Communication method and communication device

Abstract

This application provides a communication method, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium, in which, when a PDCCH carrying DCI is a first PDCCH candidate or a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate belong to a PDCCH candidate group configured for PDCCH repeated transmission, a reference PDCCH candidate is determined according to a PDCCH candidate group, or the second PDCCH candidate is used as a reference PDCCH, so that a network device and a terminal have a consistent understanding of the reference PDCCH candidate, thereby improving the reliability of communication.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202110362407.9, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Office on April 2, 2021, and entitled “COMMUNICATION METHOD, COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER STORAGE MEDIUM,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications technology, and in particular to communication methods, communication devices, and computer storage media. [Background technology]

[0003] In order to improve the reception performance of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), PDCCH repetition is Shiden A transmission technique may be used whereby a network device transmits downlink control information (DCI) with the same content on multiple PDCCH candidates.

[0004] When a PDCCH candidate used for repeatedly transmitting a DCI and a PDCCH candidate used for independently transmitting a DCI correspond to the same time-frequency resource, if a terminal receives one DCI on that resource, the terminal may not be able to identify the specific PDCCH candidate on which the DCI is carried, thereby affecting successful communication between the terminal and a network device. Summary of the Invention

[0005] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may be performed by a terminal or by a communication device, such as a chip, used in the terminal.

[0006] The method includes: receiving configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set; receiving a first DCI, where the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, where the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, and the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, and the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to carry the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set; and determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group or using the second PDCCH candidate as a reference PDCCH, where a time-domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission.

[0007] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, regardless of whether the network device transmits the first DCI using the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate, the terminal determines the reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group. This implementation does not limit the transmission behavior of the network device.

[0008] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, receiving the first DCI includes receiving the first DCI according to configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set, where the network device correspondingly transmits the first DCI using the first PDCCH candidate, or receiving the first DCI according to configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where the network device correspondingly transmits the first DCI using the second PDCCH candidate. In this implementation, the network device is limited to only being able to transmit the first DCI via the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate, to maintain consistency with the terminal side in understanding the reference PDCCH candidate.

[0009] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes receiving configuration information of a third PDCCH candidate set, where the first PDCCH candidate set has a linkage with the third PDCCH candidate set.

[0010] Optionally, the linkage is configured by the network device using higher layer signaling, for example, by adding identification information of the third PDCCH candidate set to configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set.

[0011] According to a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method may be performed by a network device or by a communication apparatus, such as a chip, for use in the network device.

[0012] The method includes transmitting configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the second PDCCH candidate set includes a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate corresponds to a same resource. the PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set; determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group or using the second PDCCH candidate as a reference PDCCH, where a time-domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission; and transmitting a first DCI, where the first DCI is carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the network device may transmit the first DCI using either the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate. In this implementation, the transmission behavior of the network device is not restricted.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, transmitting the first DCI includes transmitting the first DCI according to configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set or transmitting the first DCI according to configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set. In this implementation, the network device may transmit the first DCI only via the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate to maintain consistency with the terminal in terms of understanding the reference PDCCH candidate.

[0015] In a possible implementation of the first or second aspect, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate have the same scrambling code sequence and carry DCI with the same payload size. Optionally, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate further correspond to the same control-resource set (CORESET). In this implementation, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate meet the condition that they are counted as monitored PDCCH candidates.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first or second aspect, the PDCCH candidate group includes one or more PDCCH candidate pairs, each PDCCH candidate pair is used to transmit the same DCI, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate belong to one PDCCH candidate pair.

[0017] Optionally, determining the reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group includes: using the first PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate, or using the third PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the first or second aspect, the reference PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate when the time domain location of the first PDCCH candidate is earlier than the time domain location of the second PDCCH candidate and the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine the time domain location of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first or second aspect, when the time domain location of the first PDCCH candidate is earlier than the time domain location of the second PDCCH candidate and the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a counter downlink assignment indicator (C-DAI) or a total downlink assignment indicator (T-DAI), the reference PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate.

[0020] Using the communication method provided in the first or second aspect, a reference PDCCH candidate is determined according to the PDCCH candidate group or the second PDCCH candidate, which solves the problem that the terminal cannot distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH on the overlapped resource is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the determination manner of the reference point related to the monitored PDCCH on the overlapped resource, thereby improving the reliability of communication.

[0021] According to a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method may be performed by a terminal or by a communication device, such as a chip, used in the terminal.

[0022] The method includes receiving configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where a resource corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlaps with a resource corresponding to a second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the second PDCCH candidate the complement set includes a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are located on overlapping resources, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set; monitoring the PDCCH candidate on resources that are in the first PDCCH candidate set and do not overlap with resources of the second PDCCH candidate set; and monitoring the PDCCH candidate on resources that are in the second PDCCH candidate set and do not overlap with resources of the first PDCCH candidate set.

[0023] According to a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method may be performed by a network device or by a communication apparatus, such as a chip, for use in the network device.

[0024] The method includes transmitting configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where a resource corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlaps with a resource corresponding to a second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the second PDCCH candidate set includes the second PDCCH candidate. , the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are located on overlapping resources, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set; and transmitting a first DCI, where the first DCI is carried on a PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set and on resources that do not overlap with resources of the second PDCCH candidate set, or the first DCI is carried on a PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set and on resources that do not overlap with resources of the first PDCCH candidate set.

[0025] In a possible implementation of the third or fourth aspect, the resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlap with the resources corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set includes: the time domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set fully overlap and the frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlap; or the time domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlap and the frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlap or fully overlap.

[0026] In a possible implementation of the third or fourth aspect, the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to DCI of the same payload size, or the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to the same scrambling code, or the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to DCI of the same format.

[0027] In a possible implementation of the third or fourth aspect, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, have the same scrambling code sequence and carry DCI with the same payload size. Optionally, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate further correspond to the same CORESET. In this implementation, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition that they are counted as monitored PDCCH candidates.

[0028] Using the communication method provided in the third or fourth aspect, the terminal does not monitor PDCCH candidates on the overlapped resources, which solves the problem that the terminal cannot distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH on the overlapped resources is a dedicated transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the determination manner of the reference point related to the monitored PDCCH on the overlapped resources, thereby improving the reliability of communication.

[0029] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may be performed by a terminal or a communication device, such as a chip, used in the terminal.

[0030] The method includes: receiving configuration information of a PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set; receiving a first DCI, where the first DCI includes a first indicator, the first indicator indicating that the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, where the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to carry the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set; and determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the first DCI.

[0031] According to a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method may be performed by a network device or by a communication apparatus, such as a chip, for use in the network device.

[0032] The method includes: transmitting configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set; and transmitting a first DCI, where the first DCI includes a first indicator, where the first indicator indicates that the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, where the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, where the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, where the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and where the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set.

[0033] Using the communication method provided in the fifth or sixth invention, the downlink control information includes indicator information to explicitly inform the terminal whether it is a repeated transmission PDCCH or an independent transmission PDCCH that is transmitted on the overlapped resources, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the PDCCH that is monitored on the overlapped resources, thereby improving communication reliability.

[0034] According to a seventh aspect, the application further provides a communication device comprising a unit, module or means configured to perform the steps of the first, third or fifth aspect.

[0035] According to an eighth aspect, the application further provides a communication device comprising a unit, module or means configured to perform the steps of the second, fourth or sixth aspect.

[0036] According to a ninth aspect, the application further provides a communications device including a processor and an interface circuit. The processor is configured to communicate with another device via the interface circuit and to perform a method provided in the first, third or fifth aspect. There may be one or more processors.

[0037] According to a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device including a processor and an interface circuit. The processor is configured to communicate with another device via the interface circuit and to perform the method provided in the second aspect, the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect. There may be one or more processors.

[0038] According to an eleventh aspect, the present application further provides a communication device including a processor. The processor is configured to invoke a program stored in a memory to perform the method provided in the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fifth aspect. The memory may be located internal or external to the device. Additionally, there may be one or more processors.

[0039] According to a twelfth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device including a processor. The processor is configured to invoke a program stored in a memory to perform the method provided in the second aspect, the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect. The memory may be located internal or external to the device. Additionally, there may be one or more processors.

[0040] According to a thirteenth aspect, the application further provides a computer program product which, when invoked by a processor, performs a method as provided in the first, third or fifth aspect.

[0041] According to a fourteenth aspect, the application further provides a computer program product which, when invoked by a processor, performs a method as provided in the second, fourth or sixth aspect.

[0042] Additionally, there is provided a computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program as provided in the thirteenth or fourteenth aspect. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0043] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a downlink time-frequency resource according to an embodiment of this application;

[0045] [Diagram 3] 2 is a schematic diagram of associated PDCCH candidates and associated search space sets according to one embodiment of the present application;

[0046] [Figure 4]1 is a schematic diagram of PDCCH resource overlap according to an embodiment of this application;

[0047] [Diagram 5] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0048] [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of determining C-DAI and T-DAI according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0049] [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario for determining reference PDCCH candidates according to one embodiment of the present application;

[0050] [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario for determining reference PDCCH candidates according to one embodiment of the present application;

[0051] [Figure 9] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0052] [Figure 10] 2 is a schematic diagram of resource overlap of search space sets according to one embodiment of the present application;

[0053] [Figure 11] 2 is a schematic diagram of resource overlap of search space sets according to one embodiment of the present application;

[0054] [Figure 12] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0055] [Figure 13] 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0056] [Figure 14] 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a network device according to an embodiment of this application.

[0057] [Figure 15] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal according to an embodiment of this application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0058] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 according to one embodiment of the present application.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 100 includes a network device 110 and a terminal 120. The terminal 120 communicates with the network device 110 through electromagnetic waves. When the terminal 120 transmits information, a wireless communication module of the terminal 120 may obtain information bits to be transmitted to the network device 110 by using a wireless channel. For example, the information bits are information bits generated by a processing module of the terminal, received from another device, or stored in a storage module of the terminal. Specifically, the terminal 120 may be used as an entity for transmitting uplink data to transmit an uplink channel to the network device 110. The uplink channel may carry the uplink data. The terminal 120 may also receive downlink data directly transmitted by the network device 110 or forwarded by the network device 110 using a network node such as a relay device.

[0060] It should be understood that Fig. 1 shows an example of one network device and one terminal. Optionally, the communication system 100 may include multiple network devices, and a different number of terminals may be included in the coverage area of ​​each network device. This is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

[0061] In addition to the point-to-point transmission between the network device and the terminal shown in Fig. 1, this embodiment of the application can be further applied to scenarios such as multi-hop / relay transmission between the network device and the terminal, dual connectivity (DC), or multi-connectivity between multiple network devices and the terminal, which are not particularly limited in this application.

[0062] In this application, the terminal 120 may be various types of devices that provide voice and / or data connectivity to a user, for example, the terminal 120 may be a handheld device with wireless connectivity or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal 120 may communicate with a core network through an access network, such as a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and / or data with the RAN. The terminal 120 may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile device, remote station, access point (AP), remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, user device, etc. For example, the terminal 120 may be a mobile phone (also referred to as a "cellular" phone), a computer with a mobile terminal, a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, computer-embedded, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, an intelligent wearable device, an unmanned aerial device, etc. In this embodiment of the application, the chip used in the above-mentioned device may also be called a terminal.

[0063] In this application, the network device 110 may be an access network device, which may be configured to connect the terminal 120 to an access network such as a RAN. The network device 110 may be a base station defined by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). For example, the network device 110 may be a base station device in an LTE system, i.e., an evolved NodeB (eNB / eNodeB), or may be an access network side device in a 5G new radio (NR) system including a gNB and a transmission reception point (TRP), or may be a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU), where the CU may also be called a control unit, and the protocol layer of the base station is split using a CU-DU structure, some functions of the protocol layer are centrally controlled by the CU, some or all functions of the protocol layer are distributed to the DU, and the CU centrally controls the DU. Additionally, when the eNB is connected to a 5G core network (5GCN), the LTE eNB may also be referred to as an eLTE eNB. Specifically, the eLTE eNB is an LTE base station device evolved according to the LTE eNB and may be directly connected to the 5GCN. The eLTE eNB also belongs to a base station device in the NR. Alternatively, the network device 110 may be an access point (AP), an access controller (AC), or another network device having the ability to communicate with the terminal and the core network, such as a relay device, an in-vehicle device, an intelligent wearable device, etc. In this embodiment of this application, the type of the network device is not limited.

[0064] The following describes techniques related to PDCCH.

[0065] The NR system is used as an example. The NR system is divided into individual subcarriers in the frequency domain, and the subcarrier spacing (SCS) may be determined according to the subcarrier spacing setting μ. For example, when μ=0, the subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz, and when μ=1, the subcarrier spacing is 30 kHz. The unit of resource in the frequency domain of the uplink or downlink is a resource block (RB), and each RB includes 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. Figure 2 shows the downlink time-frequency resource grid. As shown in Figure 2, NRB indicates the number of RBs in one downlink scheduling. Each element in the resource grid is called a resource element (RE), and an RE is the smallest physical resource and corresponds to one subcarrier in one symbol. The uplink time-frequency resource grid is similar to the downlink time-frequency resource grid. In an NR system, a slot may contain 12 or 14 symbols in time, and each symbol may be indicated by an index. Symbols presented in this application refer to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

[0066] The CORESET is used to transmit the PDCCH, and the PDCCH is transmitted within the CORESET, using some or all of the time-frequency resources in the CORESET. The CORESET may be understood as a time-frequency resource set. Specifically, one CORESET includes search spaces at different aggregation levels, includes multiple consecutive or non-consecutive RBs in the frequency domain, and includes one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain, which may be located at any position within a slot. The CORESET may be configured by higher layer signaling, such as radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0067] A control channel element (CCE) is a basic resource unit carrying a PDCCH, and a resource carrying a PDCCH includes one or more CCEs. Each CCE in the CORESET corresponds to an index number. A given PDCCH may be carried by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs, and the number of CCEs carrying a PDCCH may be determined according to the DCI payload size and the required coding rate. The number of CCEs carrying a PDCCH is also called aggregation level (AL). A network side device may adjust the aggregation level of a PDCCH according to the condition of the actual transmitted wireless channel to implement adaptive link transmission. One CCE is formed by six resource-element groups (REGs). One REG occupies one OFDM symbol in the time domain and one RB in the frequency domain.

[0068] The DCI is transmitted via the PDCCH or the PDCCH carries the DCI. The DCI may indicate downlink allocation information, e.g., modulation and coding scheme, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the downlink shared channel. The DCI may further indicate uplink scheduling grant information, e.g., modulation and coding scheme, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel.

[0069] A search space is a set of PDCCH candidates at an aggregation level. A PDCCH candidate is considered as a time-frequency location where a PDCCH may appear, and each PDCCH candidate has a corresponding time-frequency resource. A network device may select one or more PDCCH candidates for transmitting DCI, which may be understood as transmitting a PDCCH. A network device may configure one search space or multiple search spaces at different aggregation levels for a terminal using higher layer signaling. These search spaces may be referred to as search space sets (SS sets). In other words, one search space set may include one search space or multiple search spaces at different aggregation levels. Although the terminal does not know in advance the specific PDCCH candidates or the specific PDCCH candidates on which DCI is transmitted by the network device, the terminal knows the locations of these PDCCH candidates according to the configuration information, and therefore the terminal monitors the PDCCH candidates in the search space, including attempting to detect and decode all PDCCH candidates in the search space. If the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is successful, the terminal is deemed to receive the PDCCH sent by the network device and acquire the DCI carried on the PDCCH. In this case, the terminal may continue to perform subsequent uplink and downlink data transmission processes according to the DCI carried by the PDCCH. The above behavior in which the terminal performs decoding for each PDCCH candidate to determine whether the corresponding DCI is received may also be referred to as blind detection (BD). The duration for which the terminal performs PDCCH blind detection on the search space set may be referred to as a PDCCH monitoring occasion (PDCCH MO). One PDCCH MO may be included in one slot or one time span.Specifically, one PDCCH MO may be jointly determined using the monitoring start symbol of one search space set and the CORESET bound to the monitored search space set. For example, the monitoring start symbol of one search space set monitored by the terminal side device is the first symbol in one slot, and the search space set is bound to one CORESET with a length of three symbols. Therefore, the PDCCH MO for monitoring the search space set is the first three symbols in the slot where the PDCCH MO is located, that is, the first symbol, the second symbol, and the third symbol. The number of slots required for the PDCCH MO may be referred to as a monitoring period. Optionally, the minimum unit of the monitoring period is one slot.

[0070] "Monitoring" described in this application may also be understood as "attempting to decode", "monitoring a PDCCH" may also be understood as "attempting to decode a PDCCH", and "detecting a PDCCH" may also be understood as "successfully decoding a PDCCH". Additionally, the meaning of "monitoring a PDCCH" described in this application is the same as the meaning of "monitoring a PDCCH candidate". Details will not be described again below.

[0071] In order to improve the PDCCH reception performance, the network device may repeatedly transmit the PDCCH. There are multiple ways to repeatedly transmit the PDCCH. Multiple PDCCHs carrying the same DCI may be transmitted at different times, at different frequencies, or using different beams, and multiple PDCCHs carrying the same DCI may be simultaneously transmitted to one terminal using multiple transmission points. For example, the PDCCH is repeatedly transmitted twice, which means that the same DCI is repeatedly transmitted twice. The repeated transmission of the PDCCH may be defined as follows. That is, multiple PDCCHs transmit the same DCI using the same AL, and the coding bits carried by the multiple PDCCHs are also the same. In this application, the "repeated transmission of the PDCCH" is also referred to as "PDCCH repetition" or "PDCCH repeated transmission", and the "PDCCH used to repeatedly transmit the DCI" may also be referred to as the "repeated transmission PDCCH". Corresponding to the repeated transmission of the PDCCH, there is also a PDCCH for individually transmitting the DCI, or a PDCCH for separately transmitting the DCI. In other words, a PDCCH carrying a particular DCI is transmitted by a network device to a terminal only once when the first data transmission is scheduled. In this application, a "PDCCH for individually transmitting DCI" may also be referred to as an "individual PDCCH" or an "individual transmission PDCCH", a PDCCH candidate that can be used as an individual PDCCH may also be referred to as an "individual PDCCH candidate" or a "PDCCH candidate for individually transmitting DCI", and an SS set including an individual PDCCH candidate may be referred to as an individual SS set. An individual PDCCH does not need to be repeatedly transmitted or soft-combined with other PDCCHs.

[0072] All PDCCH candidates in one search space set may be defined as being used for PDCCH repeated transmission and not used as an individual PDCCH. Linkage may be configured for different search space sets for PDCCH repeated transmission. Linkage may be indicated to the terminal by the network device using indicator information. For example, an identifier of another associated search space set is added to the configuration information of one search space set. Linkage between two search space sets means that a PDCCH candidate in one search space set has a one-to-one correspondence with a PDCCH candidate in the other search space set and is used for PDCCH repeated transmission. Specifically, a PDCCH candidate in one search space set may be linked with a corresponding PDCCH candidate in another search space set and used to transmit the same DCI. The corresponding PDCCH candidates may be PDCCH candidates in search spaces at the same aggregation level in different search space sets. Optionally, the sequence numbers of the corresponding PDCCH candidates are the same, or there is another pre-set linkage between the sequence numbers of the corresponding PDCCH candidates, for example, there is a pre-defined offset between the sequence numbers of the PDCCH candidates. Additionally, in this application, the associated PDCCH candidates used for the PDCCH repeated transmission are referred to as linked PDCCH candidates, and the search space set including the linked PDCCH candidates used for the PDCCH repeated transmission are referred to as linked SS sets.

[0073] For example, two linked PDCCH candidates may be used for PDCCH repeated transmission. The two PDCCH candidates may be referred to as a linked PDCCH candidate pair or a pair of linked PDCCH candidates. The search space sets to which the two PDCCH candidates respectively belong may be referred to as a linked search space set pair or a pair of linked search space sets. The number of PDCCH candidates included in each pair of linked SS sets is the same, and the PDCCH candidates are in one-to-one correspondence. The pair of linked SS sets may include one or more pairs of linked PDCCH candidates, and each pair of linked PDCCH candidates is used to transmit one DCI, and the DCIs transmitted by different pairs of linked PDCCH candidates may be the same or different. For example, the network device selects a pair of linked PDCCH candidates to transmit DCI#1 and selects another pair of linked PDCCH candidates to transmit DCI#2. As another example, in the process of transmitting DCI#1 for the first time, the network device selects a pair of linked PDCCH candidates to transmit DCI#1, and in the process of transmitting DCI#1 for the second time, the network device selects another pair of linked PDCCH candidates to transmit DCI#1. It should be understood that in this application, the number of PDCCH candidates used to repeatedly transmit DCI is not limited, and the number of linked PDCCH candidates is not limited to only two. There may be more than two linked PDCCH candidates used to transmit the same DCI. Correspondingly, the more than two linked PDCCH candidates belong to more than two linked SS sets, respectively.

[0074] FIG. 3 is used as an example to explain linked PDCCH candidates and linked SS sets. Referring to FIG. 3, SS set #i and SS set #j are SS sets linked to each other, and the linkage between SS set #i and SS set #j is set by a network device. The PDCCH candidates used for PDCCH repeated transmission are two PDCCH candidates in SS set #i and SS set #j, respectively. It is assumed that SS set #i includes a search space at aggregation level 8 (AL8) and a search space at aggregation level 16, and the search space at aggregation level 8 and the search space at aggregation level 16 correspond to two PDCCH candidates and one PDCCH candidate, respectively. SS set #j includes a search space at AL8 and a search space at AL16, and corresponds to two PDCCH candidates and one PDCCH candidate, respectively. The PDCCH candidates in each search space may be numbered according to a mapping relationship predefined by the protocol. For example, two PDCCH candidates in SS in AL8 in SS set #i are numbered as PDCCH candidate #1A and PDCCH candidate #2A, respectively, according to a mapping relationship predefined by the protocol. PDCCHs in other search spaces in the figure are numbered similarly, and the details are not described again. For AL8, PDCCH candidate #1A in SS set #i and PDCCH candidate #1B in SS set #j are used together for PDCCH repeated transmission, and PDCCH candidate #2A in SS set #i and PDCCH candidate #2B in SS set #j are used together for PDCCH repeated transmission. For AL16, PDCCH candidate #1A in SS set #i and PDCCH candidate #1B in SS set #j are used together for PDCCH repeated transmission. Note that all PDCCH candidates in set #i and SS set #j are used for PDCCH repeated transmission. If the network device transmits a dedicated PDCCH to the terminal, this transmission may be implemented by configuring another SS set, for example, SS set #k.

[0075] Since the duration of the two SS sets may be different, the individual SS set and the linked SS set may have PDCCH candidates with overlapping resources in the monitoring period. In other words, there is a scenario in which the resources corresponding to the individual PDCCH candidate and the linked PDCCH candidate are the same, i.e., the resources completely overlap. When the terminal monitors the PDCCH on the overlapping resources, the terminal may fail to distinguish whether the PDCCH is an individual PDCCH candidate or a linked PDCCH candidate. With reference to FIG. 4, SS set #1 and SS set #3 are a pair of SS sets used for PDCCH repeated transmission. PDCCH candidate #1 in SS set #1 and PDCCH candidate #3 in SS set #2 are a pair of linked PDCCH candidates. SS set #2 includes one or more individual PDCCH candidates including PDCCH candidate #3. PDCCH candidate #1 and PDCCH candidate #2 are on the same resource, and the monitoring occasion where SS set #3 is located is earlier than the monitoring time where SS set #1 and SS set #2 are located. Assume that the terminal does not monitor the PDCCH in SS set #3, but monitors the PDCCH on resources in SS set #1 and SS set #2 (i.e., successfully decodes the PDCCH). In this case, the terminal cannot determine whether the PDCCH is in PDCCH candidate #1 or PDCCH candidate #2. In other words, the terminal cannot determine whether the PDCCH is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH. For example, assume that interference on resources of SS set #3 is strong, and as a result, the terminal fails to decode SS set #3. Additionally, the terminal detects the PDCCH on overlapping resources of SS set #1 and SS set #2. If the terminal attempts to combine and decode the monitored PDCCH resources with the resources of SS set #3, there may be strong interference in SS set #3, which may cause failure in combining and decoding the monitored PDCCH resources with the resources of SS set #3, so the terminal may mistakenly think that the PDCCH is an independent transmission PDCCH, which contradicts the understanding that the network device actually transmits the repeated transmission PDCCH, resulting in failure of data transmission related to the PDCCH.

[0076] Because the terminal cannot determine whether the detected PDCCH is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH on the overlapped resource, the terminal cannot determine whether the reference PDCCH candidate is determined according to the dedicated PDCCH candidate or the linked PDCCH candidate. The reference PDCCH candidate is also called a reference point or a reference PDCCH, and may be used to determine resources for uplink or downlink data transmission, or may be used to determine some parameters in the uplink or downlink transmission process. Specifically, if the terminal detects a dedicated PDCCH, the dedicated PDCCH may be used as a reference point. However, in PDCCH repeated transmission, the same DCI is transmitted on two linked PDCCH candidates, and the terminal may detect the PDCCH only on the first PDCCH candidate, or may detect the PDCCH only on the second PDCCH candidate, or the terminal may detect the PDCCH on both PDCCH candidates and needs to decide whether the earlier or later PDCCH candidate is used as the reference point.

[0077] Therefore, this application provides a communication method for determining a reference PDCCH candidate when the resources corresponding to individual PDCCH candidates and linked PDCCH candidates are the same, in order to maintain a consistent understanding of the reference PDCCH candidate between a terminal and a network device.

[0078] Unless otherwise specified, the resources described in the embodiments of this application are resources including time domain resources and frequency domain resources, which may be used to carry data or signaling in an uplink communication process or a downlink communication process. The time domain resources and frequency domain resources may be combined into "time-frequency resources".

[0079] It should be understood that the term "and / or" in this specification describes only the linkage between associated objects, and three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent three cases: only A is present, both A and B are present, and only B is present. Additionally, the character " / " in this specification generally indicates an "or" relationship between associated objects.

[0080] In the embodiments of this application, it should be understood that "B corresponds to A" indicates that B is linked with A, and B may be determined based on A. However, it should be further understood that determining B based on A does not mean that B is determined based only on A. B may alternatively be determined based on A and / or other information.

[0081] "Plurality" in the embodiments of this application means two or more than two.

[0082] Descriptions such as "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of this application are used only as examples and to distinguish between objects, but do not indicate a sequence or any particular limitation on the number of objects in the embodiments of this application and cannot constitute any limitation on the embodiments of this application.

[0083] In the embodiments of this application, "transmit / transmission" means bidirectional transmission, unless otherwise specified, and includes a sending action and / or a receiving action. Specifically, in this embodiment of this application, "transmit / transmission" includes information transmission, information reception, or information transmission and reception. In other words, information transmission in this specification includes uplink and / or downlink information transmission. Information may include data and / or signaling, etc. Uplink information transmission includes uplink data and / or uplink signaling transmission, and downlink information transmission includes downlink data and / or downlink signaling transmission.

[0084] 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that the communication method described below uses a terminal and a network device as an execution body, but the type of execution body is not limited in this application. For example, the communication method described below may also be performed by a communication device used in a terminal or a communication device used in a network device. The communication device may be a chip or another device including some functions of a terminal or a network device.

[0085] As shown in FIG. 5, the method includes the following steps.

[0086] S501: A network device transmits configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set to a terminal.

[0087] In response to this, the terminal receives configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set.

[0088] Optionally, the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set and the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set may be transmitted together or separately, which is not particularly limited in this application.

[0089] The first PDCCH candidate set includes one or more PDCCH candidates, and the second PDCCH candidate set includes one or more PDCCH candidates. The first PDCCH candidate set is used for PDCCH repeated transmission.

[0090] The first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set may be two search spaces or two search space sets, and the two search space sets may correspond to the same CORESET or different CORESETs.

[0091] One or more PDCCH candidates in the first PDCCH candidate set and another one or more PDCCH candidates form a PDCCH candidate group. Two PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH candidate group used to transmit the same DCI may be referred to as a pair of PDCCH candidates, i.e., a pair of linked PDCCH candidates as mentioned above. It may be understood that a PDCCH candidate group may include one or more pairs of PDCCH candidates, and the PDCCH candidates in each pair of PDCCH candidates have a one-to-one correspondence, and each pair of PDCCH candidates may be used to transmit the same DCI. For details of linked PDCCH candidates, please refer to the related content mentioned above. The details will not be described again here.

[0092] The second PDCCH candidate set may include one or more PDCCH candidates used to transmit DCI independently. For example, the PDCCH candidate set is a separate SS set. For details, see the related description above. The details will not be described again here. In other words, the second PDCCH candidate set is not configured for PDCCH repeated transmission.

[0093] Optionally, the method further includes S501a, that is, the network device sends configuration information of a third PDCCH candidate set to the terminal, and the first PDCCH candidate set has a linkage with the third PDCCH candidate set.

[0094] The third PDCCH candidate set is also 1 The first PDCCH candidate set is a search space set used for PDCCH repeated transmission. The linkage between the first PDCCH candidate set and the third PDCCH candidate set may be configured by the base station using higher layer signaling. For example, the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set may include identification information of the third PDCCH candidate set to reflect the linkage between the first PDCCH candidate set and the third PDCCH candidate set.

[0095] The third PDCCH candidate set includes one or more PDCCH candidates, and the number of PDCCH candidates in the third PDCCH candidate set is the same as the number of PDCCH candidates in the first PDCCH candidate set, and forms one or more pairs of PDCCH candidates in one-to-one correspondence and used to transmit the same DCI. In other words, the third PDCCH candidate set and the first PDCCH candidate set may form a pair of linked SS sets. For a detailed description of the linked SS set, please refer to the related content above. The details will not be described again here.

[0096] Optionally, the configuration information of the third PDCCH candidate set and the configuration information of the first or second PDCCH candidate set may be transmitted together or separately, which is not particularly limited in this application.

[0097] Optionally, none of the resources corresponding to the third PDCCH candidate set and the first PDCCH candidate set may overlap, in particular, neither the frequency domain resources nor the time domain resources may overlap, or the resources corresponding to the third PDCCH candidate set and the first PDCCH candidate set may partially overlap, for example, the time domain resources may fully overlap but the frequency domain resources may not overlap, or the frequency domain resources may fully overlap but the time domain resources may not overlap.

[0098] Optionally, the configuration information may indicate a time-frequency resource location where a PDCCH carrying DCI may appear. The configuration information may specifically include CORESET configuration information and / or search space set configuration information. The CORESET configuration information may indicate a CORESET corresponding to a PDCCH candidate set, and the search space set configuration information may include a configuration of a PDCCH candidate set. Here, the PDCCH candidate set may be a first PDCCH candidate set, a second PDCCH candidate set, or a third PDCCH candidate set.

[0099] Specifically, the CORESET configuration information may include one or more of the following items: CORESET identifier or index, CORESET frequency domain location, CORESET duration, number of OFDM symbols occupied by the CORESET, scrambling sequence initialization value for DMRS, CCE to REG mapping type, precoding granularity, transmission configuration indicator (TCI), and scrambling code identifier. The search space set configuration information may include one or more of the following items: search space set identifier, identifier of the CORESET linked to the search space set, monitoring period and slot offset within the monitoring period, monitoring time domain location, aggregation level and corresponding number of PDCCH candidates, and DCI format.

[0100] After receiving the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set and the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set, the terminal may separately determine the resource locations of the PDCCH candidates in the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set according to the configuration information.

[0101] S502: The network device transmits a first DCI to the terminal, where the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate or is carried on a second PDCCH candidate, and the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource.

[0102] In this embodiment of the present application, the purpose of the first DCI or the information included in the first DCI is not specifically limited. For example, the first DCI may be used to schedule downlink data transmission or uplink data transmission.

[0103] The first PDCCH candidate belongs to a first PDCCH candidate set, and the second PDCCH candidate belongs to a second PDCCH candidate set. The first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, which may mean that the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate use the same CCE set. Specifically, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate may have the same aggregation level and the same CCE time-frequency position.

[0104] The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate included in the third PDCCH candidate set belong to a PDCCH candidate group and are used to transmit the same DCI. For example, when the network device adopts PDCCH repeated transmission, the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate are used to transmit the first DCI. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate form a pair of PDCCH candidates used for PDCCH repeated transmission, that is, the above-mentioned linked PDCCH candidate pair. It will be understood that this application is not limited to only the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate being used to transmit the same DCI, and one or more other PDCCH candidates and the first PDCCH candidate or the third PDCCH candidate are linked PDCCH candidates to each other and are used to transmit the same DCI.

[0105] In response, the terminal receives a first DCI.

[0106] Specifically, the terminal monitors one or more PDCCH candidate sets configured by a network device for the terminal, including, for example, a first PDCCH candidate set, a second PDCCH candidate set, and a third PDCCH candidate set. The terminal separately performs processing, including decoding, CRC check, etc., on each PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set, each PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, and each PDCCH candidate in the third PDCCH candidate set according to configuration information corresponding to each PDCCH candidate set. When the CRC check is successful, the terminal may be considered to have received the first DCI.

[0107] For ease of explanation, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate appearing in the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8 are two PDCCH candidates that belong to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set respectively and have the same resources, but do not represent another PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or the second PDCCH candidate set.

[0108] In this embodiment of the application, the first PDCCH candidate, the second PDCCH candidate, and the third PDCCH candidate may specifically be PDCCH candidate #1, PDCCH candidate #2, and PDCCH candidate #3, respectively, and the first PDCCH candidate set, the second PDCCH candidate set, and the third PDCCH candidate set may specifically be SS set #1, SS set #2, and SS set #3, respectively.

[0109] Assume that {PDCCH candidate #1, PDCCH candidate #3} is used to transmit DCI #1. When the terminal performs decoding on {PDCCH candidate #1, PDCCH candidate #3}, there may be several processing methods as follows:

[0110] (1) Decoding is performed only on the combined information of PDCCH candidate #1 and PDCCH candidate #3. When the combined information is correctly decoded, the UE considers that the reception of DCI #1 is successful.

[0111] (2) Decoding is performed for PDCCH candidate #1 and decoding is performed for PDCCH candidate #3. As long as one of the two is decoded correctly, the UE considers the reception of DCI #1 successful.

[0112] (3) Decoding is performed on PDCCH candidate #1, decoding is performed on PDCCH candidate #3, and decoding is performed on the combined information of PDCCH candidate #1 and PDCCH candidate #3. As long as one of the three is decoded correctly, the UE considers that reception of DCI #1 was successful.

[0113] In this embodiment of this application, the resource corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate is the same as the resource corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate means that the time domain resource corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate completely overlaps, and the frequency domain resource corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate completely overlaps. In other words, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are located on completely overlapping resources.

[0114] Additionally, in addition to the resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate that may carry the first DCI and corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate completely overlapping, the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set may further correspond to another overlapping resource. This application does not restrict the resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set to completely or partially overlapping.

[0115] Optionally, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate, in addition to corresponding to the same resource (using the same CCE set), further satisfy the following conditions: the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate have the same scrambling code sequence, and the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate carry downlink control information of the same payload size. Optionally, the conditions further include that the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are linked with the same CORESET, or correspond to different CORESETs but have the same scrambling code, or correspond to different CORESETs but have the same quasi-co-location characteristic. When the resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are the same and the above-listed multiple conditions are satisfied, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate may be counted as one monitored PDCCH candidate, or the two PDCCH candidates may satisfy the counting rule of performing blind detection once, so that the complexity and power consumption of the blind detection performed by the terminal may be reduced.

[0116] S503: The terminal determines a reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group, or uses a second PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate, and the time domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission.

[0117] It will be understood that the manner in which the network device and the terminal determine that the reference PDCCH candidate is the same includes determining the reference PDCCH candidate according to a PDCCH candidate group, or using a second PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate.

[0118] It should be noted that in this application, the execution sequence of the step of determining a reference PDCCH candidate by the network device and the step of sending the first DCI to the terminal by the network device is not limited.

[0119] Hereinafter, a specific method for determining a reference PDCCH candidate will be described using the terminal side as an example. Details on the network device side will not be described again here.

[0120] After obtaining the first DCI, the terminal determines a reference PDCCH candidate, i.e., a reference point, for performing a subsequent downlink data transmission or uplink data transmission. The reference PDCCH candidate may be used as a reference point for downlink information transmission or uplink information transmission. When the terminal determines the reference PDCCH candidate according to a PDCCH candidate group, different PDCCH candidates in the PDCCH candidate group may be used as reference points for different communication processes.

[0121] For example, in a downlink data transmission process, when the time domain position of the PDSCH is determined according to the scheduling offset K0, a PDCCH candidate in a later time domain position of a pair of PDCCH candidates (e.g., the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate) including the first PDCCH candidate of a PDCCH candidate group may be used as a reference point, where K0 indicates whether the PDSCH received by the terminal is in the same slot as the PDCCH scheduling the PDSCH or in a different slot. K0=0 indicates that the offset is 0 slot, i.e., the scheduled PDSCH and PDCCH are in the same slot. K0=1 indicates that the offset is 1 slot, i.e., the difference between the scheduled PDSCH and PDCCH is 1 slot.

[0122] In another example, in a downlink data transmission process, when the C-DAI or T-DAI is determined, a PDCCH candidate at an earlier time domain position in a pair of PDCCH candidates including the first PDCCH candidate may be used as a reference point. The C-DAI and the T-DAI are used to determine the position of the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the PDSCH in the codebook. As shown in FIG. 6, assume that {PDCCH candidate #1, PDCCH candidate #3} carry {DCI1A, DCI1B}, where DCI1A and DCI1B are the same DCI and both are used to schedule PDSCH1. PDCCH candidate #1 is located in an earlier PDCCH MO #1, and PDCCH candidate #3 is located in a later PDCCH MO #2. PDCCH MO #1 carries DCI1A and DCI2. DCI2 schedules PDSCH2, and the cell identifier (CC0) corresponding to DCI1 is smaller than the cell identifier (CC1) corresponding to DCI2. Additionally, PDCCH MO#3 transmits DCI4, and DCI4 is used to schedule PDSCH3. PDCCH candidate#1 is used as a reference point for determining C-DAI and T-DAI corresponding to PDSCH1, including obtaining T-DAI=2 according to the total number of DCIs transmitted in PDCCH MO#1, and obtaining C-DAI=1 using the earliest DCI1 in PDCCH MO#1. The C-DAI and T-DAI of DCI1B on PDCCH candidate#3 may use the C-DAI and T-DAI values ​​determined using PDCCH candidate#1, specifically, C-DAI=1 and T-DAI=2. Additionally, it may be further determined that the C-DAI value and T-DAI value corresponding to DCI2 are (2,2), and the C-DAI value and T-DAI value corresponding to DCI4 are (3,3). Details will not be described again here.

[0123] In another example, in an uplink data transmission process, when a processing time Z of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is determined, a PDCCH candidate at a later time domain position among a pair of PDCCH candidates including a first PDCCH candidate may be used as a reference point. The processing time Z of the CSI-RS is used to restrict the PUSCH scheduled by the network device for CSI reporting to be no earlier than Z symbols, and the terminal processes DCI, receives and processes CSI-RS, prepares uplink data, etc., at Z symbols. The start position of the Z symbols may be determined according to the time domain position of the PDCCH candidate with the later time domain position. For example, Z symbols are counted backwards from the symbol next to the end symbol of the PDCCH candidate with the later time domain position.

[0124] As another example, in an uplink control information transmission process, when the resource location of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) is determined, the reference point is the PDCCH candidate corresponding to the control resource set identifier (ID) or the smallest SS set ID among the pair of PDCCH candidates including the first PDCCH candidate. Specifically, the PDCCH candidate set is an SS set, and when the number of resources in the PUCCH resource set is greater than 8, the number of available PUCCH resources is limited to not exceed 8, and the location of the resource in the PUCCH resource set is determined jointly using the PDCCH candidate corresponding to the smallest CORESET ID or the smallest SS set ID and a mapping relationship predefined by the protocol. In addition to using the reference PDCCH candidate to determine the resource for uplink information or downlink information transmission, the reference PDCCH candidate may be further used in some other communication processes, for example, to determine whether DCI is valid for scheduling uplink data transmission. Specifically, the reference PDCCH candidate may be used to determine N2 symbols in the processing time of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). When the terminal receives a DCI used to schedule an uplink data transmission, the terminal counts N2 symbols starting from the next symbol of the end symbol of the DCI. If the terminal finds that the start symbol of the uplink data transmission scheduled by the DCI is within N2 symbols, it indicates that the DCI is invalid, and the terminal ignores the DCI and does not perform further processing. When a PDCCH candidate group is used, the end symbol of the DCI may be determined according to the time domain position of the PDCCH candidate whose time domain position is later in the pair of PDCCH candidates including the first PDCCH candidate. In other words, the start symbol of the N2 symbols may be determined according to the time domain position of the PDCCH candidate.For example, N2 symbols are counted from the symbol next to the end symbol of the PDCCH candidate at the later time domain position.

[0125] It will be appreciated that the PDCCH candidate at the earlier or later time domain position may be determined in different manners in different scenarios. If the PDCCH candidate used for the PDCCH repeated transmission is located in one slot, the time domain position may be determined according to the value of the starting symbol index of the PDCCH candidate. For example, the PDCCH candidate with the smallest starting symbol index is the PDCCH candidate with the earlier time domain position. If the PDCCH candidate used for the PDCCH repeated transmission is located in different slots, the time domain position may be determined according to the slot number. For example, the PDCCH candidate located in the starting slot with the smallest slot number is the PDCCH candidate with the earlier time domain position.

[0126] It is still used as an example that the PDCCH candidate group includes {PDCCH candidate #1, PDCCH candidate #3}. The starting symbol index of PDCCH candidate #1 is smaller than the starting symbol index of PDCCH candidate #3, the SS set #1 where PDCCH candidate #1 is located corresponds to CORESET #2, the SS set #3 where PDCCH candidate #3 is located corresponds to CORESET #1, and the resource corresponding to PDCCH candidate #1 is the same as the resource of PDCCH candidate #2 which independently transmits DCI (for convenience of explanation, the numbers #1, #2, etc. represent identifiers or indexes). When the time domain position of the PDSCH, the processing time N2 of the PUSCH, and the processing time Z of the CSI-RS are determined, the PDCCH candidate #3 may be used as a reference point, and when the C-DAI or T-DAI is determined, the PDCCH candidate #1 may be used as a reference point. When the resource position of the PUCCH is determined, if the CORESET ID is used as the decision basis, PDCCH candidate #3 is determined as the reference point, and if the SS set ID is used as the decision basis, PDCCH candidate #1 is determined as the reference point.

[0127] According to the communication method provided in this application, the reference PDCCH candidate is determined based on the PDCCH candidate group used for repeated transmission or the PDCCH candidate used for independent transmission. This solves the problem that the terminal cannot distinguish whether the PDCCH is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH on the overlapped resource. In this way, the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the determination scheme of the reference point related to the PDCCH detected by the terminal on the overlapped resource, thereby improving the reliability of communication.

[0128] Optionally, in the implementation of this application, regardless of whether the first DCI is carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate, the terminal determines the reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group. In other words, regardless of whether the first DCI received by the terminal is a PDCCH candidate for independent transmission or a PDCCH candidate for repeated transmission, the terminal determines the reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group. With respect to the transmitting end, the network device may perform PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission on resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate.

[0129] FIG. 7 is used as an example to explain the process of determining a reference point (reference PDCCH candidate) in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, resources corresponding to SS set #1 and SS set #2 are overlapped, and PDCCH candidate #1 in SS set #1 and PDCCH candidate #2 in SS set #2 are located on the overlapped resources. SS set #1 and SS set #3 are used for PDCCH repeated transmission, and PDCCH candidate #1 and PDCCH candidate #3 in SS set #3 are PDCCH candidates linked with each other. The network device uses RRC parameters to configure the two SS sets to have a linkage. The PDCCH candidate in SS set #2 is used to transmit DCI independently. When the terminal detects a PDCCH on the overlapped resources, it determines a reference point according to the linked PDCCH candidate, i.e., PDCCH candidate #1 or PDCCH candidate #3, regardless of whether the detected PDCCH is PDCCH candidate #1 or PDCCH candidate #2. For example, even if the network device actually transmits DCI on PDCCH candidate #2, when the terminal detects a PDCCH on the overlapping resource, the terminal may determine the related reference point according to the linked PDCCH candidate. For example, assuming K0=1, when the time domain position used to transmit the PDSCH is calculated, the later PDCCH candidate among PDCCH candidate #1 and PDCCH candidate #3 is used as a reference, and one slot is offset from the next symbol of the end symbol of PDCCH candidate #1 to obtain the time domain position of the PDSCH. The network device also uses PDCCH candidate #1 as a reference point to determine the time domain position used to transmit the PDSCH, following the same understanding as the terminal.

[0130] Optionally, in one implementation of this application, regardless of whether the first DCI is carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate, the terminal uses the second PDCCH candidate as a reference PDCCH candidate. In other words, regardless of whether the first DCI received by the terminal is a PDCCH candidate for independent transmission or a PDCCH candidate for repeated transmission, the terminal determines a reference point according to the PDCCH candidate for independent transmission. As shown in Figure 8, the terminal uses the PDCCH candidate #2 as a reference point to determine the time domain position of the PDSCH. Details will not be described again here.

[0131] Using the above two implementations, the scheduling flexibility of the network device is improved, and the network device is not limited to transmitting only the independent transmission PDCCH or only the repeated transmission PDCCH on the overlapped resources. Additionally, there is no limitation on whether the PDCCH transmitted by the network device is the repeated transmission PDCCH or the independent transmission PDCCH, so using the above two implementations to determine the reference PDCCH candidate does not constitute a limitation on the decoding scheme of the terminal.

[0132] Optionally, in one implementation of this application, receiving the first DCI includes receiving the first DCI according to configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set, or receiving the first DCI according to configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set.

[0133] Specifically, receiving the first DCI includes determining a format of the DCI carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate, and determining a payload size of the DCI corresponding to the area information of the DCI and the format of the DCI. Receiving the first DCI according to the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set includes monitoring only each PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set, and skipping monitoring the PDCCH candidates in the second PDCCH candidate set. Specifically, the terminal assumes that the first DCI is transmitted only via the first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set, so that the terminal attempts to decode the first DCI only within the first PDCCH candidate set. Correspondingly, the network device transmits the first DCI only for the first PDCCH candidate using the configuration information (e.g., DCI format) of the first PDCCH candidate set, in order to maintain a consistent understanding with the terminal. Similarly, determining the first DCI according to the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set includes monitoring only the second PDCCH candidate set and skipping monitoring the first PDCCH candidate set. Details will not be described again here. It will be understood that in this implementation, the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set are search space sets, respectively.

[0134] In this implementation, the receiving operation of the terminal on the overlapped resource is predefined. The terminal may assume that the PDCCH received on the overlapped resource is a repeated transmission PDCCH or an independent transmission PDCCH. Correspondingly, the network device transmits only the repeated transmission PDCCH or only the independent transmission PDCCH on this resource. Whether the PDCCH actually monitored by the terminal is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH is determined according to a predefined rule. Correspondingly, the reference PDCCH candidate is also determined according to the following predefined rule, that is, the terminal determines the reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group when the first DCI is determined according to the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set, and the terminal uses the second PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate when the first PDCCH is determined according to the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set. For the process of determining the reference PDCCH candidate, please refer to the relevant content in the above implementation. Details will not be described again here.

[0135] This implementation affects the monitoring behavior of the terminal. Specifically, the terminal assumes that the received first DCI is carried on the first PDCCH candidate, i.e., the first DCI is repeatedly transmitted. If the terminal does not detect the first DCI on the first PDCCH candidate located on the overlapped resource, the terminal knows that the network device performs PDCCH repeated transmission on the overlapped resource, so the terminal may perform soft combining on another PDCCH candidate having a linkage with the first PDCCH candidate and then perform decoding to enhance the reliability of the PDCCH using the combining gain, and assumes to monitor the PDCCH candidate according to the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set. If the terminal assumes that the received first DCI is carried on the second PDCCH candidate, i.e., the terminal assumes that the first DCI is independently transmitted, the terminal does not use another PDCCH candidate for soft combining and decoding, because the terminal knows that the network device performs PDCCH repeated transmission on the overlapped resource when the terminal does not detect the DCI on the overlapped resource.

[0136] In this implementation, the problem of the terminal being unable to distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is transmitted independently or repeatedly on the overlapped resources is solved by increasing the scheduling constraint of the network device, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the reference point determination scheme related to the monitored PDCCH on the overlapped resources, thereby improving communication reliability.

[0137] 9 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the terminal does not monitor PDCCH candidates in the overlapping parts of two PDCCH candidate sets, thereby avoiding the problem that the terminal cannot determine whether the monitored PDCCH is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH.

[0138] As shown in FIG. 9, the method includes the following steps.

[0139] S901: A network device sends configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set to a terminal, where resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlap with resources corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set.

[0140] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set and the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set. For a description of the specific content of the configuration information, please refer to the relevant description of the above embodiment. The details will not be described again here.

[0141] The first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, where the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, the second PDCCH candidate set includes a second PDCCH candidate, where the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are located on overlapping resources, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to the third PDCCH candidate set.

[0142] Each of the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set includes at least one PDCCH candidate. In this application, a PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set on the overlapped resources is referred to as a first PDCCH candidate, and a PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set on the overlapped resources is referred to as a second PDCCH candidate. It will be understood that there may be one or more first PDCCH candidates and second PDCCH candidates on the overlapped resources.

[0143] Optionally, the method further includes: S901a, that is, the network device sends configuration information of a third PDCCH candidate set to the terminal, where the first PDCCH candidate set has a linkage with the third PDCCH candidate set.

[0144] The first PDCCH candidate set and the third PDCCH candidate set may be a linked search space set (linked SS set) used for PDCCH repeated transmission, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate form a pair of linked PDCCH candidates. For detailed descriptions of PDCCH candidate groups, linked SS sets, linked PDCCH candidates, etc., please refer to the related contents in the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 8. The details will not be described again here.

[0145] Optionally, in one implementation, the terminal may determine, according to the configuration information, an overlap status between resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set.

[0146] Optionally, the resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlap with the resources corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set, including the time domain resources or frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set, and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlaps. For example, the time domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set completely overlap, the frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlap, or the time domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlap, and the frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlap or completely overlap. There may be one or more first PDCCH candidates and second PDCCH candidates on the overlapping resources.

[0147] Optionally, in addition to the above description of the overlapping state of resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set, some restrictions may be added to the relationship between the two PDCCH candidate sets, including any one or more of the conditions that the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to DCI of the same payload size, or the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to DCI of the same format, etc. In other words, in addition to the overlapping of corresponding resources, the two PDCCH candidate sets further satisfy one or more of the above conditions, and the terminal executes S902.

[0148] Optionally, the network device may use higher layer signaling, such as RRC signaling, to configure that the DCI formats monitored by terminals in the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set are the same, e.g., both are DCI format 1_1 or DCI format 1_2, and / or the payload sizes of the monitored DCIs are the same.

[0149] Optionally, when resources overlap between the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set, and the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate on the overlapped resources further satisfy conditions such as the same corresponding resources, the same scrambling code sequence, and the same payload size of the carried DCI, the terminal executes S902. For the description of the above conditions, please refer to the related content above. The details will not be described again here.

[0150] S902: The terminal monitors PDCCH candidates on resources that are in a first PDCCH candidate set and do not overlap with any resources of a second PDCCH candidate set, and monitors PDCCH candidates on resources that are in the second PDCCH candidate set and do not overlap with any resources of the first PDCCH candidate set.

[0151] Specifically, the terminal does not monitor PDCCH candidates on overlapping resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set, but only monitors PDCCH candidates on resources other than the overlapping resources, including PDCCH candidates other than the first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set and PDCCH candidates other than the second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set.

[0152] In this implementation, the method further includes: S903: the terminal determines a reference PDCCH candidate according to a PDCCH monitored on a resource other than the overlapped resource.

[0153] The network device may transmit DCI via PDCCH candidates on non-overlapping resources in the first PDCCH candidate set or transmit DCI via PDCCH candidates on non-overlapping resources in the second PDCCH candidate set. The terminal monitors all PDCCH candidates on resources other than the overlapping resources and obtains the DCI transmitted by the network device from the monitored PDCCHs.

[0154] If the PDCCH actually monitored by the terminal is a PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set, the terminal may use the pair of linked PDCCH candidates in which the PDCCH candidate is located to determine the reference PDCCH candidate. If the PDCCH actually monitored by the terminal is a PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, the terminal may use the PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate. For a detailed description of the reference PDCCH candidate, please refer to the related content in the above embodiment. The details will not be described again here. Correspondingly, the network device may determine the reference PDCCH candidate based on the PDCCH candidate that actually carries the DCI. This process is similar to that on the terminal side, and the details will not be described again here.

[0155] Optionally, in another implementation, when the terminal determines that the resource corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlaps with the resource corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set, the terminal may not monitor the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set, so as to avoid a case where a PDCCH is detected on the overlapping resource and the terminal cannot determine whether the PDCCH is a repeated transmission PDCCH or an independent transmission PDCCH. In other words, S902 may be replaced with S902'. S902' includes the following: The terminal does not monitor the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set.

[0156] As shown in Figure 10, SS set #1 includes PDCCH candidates used to independently transmit DCI, SS set #1 and SS set #3 are SS sets linked to each other, SS set #2 includes PDCCH candidates used to independently transmit DCI, and the resources of SS set #1 and the resources of SS set #2 completely overlap. Assuming that the predefined UE does not monitor the linked SS set, the terminal does not monitor SS set #1 and SS set #3, but only monitors SS set #2. If the UE detects a PDCCH on the overlapped resource, the detected PDCCH is an independent transmission PDCCH.

[0157] As shown in FIG. 11, SS set #2 includes PDCCH candidates used for dedicated DCI transmission, SS set #1 and SS set #3 are SS sets linked to each other, and the resources of SS set #1 and SS set #3 are # The resources of SS Set #1 and SS Set #2 partially overlap. In this case, the terminal does not monitor PDCCH candidates on the overlapped resources and may normally monitor PDCCH candidates corresponding to other non-overlapping resources in SS Set #1 and SS Set #2.

[0158] According to the communication method provided in this application, the terminal does not monitor PDCCH candidates on the overlapping resources, which solves the problem that the terminal cannot distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH on the overlapping resources is an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the determination scheme of the reference point related to the monitored PDCCH on the overlapping resources, thereby improving the reliability of communication.

[0159] 12 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 12, the method includes the following steps:

[0160] S1201: A terminal receives configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set from a network device.

[0161] S1202: The terminal receives a first DCI from a network device, the first DCI including first index information, the first index information indicating that the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in a first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in a second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to carry the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set.

[0162] S1203: The terminal determines a reference PDCCH candidate according to the first DCI.

[0163] Optionally, the method further includes: S1201a, in which the terminal receives configuration information of a third PDCCH candidate set from a network device.

[0164] For detailed descriptions of the first PDCCH candidate set, the second PDCCH candidate set, and the third PDCCH candidate set, please refer to the relevant contents of the above-mentioned other embodiments, and the details will not be described again here.

[0165] Optionally, a bit field is added to the first DCI to determine whether the first DCI is carried on an independent transmission PDCCH or a repeated transmission PDCCH. For example, the bit field is 1 bit. When the bit field is '0', it indicates that the first DCI is carried on an independent transmission PDCCH. When the bit field is '1', it indicates that the first DCI is carried on a repeated transmission PDCCH.

[0166] After the terminal determines that the first DCI is carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate according to the first indicator information, the terminal may determine a reference PDCCH candidate according to a PDCCH candidate group or an individual PDCCH. For a detailed description of the reference PDCCH candidate, please refer to the related content in another embodiment. The details will not be described again here. Correspondingly, the network device may determine a reference PDCCH candidate according to a PDCCH candidate that actually carries the first DCI. The implementation is similar to that on the terminal side. The details will not be described again here.

[0167] According to the communication method provided in this application, the DCI includes indicator information to explicitly inform the terminal whether it is a repeated transmission PDCCH or an independent transmission PDCCH that is transmitted on the overlapped resources, so that the terminal and the network device have a consistent understanding of the PDCCH that is monitored on the overlapped resources, thereby improving communication reliability.

[0168] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device implementing any one of the above-mentioned methods. For example, in any one of the above-mentioned methods, Terminal A communication device is provided having a unit (or means) configured to implement the steps performed by a terminal or a network device. For example, FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application. The communication device may be a module, e.g., a chip, used in a terminal or a network device. Alternatively, the communication device is a terminal or a network device. As shown in FIG. 13, the communication device 1300 includes a transceiver unit 1310 and a processing unit 1320.

[0169] When the communication device is used in a terminal, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 1310 may be configured to receive configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set. Additionally, the transceiver unit 1310 may be configured to receive a first DCI, where the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set. The processing unit 1320 may be configured to determine a reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group, or to use a second PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH, and the time domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission.

[0170] Optionally, in one implementation, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate have the same scrambling code sequence and carry DCI of the same payload size.

[0171] Optionally, in one implementation, the PDCCH candidate group includes one or more PDCCH candidate pairs, each PDCCH candidate pair is used to transmit the same DCI, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate belong to one PDCCH candidate pair.

[0172] Optionally, in one implementation, the processing unit 1320 is specifically configured to use the first PDCCH candidate as a reference PDCCH candidate, or to use the third PDCCH candidate as a reference PDCCH candidate.

[0173] Optionally, in one implementation, the receiving unit 1310 is specifically configured to receive a first DCI according to the configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set, or receive a first DCI according to the configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set.

[0174] When the communication device is used in a terminal, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 1310 is configured to receive configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlap with resources corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, the second PDCCH candidate set includes a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are located on the overlapped resources, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to the third PDCCH candidate set. The processing unit 1320 is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates on resources in the first PDCCH candidate set and that do not overlap with resources of the second PDCCH candidate set, and to monitor PDCCH candidates on resources in the second PDCCH candidate set and that do not overlap with resources of the first PDCCH candidate set.

[0175] Optionally, in one implementation, the resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlapping with the resources corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set includes: the time domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set fully overlapping and the frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlapping, or the time domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlapping and the frequency domain resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set partially overlapping or fully overlapping.

[0176] Optionally, in one implementation, the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set satisfy one or more of the following conditions: the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to DCI of the same payload size, the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to the same scrambling code, or the first PDCCH candidate set and the second PDCCH candidate set correspond to DCI of the same format.

[0177] Optionally, in one implementation, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resources, have the same scrambling code sequence, and carry downlink control information of the same payload size.

[0178] When the communication device is used in a terminal, in one implementation, the receiving unit 1310 is configured to receive configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, and receive a first DCI, the first DCI includes a first indicator, the first indicator indicates whether the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set. The processing unit 1320 is configured to determine a reference PDCCH candidate based on the first DCI.

[0179] When the communication apparatus is used in a network device, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 1310 may be configured to transmit configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the second PDCCH candidate set includes a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to the third PDCCH candidate set. The transceiver unit 1310 is also configured to transmit a first DCI, where the first DCI is carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate. The processing unit 1320 is configured to determine a reference PDCCH candidate according to the PDCCH candidate group or use the second PDCCH candidate as a reference PDCCH, where a time domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission.

[0180] When the communication apparatus is used in a network device, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 1310 is configured to transmit configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, where resources corresponding to the first PDCCH candidate set overlap with resources corresponding to the second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, the second PDCCH candidate set includes a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate are located on the overlapped resources, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to the third PDCCH candidate set. The transceiver unit 1320 is also configured to transmit a first DCI, where the first DCI is carried on a PDCCH candidate on resources that are in the first PDCCH candidate set and do not overlap with resources of the second PDCCH candidate set, or the first DCI is carried on a PDCCH candidate on resources that are in the second PDCCH candidate set and do not overlap with resources of the first PDCCH candidate set.

[0181] When the communication apparatus is used in a network device, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 1310 is configured to transmit configuration information of a first PDCCH candidate set and configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set. The transceiver unit 1310 is also configured to transmit a first DCI, the first DCI including a first indicator, the first indicator indicating that the first DCI is carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a PDCCH candidate group, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate in the PDCCH candidate group are used to transmit the same DCI, and the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third PDCCH candidate set. For the description of the communication device on the network device side, please refer to the description of the communication device on the terminal side. For a more detailed description of the transceiver unit 1310 and the processing unit 1320, please refer to the related description in the embodiment of the method shown in Figures 5 to 12. The details will not be described again here.

[0182] The division of units in the device is merely a division of logical functions. In actual implementation, all or some of the units may be integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. Additionally, all units in the device may be implemented in a form in which the processing element calls software, or may be implemented in a form of hardware, or some units may be implemented in a form in which the processing element calls software and some units may be implemented in a form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element disposed separately, or may be integrated into a chip of the device for implementation. Additionally, each unit may alternatively be stored in a memory in the form of a program that is called by the processing element of the device to perform the function of the unit. Additionally, all or some of the units may be integrated or implemented independently. Here, the processing element may be called a processor, and may be an integrated circuit having a signal processing capability. During implementation, the steps in the above-mentioned method or the above-mentioned units may be implemented using a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor element, or may be implemented in the form of software that is called by the processor element.

[0183] In one implementation of this application, with regard to a hardware implementation, one or more processors may perform the functions of the processing unit 1320, and a transceiver (transmitter / receiver) and / or a communication interface may perform the functions of the transceiver unit 1310. The processing unit 1320 may be integrated in the processor of the network device / terminal in the form of hardware, may be independent of this processor, or may be stored in the memory of the network device / terminal in the form of software, so that the processor calls and executes the operations corresponding to each of the above mentioned functional units.

[0184] In one implementation of this application, the units in any one of the above-mentioned communication devices may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above-mentioned method, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more microprocessors (digital signaling processors (DSPs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. In another example, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU) or another processor that can invoke a program, while the units in the device may be implemented by scheduling a program by the processing element. In yet another example, the units may be integrated and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SoC). The integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

[0185] The above-mentioned units configured to receive and transmit information (e.g., transceiver unit 1310) may be interface circuits of a communication device and are configured to receive signals from another device. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip and configured to receive signals from another chip or device. The above-mentioned units used for transmitting (e.g., a transmitting unit or a communication unit) are interface circuits of the device and are configured to transmit signals to another device. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit of the chip and configured to transmit signals to another chip or device.

[0186] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a network device according to an embodiment of this application. The network device may be a base station and is configured to execute the steps performed by the network device in the communication method provided in the above-mentioned method embodiment. As shown in FIG. 14, the network device includes an antenna 1410, a radio frequency device 1420, and a baseband device 1430. The antenna 1410 is connected to the radio frequency device 1420. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 1420 receives information transmitted by a terminal using the antenna 1410 and transmits the information transmitted by the terminal to the baseband device 1430 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1430 processes information about the terminal and transmits information about the terminal to the radio frequency device 1420. The radio frequency device 1420 processes information about the terminal and transmits the processed information about the terminal to the terminal using the antenna 1410.

[0187] The baseband device 1430 may include one or more processing elements, for example, a main control CPU and another integrated circuit. In another example, when the base station adopts a CU-DU architecture, the functions of the baseband device 1430 may be implemented by the CU and / or the DU. Additionally, the baseband device 1430 may further include a storage element 1432 and an interface 1433. The storage element 1432 is configured to store programs and data. The interface 1433 is configured to exchange information with the radio frequency device 1420, and the interface is, for example, a common public radio interface (CPRI). The above-mentioned device used in the network device may be located in the baseband device 1430. For example, the above-mentioned device used in the network device may be a chip in the baseband device 1430. The chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit. The processing element is configured to execute the steps performed by the network device in any communication method provided in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and the interface circuit is configured to communicate with another device. In one implementation, the unit of the network device implementing the steps of the aforementioned method may be implemented in the form of a processing element that schedules a program. For example, an apparatus used in a network device includes a processing element and a storage element. The processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to execute the communication method provided in the aforementioned method embodiment. The storage element may be a storage element located on the same chip as the processing element, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or a storage element located on a different chip than the processing element, i.e., an off-chip storage element.

[0188] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal according to one embodiment of this application. The terminal is configured to implement the steps performed by the terminal in the communication method provided in the above method embodiment. As shown in Figure 15, TerminalThe terminal includes an antenna 1510, a radio frequency unit 1520, and a signal processing unit 1530. The antenna 1510 is connected to the radio frequency unit 1520. In the downlink direction, the radio frequency unit 1520 receives information transmitted by the network device via the antenna 1510 and transmits the information transmitted by the network device to the signal processing unit 1530 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing unit 1530 processes the terminal's information and transmits the information to the radio frequency unit 1520. The radio frequency unit 1520 processes the terminal's information and transmits the processed information to the network device using the antenna 1510.

[0189] The signal processing unit 1530 is configured to implement processing for each communication protocol layer of data. The signal processing unit 1530 may be a subsystem of the terminal. The terminal may further include another subsystem, for example, a central processing subsystem, for processing an operating system and an application layer of the terminal. In another example, the terminal may include a peripheral subsystem for connecting to another device. The signal processing unit 1530 may be a separately arranged chip. Optionally, the above-mentioned devices may be located in the signal processing unit 1530.

[0190] The baseband processing unit 1530 may include one or more processing elements 1531, for example, a main control CPU and another integrated circuit. Additionally, the signal processing unit 1530 may further include a storage element 1532 and an interface circuit 1533. The storage element 1532 is configured to store data and programs. The programs used to execute the methods executed by the terminal in the above-mentioned methods may be stored in the storage element 1532 or may not be stored in the storage element 1532. For example, the programs are stored in a memory external to the signal processing unit 1530. The signal processing unit 1530 loads the programs into the cache when using the programs. The interface circuit 1533 is configured to communicate with the device. The above-mentioned device may be located in the signal processing unit 1530. The signal processing unit 1530 may be implemented using a chip. The chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit. The processing element is configured to execute the steps executed by the terminal in any communication method provided in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The interface circuit is configured to communicate with another device. In one implementation, the unit of the network device implementing the steps of the above-mentioned method may be implemented in the form of a processing element that schedules a program. For example, the apparatus includes a processing element and a storage element. The processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute any of the communication methods provided in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The storage element may be a storage element located on the same chip as the processing element, i.e., an on-chip storage element.

[0191] In another implementation, Terminal Alternatively, the programs used to execute the above-mentioned methods executed by the network device may be in a storage element located on a different chip than the processing element, i.e., an off-chip storage element, in which case the processing element calls or loads the programs from the off-chip storage element to the on-chip storage element to invoke and execute any of the communication methods in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0192] In yet another implementation, the communication device provided in this embodiment of the present application may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit, and the at least one processing element is configured to execute any of the communication methods provided in the above-mentioned method embodiments. Specifically, the processing element executes the following by calling a program stored in a storage element: Terminal Alternatively, some or all of the steps performed by the network device may be performed in a first manner, specifically using hardware integrated logic circuitry in a processing element in combination with instructions to: Terminal Alternatively, some or all of the steps performed by the network device may be performed in a second manner, or of course, by combining the first and second methods, Terminal or may perform some or all of the processing performed by the network device. It will be appreciated that the interface circuit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory configured to store instructions to be executed by the above-mentioned processing elements, to store input data required by the processing elements to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processing elements execute the instructions.

[0193] Those skilled in the art may understand that all or part of the process of the method embodiment may be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the steps of the method embodiment are performed. The aforementioned storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0194] In an embodiment of this application, TerminalIt should be understood that the network device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of this application. These steps or operations are merely examples. Other operations or variations of various operations may also be performed in the embodiments of this application. Additionally, steps may be performed in a different sequence than the sequence presented in the embodiments of this application, and all operations in the embodiments of this application may not be performed.

Claims

1. 1. A communication method comprising: receiving configuration information of a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate set, configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, and configuration information of a third PDCCH candidate set from a network device; receiving a first downlink control information (DCI) from the network device, the first DCI being carried on a first PDCCH candidate in the first PDCCH candidate set or on a second PDCCH candidate in the second PDCCH candidate set, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate corresponding to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate and a third PDCCH candidate being used to transmit a same DCI, the third PDCCH candidate belonging to the third PDCCH candidate set, and the second PDCCH candidate being used to transmit an independent DCI; determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate, where a time domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission scheduled using the first DCI; The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate belong to one PDCCH candidate pair, and the PDCCH candidate pair is used to transmit the same DCI; determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate, using the first PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate or using the third PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate; A method according to claim 1, wherein the reference PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate when a time domain location of the first PDCCH candidate is earlier than a time domain location of the third PDCCH candidate and the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a counter downlink allocation indicator C-DAI or a total downlink allocation indicator T-DAI.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate have a same scrambling code sequence, carry DCI of a same payload size, and correspond to a same control resource set CORESET.

3. Receiving a first DCI from the network device includes: receiving the first DCI according to the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set; receiving the first DCI according to the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set; or The method of claim 1 or 2, comprising receiving the first DCI according to the configuration information of the third PDCCH candidate set.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first PDCCH candidate set has a linkage with the third PDCCH candidate set.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the linkage is established by the network device using higher layer signaling.

6. 1. A communication method comprising: Transmitting configuration information of a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidate set, configuration information of a second PDCCH candidate set, and configuration information of a third PDCCH candidate set to a terminal, where the first PDCCH candidate set includes a first PDCCH candidate, the second PDCCH candidate set includes a second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate correspond to the same resource, the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate are used to transmit the same downlink control information (DCI), the third PDCCH candidate belongs to the third PDCCH candidate set, and the second PDCCH candidate is used to transmit an independent DCI; determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate, where a time domain location of the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a resource for uplink information transmission or downlink information transmission; transmitting a first DCI to the terminal, the first DCI being carried on the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate; The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate belong to one PDCCH candidate pair, and the PDCCH candidate pair is used to transmit the same DCI; determining a reference PDCCH candidate according to the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate, using the first PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate or using the third PDCCH candidate as the reference PDCCH candidate; A method according to claim 1, wherein the reference PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate when a time domain location of the first PDCCH candidate is earlier than a time domain location of the third PDCCH candidate and the reference PDCCH candidate is used to determine a counter downlink allocation indicator C-DAI or a total downlink allocation indicator T-DAI.

7. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate have the same scrambling code sequence, carry DCI of the same payload size, and correspond to the same control resource set CORESET.

8. Transmitting the first DCI to the terminal includes: Transmitting the first DCI according to the configuration information of the first PDCCH candidate set; transmitting the first DCI according to the configuration information of the second PDCCH candidate set; or The method of claim 6 or 7, comprising transmitting the first DCI according to the configuration information of the third PDCCH candidate set.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the first PDCCH candidate set has a linkage with the third PDCCH candidate set.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the linkage is established by a network device to the terminal using higher layer signaling.

11. A communication device comprising a unit or module for carrying out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or the method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

12. A communication device comprising at least one processing element and an interface circuit, the at least one processing element being configured to execute a computer program stored in a memory, causing the communication device to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or a method according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

13. A computer readable storage medium storing a computer program, said computer program enabling a computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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