, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for transmitting downlink control information. [Background technology]

[0003] With the development of communication technologies, a new radio (NR) communication system has introduced a feature in which two cells schedule one cell. Specifically, both a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell) may transmit downlink control information (DCI) through a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule data transmission of the PCell. Typically, for a specific DCI format, the size of the DCI for scheduling data transmission of the PCell from the PCell needs to be aligned with the size of the DCI for scheduling data transmission of the PCell from the SCell.

[0004] Therefore, when an SCell is deactivated or the active downlink (DL) bandwidth part (BWP) of the SCell is a dormant DL BWP, the PDCCH for scheduling data transmission of the PCell is not transmitted on the SCell, but the size of the DCI for scheduling data transmission of the PCell on the SCell still needs to be determined in order to determine the size of the DCI for scheduling data transmission of the PCell on the PCell.

[0005] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a method for accurately determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell and improving information transmission performance. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present application provides a downlink control information transmission method and apparatus to help accurately determine the size of DCI and improve information transmission performance.

[0007] According to a first aspect, a downlink control information transmission method is provided, the method being executed by a terminal device and including the steps of: determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of a first cell, where the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time, the first DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell is a secondary cell of the terminal device, the second cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is different from the second cell; and monitoring the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell based on the quantity of information bits of the first DCI.

[0008] According to the solution disclosed in the present application, when a primary cell (second cell) and a secondary cell (first cell) schedule data transmission of the primary cell, and the secondary cell is deactivated or the active BWP of the secondary cell is dormant, the rule for determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell is rewritten, which helps to accurately determine the size of DCI and improves information transmission performance.

[0009] Referring to the first aspect, in some implementation forms of the first aspect, before the step of monitoring the first DCI, the method further includes the steps of receiving a second DCI and switching the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI, wherein when the second DCI is received within the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the second DCI is received outside the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0010] With reference to the first aspect, in some other implementation forms of the first aspect, before the step of monitoring the first DCI, the method further includes the steps of receiving a second DCI and switching the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI, wherein when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0011] With reference to the first aspect, in some further implementations of the first aspect, when a first cell is deactivated and a first active downlink BWP configured by the network device for the terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from the inactive mode to the active mode is a dormant BWP, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time. In this way, when a first active downlink BWP configured by the network device for the terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from the inactive mode to the active mode is a dormant BWP, the terminal device does not need to perform further determination and directly determines the number of information bits of the first DCI based on the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time. This is simple and efficient and helps to reduce power consumption.

[0012] With reference to the first aspect, in some further implementation forms of the first aspect, when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is not configured for the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time; or when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is configured for the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0013] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation forms of the first aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is received within the active time; or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

[0014] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation forms of the first aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is received outside the active time, or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

[0015] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation forms of the first aspect, before the step of monitoring the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell, the method further includes a step of receiving cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, where the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

[0016] According to a second aspect, a downlink control information transmission method is provided, the method being executed by a network device and including the steps of: determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of a first cell, where the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time, the first DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell is a secondary cell, the second cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell; and transmitting the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell.

[0017] According to the solution disclosed in this application, when a primary cell and a secondary cell schedule data transmission of the primary cell, and the secondary cell is deactivated or the active BWP of the secondary cell is dormant, the rule for determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell is rewritten, which helps to accurately determine the size of DCI and improves information transmission performance.

[0018] Referring to the second aspect, in some implementation forms of the second aspect, before the step of transmitting the first DCI, the method further includes a step of transmitting a second DCI, wherein the second DCI instructs the terminal device to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP, and when the second DCI is transmitted within the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the second DCI is transmitted outside the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0019] With reference to the second aspect, in some other implementation forms of the second aspect, before the step of transmitting the first DCI, the method further includes a step of transmitting a second DCI, wherein the second DCI instructs the terminal device to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP, and when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0020] Referring to the second aspect, in some further implementation forms of the second aspect, when the first cell is deactivated and a first active downlink BWP configured by the network device for the terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from the inactive mode to the active mode is a dormant BWP, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0021] With reference to the second aspect, in some further implementation forms of the second aspect, when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the network device does not configure a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time of the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time; or when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the network device configures a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time of the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0022] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation forms of the second aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is transmitted during the active time; or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

[0023] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation forms of the second aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is transmitted outside the active time, or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

[0024] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation forms of the second aspect, before the step of transmitting the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell, the method further includes a step of transmitting cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, where the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

[0025] According to a third aspect, there is provided a downlink control information transmission method, the method being executed by a terminal device and including the steps of: when a first cell is deactivated, determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of the first cell, where the first BWP is an active downlink BWP used before the first cell is deactivated, the first DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell is a secondary cell of the terminal device, the second cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is different from the second cell; and monitoring the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell based on the quantity of information bits of the first DCI.

[0026] According to the solution disclosed in the present application, when a primary cell and a secondary cell schedule data transmission of the primary cell and the secondary cell is deactivated, the rule for determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell is recreated, which helps to accurately determine the size of DCI and improves information transmission performance.

[0027] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation forms of the third aspect, before the step of determining the quantity of information bits of the first DCI, the method further includes a step of determining that a first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell is switched from the inactive mode to the active mode is not configured.

[0028] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation forms of the third aspect, before the step of monitoring the first DCI, the method further includes a step of receiving cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, where the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

[0029] According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a downlink control information transmission method, the method being executed by a network device and including the steps of: when a first cell is deactivated, determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of the first cell, where the first BWP is an active downlink BWP used before the first cell is deactivated, the first DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell is a secondary cell of a terminal device, the second cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell of the terminal device, and the first cell is different from the second cell; and transmitting the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell.

[0030] According to the solution disclosed in the present application, when a primary cell and a secondary cell schedule data transmission of the primary cell and the secondary cell is deactivated, the rule for determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell is recreated, which helps to accurately determine the size of DCI and improves information transmission performance.

[0031] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementation forms of the fourth aspect, before the step of determining the quantity of information bits of the first DCI, the method further includes a step of not configuring, for the terminal device, a first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell is switched from the inactive mode to the active mode.

[0032] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementation forms of the fourth aspect, before the step of transmitting the first DCI, the method further includes a step of transmitting cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, where the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries the third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

[0033] According to a fifth aspect, there is provided a downlink control information transmission apparatus, the apparatus being configured to perform functions of the terminal device according to the first aspect or being a terminal device, the apparatus including: a processing unit configured to determine a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of a first cell, the first BWP being a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time, the first DCI being carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI being used to schedule data transmission for a third cell, the first cell being a secondary cell of the terminal device, the second cell being a primary cell or a secondary cell of the terminal device, and the first cell being different from the second cell; and a transceiver unit configured to monitor the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell based on the quantity of information bits of the first DCI.

[0034] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementation forms of the fifth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second DCI, and the processing unit is further configured to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI, wherein when the second DCI is received within the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the second DCI is received outside the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0035] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some other implementation forms of the fifth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a second DCI, and the processing unit is further configured to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI, wherein when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0036] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some further implementation forms of the fifth aspect, when a first cell is deactivated and a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0037] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some further implementation forms of the fifth aspect, when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is not configured for the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time; or when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is configured for the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0038] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementation forms of the fifth aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is received during the active time; or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

[0039] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementation forms of the fifth aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is received outside the active time, or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

[0040] With reference to the fifth aspect, in some implementation forms of the fifth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, where the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of a first cell and a second cell, where the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

[0041] According to a sixth aspect, there is provided a downlink control information transmission apparatus, the apparatus being configured to perform functions of the network device according to the second aspect or being a network device, the apparatus including: a processing unit configured to determine a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of a first cell, the first BWP being a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time, the first DCI being carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI being used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell being a secondary cell, the second cell being a primary cell or a secondary cell, and the first cell being different from the second cell; and a transceiver unit configured to transmit the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell.

[0042] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementation forms of the sixth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit a second DCI, where the second DCI instructs the terminal device to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP, and when the second DCI is transmitted within the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the second DCI is transmitted outside the active time, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0043] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some other implementation forms of the sixth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit a second DCI, wherein the second DCI instructs the terminal device to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP, and when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time, or when the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0044] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some further implementation forms of the sixth aspect, when the first cell is deactivated and the first active downlink BWP configured by the network device for the terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from the inactive mode to the active mode is a dormant BWP, the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0045] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some further implementation forms of the sixth aspect, when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the network device does not configure a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time of the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time; or when a first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the network device configures a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time of the terminal device, and the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0046] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementation forms of the sixth aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is transmitted during the active time; or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

[0047] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementation forms of the sixth aspect, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside the active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is transmitted outside the active time, or a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

[0048] With reference to the sixth aspect, in some implementation forms of the sixth aspect, the transceiver unit is further configured to transmit cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, where the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, where the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

[0049] According to a seventh aspect, there is provided a communication device, the communication device including a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is configured to receive a signal from another communication device other than the communication device and transmit the signal to the processor, or transmit a signal from the processor to another communication device other than the communication device. The processor is configured to perform a method according to any one of the possible implementation forms of the first or third aspect through logic circuits or by executing code instructions.

[0050] According to an eighth aspect, there is provided a communication device, the communication device including a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is configured to receive a signal from another communication device other than the communication device and transmit the signal to the processor, or transmit a signal from the processor to another communication device other than the communication device. The processor is configured to perform a method according to any one of the possible implementation forms of the second or fourth aspect through a logic circuit or by executing code instructions.

[0051] According to a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions, which, when executed, performs a method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0052] According to a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, perform a method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0053] According to an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising code or instructions which, when executed, perform a method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects.

[0054] According to a twelfth aspect, there is provided a chip system. The chip system includes a processor, further includes a memory, and is configured to implement a method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first to fourth aspects. The chip system may include a chip or may include a chip and another individual component.

[0055] According to a thirteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, including a terminal device and a network device.

[0056] The terminal device is configured to perform a method according to an implementation form of the first aspect or the third aspect, and the network device is configured to perform a method according to an implementation form of the second aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0057] In a possible design, the communication system further includes another device that interacts with the terminal device or the network device in the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0058] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of the architecture of a mobile communication system to which an embodiment of the present application applies; [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a DRX cycle and PDCCH monitoring opportunities. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a DRX cycle and radio frames. [Figure 4]1 is a diagram of an example of a downlink control information transmission method according to the present application; [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a first example of a downlink control information transmission method according to the present application; [Figure 6] 4 is a schematic flowchart of a second example of a downlink control information transmission method according to the present application; [Figure 7] 1 is a diagram of an example of a communication device according to the present application; [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram of another example of a communication device according to the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0059] The following describes the technical solutions of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0060] FIG. 1 is a diagram of the architecture of a mobile communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applied.

[0061] As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 100 may include one or more network devices, such as the network device 101 shown in Figure 1. The communication system 100 may further include one or more terminal devices, such as the terminal device 102, the terminal device 103, and the terminal device 104 shown in Figure 1. The communication system 100 may support sidelink communication technologies, such as sidelink communication between the terminal device 102 and the terminal device 103 and sidelink communication between the terminal device 102 and the terminal device 104.

[0062] It should be understood that Figure 1 is merely a diagram. The communication system may further include other network devices, for example, a core network device 105, and wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices not shown in Figure 1. The number of network devices and the number of terminal devices included in the mobile communication system are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0063] A terminal device in an embodiment of the present application is a device having a wireless transceiver function and may transmit signals to or receive signals from a network device. The terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals may 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, and smart city. Terminals may be mobile phones, tablet computers, computers with wireless transceiver function, wearable devices, vehicles, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. The specific technology and device form used by the terminal are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0064] The network device in the embodiments of the present application may be a wireless access device used by a terminal to wirelessly access a communication system. The network device may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation base station in a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access node in a Wi-Fi system, etc., or may be a module or unit that completes part of the functions of a base station, such as a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The CU in this specification completes the functions of a radio resource control (RRC) protocol and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of a base station, and may further complete the function of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and may also complete some or all of the physical layer functions. For a specific description of the aforementioned protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The network device may be a macro base station, a micro base station, an indoor base station, a relay node, a donor node, etc. The specific technology used by the network device and the specific device form are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0065] The embodiments of the present application may be applied to downlink signal transmission or uplink signal transmission. In the case of downlink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a base station and the corresponding receiving device is a terminal. In the case of uplink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a terminal and the corresponding receiving device is a network device.

[0066] Communications between and among network devices and terminals may be performed through licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Communications may be performed between and among network devices and terminals through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or both spectrum below 6 GHz and above 6 GHz. The spectrum resources used between network devices and terminals are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0067] In an embodiment of the present application, the functions of the network device may alternatively be performed by a module (e.g., a chip) of the network device, or may be performed by a control subsystem including the functions of the network device. The control subsystem including the functions of the network device may be a control center in the aforementioned terminal application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal may alternatively be performed by a module (e.g., a chip or a modem) of the terminal, or may be performed by a device including the functions of the terminal.

[0068] To better explain the implementation of the present application, before the embodiments of the present application are described, concepts related to the embodiments of the present application are first described.

[0069] 1. Cells and Carriers (1) Career A carrier is a radio signal transmitted by a network device or a terminal radio frequency device and has a specific frequency, bandwidth, and standard. A carrier is a body used to carry information in wireless communication. A carrier used by a network device to transmit information is called a downlink carrier, and a carrier used by a terminal to transmit information is called an uplink carrier.

[0070] (2) Cell The coverage of each network device may be divided into one or more cells. In the current NR standard, one downlink carrier may be configured for a cell, and optionally one uplink carrier may be configured for a cell. For a terminal, the cell that serves the terminal is called the serving cell.

[0071] (3) Carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) To achieve high-speed transmission, NR supports carrier aggregation and dual connectivity technologies. A terminal supporting CA or DC can simultaneously transmit data on multiple carriers to improve data transmission speeds. Each carrier in CA is also called a component carrier (CC). In DC, a terminal establishes connections to multiple cells. These cells are classified into two groups: a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG). When dual connectivity is not established, the group of cells communicating with the terminal is the MCG. The "PCell" of the SCG is the primary secondary cell (PSCell), and the other cells in the MCG and SCG are secondary cells (SCells).

[0072] The terminal may simultaneously use a PCell of an MCG and an SCell of an MCG to transmit data using a carrier aggregation technique, or may simultaneously use a PSCell of an SCG and an SCell of an SCG to transmit data using a carrier aggregation technique.

[0073] In the following description of this application, when this application is applied to an MCG, a PCell is a PCell of the MCG and an SCell is an SCell of the MCG, or when this application is applied to an SCG, a PCell is a PSCell of the SCG and an SCell is an SCell of the SCG.

[0074] 2. Bandwidth part (BWP) and bandwidth part switching (1) BWP NR introduces the concept of BWP. One BWP is a segment of contiguous frequency resources on one carrier. After a BWP is configured and activated, it is called an active BWP. In the current version of the protocol, one terminal can have only one active downlink BWP on one downlink carrier and only one active uplink BWP on one uplink carrier. Uplink data and control information transmitted by the terminal are transmitted on the active uplink BWP, and downlink data and control information are received on the active downlink BWP.

[0075] There may be one or more BWPs on one carrier, and the bandwidth of the BWPs on one carrier is less than or equal to the bandwidth of that carrier.

[0076] (2) Switching BWP To enable terminals to transmit and receive data at different BWPs at different times based on service requirements, NR supports BWP switching triggered by using DCI to schedule data. DCI is carried on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0077] The downlink BWP switching command may be carried in DCI format 1_1 or DCI format 1_2 for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and the uplink BWP switching command may be carried in DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 0_2 for scheduling a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). After receiving the DCI, the terminal switches to the new BWP indicated by the DCI to transmit or receive data. Note that the BWP switching in this specification refers to switching between non-dormant BWPs of an active BWP.

[0078] 3. Career dormancy Currently, a dormancy mechanism for SCells is introduced in 3GPP Release 16 (R16). Although both uplink and downlink transmissions of a dormant SCell are stopped, the UE still periodically measures the cell and reports the cell measurement information to a network device via another non-dormant cell. Switching between dormant and non-dormant behavior of an SCell is performed through BWP switching. When an SCell is indicated as dormant, the UE switches the currently active downlink BWP to the SCell's dormant BWP. The UE does not need to perform PDCCH monitoring on the dormant BWP, or, when the SCell is a scheduled carrier in cross-carrier scheduling, the UE does not need to detect the PDCCH on the corresponding scheduling carrier used to schedule the SCell. The identifier (ID) of the dormant BWP is indicated by the dormantBWP-Id (dormant BWP identifier) ​​information element in RRC signaling.

[0079] The switching of the SCell between the dormancy state and the non-dormancy state is indicated by the DCI.

[0080] (1) In connected mode, when not entering connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) mode (hereinafter referred to as non-C-DRX mode) or during the active time period of C-DRX mode, there are two indication methods:

[0081] Scheme 1: The secondary cell dormancy indication (SCell dormancy indication) field of DCI format 0_1 ​​or 1_1 indicates whether the SCell is dormant or non-dormant. In this case, the DCI can be used to simultaneously schedule data.

[0082] Method 2: A specific field in DCI format 1_1 indicates whether the SCell is dormant or non-dormant. In this case, the DCI cannot be used to simultaneously schedule data.

[0083] (2) There is one indication method for the inactive time period in C-DRX mode. Method 3: The SCell dormancy indication field of DCI format 2_6 indicates whether the SCell is in dormancy or non-dormancy.

[0084] In this specification, unless otherwise specified, within active time includes two cases: when the terminal is not configured with C-DRX (or the terminal does not enter C-DRX mode), and an active time period when the terminal is in C-DRX mode. Outside active time is an inactive time period when the terminal is in C-DRX mode.

[0085] In this application, both in-active hours and out-of-active hours are for a particular terminal.

[0086] For a cell, the network device may configure the identifier of the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time using the firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id information element of RRC signaling, and the identifier of the first corresponding BWP outside the active time using the firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id information element. If a PDCCH indicating switching the active downlink BWP of the cell from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP is received in the non-C-DRX mode of the cell or during the active time period of the C-DRX mode of the cell, the downlink BWP with ID firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id is activated when the state of the cell is switched from dormancy to non-dormancy. If a PDCCH indicating switching of the active downlink BWP of a cell from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP is received during an inactive time period of the cell's C-DRX mode, the downlink BWP with ID firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id is activated when the cell state switches from dormancy to non-dormancy.

[0087] There are two terminal capabilities, namely, support for receiving an SCell dormancy indication with DCI format 0_1 / 1_1 during active time, and support for receiving an SCell dormancy indication with DCI format 2_6 outside active time. The terminal may support none of the two capabilities, or may support one or both of the two capabilities and inform the network device of the capabilities supported by the terminal through a capability report.

[0088] The network device may configure the dormantBWP-Id for the terminal to report that it supports at least one of the two capabilities.

[0089] For a terminal that reports a capability to support receiving an SCell dormancy indication using DCI format 0_1 / 1_1 during active time, the network device may configure firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id or may not configure firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id. For a terminal that reports a capability to support receiving an SCell dormancy indication using DCI format 2_6 outside active time, the network device may configure firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id or may not configure firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id.

[0090] For a terminal that does not report capability to support reception of an SCell dormancy indication using DCI format 0_1 / 1_1 during active time, the network device cannot configure firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id. For a terminal that does not report capability to support reception of an SCell dormancy indication using DCI format 2_6 outside active time, the network device cannot configure firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id.

[0091] The following describes the C-DRX mechanism. In the C-DRX mechanism, a terminal may periodically monitor a PDCCH based on a DRX cycle configured by a network device. As shown in FIG. 2, one DRX cycle typically includes two time periods: an active time and a non-active time, where the non-active time may also be referred to as an outside active time. During the active time, the terminal needs to monitor the PDCCH at a PDCCH monitoring opportunity. During the non-active time, the terminal does not need to monitor the PDCCH in order to reduce the power consumption of the terminal.

[0092] The active time includes the execution time of the on duration timer (drx-onDurationTimer). The network device configures the length of the drx-onDurationTimer of the terminal using RRC signaling. As an example, a long DRX cycle (Long DRX cycle) is used. The parameters drx-LongCycle for the length of the long DRX cycle, drx-StartOffset for determining the start subframe of the DRX cycle, and drx-SlotOffset for the slot offset of the start subframe of the DRX cycle are further configured. When the long DRX cycle is used, the terminal starts the drx-onDurationTimer (hereinafter abbreviated as onDurationTimer) when the subframe number satisfies the following equation (1): [(SFN×10)+subframe number]modulo(drx-LongCycle)=drx-StartOffset (1)

[0093] SFN is the system frame number, and modulo indicates modulo operation. The system frame may also be called a radio frame. One radio frame is 10 ms long and may include multiple subframes, each of which includes one or more slots. As shown in Figure 3, onDurationTimer starts after the start DRX subframe of the long DRX cycle is shifted by drx-SlotOffset, and the inactive time corresponds to the opportunity for DRX.

[0094] When the short DRX cycle is used, the terminal starts the drx-onDurationTimer when the subframe number satisfies the following formula (2): [(SFN × 10) + subframe number] modulo (drx-ShortCycle) = (drx-StartOffset) modulo (drx-ShortCycle) (2)

[0095] That is, after the start subframe of the short DRX cycle is shifted by drx-SlotOffset, onDurationTimer is started.

[0096] Although not shown, in the C-DRX mechanism, the active time may further include the execution time of the drx-InactivityTimer (abbreviated as InactivityTimer), the execution time of the drx-RetransmissionTimerDL (abbreviated as Downlink Retransmission TimerDL), and the execution time of the drx-RetransmissionTimerUL (abbreviated as Uplink Retransmission TimerUL). The C-DRX parameters configured by the network device for the terminal using RRC signaling may be specifically shown in Table 1, including the conditions for triggering the drx-InactivityTimer, drx-RetransmissionTimerDL, and drx-RetransmissionTimerUL. That is, the three timers are started only when the corresponding data is transmitted.

[0097] [Table 1A] [Table 1B]

[0098] The active time may further include the running period of the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer (used for contention resolution in the random access procedure) or the msgB-ResponseWindow (used for 2-step random access contention resolution), the waiting period after the terminal sends a scheduling request (SR) on the PUCCH, and the period during which the terminal does not receive a PDCCH indicating a new transmission after successfully receiving a non-contention-based random access response (RAR).

[0099] 4. Activating and Deactivating Cells The PCell does not support activation / deactivation, but the SCell does. When the SCell is in inactive mode, (1) The sounding reference signal (SRS) in the SCell is not transmitted. (2) SCell channel state information (CSI) is not reported. (3) No transmission is performed on the uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) in the SCell. (4) No transmission is performed on a random access channel (RACH) in the SCell. (5) The physical downlink control channel PDCCH in the SCell is not monitored; and (6) No transmission is performed on the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) in the SCell.

[0100] For a cell, the network device may use the RRC information element firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id to configure the identifier of the first active downlink BWP to be used when the terminal switches from inactive to active mode, and may use the RRC information element firstActiveUplinkBWP-Id to configure the identifier of the first active uplink BWP to be used when the terminal switches from inactive to active mode. When the terminal enters active mode from inactive mode, the downlink BWP with ID firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id and the uplink BWP with ID firstActiveUplinkBWP-Id of the cell are activated.

[0101] 5. Cross-career scheduling A cell in which DCI corresponding to a data channel is transmitted is called a scheduling cell or primary scheduling cell, and a cell in which a data channel is transmitted is called a scheduled cell. When a data channel and a DCI for scheduling the data channel are transmitted in the same cell, i.e., a cell is both a scheduling cell and a scheduled cell, the cell is called a self-scheduling cell. When a data channel and a DCI for scheduling the data channel are transmitted in different cells, the cell for carrying the DCI is called a scheduling cell, and the cell for carrying the data channel is called a scheduled cell. This scheduling format is called cross-carrier scheduling (CCS). One scheduling cell may correspond to multiple scheduled cells, i.e., one scheduling cell may be used to transmit DCI to schedule data for multiple scheduled cells.

[0102] 6. Downlink Control Information (1) Format of Downlink Control Information There are multiple DCI formats. DCI formats relevant to this application include DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_1, and DCI format 1_2. DCI formats 0_1 and 0_2 are used to schedule uplink data of a terminal, i.e., to schedule PUSCH transmission. DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 are used to schedule downlink data of a terminal, i.e., to schedule PDSCH transmission.

[0103] In this application, unless otherwise specified, DCI and DCI format may be used interchangeably. For example, a first DCI may alternatively be a first DCI format, and a second DCI may alternatively be a second DCI format. For details about DCI formats, see Section 7.3.1 of 3GPP® Technical Specification 38.212 V 16.10.0.

[0104] (2) Size of downlink control information The size of the downlink control information (DCI size) can be understood in two ways: the size of the DCI information bits (bits) and the size of the cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The size of the DCI information bits is also called the payload size. In an NR system, the bit width of the CRC is 24.

[0105] (3) DCI size alignment When DCI sizes are different, a terminal may use different reception methods. To reduce the reception complexity of a terminal, the number of DCI sizes is usually reduced by a DCI size alignment method. When the DCI sizes of two DCI formats are different, the DCI sizes need to be aligned. Generally, zeros are added to the end of the payload of the DCI format with the shorter DCI size until the DCI sizes of the two DCI formats are the same.

[0106] 7. Two cells schedule one cell NR Release 17 (R17) introduces a feature in which two cells schedule one cell. Specifically, both the PCell and the SCell may transmit DCI through the PDCCH to schedule data transmission of the PCell. When both the PCell and the SCell may schedule data transmission of the PCell, in the DCI format, the size of the DCI for scheduling the PCell on the PCell needs to be aligned with the size of the DCI for scheduling the PCell on the SCell. In this application, scheduling data transmission of the PCell may be referred to as scheduling the PCell for short.

[0107] For a UE configured to schedule a PCell on an SCell, if the number of information bits of DCI format 0_1 ​​for scheduling a PCell on a PCell is not equal to the number of information bits of DCI format 0_1 ​​for scheduling a PCell on an SCell, fewer bits must be added after DCI format 0_1 ​​until the payload sizes of the two DCI formats 0_1 are the same. The payload size alignment method for DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_1, and DCI format 1_2 is the same as the payload size alignment method for DCI format 0_1.

[0108] When an SCell is deactivated or the active DL BWP of the SCell is a dormant DL BWP, the PDCCH for scheduling the PCell is not transmitted on the SCell. However, since the size of the DCI for scheduling the PCell of the PCell needs to be aligned with the size of the DCI for scheduling the PCell of the SCell, the size of the DCI for scheduling the PCell of the SCell still needs to be determined in order to determine the size of the DCI for scheduling the PCell of the PCell. For example, when an SCell is deactivated, the UE determines the number of information bits of DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 1_2 to be carried on the PDCCH of the PCell based on the DL BWP whose ID is the firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id of the SCell. If the active DL BWP of the SCell is a Dormant DL BWP, the UE determines the number of information bits of DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 1_2 to be carried on the PDCCH of the PCell, based on the DL BWP whose ID is the firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id of the SCell.

[0109] When two cells can schedule one cell, the two cells may be called scheduling cells, and some fields of the DCI, such as the SCell dormancy indication field and the transmission configuration indication (TCI) field, are associated with the scheduling cell. For the SCell dormancy indication field, if the scheduling cell is a PCell, DCI format 0_1 ​​and DCI format 1_1 transmitted on the scheduling cell may include the SCell dormancy indication field, or if the scheduling cell is an SCell, DCI format 0_1 ​​and DCI format 1_1 transmitted on the scheduling cell may not include the SCell dormancy indication field. For the TCI field, DCI format 1_1 and DCI format 1_2 may include the field. In DCI format 1_1, if the RRC signaling transmitted by a network device to a terminal does not include a tci-PresentInDCI information element, i.e., if it is not possible to configure TCI using DCI, the TCI field is 0 bit, or if the RRC signaling transmitted by the network device includes a tci-PresentInDCI information element, i.e., if it is possible to configure TCI using DCI, the TCI field is 3 bits. The tci-PresentInDCI information element is a related parameter in the configuration of a control resource set, and the control resource set is configured on a scheduling cell. Since the configuration of the tci-PresentInDCI information element of different scheduling cells may differ, whether DCI format 1_1 includes a TCI field is related to the configuration of the scheduling cell.In DCI format 1_2, if the RRC signaling transmitted by the network device to the terminal does not include the tci-PresentDCI-1-2-r16 information element, the TCI field is 0 bit, or if the RRC signaling transmitted by the network device to the terminal includes the tci-PresentDCI-1-2-r16 information element, the tci-PresentDCI-1-2-r16 information element indicates the number of bits in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2, and tci-PresentDCI-1-2-r16 may be configured as 1, 2, or 3. Because tci-PresentDCI-1-2-r16 is a related parameter in the configuration of a control resource set, the control resource set is configured on a scheduling cell, and the configuration of tci-PresentDCI-1-2-r16 for different scheduling cells may be different, and whether DCI format 1_2 includes a TCI field and the number of bits in the TCI field are related to the configuration of the scheduling cell. In the present application, determining the number of information bits of a DCI based on a BWP ID may be understood as determining DCI fields related to the scheduling cell configuration of the DCI, such as the SCell dormancy indication field and the TCI field of the DCI, based on the BWP configuration.

[0110] However, after an SCell is deactivated, the first active downlink BWP used when the SCell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode may be set to a dormant BWP. In this case, the terminal cannot determine the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the PCell based on the DL BWP whose SCell ID is first-ActiveDownlinkBWP-Id. Because the terminal does not need to monitor the control channel of the dormant BWP, a control channel resource set is not configured. As a result, the size of the SCell dormancy indication field of the DCI cannot be determined, and the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the SCell cannot be determined. Because the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the PCell needs to be aligned with the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the SCell, and the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the SCell is unknown, the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the PCell cannot be determined. In addition, the network device does not need to configure firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id for the terminal. In this case, the UE cannot determine the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the PCell based on the DL BWP whose ID is first-ActiveDownlinkBWP-Id of the SCell. In addition, when the active DL BWP of the SCell is a dormant DL BWP, the state and mode of the UE are not taken into consideration, and the UE is directly configured to determine the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the PCell based on the DL BWP whose ID is firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id of the SCell, and the number of information bits of the DCI format may not be obtained.For example, if only firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id is configured for a terminal and firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id is not configured for the terminal, the terminal cannot determine the number of information bits of the DCI format carried on the PDCCH of the PCell based on the DL BWP whose ID is firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id in the SCell.

[0111] Based on this, the present application provides a downlink control information transmission method and apparatus for accurately determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell, and improving information transmission performance.

[0112] The following describes in detail the technical solution of the present application by using the interaction between a terminal and a network device as an example. The terminal may be the terminal in Figure 1 (for example, the terminal device 102, the terminal device 103, or the terminal device 104), or the network device may be the network device 101 in Figure 1.

[0113] FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a downlink control information transmission method according to the present application.

[0114] S410: The terminal determines an amount of information bits of a first DCI based on a first BWP of the first cell, where the first DCI is carried on a PDCCH candidate of the second cell, and the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell.

[0115] Correspondingly, the network device determines the number of information bits of the first DCI based on the first BWP of the first cell.

[0116] The first BWP may be the first corresponding non-dormant BWP during the active time, the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time, or the active downlink BWP used before the first cell is deactivated. The first cell may be the secondary cell of the terminal, and the second cell may be the primary or secondary cell of the terminal. Note that the first cell is different from the second cell. That is, when both the first cell and the second cell are secondary cells of the terminal, the two secondary cells are different secondary cells. The third cell may be the first cell or the second cell, or the third cell may be a cell other than the first cell and the second cell. The cell states, carrier states, and BWP states in this application are all relative to a specific terminal.

[0117] It should be noted that not all PDCCH candidates of the second cell are necessarily configured to carry the first DCI. In the second cell, at least one PDCCH candidate is configured to carry the first DCI. In other words, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell in this specification is a PDCCH candidate configured to carry the first DCI.

[0118] The first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during the active time is the first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is received during the active time, or the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell will be switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

[0119] The first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside the active time is a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to a dormant BWP is received outside the active time, or the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell will be switched to a dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

[0120] In this embodiment of the present application, the manner in which the network device determines the number of information bits of the first DCI based on the first BWP of the first cell is the same as the manner in which the terminal determines the number of information bits of the first DCI based on the first BWP of the first cell.

[0121] S420: The terminal monitors the first DCI on the PDCCH candidates of the second cell based on the number of information bits of the first DCI.

[0122] In response, the network device transmits the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell based on the number of information bits of the first DCI.

[0123] When the terminal monitors the DCI on the PDCCH candidate, it means that the terminal attempts to perform blind detection on the PDCCH on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the PDCCH candidate, and performs decoding and CRC check based on the DCI size. If the check is successful, it is considered that one DCI is successfully received on the PDCCH candidate, or if the check is unsuccessful, it is considered that no PDCCH is detected on the PDCCH candidate.

[0124] According to the solution disclosed in the present application, a primary cell (second cell) and a secondary cell (first cell) can schedule data transmission of the primary cell, and when the secondary cell is deactivated or the active downlink BWP of the secondary cell is dormant, the rule for determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell is rewritten, which helps to accurately determine the size of DCI and improves information transmission performance.

[0125] In this application, before S410 is executed, the network device and the terminal need to first determine the first BWP. The process by which the network device and the terminal determine the first BWP of the first cell can be classified into two different embodiments shown in Figures 5 and 6 based on different conditions of the first cell.

[0126] In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the active BWP of the first cell is a dormant BWP, that is, the first cell is in dormant mode. The network device and the terminal may separately determine the first BWP based on the DCI format or the time point at which the DCI indicating that the first cell has entered dormant mode is transmitted and received, and based on whether the terminal is configured with a first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode. In one example, the specific processing process is as follows. S501: Optionally, a network device sends, to a terminal, an identifier of a first active downlink BWP used when a first cell is switched from an inactive mode to an active mode.

[0127] Correspondingly, the terminal receives an identifier of a first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode. The identifier may be a firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id information element of RRC signaling, where the identifier indicates the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode. Optionally, the network device may further transmit to the terminal an identifier of the first active uplink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode, and the terminal may further receive an identifier of the first active uplink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode. The identifier may be a firstActiveUplinkBWP-Id information element of RRC signaling, where the identifier indicates the first active uplink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode.

[0128] S502: The network device sends an identifier of a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time to the terminal, where the identifier may be a firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id information element of RRC signaling. In response, the terminal receives the identifier of the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0129] S503: The network device sends an identifier of a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time to the terminal, where the identifier may be a firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id information element in RRC signaling. In response, the terminal receives the identifier of the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0130] S504: The network device sends cross-carrier scheduling configuration information to the terminal, and in response, the terminal receives the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information.

[0131] Specifically, the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal to monitor PDCCH candidates in the first cell and the second cell. The PDCCH candidate of the first cell carries a third DCI, and the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carries the first DCI, and the first DCI and the third DCI are used to schedule data transmission for the third cell. In other words, the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructs the terminal to monitor the third DCI of the first cell and the first DCI of the second cell.

[0132] It should be understood that the firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id, firstActiveUplinkBWP-Id, firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id, firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id, and carrier scheduling configuration information may be carried in different messages or signaling, partially carried in the same message or signaling, or all carried in the same message or signaling (in this case, steps S501, S502, S503, and S504 are the same step), which is not a limitation in the present application.

[0133] S505: The network device sends a second DCI to the terminal to instruct it to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP.

[0134] In response to this, the terminal receives the second DCI, and after receiving the second DCI, switches the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI, that is, switches the first cell to a dormant mode.

[0135] Specifically, before S505, the network device may obtain or determine identifier information of a dormant BWP (i.e., dormantBWP-Id) and send the identifier information of the dormant BWP to the terminal using RRC signaling. The network device and the terminal need to determine the number of information bits of the first DCI based on the first BWP, which may be a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time. Therefore, the network device and the terminal need to determine the first BWP.

[0136] S506: The network device determines a first BWP.

[0137] S507: The terminal determines a first BWP. Specifically, there may be five methods:

[0138] Method 1: If the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode is not configured for the terminal, the first BWP is the active downlink BWP used before the first cell is deactivated.

[0139] The fact that the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode is not configured for the terminal may be understood as the network device not configuring the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode for the terminal from start to finish, or the network device configuring the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode for the terminal by using the firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id information element, but then releasing the first active downlink BWP.

[0140] Method 2: If the transmission time of the second DCI is within the active time, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0141] Within the active time means within the active time in the C-DRX mode or the non-C-DRX mode. It should be understood that in this embodiment of the present application, the time when the network device transmits the second DCI and the time when the terminal receives the second DCI are the same time, or the time when the network device transmits the second DCI and the time when the terminal receives the second DCI are the same time period (because there may be an air interface transmission delay).

[0142] Method 3: If the transmission time of the second DCI is outside the active time, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0143] Scheme 4: If the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0144] Scheme 5: If the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0145] In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the first cell is in an inactive mode. The network device and the terminal may separately determine the first BWP based on whether it is a first active downlink BWP used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode, whether the first active downlink BWP used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, or whether a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is configured for the terminal.

[0146] S601 is the same as S501, and the details will not be explained again here.

[0147] The content of S602 is the same as S502, except that in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, S602 is an optional step.

[0148] The content of S603 is the same as S503, except that in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, S603 is an optional step.

[0149] S604 is the same as S504, and the details will not be described again here.

[0150] S605: The network device sends deactivation signaling to the terminal to instruct the terminal to deactivate the first cell.

[0151] S606: The network device determines a first BWP.

[0152] S607: The terminal determines the first BWP. Specifically, there may be four methods:

[0153] Method 6: If the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode is not configured for the terminal, the first BWP is the active downlink BWP used before the first cell is deactivated.

[0154] The fact that the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode is not configured for the terminal may be understood as the network device not configuring the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode for the terminal from start to finish, or the network device configuring the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode for the terminal by using the firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id information element, but then releasing the first active downlink BWP.

[0155] Method 7: If a first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode is configured for the terminal and the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode is not a dormant BWP, the first BWP is the first active downlink BWP to be used when the first cell switches from the inactive mode to the active mode.

[0156] Specifically, before S605, the network device may obtain or determine identifier information of a dormant BWP (i.e., dormantBWP-Id) and send the identifier information of the dormant BWP to the terminal using RRC signaling. Optionally, to reduce signaling overhead, the dormantBWP-Id and the firstWithinActiveTimeBWP-Id and / or the firstOutsideActiveTimeBWP-Id may be carried in the same message or the same signaling. In this case, the network device and the terminal further determine that the firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id is not equal to the dormantBWP-Id.

[0157] Method 8: If a first active downlink BWP to be used when a first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is configured for a terminal, but the first active downlink BWP to be used when a first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is configured for the terminal, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

[0158] In this way, after determining that S601 and S602 are performed, the network device and the terminal directly determine that the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP in the active time without performing any determination, which is simple and efficient and reduces calculation power consumption.

[0159] Method 9: If the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time is not configured for the terminal, but the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time is configured for the terminal, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside the active time.

[0160] In this manner, after the first BWP is determined using the methods shown in FIG. 5 (including Methods 1 to 5) and the methods shown in FIG. 6 (including Methods 6 to 9), the network device and the terminal may continue to perform S410 and S420 shown in FIG. 4.

[0161] According to the solution disclosed in the present application, a primary cell (second cell) and a secondary cell (first cell) can schedule data transmission of the primary cell, and when the secondary cell is deactivated or the active downlink BWP of the secondary cell is dormant, the rule for determining the size of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the primary cell in the primary cell is rewritten, which helps to accurately determine the size of DCI and improves information transmission performance.

[0162] It can be understood that to implement the functions of the foregoing embodiments, the network devices and terminals include corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules for performing each function. Those skilled in the art will easily recognize that the present application can be implemented by using hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software, in combination with the example units and method steps described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or by hardware driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0163] 7 and 8 are diagrams of possible structures of communication devices according to embodiments of the present application. These communication devices may be configured to implement the functions of the terminal or network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and thus may also implement the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device may be one of the terminal devices 102 to 104 shown in FIG. 1, may be the network device 101 shown in FIG. 1, or may be a module (e.g., a chip) used in the terminal or network device.

[0164] As shown in Figure 7, the communication apparatus 700 includes a processing unit 710 and a transceiver unit 720. The communication apparatus 700 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal or network device in the method embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 6.

[0165] When the communications device 700 is configured to perform the functions of a terminal in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the processing unit 710 is configured to determine a quantity of information bits of a first downlink control information DCI based on a first bandwidth portion BWP of the first cell, and the transceiver unit 720 is configured to monitor the first DCI on PDCCH candidates of the second cell based on the quantity of information bits of the first DCI.

[0166] Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to receive a second DCI, and the processing unit 710 is further configured to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI.

[0167] Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to receive cross-carrier scheduling configuration information.

[0168] When the communications apparatus 700 is configured to perform the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the processing unit 710 is configured to determine a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information DCI based on a first bandwidth portion BWP of the first cell, and the transceiver unit 720 is configured to transmit the first DCI on a PDCCH candidate of the second cell.

[0169] Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to transmit a second DCI to instruct the terminal to switch the active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP.

[0170] Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to transmit cross-carrier scheduling configuration information.

[0171] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 710 and the transceiver unit 720, please refer to the associated description of the method embodiment shown in FIG.

[0172] 8, the communication device 800 includes a processor 810 and an interface circuit 820. The processor 810 and the interface circuit 820 are coupled to each other. It may be understood that the interface circuit 820 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 830 configured to store instructions to be executed by the processor 810, to store input data required for the processor 810 to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processor 810 executes the instructions.

[0173] When the communications device 800 is configured to perform the method shown in FIG. 4, the processor 810 is configured to implement the functionality of the processing unit 710, and the interface circuit 820 is configured to implement the functionality of the transceiver unit 720.

[0174] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal, the chip of the terminal implements the functions of the terminal in the above-mentioned method implementation. The chip of the terminal receives information from another module of the terminal (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is transmitted to the terminal by a network device. Alternatively, the chip of the terminal transmits information to another module of the terminal (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is transmitted to the network device by the terminal.

[0175] When the communication device is a module used in a network device, the module of the network device implements the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The module of the network device receives information from another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) of the network device, and the information is transmitted to the network device by a terminal. Alternatively, the module of the network device transmits information to another module (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) of the network device, and the information is transmitted to a terminal device by the network device. The module in the network device in this specification may be a baseband chip of the network device, or may be a DU or another module. The DU in this specification may be a DU in an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0176] It may be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or may be another general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0177] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware or software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions may include corresponding software modules. The software modules may be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, removable hard disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. For example, the storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium may alternatively be components of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may be located in a network device or a terminal. The processor and the storage medium may alternatively reside in the network device or terminal as separate components.

[0178] All or part of the above embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement an embodiment, all or part of the embodiment 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, all or part of the procedures or functions in the embodiments of the present application are performed. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, user equipment, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from a computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired or wireless method. 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 media may be magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disks, or magnetic tapes, or optical media such as digital video disks, or semiconductor media such as solid-state drives. The computer-readable storage media may be volatile or nonvolatile storage media, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile storage media.

[0179] In various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is no logical contradiction, the terms and / or descriptions in different embodiments are consistent and may refer to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments may be combined based on their internal logical relationships to form a new embodiment.

[0180] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The term "and / or" describes an association relationship to describe related objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent the following cases: when only A is present, when both A and B are present, and when only B is present, and A and B may be singular or plural. In text descriptions in this application, the character " / " represents an "or" relationship between related objects. In formulas in this application, the character " / " represents a "split" relationship between related objects. "Comprising at least one of A, B, and C" can represent including A, including B, including C, including A and B, including A and C, including B and C, or including A, B, and C.

[0181] It can be understood that various numbers in the embodiments of the present application are only used for distinction to facilitate description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence numbers of the above processes do not imply an execution order, and the execution order of the processes should be determined based on the functions and internal logic of the processes. [Explanation of symbols]

[0182] 100 Communication Systems 101 Network Devices 102, 103, 104 terminal devices 105 Core Network Devices 700 Communication Equipment 710 Processing Unit 720 Transceiver Unit 800 Communication Equipment 810 processor 820 Interface Circuit 830 memory

Claims

1. A downlink control information transmission method, comprising: determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of a first cell, wherein the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP in an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside an active time, the first DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell is a secondary cell, the second cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell; monitoring the first DCI on the PDCCH candidates of the second cell based on the number of information bits of the first DCI; A method comprising:

2. Prior to the step of monitoring the first DCI, the method further comprises: receiving a second DCI; switching an active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI; further comprising When the second DCI is received within an active time, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time; or When the second DCI is received outside an active time, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside an active time; The method of claim 1.

3. Prior to the step of monitoring the first DCI, the method further comprises: receiving a second DCI; switching an active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP based on the second DCI; further comprising When the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP in an active time; or When the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside of an active time; The method of claim 1.

4. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the first cell is deactivated and a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time.

5. When the first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the first corresponding non-dormant BWP during an active time is not configured for the terminal device, and the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside an active time; or 2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and a first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time is configured for the terminal device, and the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

6. The first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during an active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP to be used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, wherein a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is received within the active time; or A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first non-dormant BWP is used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches to the dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

7. The first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside of an active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, wherein a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is received outside the active time; or A method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first non-dormant BWP is used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches to the dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

8. Prior to the step of monitoring the first DCI, the method further comprises: receiving cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructing the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carrying a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carrying the first DCI, and the third DCI being used to schedule data transmission of the third cell; 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

9. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during an active time is the first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from the dormant BWP to the non-dormant BWP, and the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is received in a non-connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) mode or an active time period of the C-DRX mode of the first cell.

10. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside of an active time is the first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from the dormant BWP to the non-dormant BWP, and the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is received during an inactive time period of the C-DRX mode of the first cell.

11. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the third cell is the second cell.

12. A downlink control information transmission method, comprising: determining a quantity of information bits of first downlink control information (DCI) based on a first bandwidth portion (BWP) of a first cell, wherein the first BWP is a first corresponding non-dormant BWP in an active time or a first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside an active time, the first DCI is carried on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate of a second cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of a third cell, the first cell is a secondary cell, the second cell is a primary cell or a secondary cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell; transmitting the first DCI on the PDCCH candidate of the second cell; A method comprising:

13. Before the step of transmitting the first DCI, the method further comprises: transmitting a second DCI, the second DCI instructing a terminal device to switch an active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP; When the second DCI is transmitted within an active time, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time; or when the second DCI is transmitted outside of an active time, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside of an active time.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

14. Before the step of transmitting the first DCI, the method further comprises: transmitting a second DCI, the second DCI instructing a terminal device to switch an active downlink BWP of the first cell to a dormant BWP; When the format of the second DCI is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP in an active time; or When the format of the second DCI is DCI format 2_6, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside of an active time.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

15. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein when the first cell is deactivated and a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell is switched from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time.

16. When the first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for a terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the network device does not configure the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time for the terminal device, and the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP outside an active time; or 13. The method of claim 12, wherein when the first cell is deactivated, a first active downlink BWP configured by a network device for the terminal device and used when the first cell switches from an inactive mode to an active mode is a dormant BWP, and the network device configures the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within an active time for the terminal device, and the first BWP is the first corresponding non-dormant BWP within the active time.

17. The first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during an active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, wherein a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is transmitted within an active time; or 17. A method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein the first non-dormant BWP is used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches to the dormant BWP is DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1.

18. The first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside of an active time is at least one of the following: a first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, wherein a DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is transmitted outside an active time; or A method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein the first non-dormant BWP is used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches from a dormant BWP to a non-dormant BWP, and the format of the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell switches to the dormant BWP is DCI format 2_6.

19. Before the step of transmitting the first DCI, the method further comprises: transmitting cross-carrier scheduling configuration information, the cross-carrier scheduling configuration information instructing the terminal device to monitor PDCCH candidates of the first cell and the second cell, the PDCCH candidate of the first cell carrying a third DCI, the PDCCH candidate of the second cell carrying the first DCI, and the third DCI being used to schedule data transmission of the third cell.

19. The method of any one of claims 12 to 18, further comprising:

20. 20. The method of claim 12, wherein the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell during active time is the first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from the dormant BWP to the non-dormant BWP, and the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is received in a non-connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) mode or an active time period of the C-DRX mode of the first cell.

21. 21. The method of claim 12, wherein the first corresponding non-dormant BWP of the first cell outside of an active time is the first non-dormant BWP used when the active downlink BWP of the first cell is switched from the dormant BWP to the non-dormant BWP, and the DCI indicating that the active downlink BWP of the first cell has been switched to the dormant BWP is received during an inactive time period of the C-DRX mode of the first cell.

22. 22. The method of any one of claims 12 to 21, wherein the third cell is the second cell.

23. a memory configured to store computer instructions; Executing the computer instructions stored in the memory to enable the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11; or a processor configured to enable the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22; A communication device comprising:

24. A communications device comprising a module configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11 or comprising a module configured to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22.

25. 23. A computer program comprising computer instructions which, when executed by a communications device, enable the communications device to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or to perform a method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

26. 23. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a communications device, performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 22.

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