Method and apparatus for communication

By introducing a timer mechanism and flexible sleep state management in the terminal device, the energy consumption and data scheduling delay problems of low-power wake-up receivers when monitoring low-power wake-up signals are solved, achieving more efficient energy saving and communication performance.

WO2025051219A1PCT designated stage expired Publication Date: 2025-03-13HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
PCT/CN2024/117321
Authority / Receiving Office
WO · WO
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Priority Date
2023-09-06
Filing Date
2024-09-06
Publication Date
2025-03-13

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

In the prior art, when monitoring the low-power wake-up signal, it is difficult for the low-power wake-up receiver to effectively manage the energy consumption of the terminal device, resulting in high power consumption and increased data scheduling delay.

Method used

By introducing a timer mechanism in the terminal device, the low power wake-up signal is monitored within the first time period and the physical downlink control channel is stopped, or the PDCCH is continuously monitored within the second time period according to the instructions of the network device. At the same time, according to the configuration of wake-up delay and sleep state, the sleep state and wake-up process of the main receiver are flexibly managed.

Benefits of technology

It realizes that while meeting communication needs, the energy-saving gain of terminal equipment is improved, data scheduling delay is reduced, and the power consumption management of terminal equipment is optimized.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and apparatus for communication. The method for communication comprises: at a terminal device, determining a wake up delay after a low power-wake up signal (LP-WUS) is received from a network device during monitoring of the LP-WUS; determining a sleep state during the monitoring of the LP-WUS, wherein the sleep state is associated with the wake up delay; and on the basis of the sleep state, executing at least one of the following: neither measuring nor reporting channel state information (CSI) during the monitoring of the LP-WUS; or measuring and reporting the CSI during the monitoring of the LP-WUS. In this way, the terminal device may enter an LP-WUS monitoring state, and determine a wake up delay limit and which sleep state is entered, thereby improving the power-saving gain of the terminal device on the premise of meeting communication requirements.
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Description

Method and apparatus for communication

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese invention patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Communication” filed on September 6, 2023 and application number 202311162900.1, and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method, apparatus, system, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product for communications. Background Art

[0004] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 18 low-power project proposes a new feature: designing a separate low-power receiver to reduce the energy consumption of user equipment (UE) during blind detection of the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0005] When the network sends data to the UE, it first sends a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) to wake up the main receiver. The main receiver then performs PDCCH blind detection and receives the corresponding data scheduling. Because low-power wake-up receivers (LP-WUR) typically use low-speed, low-precision analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), low-precision local oscillators, and low-complexity digital processing modules, the power consumption of LP-WUR is much lower than that of traditional New Radio (NR) main receivers. Therefore, by using the LP-WUR to receive the wake-up signal and then waking up the main receiver to receive the data scheduling, the UE's power consumption can be reduced.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions related to LP-WUS monitoring, involving communication methods, devices, systems, computer-readable storage media, and computer program products.

[0008] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method that can be applied to a terminal device. The method includes: receiving, at the terminal device, first indication information from a network device; upon determining that the first indication information indicates a first value, starting a timer, wherein the timer duration is a first time period; upon determining that the timer has expired, monitoring a low-power wake-up signal LP-WUS and stopping monitoring a physical downlink control channel PDCCH; and upon determining that the first indication information indicates a second value, monitoring the PDCCH without starting the timer.

[0009] In this way, the terminal device can perform LP-WUS monitoring or PDCCH monitoring according to the instructions of the network device, thereby improving the energy saving gain of the terminal device while meeting the communication requirements.

[0010] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving second indication information from the network device within the first time period; resetting a timer based on determining that the second indication information indicates a first value; and stopping the timer based on determining that the second indication information indicates a second value. In this manner, whether the terminal device enters LP-WUS monitoring can be flexibly configured based on data transmission requirements at the network device, thereby reducing data scheduling delays.

[0011] In some embodiments, the method further includes: pausing or clearing the timer and pausing it when the first time period overlaps with the second time period; and continuing to run the timer when the first time period does not overlap with the second time period. In this way, the terminal device can be prevented from entering LP-WUS monitoring when data scheduling is possible, thereby eliminating the need to wake up the main receiver and reducing data scheduling latency.

[0012] In some embodiments, the second time period includes the PDCCH skipping duration or the discontinuous reception (DRX) deactivation state time. Usually after the skipping duration or the DRX deactivation state ends, the network device may have accumulated a large amount of data that needs to be sent. At this time, if the timer is still timing during the skipping duration, the terminal device will enter the LP-WUS monitoring mode after the skipping duration ends due to the timer expiration. At this time, if there is data scheduling, the terminal device needs to wake up the main receiver first, which will increase the data scheduling delay. Therefore, pausing the timer during the PDCCH skipping duration or the DRX deactivation state time can delay the terminal device from entering the LP-WUS monitoring and reduce the data scheduling delay.

[0013] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving third indication information from the network device, wherein the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device not to stop monitoring the PDCCH based on the timer. In this way, the behavior of the terminal device monitoring the PDCCH can be flexibly configured.

[0014] In some embodiments, the method further includes: determining, based on fourth indication information, a PDCCH skip duration and a monitoring behavior of the terminal device monitoring LP-WUS and monitoring PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration ends, wherein the monitoring behavior is associated with the length of the PDCCH skip duration or a configuration parameter in the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration. In this way, the monitoring behavior of the terminal device monitoring LP-WUS and monitoring PDCCH can be flexibly configured by the length of the PDCCH skip duration or the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration, and at the same time, data scheduling delay or terminal device power consumption can be reduced through appropriate configuration.

[0015] In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method that can be applied to a terminal device. The method includes: determining, at the terminal device, a wake-up delay after receiving an LP-WUS from a network device during monitoring of the LP-WUS; determining a sleep state during monitoring of the LP-WUS, wherein the sleep state is associated with the wake-up delay; and performing one of the following based on the sleep state: not measuring and not reporting channel state information (CSI) during monitoring of the LP-WUS; or measuring and reporting CSI during monitoring of the LP-WUS.

[0016] In this way, the terminal device can determine the wake-up delay limit and the sleep state to enter during the monitoring of LP-WUS, thereby maximizing the energy saving gain of the terminal device while meeting communication needs.

[0017] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from the network device, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate a wake-up delay.

[0018] In some embodiments, the wake-up delay is associated with configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration.

[0019] In some embodiments, determining the wake-up delay comprises: receiving a PDCCH skip duration from a network device; and determining the wake-up delay based on the PDCCH skip duration. In this way, the wake-up delay of the terminal device can be flexibly indicated by the length of the PDCCH skip duration.

[0020] In some embodiments, determining the wake-up delay includes: receiving configuration information from a network device, wherein the configuration information includes a configuration parameter for indicating the wake-up delay; and determining the wake-up delay based on the configuration parameter. In this way, the wake-up delay of the terminal device can be flexibly indicated by the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration.

[0021] In some embodiments, the wake-up delay has a corresponding relationship with the sleep state, and determining the sleep state includes: determining the sleep state based on the wake-up delay and the corresponding relationship.

[0022] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: sending auxiliary information to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information comprises at least one wake-up delay.

[0023] In some embodiments, the auxiliary information further includes at least one sleep state corresponding to the at least one wake-up delay, and determining the sleep state includes: receiving second indication information from the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate a sleep state in the at least one sleep state; and determining the sleep state based on the second indication information. In this way, the network device can flexibly configure which sleep state the terminal device enters.

[0024] In some embodiments, determining the wake-up delay includes determining the wake-up delay based on a corresponding relationship between the sleep state and the wake-up delay and the sleep state. In some embodiments, the method further includes: during monitoring the LP-WUS, determining to monitor the LP-WUS or monitor the PDCCH after sending a scheduling request to the network device; and sending third indication information to the network device, wherein the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or monitor the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request. In this way, the terminal device can monitor the LP-WUS or monitor the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request according to communication requirements, thereby reducing data scheduling delay or reducing terminal device power consumption.

[0025] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving fourth indication information from the network device, wherein the fourth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request.

[0026] In a third aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method that can be applied to a network device. The method includes: at the network device, sending first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information indicates a first value or a second value, the first value being used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS and stop monitoring the PDCCH after a first time period based on a timer, and the second value being used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH.

[0027] In this way, the network device can effectively instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or the PDCCH.

[0028] In some embodiments, the method further includes: sending fourth indication information to the terminal device, wherein the fourth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS and the PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration ends, wherein the monitoring behavior is associated with the length of the PDCCH skip duration or a configuration parameter in the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration. In this way, the network device can instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS and the PDCCH through the length of the PDCCH skip duration or the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration.

[0029] In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method that can be applied to a network device. The method includes: at the network device, indicating to a terminal device a wake-up delay after receiving an LP-WUS from the network device during monitoring of the LP-WUS, wherein the wake-up delay is associated with a sleep state of the terminal device during monitoring of the LP-WUS; and performing one of the following based on the sleep state: receiving channel state information (CSI) from the terminal device during monitoring of the LP-WUS; or not receiving channel state information (CSI) from the terminal device during monitoring of the LP-WUS.

[0030] In this way, the network device can instruct the terminal device to set a wake-up delay limit and enter a sleep state during the LP-WUS monitoring period, thereby maximizing the energy saving gain of the terminal device while meeting communication needs.

[0031] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: not sending a PDCCH message to the terminal device during the period when the terminal device monitors the LP-WUS. In this way, communication efficiency can be improved.

[0032] In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication device, which is configured to execute a unit or module of the method according to the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any of the embodiments thereof.

[0033] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication device, wherein the communication device includes a processor configured to execute the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any of the embodiments thereof.

[0034] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication system configured to execute the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any of the embodiments thereof.

[0035] In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication system. The communication system includes: a communication device for executing the method of the first aspect or the second aspect, or any embodiment thereof; and a communication device for executing the method of the third aspect or the fourth aspect, or any embodiment thereof.

[0036] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a device, causes the device to execute a method as in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any embodiment thereof.

[0037] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program or computer program product. The computer program or computer program product is tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium and includes computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to perform the method of the first, second, third, or fourth aspects, or any of the embodiments thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The above and other features, advantages and aspects of the various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent with reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Several implementations of the present application are shown here in an exemplary and non-limiting manner. In the accompanying drawings:

[0039] FIG1A shows a schematic diagram of a communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied;

[0040] FIG1B is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between a primary receiver and a secondary receiver of a terminal device;

[0041] FIG1C shows a schematic diagram of a PDCCH skipping process;

[0042] FIG2 shows a schematic signaling diagram of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0043] FIG3 shows a schematic diagram of first indication information indicating monitoring of LP-WUS according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0044] FIG4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a timer timing period overlapping with a PDCCH skipping duration according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0045] FIG5 shows a schematic signaling diagram of another communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0046] FIG6 shows a flow chart of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0047] FIG7 shows a flow chart of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0048] FIG8 shows a flow chart of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0049] FIG9 shows a flow chart of a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0050] FIG10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a possible communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0051] FIG11 shows a schematic structural diagram of another possible communication device provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0052] In the various drawings, the same or similar reference numerals indicate the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] The following describes embodiments of the present disclosure in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although certain embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided to provide a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0054] Throughout this disclosure, the terms "including" and similar expressions should be understood as open inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to." The term "based on" should be understood as "based, at least in part, on." The terms "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment." The terms "first," "second," and so on may refer to different or the same objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0055] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to fourth generation (4G) communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) communication systems, fifth generation (5G) communication systems, such as 5G new radio (NR) communication systems, or various communication systems evolved after 5G, such as sixth generation (6G) communication systems. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to Bluetooth systems, wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems, long range radio (LoRa) systems, or vehicle networking systems. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to satellite communication systems, wherein the satellite communication system may be integrated with the above-mentioned communication systems.

[0056] In this disclosure, the term "network device" refers to a network-side device with wireless transceiver functions, which may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of network devices may vary, such as Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, NodeB (NB) in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), eNB or eNodeB (Evolutional NodeB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE), next generation NodeB (gNB) in 5G mobile communication systems, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), base stations of subsequent evolution of 3GPP, access nodes in WiFi systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, etc. The network device may also be a wireless controller in the Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario. The network device may also be a network device in a future Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network. It may also be a wearable device or an in-vehicle device. It may also be a roadside unit (RSU) in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology.

[0057] In this disclosure, the term "terminal device" refers to a user-side device with wireless transceiver capabilities, which may include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication capabilities. A terminal device may be a mobile station (MS), a subscriber unit, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, etc.

[0058] There are some issues in the LP-WUS paging process that require further study, such as how a network device instructs a terminal device to enter an LP-WUS monitoring state and not monitor the PDCCH; and how a network device instructs a terminal device to enter a sleep state for its primary receiver while monitoring the LP-WUS, and what wake-up delay is specified. In view of this, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a terminal device can receive first indication information from a network device. If the first indication information indicates a first value, a timer is started, where the timer counts for a first period of time. After the timer expires, the terminal device monitors the LP-WUS and stops monitoring the PDCCH. If the first indication information indicates a second value, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH. In this manner, the terminal device can perform LP-WUS monitoring or PDCCH monitoring according to the instructions of the network device. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the network device can determine the wake-up delay after receiving an LP-WUS from the network device during LP-WUS monitoring, as well as the sleep state during LP-WUS monitoring, where the sleep state is associated with the wake-up delay. Based on the sleep state, the terminal device can determine whether to measure and report CSI during LP-WUS monitoring. The network device can indicate the wake-up delay to the terminal device and can also indicate the sleep state to the terminal device. In this way, the network device can indicate the sleep state that the main receiver enters when monitoring LP-WUS and indicate the wake-up delay after receiving LP-WUS.

[0059] Figure 1A shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied. Exemplarily, communication system 100 is a mobile communication system, comprising a transmitter 110 and a receiver 120. In some embodiments, transmitter 110 may be a network device, such as a base station, and receiver 120 may be a terminal device, such as a user equipment terminal (UE). Therefore, transmitter 110 may also be referred to as network device 110 or base station 110, and receiver 120 may also be referred to as terminal device 120 or user equipment terminal 120. Transmissions between transmitter 110 and receiver 120 may be carried out via a transmission medium, such as radio waves.

[0060] It should be understood that the scenario, number of devices and connections therebetween shown in FIG1A are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to other possible scenarios.

[0061] The terminal device 120 may include a primary receiver and a secondary receiver (e.g., an LP-WUS receiver). FIG1B illustrates the relationship between the primary receiver 121 and the secondary receiver 122 of the terminal device. When the secondary receiver 122 is turned on, the primary receiver 121 may enter a sleep state, thereby saving energy. When the secondary receiver 122 receives an LP-WUS signal, the primary receiver 121 turns on and performs subsequent operations such as data reception.

[0062] The primary receiver enters different sleep states and has different wake-up delays after receiving the LP-WUS signal. Table 1 shows the relationship between sleep states and wake-up delays. This relationship is only an example, and the wake-up delay may vary depending on the UE implementation.

[0063] Table 1

[0064] Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to PDCCH skipping. Figure 1C shows a schematic diagram of the PDCCH skipping process. The network side can carry the PDCCH skipping command via Downlink Control Information (DCI) formats 0_1, 0_2, 1_1, and 1_2. The specific process of PDCCH skipping is described below with reference to Figure 1C.

[0065] When the UE is configured with PDCCHSkippingDurationList but searchSpaceGroupIdList-R17 is not configured, the UE executes the PDCCH skipping mode of R17, and the number of PDCCHSkippingDurationList elements can be 1, 2, or 3. When PDCCHSkippingDurationList has only 1 element and the DCI monitoring adaptation field has only 1 bit, a bit value of 0 can indicate no skipping, and a bit value of 1 can indicate skipping. When PDCCHSkippingDurationList has 2 or 3 elements and the DCI monitoring adaptation field has 2 bits, a bit value of 00 can indicate no skipping, a bit value of 01 can indicate skipping the time indicated by the first element in PDCCHSkippingDurationList, a bit value of 10 can indicate skipping the time indicated by the second element in PDCCHSkippingDurationList, and a bit value of 11 can indicate skipping the time indicated by the third element in PDCCHSkippingDurationList. There is no switching time for PDCCH skipping, that is, when the UE receives the skip indication, it takes effect in the next time slot and does not monitor PDCCH.

[0066] When the UE is configured with PDCCHSkippingDurationList and searchSpaceGroupIdList-R17, the UE performs R17's PDCCH switching + skip mode. When PDCCHSkippingDurationList has only one element, searchSpaceGroupIdList-R17 has two values, and the following information is indicated via DCI: 00: group 0; 01: group 1, plus a timer; 10: skip; 11: retain. When PDCCHSkippingDurationList has only two elements, searchSpaceGroupIdList-R17 has two values, and the following information is indicated via DCI: 00: group 0; 01: group 1, plus a timer; 10: skip the first element in PDCCHSkippingDurationList; 11: skip the second element in PDCCHSkippingDurationList.

[0067] FIG2 shows a schematic signaling diagram of a communication process 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, FIG2 will be described with reference to FIG1A. For example, the process 200 may involve the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0068] Referring to Figure 2, the network device 110 sends 201 first indication information 202 to the terminal device 120. The first indication information 202 can indicate a first value or a second value. The first value is used to instruct the terminal device 120 to monitor LP-WUS and stop monitoring PDCCH after a first time period based on the timer. The second value is used to instruct the terminal device 120 to monitor PDCCH without turning on the timer.

[0069] The terminal device 120 receives 203 the first indication information. If the first indication information indicates a first value, the terminal device 120 starts 204 a timer, where the timer counts for a first time period. Upon determining that the timer has expired, the terminal device 120 monitors 205 the LP-WUS and stops monitoring the PDCCH. If the first indication information indicates a second value, the terminal device 120 monitors 206 the PDCCH without starting the timer.

[0070] That is, when terminal device 120 receives the first indication information sent by network device 110, if the first indication information indicates a first value, terminal device 120 stops monitoring the PDCCH and starts monitoring the LP-WUS after a first time period has elapsed. The first time period may also be referred to as an effective time period. Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the first indication information indicating monitoring the LP-WUS. As shown in Figure 3, if the first indication information indicates a first value, terminal device 120 starts monitoring the LP-WUS and stops monitoring the PDCCH after the first time period.

[0071] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be indicated by 1-bit information, where the first value may be that the bit is 1, and the second value may be that the bit is 0, or vice versa. For example, when the bit is 1, it indicates that the terminal device enters LP-WUS monitoring and stops PDCCH blind detection after the effective time after receiving the first indication information. When the bit is 0, it indicates that the terminal device continues to monitor the PDCCH after receiving the first indication information.

[0072] In some embodiments, during the first time period, the terminal device 120 may also receive second indication information from the network device 110. If the second indication information indicates the first value, the terminal device 120 may clear the timer, i.e., restart the timing; if the second indication information indicates the second value, the terminal device 120 may stop the timer or clear the timer and stop the timer, i.e., continue to monitor the PDCCH.

[0073] In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 receives a PDCCH message for data scheduling within the first time period, the terminal device 120 also pauses the timer or resets the timer and stops the timer, i.e., continues to monitor the PDCCH. In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 receives a PDCCH message for data scheduling within the first time period, the terminal device 120 also resets the timer and restarts the timer. One form of the above-mentioned PDCCH for data scheduling may be that the PDCCH for data scheduling does not carry the first, second, or third indication information.

[0074] For example, within the first time period, if the terminal device receives a PDCCH for data scheduling or receives a second indication message sent by the network device, the terminal device will continue to monitor the PDCCH after the first time period. This is because the network device may suddenly receive another batch of data and prepare to send it after sending the first indication message. At this time, if the terminal device stops monitoring the PDCCH and starts monitoring the LP-WUS after the first time period times out, the data scheduling delay will be increased.

[0075] Furthermore, the second indication information may share a bit with the first indication information, that is, within the first time period, when the bit is 1, it indicates that the terminal device enters LP-WUS monitoring and stops PDCCH blind detection after the effective time after receiving the indication information; when the bit is 0, it indicates that the terminal device continues to monitor PDCCH after receiving the indication information.

[0076] In some embodiments, when the first time period overlaps with the second time period, the timer is paused or the timer is cleared and paused, and when the first time period does not overlap with the second time period, the timer continues to run. The second time period includes a PDCCH skip duration or a DRX deactivation state time.

[0077] In one implementation, the terminal device can automatically stop monitoring PDCCH and start LP-WUS monitoring based on a certain judgment condition. The certain condition can be that the terminal device automatically stops monitoring PDCCH and starts monitoring LP-WUS after it does not receive other PDCCH messages for data scheduling within a certain period of time. For example, if the timer timing period (i.e., within the first time period) overlaps with other moments when PDCCH messages for data scheduling are not monitored, such as when it overlaps with the PDCCH skip duration or the DRX deactivation state, the timer stops timing and continues timing at non-overlapping moments. The purpose of the above operation is that usually after the skip duration or the DRX deactivation state ends, the network device may have accumulated a large amount of data that needs to be sent. At this time, if the timer is still timing during the skip duration, the terminal device will enter the LP-WUS monitoring mode after the skip duration ends due to timer expiration. At this time, if there is data scheduling, the terminal device needs to wake up the main receiver first, increasing the data scheduling delay. Furthermore, the operation when the timer timing period overlaps with the skip duration or the DRX deactivation state may be different. For example, when the timer timing period overlaps with the skip duration, the timer stops timing; when it overlaps with the DRX deactivation state, the timer stops timing and is cleared.

[0078] In another implementation, the terminal device may automatically stop monitoring the PDCCH and start monitoring the LP-WUS based on a certain judgment condition, and the certain condition may be that the terminal device automatically stops monitoring the PDCCH and starts monitoring the LP-WUS after not receiving other PDCCH messages for data scheduling within a certain period of time. For example, if the timer timing period (i.e., within the first time period) overlaps with other moments when the PDCCH messages for data scheduling are not monitored, such as when it overlaps with the PDCCH skip duration or the DRX deactivation state, the timer stops timing, and after the overlap ends, the timer is reset and restarted.

[0079] Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of the overlap between the timer timing period and the PDCCH skip duration. As shown in Figure 4, if the timer continues to count during the PDCCH skip duration, then after the timer expires, the terminal device turns off the primary receiver and monitors the LP-WUS. At the end of the skip duration, the terminal device is in LP-WUS monitoring mode. At this time, if there is data to be received, the terminal device needs to trigger the primary receiver to wake up first, which will increase the data scheduling delay.

[0080] In some embodiments, the terminal device may also automatically stop monitoring the PDCCH and start monitoring the LP-WUS based on certain judgment conditions without considering the first indication information. For example, after receiving a PDCCH message for data scheduling, the terminal device may start a timer, and the timer starts counting from 0. If the terminal device receives a PDCCH message for data scheduling during the timer, the timer is reset to 0. When the timer expires, the UE stops monitoring the PDCCH and starts monitoring the LP-WUS.

[0081] In some embodiments, the terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device not to stop monitoring the PDCCH based on a timer. For example, when the network device does not want the terminal device to stop monitoring the PDCCH based on a judgment condition, the network device may send the third indication information to instruct the terminal device not to stop monitoring the PDCCH based on the judgment condition.

[0082] The first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information can be carried by downlink control information (DCI)\Media Access Control-Control Element (MAC CE). Furthermore, if carried by DCI, the above-mentioned first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information can be carried with the PDCCH message of data scheduling, that is, the above-mentioned first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information are carried by format 0-1\format 1-1 DCI. The advantage of carrying by format 0-1 or format 1-1 is that the network device does not need to send additional DCI to carry the first indication information, the second indication information, and the third indication information, saving signaling overhead.

[0083] 2 , the network device 110 may send 207 fourth indication information 208 to the terminal device 120, the fourth indication information being used to indicate a PDCCH skip duration and a monitoring behavior of the terminal device 120 to monitor the LP-WUS and the PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration has expired, wherein the monitoring behavior may be associated with the length of the PDCCH skip duration or a configuration parameter in the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration. The terminal device 120 receives 209 the fourth indication information and, based on the fourth indication information, determines 210 the PDCCH skip duration and a monitoring behavior of the terminal device 120 to monitor the LP-WUS and the PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration has expired.

[0084] For example, LP-WUS monitoring in the connected state can be bound to the PDCCH skipping feature. Therefore, a terminal device can have four monitoring behaviors: whether to monitor LP-WUS during the skip duration, and whether to monitor LP-WUS after the skip duration. As an example, the four monitoring behaviors are shown in Table 2 below.

[0085] Table 2

[0086] The network device may indicate the monitoring behavior of the terminal device through the fourth indication information. Optionally, one indication method is that the network device indicates the four monitoring behaviors in Table 2 through 2-bit information, and the two-bit information may be carried by DCI or MAC CE. Optionally, one indication method is that the network device directly indicates the monitoring behavior of the terminal device through high-layer signaling.

[0087] Optionally, one indication method is to indicate the monitoring behavior of the terminal device by the length of the skip duration, that is, the fourth indication information may indicate the length of the skip duration. For example, when the predefined skip duration is less than x, the terminal device does not perform LP-WUS monitoring during the skip duration. The reason is that the shorter skip duration is similar to the main receiver wake-up delay. Even if the terminal device is awakened by LP-WUS during the skip duration, the terminal device may not be able to monitor the PDCCH until the skip duration ends, and there is no obvious improvement in data transmission delay, which is contrary to the purpose of monitoring LP-WUS during the skip duration. When the skip duration is greater than or equal to x, the terminal device may perform LP-WUS monitoring during the skip duration.

[0088] Optionally, one indication method is to add four state configurations to the skip configuration, and indicate through DCI which skip configuration the terminal device uses while indicating the monitoring behavior of the terminal device. That is, to add the type configuration parameter in the skip configuration. An example is shown as follows:

[0089] In this indication manner, the fourth indication information may be the above-mentioned type configuration parameter.

[0090] The above reference process 200 describes a solution according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which the terminal device can perform LP-WUS monitoring or PDCCH monitoring according to the instruction of the network device, and the network device can effectively indicate the LP-WUS monitoring status of the terminal device.

[0091] FIG5 shows a schematic signaling diagram of another communication process 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, FIG5 will be described with reference to FIG1A. For example, the process 500 may involve the network device 110 and the terminal device 120.

[0092] The terminal device's main receiver experiences different wakeup delays in different sleep states. Deep sleep improves terminal device energy efficiency but increases wakeup delay. Similarly, light sleep reduces terminal device energy efficiency but reduces wakeup delay. Therefore, there is a trade-off between sleep depth and data transmission latency. Network equipment or terminal devices can dynamically configure the sleep state that the terminal device's main receiver enters during LP-WUS monitoring based on factors such as service type (different services have different latency requirements).

[0093] 5 , the network device 110 may indicate 501 to the terminal device 120 a wake-up delay after receiving an LP-WUS from the network device 110 during monitoring of the LP-WUS. The terminal device 120 may determine the wake-up delay.

[0094] In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may receive first indication information from network device 110, the first indication information being used to indicate a wake-up delay. Terminal device 120 may determine the wake-up delay based on the first indication information. For example, the first indication information may be bound to an index table, where the first indication information indicates rows of the index table, each row representing a configuration of a wake-up delay for the terminal device. As an example, the index table is shown in Table 3 below.

[0095] Table 3

[0096] In some embodiments, the wake-up delay may be associated with configuration information for a PDCCH skip duration. The terminal device 120 may receive the PDCCH skip duration from the network device 110 and determine the wake-up delay based on the PDCCH skip duration. Alternatively, the terminal device 120 may receive configuration information for the PDCCH skip duration from the network device 110, the configuration information including a configuration parameter for indicating the wake-up delay, and the terminal device 120 may determine the wake-up delay based on the configuration parameter.

[0097] For example, during LP-WUS monitoring, the wake-up delay required by the terminal device when entering PDCCH monitoring can be bound to the skip configuration. In one implementation, the relationship between the skip duration and the wake-up delay can be predefined. An example relationship is shown in Table 4 below.

[0098] Table 4

[0099] The network device may indicate the skip duration of the terminal device through the DCI, thereby indirectly indicating the wake-up delay required for the terminal device to enter the PDCCH monitoring during the LP-WUS monitoring period.

[0100] In one implementation, a type parameter is added to the configuration SCS-specificDuration parameter to indicate the wake-up delay that the terminal device needs to meet when waking up the main receiver during LP-WUS monitoring. An example is shown as follows:

[0101] The unit of x may be milliseconds (ms), because the wake-up delay of the primary receiver in the same sleep state is the same for different sub-carrier spacings (SCS).

[0102] Continuing with FIG5 , the terminal device 120 may also determine 504 a sleep state during monitoring the LP-WUS. The sleep state may be associated with a wake-up delay. In some embodiments, the wake-up delay and the sleep state may have a corresponding relationship, and the terminal device 120 may determine the sleep state based on the wake-up delay and the corresponding relationship. In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may also determine the wake-up delay based on the sleep state and the corresponding relationship.

[0103] For example, the sleep state can be bound to the wake-up delay, that is, a wake-up delay within a certain range corresponds to a certain sleep level. Therefore, the binding relationship between the sleep state and the wake-up delay can be predefined or configured. An example binding relationship is shown in Table 5 below.

[0104] Table 5

[0105] In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may further send 503 auxiliary information to network device 110. The auxiliary information may include at least one wake-up delay. Optionally, the auxiliary information may further include at least one sleep state corresponding to the at least one wake-up delay. Network device 110 may send second indication information to terminal device 120. The second indication information is used to indicate a sleep state in the at least one sleep state. Terminal device 120 may determine the sleep state based on the second indication information.

[0106] For example, the network device sends a second indication message to indicate the sleep state that the terminal device can enter during the LP-WUS monitoring period. The main receiver operates differently in different sleep states. For example, when the sleep state is deep, the main receiver may not measure the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and report the CSI during the LP-WUS monitoring period. When the sleep state is shallow, the main receiver may measure the CSI-RS and report the CSI during the LP-WUS monitoring period.

[0107] 5 , the terminal device 120 may not measure and report CSI during monitoring the LP-WUS based on the sleep state, or may measure and report 505 CSI during monitoring the LP-WUS. Accordingly, the network device 110 may receive 506 CSI from the terminal device 120 during monitoring the LP-WUS based on the sleep state of the terminal device 120, or may not receive CSI from the terminal device 120 during monitoring the LP-WUS. For example, the terminal device may report an aperiodic CSI report (CSI report) during monitoring the LP-WUS based on the sleep state, not report a periodic CSI report and a semi-persistent CSI report, report CSI other than Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), or report RSRP, etc.

[0108] One implementation is: at sleep level L1, the terminal device reports all configured CSI information. At sleep level L2, the terminal device reports periodic CSI information, that is, a CSI report with the high-level parameter reportConfigType set to 'periodic'. At sleep level L3, the terminal device does not report any CSI information.

[0109] During the LP-WUS monitoring period, if the terminal device detects uplink data transmission, it will send an uplink Scheduling Request (SR) to the network device. After sending the SR, the terminal device will monitor the PDCCH message sent by the network device. This PDCCH message is used to allocate uplink transmission time and frequency resources to the UE. The network device can determine the terminal device's behavior after sending the SR based on the service type (different tolerance for data delay). The terminal device's behavior after sending the SR can be determined by the terminal device, the network device, or both.

[0110] In some embodiments, during monitoring of LP-WUS, the terminal device determines to monitor LP-WUS or monitor PDCCH after sending a scheduling request to the network device, and sends third indication information to the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor LP-WUS or monitor PDCCH after sending the scheduling request.

[0111] For example, when the terminal device believes that the service is not sensitive to delay at this time, the terminal device can automatically enter LP-WUS monitoring and not monitor PDCCH after sending SR. Conversely, when the terminal device believes that the service is sensitive to delay at this time, the terminal device can continue to monitor PDCCH after sending SR. The terminal device sends a third indication information through the PUCCH channel. The indication information is used to inform the network device that the terminal device will monitor LP-WUS or PDCCH next after sending SR. One implementation method is: the third indication information can be sent on the same PUCCH as the SR.

[0112] In some embodiments, while monitoring the LP-WUS, the terminal device receives fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request. The fourth indication information may be carried by DCI, MAC CE, Radio Resource Control (RRC), or the like.

[0113] In some embodiments, the network device may not send a PDCCH message to the terminal device during the period when the terminal device monitors the LP-WUS.

[0114] The above reference process 500 describes a scheme according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, in which the network device can instruct the terminal device that when a wake-up signal is received during the next LP-WUS monitoring period, the main receiver must meet the delay limit for waking up, which is equivalent to configuring different wake-up delay levels for the terminal device. During different LP-WUS monitoring periods of the terminal device, the main receiver has different operations at different wake-up delay levels. For example, if the wake-up delay is long, the main receiver may not report the CSI measurement results during the LP-WUS monitoring period; if the wake-up delay is short, the main receiver may report the CSI measurement results during the LP-WUS monitoring period. During the LP-WUS monitoring period, if the terminal device sends a valid SR, whether the terminal device exits the LP-WUS monitoring after sending the SR and turns on the main receiver to receive the PDCCH can be indicated by the network device.

[0115] According to the solutions of some embodiments of the present disclosure, the network device can instruct the terminal device to set a wake-up delay limit and enter a sleep state, thereby maximizing the energy saving gain of the terminal device while meeting communication needs.

[0116] Figure 6 shows a flow chart of a communication process 600 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, Figure 6 will be described with reference to Figures 1A to 2. For example, the communication process 600 may be implemented at the terminal device 120 as shown in Figures 1A to 2.

[0117] 6 , at 610, terminal device 120 receives first indication information from network device 110. At 620, terminal device 120 determines the value indicated by the first indication information. Based on determining that the first indication information indicates the first value, at 630, a timer is started, where the timer counts for a first time period. Based on determining that the timer has expired, at 640, terminal device 120 monitors the LP-WUS and stops monitoring the PDCCH. Based on determining that the first indication information indicates a second value, at 650, terminal device 120 monitors the PDCCH.

[0118] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives second indication information from the network device within a first time period, clears the timer based on determining that the second indication information indicates a first value, and pauses the timer based on determining that the second indication information indicates a second value.

[0119] In some embodiments, when the first time period overlaps with the second time period, the terminal device 120 pauses the timer or clears the timer and pauses it. When the first time period does not overlap with the second time period, the terminal device 120 continues to run the timer. In some embodiments, the second time period includes a PDCCH skip duration or a discontinuous reception (DRX) deactivation state time.

[0120] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives third indication information from the network device 110 , where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device not to stop monitoring the PDCCH based on a timer.

[0121] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives fourth indication information from the network device 110, and based on the fourth indication information, determines the PDCCH skip duration and the monitoring behavior of the terminal device monitoring LP-WUS and monitoring PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration ends, wherein the monitoring behavior is associated with the length of the PDCCH skip duration or the configuration parameters in the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration.

[0122] Figure 7 shows a flow chart of a communication process 700 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, Figure 7 will be described with reference to Figures 1A to 5. For example, the communication process 700 may be implemented at the terminal device 120 as shown in Figures 1A to 5.

[0123] 7 , at 710, terminal device 120 determines a wakeup delay after receiving an LP-WUS from network device 110 while monitoring for an LP-WUS. At 720, terminal device 120 determines a sleep state during the LP-WUS monitoring period, where the sleep state is associated with the wakeup delay. At 730, based on the sleep state, terminal device 120 performs one of the following: not measuring and not reporting channel state information (CSI) during the LP-WUS monitoring period; or measuring and reporting CSI during the LP-WUS monitoring period.

[0124] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives first indication information from the network device 110, where the first indication information is used to indicate a wake-up delay.

[0125] In some embodiments, the wake-up delay is associated with configuration information for a PDCCH skip duration. In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives the PDCCH skip duration from the network device 110 and determines the wake-up delay based on the PDCCH skip duration. In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives the configuration information from the network device 110, the configuration information including a configuration parameter for indicating the wake-up delay, and determines the wake-up delay based on the configuration parameter.

[0126] In some embodiments, the wake-up delay has a corresponding relationship with the sleep state, and the terminal device 120 determines the sleep state based on the wake-up delay and the corresponding relationship.

[0127] In some embodiments, terminal device 120 sends auxiliary information to network device 110, where the auxiliary information includes at least one wake-up delay. In some embodiments, the auxiliary information also includes at least one sleep state corresponding to the at least one wake-up delay, and terminal device 120 receives second indication information from network device 110, where the second indication information is used to indicate a sleep state in the at least one sleep state, and determines the sleep state based on the second indication information.

[0128] In some embodiments, during monitoring of LP-WUS, the terminal device 120 determines to monitor LP-WUS or monitor PDCCH after sending a scheduling request to the network device, and sends third indication information to the network device 110, where the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor LP-WUS or monitor PDCCH after sending the scheduling request.

[0129] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives fourth indication information from the network device 110 , where the fourth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request.

[0130] Figure 8 shows a flow chart of a communication process 800 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, Figure 8 will be described with reference to Figures 1A to 2. For example, the communication process 800 may be implemented at the network device 110 as shown in Figures 1A to 2.

[0131] Referring to Figure 8, at 810, the network device 110 sends a first indication message to the terminal device 120, where the first indication message indicates a first value or a second value, the first value is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor LP-WUS and stop monitoring PDCCH after a first time period based on the timer, and the second value is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor PDCCH.

[0132] In some embodiments, the network device 110 sends fourth indication information to the terminal device 120, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the PDCCH skip duration and the monitoring behavior of the terminal device to monitor LP-WUS and monitor PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration ends, wherein the monitoring behavior is associated with the length of the PDCCH skip duration or the configuration parameters in the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration.

[0133] Figure 9 shows a flow chart of a communication process 900 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, Figure 9 will be described with reference to Figures 1A to 5. For example, the communication process 900 may be implemented at the network device 110 as shown in Figures 1A to 5.

[0134] 9 , at 910 , the network device 110 indicates to the terminal device 120 a wakeup delay after receiving an LP-WUS from the network device 110 during monitoring of the LP-WUS, wherein the wakeup delay is associated with a sleep state of the terminal device during monitoring of the LP-WUS.

[0135] In some embodiments, the network device 110 does not send a PDCCH message to the terminal device 120 during the period when the terminal device 120 monitors the LP-WUS.

[0136] Figures 10 and 11 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided by embodiments of the present disclosure. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the network device or terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiments, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication device can be the network device 110 or terminal device 120 as shown in Figure 1A, or a module (such as a chip) applied to the network device or terminal device.

[0137] As shown in FIG10 , the communication device 1000 includes a transceiver unit 1020. The communication device 1000 may further include a processing unit 1010 for processing data or other data sent or received by the transceiver unit 1020. The communication device 1000 is used to implement the functions of the network device or terminal device in the embodiments shown in FIG2 or FIG5 to FIG9 above.

[0138] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the functions of the terminal equipment in the embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 6: the transceiver unit 1020 is used to receive the first indication information; the processing unit 1010 is used to start the timer based on determining that the first indication information indicates a first value, wherein the timing period of the timer is a first time period; the processing unit 1010 is also used to monitor the LP-WUS and stop monitoring the PDCCH based on determining that the timer has timed out; the processing unit 1010 is also used to monitor the PDCCH based on determining that the first indication information indicates a second value.

[0139] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the function of the network device in the embodiment shown in Figure 2 or Figure 8: the transceiver unit 1020 is used to send first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates a first value or a second value, the first value is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor LP-WUS and stop monitoring PDCCH after a first time period based on the timer, and the second value is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor PDCCH.

[0140] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment shown in Figure 5 or Figure 7: the processing unit 1010 is used to determine the wake-up delay after receiving the LP-WUS from the network device during the monitoring of the LP-WUS; determine the sleep state during the monitoring of the LP-WUS, where the sleep state is associated with the wake-up delay; and perform one of the following based on the sleep state: not measuring and not reporting CSI during the monitoring of the LP-WUS; or measuring and reporting CSI during the monitoring of the LP-WUS.

[0141] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the functions of the network device in the embodiments shown in Figure 2, Figure 5, or Figure 9: the transceiver unit 1020 is used to indicate the wake-up delay after receiving the LP-WUS from the network device during the monitoring of the LP-WUS, wherein the wake-up delay is associated with the sleep state of the terminal device during the monitoring of the LP-WUS; the processing unit 1010 is used to perform one of the following based on the sleep state: not measuring and not reporting CSI during the monitoring of the LP-WUS; or measuring and reporting CSI during the monitoring of the LP-WUS.

[0142] For a more detailed description of the transceiver unit 1020 and the processing unit 1010 , reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the embodiments shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 to FIG. 9 .

[0143] As shown in Figure 11, communication device 1100 includes a processor 1110 and an interface circuit 1120. Processor 1110 and interface circuit 1120 are coupled to each other. It will be appreciated that interface circuit 1120 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 1100 may further include a memory 1130 for storing instructions executed by processor 1110, input data required by processor 1110 to execute instructions, or data generated by processor 1110 after executing instructions.

[0144] When the communication device 1100 is used to implement the process shown in FIG. 2 , FIG. 5 , or FIG. 9 , the interface circuit 1120 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1020 .

[0145] When the communication device is a chip used in a terminal device, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The terminal chip receives information sent by the network device to the terminal device through other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or antenna); or the terminal chip sends information to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device.

[0146] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a network device, the network device module implements the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The network device module receives information from other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the network device; or, the network device module sends information to other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the network device to the terminal device. The network device module here can be a baseband chip of a base station, or a CU, DU or other module, or a device under an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture, such as an open CU, open DU or other devices.

[0147] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0148] The method steps in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and the storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0149] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present disclosure are performed in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape; it can also be an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or it can be a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0150] In the various embodiments of the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified or provided for, the terms and / or descriptions of the different embodiments are consistent and may be referenced by each other. The technical features of the different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships.

[0151] In the present disclosure, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of the present disclosure, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of the present disclosure, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in a "division" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0152] It should be understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The order of execution of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A method comprising: At the terminal device, receiving first indication information from the network device; Based on determining that the first indication information indicates a first value, starting a timer, wherein the timing period of the timer is a first time period; Based on determining that the timer has expired, monitoring the low power wake-up signal LP-WUS and stopping monitoring the physical downlink control channel PDCCH; and Based on determining that the first indication information indicates a second value, the PDCCH is monitored.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving second indication information from the network device within the first time period; Based on determining that the second indication information indicates a first value, clearing the timer; as well as Based on determining that the second indication information indicates a second value, the timer is stopped.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: When the first time period overlaps with the second time period, pausing the timer or clearing the timer and pausing it; as well as When the first time period does not overlap with the second time period, the timer continues to run. 4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the second time period comprises a PDCCH skipping duration or a discontinuous reception (DRX) deactivated state time.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: Receive third indication information from the network device, wherein the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device not to stop monitoring the PDCCH based on the timer.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: receiving fourth indication information from the network device; as well as Based on the fourth indication information, the PDCCH skip duration and the monitoring behavior of the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS and the PDCCH after the PDCCH skip duration ends are determined, wherein the monitoring behavior is associated with the length of the PDCCH skip duration or the configuration parameters in the configuration information of the PDCCH skip duration.

7. A method comprising: At the terminal device, determining a wake-up delay after receiving the low power wake-up signal LP-WUS from the network device during monitoring of the LP-WUS; determining a sleep state during monitoring the LP-WUS, wherein the sleep state is associated with the wake-up delay; as well as Based on the sleep state, one of the following is performed: Not measuring and not reporting channel state information CSI during monitoring of the LP-WUS; or The CSI is measured and reported during monitoring of the LP-WUS.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: First indication information is received from the network device, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate the wake-up delay.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the wake-up delay is associated with configuration information of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) skip duration.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the wake-up delay comprises: receiving the PDCCH skip duration from the network device; as well as The wake-up delay is determined based on the PDCCH skip duration.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the wake-up delay comprises: receiving the configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information includes a configuration parameter for indicating the wake-up delay; as well as Based on the configuration parameters, the wake-up delay is determined.

12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein the wake-up delay has a corresponding relationship with the sleep state, and determining the sleep state comprises: The sleep state is determined based on the wake-up delay and the corresponding relationship.

13. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, further comprising: Auxiliary information is sent to the network device, wherein the auxiliary information includes at least one wake-up delay.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the auxiliary information further includes at least one sleep state corresponding to the at least one wake-up delay, and determining the sleep state comprises: receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information is used to indicate a sleep state in the at least one sleep state; as well as Based on the second indication information, the sleep state is determined.

15. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 14, further comprising: During monitoring of the LP-WUS, determining to monitor the LP-WUS or to monitor the PDCCH after sending a scheduling request to the network device; as well as Sending third indication information to the network device, wherein the third indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request.

16. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 15, further comprising: Receive fourth indication information from the network device, wherein the fourth indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS or the PDCCH after sending the scheduling request.

17. A method comprising: At a network device, first indication information is sent to a terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates a first value or a second value, the first value is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor a low power wake-up signal LP-WUS and stop monitoring a physical downlink control channel PDCCH after a first time period based on a timer, and the second value is used to instruct the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: Send fourth indication information to the terminal device, wherein the fourth indication information is used to indicate the PDCCH skipping duration and the monitoring behavior of the terminal device to monitor the LP-WUS and the PDCCH after the PDCCH skipping duration ends, wherein the monitoring behavior is associated with the length of the PDCCH skipping duration or the configuration parameters in the configuration information of the PDCCH skipping duration.

19. A method comprising: At the network device, indicating to the terminal device a wake-up delay after receiving the low power wake-up signal LP-WUS from the network device during monitoring of the LP-WUS, wherein the wake-up delay is associated with a sleep state of the terminal device during monitoring of the LP-WUS; and Based on the sleep state, one of the following is performed: During the period when the terminal device monitors the LP-WUS, receiving channel state information CSI from the terminal device; or During the period when the terminal device monitors the LP-WUS, channel state information CSI is not received from the terminal device.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising: During the period when the terminal device monitors the LP-WUS, no PDCCH message is sent to the terminal device.

21. A communication device, comprising: A unit or module for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, or a unit or module for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 16, or a unit or module for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 18, or a unit or module for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 20.

22. A communication device, comprising: A processor configured to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, or configured to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 16, or configured to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 18, or configured to execute the method as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 20.

23. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed by a device, causes the device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, or causes the device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 7 to 16, or causes the device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 17 to 18, or causes the device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 19 to 20.

24. A computer program product, comprising instructions, which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, or cause the device to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 16, or cause the device to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 18, or cause the device to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 20.

25. A communication system comprising a communication device for executing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, and a communication device for executing the method as described in any one of claims 17 to 18; or a communication device for executing the method as described in any one of claims 7 to 16, and a communication device for executing the method as described in any one of claims 19 to 20.

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