Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, applied to the technical field of mobile communications, and used for reducing the power consumption of monitoring a synchronization signal and a wake-up signal (WUS) by an auxiliary functional module of a terminal device. The method comprises: a terminal device receives information of a first time window, and detects a synchronization signal of at least one cell within the first time window by means of an auxiliary functional module, wherein the first time window comprises a monitoring opportunity of the synchronization signal, and a monitoring opportunity of a WUS is located outside the first time window; the terminal device can also perform time-frequency synchronization, neighboring cell measurement, serving cell measurement or camping cell measurement on the basis of the synchronization signal. Because the auxiliary functional module does not need to monitor the synchronization signal outside the first time window, the auxiliary functional module of the terminal device can sleep to reduce the power consumption at the time that does not contain the monitoring opportunity of the WUS outside the first time window.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on September 12, 2023, with application number 202311173026.1 and invention name "A Communication Method and Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of mobile communication technologies, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0004] With the development of technology, fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G) is becoming increasingly popular. 5G networks (also known as new radio (NR)) support larger transmission bandwidths, more transmit and receive antenna arrays, higher transmission rates, and more flexible and fine-grained scheduling mechanisms. However, these also significantly increase the power consumption burden of user equipment (UE).

[0005] To reduce UE power consumption, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) introduced a power conservation research topic in the NR Rel-16 / 17 standard versions. One approach currently proposed is to incorporate low-power auxiliary function modules into 5G networks. Specifically, when monitoring for a wake-up signal (WUS), only the auxiliary function module is powered on, leaving the primary function module in deep sleep or shutdown. Upon receiving the WUS, the auxiliary function module wakes up or powers on the corresponding primary function module.

[0006] In addition, in order to provide time synchronization for the auxiliary function module, the auxiliary function module also receives a synchronization signal (SS) sent by the base station. Currently, the power consumption of the auxiliary function module monitoring the synchronization signal and the wake-up signal is too high.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus for reducing power consumption of an auxiliary function module monitoring synchronization signals and wake-up signals.

[0009] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The communication method is applied to a terminal device or a chip system of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device includes a main function module and an auxiliary function module, and the auxiliary function module has lower power consumption than the main function module. Taking the execution subject as an example, the method can be implemented by the following steps: the terminal device receives information of a first time window, wherein the first time window includes a listening time for a synchronization signal, and the listening time for a wake-up signal is outside the first time window; the terminal device detects the synchronization signal of at least one cell within the first time window through the auxiliary function module; and performs time-frequency synchronization, neighboring cell measurement, serving cell measurement, or resident cell measurement according to the synchronization signal.

[0010] Based on the above method, the terminal device can monitor the synchronization signal within the first time window through the auxiliary function module based on the information received in the first time window. In addition, since the monitoring time of the wake-up signal is outside the first time window, there is no need to monitor the wake-up signal through the auxiliary function module within the first time window. In addition, outside the first time window, the auxiliary function module does not need to monitor the synchronization signal outside the first time window. Therefore, during the time outside the first time window that does not include the monitoring time of the WUS, the auxiliary function module can sleep to reduce power consumption. In addition, since the monitoring time of the SS is within the first time window and the monitoring time of the WUS is outside the first time window, the signal interference between the SS and the WUS can be reduced.

[0011] In addition, since the synchronization signal and the wake-up signal are sent in a time-division manner, signal interference can be reduced.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the terminal device may further detect the wake-up signal through the auxiliary function module at a listening opportunity for the wake-up signal outside the first time window.

[0013] Based on this implementation, the terminal device only needs to monitor the wake-up signal through the auxiliary function module at the monitoring timing of the wake-up signal outside the first time window, and does not need to monitor the wake-up signal within the first time window.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the terminal device may also determine that the neighboring cell measurement results corresponding to the synchronization signals of all cells within the first time window do not meet the reception conditions of the wake-up signal, and perform a cell search through the main function module.

[0015] Based on this implementation, when the neighboring cell measurement results corresponding to the synchronization signals of all cells within the first time window do not meet the wake-up signal reception conditions, the terminal device can switch to the main function module to perform a cell search. For example, if no synchronization signal that meets the wake-up signal reception conditions is detected during all synchronization signal monitoring opportunities within the first time window, the terminal device switches to the main function module. This provides reasonable conditions for the main function module to perform a cell search, thereby reducing the power consumption of the main function module while also taking into account communication quality.

[0016] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be implemented by a network device or a component in the network device, and the network device can also be referred to as a communication device. The components in this application may include, for example, at least one of a chip, a chip system, a processor, a transceiver, a processing unit, or a transceiver unit. Taking the execution subject as an example, the method can be implemented by the following steps: the network device sends information in a first time window, the first time window includes a listening opportunity for a synchronization signal, and the listening opportunity for a wake-up signal is outside the first time window; the network device may also send a synchronization signal of at least one cell in the first time window.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the network device may further send a wake-up signal at a listening opportunity for the wake-up signal outside the first time window.

[0018] The beneficial effects of the above second aspect and its possible implementation methods can be found in the corresponding introduction of the first aspect, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, the synchronization signal includes a first synchronization signal of a first cell, and the wake-up signal includes a first wake-up signal of the first cell. A frequency domain position corresponding to the first synchronization signal is different from a frequency domain position of the first wake-up signal.

[0020] Based on this implementation, the frequency domain positions of the first synchronization signal and the first wake-up signal of the first cell are different, that is, the synchronization signal and the wake-up signal of the same cell are sent in a different frequency manner, which can reduce the interference between the synchronization signal and the wake-up signal. By sending the wake-up signal and the synchronization signal by frequency division, the time-frequency resources occupied by the synchronization signal on the sending frequency of a single wake-up signal are reduced, and the capacity of the wake-up signal on a single frequency can be increased, which facilitates the network to configure the receiving bandwidth of the auxiliary function modules of multiple terminal devices to the same wake-up signal frequency. The advantage of this is that the network can deploy more low-power users to a single frequency, avoiding the need to divide multiple frequencies for the wake-up signal.

[0021] In a possible implementation of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, the synchronization signal further includes a second synchronization signal of a second cell, and the frequency domain position corresponding to the first synchronization signal is the same as the frequency domain position corresponding to the second synchronization signal.

[0022] Based on this implementation method, synchronization signals of multiple different campuses can be sent at the same frequency, so the auxiliary function module of the terminal device does not need to monitor the synchronization signals at different frequencies, which can further reduce power consumption.

[0023] In a possible implementation of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, the wake-up signal includes a second wake-up signal of the second cell, wherein the frequency domain position corresponding to the second synchronization signal is different from the frequency domain position of the wake-up signal of the second cell.

[0024] Based on this implementation, the wake-up signal of the second cell and the synchronization signal of the second cell may be sent at different frequencies to reduce signal interference.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, a frequency domain position corresponding to the first wake-up signal is different from a frequency domain position of the second wake-up signal.

[0026] Based on this implementation, multiple different cells send wake-up signals at different frequencies to reduce interference between wake-up signals in different cells.

[0027] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, the terminal device may determine the frequency domain position of the first wake-up signal according to the first synchronization signal.

[0028] Based on this implementation, after detecting the synchronization signal of any cell, the terminal device can determine the frequency domain position of the wake-up signal of the cell according to the synchronization signal, so as to monitor and receive the wake-up signal at the correct frequency and reduce power consumption.

[0029] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect and / or the second aspect, a frequency domain position of the wake-up signal is the same as a frequency domain position of the synchronization signal.

[0030] Based on this implementation, the wake-up signal and the synchronization signal can also be sent at the same frequency to reduce signal transmission complexity. Since the synchronization signal monitoring opportunity is within the first time window, if the length of the first time window is fixed, it can avoid the synchronization signal from excessively occupying the time-frequency resources of the base station wake-up signal, thereby increasing the wake-up signal capacity.

[0031] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The device can implement the method described in any possible design of the first or second aspect. The device has the functions of the terminal device or network device described above. The device can be, for example, a terminal device, a functional module in a terminal device, a network device, or a functional module in a network device.

[0032] In an optional implementation, the device may include a module that performs the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect or the second aspect. The module may be a hardware circuit, software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In an optional implementation, the device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a communication unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module, a communication module, etc.). The transceiver unit can implement a sending function and a receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be called a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module). When the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be called a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is called a transceiver unit, and the functional module can implement a sending function and a receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

[0033] Exemplarily, when the apparatus is used to execute the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect, the apparatus may include a communication unit and a processing unit.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, comprising a processor for executing a computer program (or computer-executable instructions) stored in a memory. When the computer program (or computer-executable instructions) is executed, the device executes the method in the first aspect or the second aspect and its various possible implementations.

[0035] In one possible implementation, the processor and memory are integrated;

[0036] In another possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication device.

[0037] The communication device also includes a communication interface, which is used for the communication device to communicate with other devices, such as sending or receiving data and / or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface can be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module or other type of communication interface.

[0038] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which is used to store computer programs or instructions, which, when executed, enables the method shown in the first aspect or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof to be implemented.

[0039] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the method shown in the first aspect or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof to be implemented.

[0040] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device for executing the methods in the above-mentioned first aspect or second aspect and various possible implementations thereof.

[0041] In an eighth aspect, a chip system is provided, which includes a logic circuit (or it can be understood that the chip system includes a processor, and the processor may include a logic circuit, etc.), and may also include an input and output interface. The input and output interface can be used to input messages and also to output messages. The input and output interfaces can be the same interface, that is, the same interface can implement both the sending function and the receiving function; or, the input and output interfaces include an input interface and an output interface, the input interface is used to implement the receiving function, that is, for receiving messages; the output interface is used to implement the sending function, that is, for sending messages. The logic circuit can be used to perform operations other than the sending and receiving functions in the method shown in the first aspect or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof; the logic circuit can also be used to transmit messages to the input and output interface, or receive messages from other communication devices from the input and output interface. The chip system can be used to implement the method shown in the first aspect or the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0042] Optionally, the chip system may further include a memory, which may be used to store instructions, and the logic circuit may call the instructions stored in the memory to implement corresponding functions.

[0043] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, which may include a terminal device and a network device, each used to implement the method shown in the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0044] The technical effects brought about by the above second to ninth aspects can be found in the description of the above first aspect and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a wireless communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of transmitting a neighboring cell synchronization signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the time domain relationship between a synchronization signal and a wake-up signal provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a first time window provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another first time window provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a solution for monitoring a wake-up signal according to a synchronization signal provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of another solution for monitoring a wake-up signal based on a synchronization signal provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system may also include the Internet 300. The radio access network 100 may include at least one radio access network device (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1 ) and at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1 ). The terminal is wirelessly connected to the radio access network device, and the radio access network device is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the core network. The core network device and the radio access network device may be independent, distinct physical devices, or the core network device's functions and the radio access network device's logical functions may be integrated into the same physical device, or a single physical device may integrate some of the core network device's functions and some of the radio access network device's functions. Terminals and radio access network devices may be interconnected via wired or wireless connections. Figure 1 is merely a schematic diagram. The communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1 .

[0056] Radio access network equipment is the access device that terminals use to wirelessly access a communication system. Radio access network equipment can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, a next-generation base station in sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems, a base station in future mobile communication systems, a WiFi system, a long-range radio (LoRa) system, or an access node in an Internet of Vehicles system. Radio access network equipment can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, for example, a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The CU here completes the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also complete the function of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU completes the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also complete the functions of part of the physical layer or all of the physical layer. For the specific description of the above-mentioned various protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The wireless access network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), or a relay node or a donor node. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the wireless access network device. For the convenience of description below, the network device is referred to as the abbreviation of the wireless access network device, and the base station is taken as an example of the wireless access network device.

[0057] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to a base station or receive signals from a base station. A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal.

[0058] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and terminals.

[0059] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1 can be configured as a mobile base station. To terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station. However, to base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with base station functionality, while 120a-120j in Figure 1 can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functionality.

[0060] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be carried out through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; communication can be carried out through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0061] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes the base station functions. The control subsystem that includes the base station functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device that includes the terminal functions.

[0062] In this application, a base station sends downlink signals or downlink information to a terminal, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal sends uplink signals or uplink information to the base station, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order to communicate with the base station, the terminal needs to establish a wireless connection with the cell controlled by the base station. The cell with which the terminal has established a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal. When the terminal communicates with the serving cell, it will also be subject to interference from signals in neighboring cells.

[0063] The following is an introduction to the technical terms that may be involved in this application.

[0064] (1) Main function module and auxiliary function module

[0065] In order to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, the terminal device can use the main function module and the auxiliary function module to work in the working mode. The main function module and the auxiliary function module can be different links contained in the same module, or the main function module and the auxiliary function module can also be links contained in different modules. The main function module and the auxiliary function module can be connected for communication. The functions of the main function module and the auxiliary function module in the terminal device are described below:

[0066] The main function module is used to implement various operations and functions of the terminal device (such as radio resource management measurement and transmission of paging messages, etc.), and is also called the main circuit module, main link, main circuit or main receiver, etc. The main function module is, for example, the main radio circuit in the terminal device. The main function module is used for the terminal device to receive the downlink signaling and data of the normal NR. Its power consumption in normal working state is relatively high, generally in the order of several milliwatts (mW). After the terminal device enters the radio resource control (RRC) idle state or the RRC inactive state, the main function module enters the shutdown state (for example, power saving mode or extremely low power consumption state). At this time, the main function module does not perform operations such as radio resource management measurement, transmission of paging messages, cell reselection and cell switching, which can effectively reduce the power consumption of the terminal device caused by performing the above operations.

[0067] The idle state refers to the state in which a terminal device is stationed in a cell but has not yet performed a random access procedure. The cell in which the terminal device is stationed is called the stationed cell. A terminal device typically enters the idle state after being powered on or after RRC is released.

[0068] Taking the reception of a paging message as an example, when the terminal device is in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, it will calculate a paging frame (PF) and the position of a paging occasion (PO) in the PF based on its terminal device identifier (UE ID), and receive the paging message within the PO of the paging frame. Whether the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, the RRC idle state, or the RRC inactive state, the same receiving module, i.e., the main functional module, can be used to perform the above-mentioned paging message reception process.

[0069] The auxiliary function module can be used to receive a low-power signal from the base station. The low-power signal can also be called a WUS or a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS), or a WUR signal. The auxiliary function module can also be called a wake-up link, an auxiliary link, an auxiliary circuit, an auxiliary receiver, or a low-power receiver. The auxiliary function module is, for example, a wake-up radio (WUR) circuit in a terminal device. Compared with the main function module, the auxiliary function module consumes much less power.

[0070] The auxiliary function module may, for example, use some radio frequency circuits and baseband circuits with lower power consumption. For example, the auxiliary function module may not include a ring oscillator of a phase-locked loop, and use a low noise amplifier with a higher noise figure.

[0071] In another design, the auxiliary function module can be a submodule (i.e., a partial module) of the main function module, or it can reuse some circuits and devices with the main function module. Compared with the main function module, the auxiliary function module includes fewer components during operation. For example, the auxiliary function module does not include a fast Fourier transform module, a complex channel decoding module, a low-density parity check code (LDPC) decoding module, or a polarization decoding module. It may also have fewer registers and memory units and use a lower-bandwidth bus. Therefore, its power consumption is lower than that of the main function module.

[0072] In another design, the main function module can be an auxiliary function module in a low-power operating mode. For example, when the main function module reduces the operating voltage, slows down the clock frequency, or reduces the sampling rate and bit width of analog-to-digital sampling, it becomes an auxiliary function module. The specific implementation of the main function module and the auxiliary function module is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0073] Hereinafter, the low power consumption signal WUS is taken as an example for description.

[0074] The power consumption of the auxiliary function module is low when in working state, which is generally much lower than that of the main function module when in working state, generally in the order of microwatts (μW), hundreds of microwatts or even nanowatts (nW). Based on the working modes of the above-mentioned main function module and auxiliary function module, when the terminal device enters the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, the main function module can be set to enter an unconventional working state such as the shutdown state, ultra-low power consumption state or ultra-deep sleep state, and the auxiliary function module can be used to monitor the WUS of the base station. After monitoring the WUS, the main function module can be awakened through the connection with the main function module to enable the main function module to enter the working state, that is, trigger the main function module to enter the working state (or exit the shutdown state) from the shutdown state to restore its function. Optionally, the WUS can be a signal using a modulation method such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), on-off keying (OOK), amplitude-shift keying (ASK) or frequency-shift keying (FSK). Optionally, after the auxiliary function module wakes up the main function module, the auxiliary function module can switch from the working state to the closed state, or the auxiliary function module can remain in the working state, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0075] In this application, the action of the terminal device using the auxiliary function module to receive WUS can be referred to as "working on the WUR link."

[0076] (2)WUS and SS

[0077] The WUS may include a wake-up indication for waking up a specific UE or a group of UEs, or for triggering the UE to perform certain operations, including but not limited to updating system information, receiving paging messages, initiating random access, receiving disaster warning information, etc. The wake-up indication may also include paging information. For example, the paging information is preconfigured or predefined bits, such as the four bits 1010.

[0078] In order to enable the auxiliary function module to achieve time synchronization and frequency synchronization, the base station can periodically or non-periodically send SS, which can be a low power synchronization signal (LP-SS). Time synchronization is mainly used to provide time synchronization function for the auxiliary function module. For example, time synchronization can be used to determine the frame, subframe, time slot, or symbol in which the current time is located, to determine whether the terminal device is within the coverage of the cell, and to determine whether the local clock is offset. Frequency synchronization is mainly used for the auxiliary function module to calibrate the frequency and received signal to prevent the receiving frequency of the auxiliary function module from deviating from the WUS transmission frequency, resulting in a decrease in receiving performance. In this application, time synchronization and frequency synchronization can be referred to as time-frequency synchronization or synchronization.

[0079] At present, SS and WUS are sent in a time division multiplexing manner. For example, SS can be sent periodically. Within one SS period, there may be multiple WUS sending occasions (occasion). The base station may send WUS on these occasions or may not send it. The terminal device relies on blind detection to obtain whether there is a WUS signal sent to itself. Therefore, for the terminal device, the WUS sending occasion can be called a monitoring occasion (MO). It can be understood that outside the time resources occupied by SS and the monitoring occasion of WUS, the auxiliary function module can enter a dormant state to reduce power consumption. Among them, the monitoring occasion of WUS can be pre-set or configured by the base station. In this application, pre-setting can refer to pre-definition, for example, pre-definition through factory configuration, or definition through relevant protocols such as 3GPP. In addition, in this application, configuration by the base station can mean that after the base station determines the configuration information, the base station configures the relevant configuration information to the terminal device through messages or information such as RRC messages, MAC control elements (CE) or downlink control information (DCI).

[0080] One of the current design goals of the auxiliary function module is to achieve WUS coverage comparable to NR. This means that terminal devices at the cell edge can receive both SS and WUS signals from neighboring cells. As shown in Figure 2, a terminal device at the cell edge can simultaneously receive LP-WUS and LP-SS signals from both the home cell and neighboring cells.

[0081] When the UE can receive LP-SS signals from both its own cell and neighboring cells simultaneously, it can use the auxiliary function module to perform neighbor measurements, as shown in Figure 3. Optionally, LP-SS signals from different cells can exist, and multiple LP-WUS transmission opportunities can occur outside of the LP-SS period. The advantage of using the auxiliary function module for neighbor measurements is that it reduces the need for the auxiliary function module to wake up the main function module and rely on it for neighbor measurements, thereby saving power consumption in the terminal device.

[0082] Currently, the auxiliary function module consumes excessive power when monitoring synchronization and wake-up signals. For example, as the number of neighboring cells increases, SS signals from different cells are transmitted at different times. Therefore, in addition to the WUS monitoring period, the auxiliary function module still needs to be powered on for a long time to receive SS signals from different cells. Therefore, it cannot enter a dormant state to reduce the power consumption of the auxiliary function module, resulting in increased power consumption of the terminal device.

[0083] The present application provides a communication method for reducing the power consumption of an auxiliary function module. On the one hand, the communication method provided by the present application can be used to configure and send information of the first time window by the base station, so that the terminal device can detect the SS of one or more cells through the auxiliary function module within the first time window, and the first time window does not include the listening opportunity of the WUS, and the auxiliary function module does not need to listen to the WUS within the first time window. Therefore, during the time outside the first time window that does not include the listening opportunity of the WUS, there is no need to listen to the synchronization signal, and the auxiliary function module can sleep to reduce power consumption. On the other hand, since the listening opportunity of the SS is within the first time window and the listening opportunity of the WUS is outside the first time window, the signal interference between the SS and the WUS can be reduced. The method is described below in conjunction with Figure 4.

[0084] It is understood that in FIG4 , the method is described with the terminal device and the base station as the execution entities. As required, the base station can be replaced by a network device or a network device in the network device. In addition, the terminal device can be replaced by a UE, a terminal device, etc. The terminal device and the base station can also be replaced by a chip or a chip system.

[0085] As shown in FIG4 , the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps:

[0086] S101: The base station sends information of the first time window.

[0087] The information of the first time window may include information such as the occurrence period, offset or length of the first time window, and can be used to determine the time domain position of the first time window.

[0088] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the information of the first time window and obtains the time domain position of the first time window.

[0089] As shown in FIG5 , the first time window includes the monitoring opportunities of the SS of at least one cell, wherein different "synchronization signal monitoring opportunities" within the first time window in FIG5 represent different SS monitoring opportunities. Furthermore, as shown in FIG5 , the first time window does not include the monitoring opportunities of the WUS, or in other words, the monitoring opportunities of the WUS are outside the first time window. Therefore, the terminal device can detect the WUS through the auxiliary function module during the WUS monitoring opportunities outside the first time window.

[0090] Optionally, the terminal device receives information of the first time window through the main function module or the auxiliary function module.

[0091] As an example of S101, the information of the first time window may be configured by the base station. For example, the base station may send the information of the first time window via a system message or higher-layer signaling, so that the terminal device obtains the information of the first time window. For example, the base station may include the information of the first time window in an RRC message sent to the terminal device. In another example, the base station may include the information of the first time window via a broadcast message.

[0092] In addition, it is not excluded that the terminal device and the base station use the default information of the first time window. For example, the information of the first time window is preset.

[0093] S102: The base station sends a synchronization signal of at least one cell within a first time window.

[0094] In addition, the base station can coordinate with other base stations to enable the neighboring base stations of the terminal device to obtain information of the first time window. Based on this, the serving cell of the terminal device and at least one neighboring cell can send SS in the first time window.

[0095] Optionally, the sending period of the SS may be the same as the occurrence period of the first time window.

[0096] Correspondingly, the terminal device detects the synchronization signal within the first time window through the auxiliary function module.

[0097] Specifically, after receiving the information of the first time window, the terminal device can monitor the monitoring timing of the SS in combination with the transmission bandwidth of the SS, and after obtaining at least one selected SS, perform at least one of time synchronization, frequency synchronization, serving cell measurement, neighboring cell measurement, or resident cell measurement according to the SS. In addition, since the monitoring timing of the SS is not included outside the first time window, the terminal device does not need to perform local cell measurement and / or neighboring cell measurement outside the first time window, thereby reducing the neighboring cell measurement search time of the UE.

[0098] Exemplarily, when the time domain position of the first time window is consistent with or close to the time domain position of the wake-up cycle of the terminal device, the terminal device can adopt a shorter wake-up cycle to further reduce power consumption; in addition, the terminal device can not switch the on / off state of the auxiliary function module within the first time window, thereby reducing the power consumption caused by the state switching. For example, assuming that the length of the first time window is 10 milliseconds (ms), the wake-up cycle (duty cycle) of the auxiliary function module of the terminal device is 2s, and the time domain position of the wake-up cycle of the auxiliary function module is close to the time domain position of the first time window, that is, the terminal device keeps the auxiliary function module turned on within the first time window and at a relatively close WUS listening opportunity, and the terminal device can put the auxiliary function module to sleep during non-WUS listening opportunities outside the first time window to reduce power consumption.

[0099] In addition, as shown in FIG5 , since there is a monitoring opportunity of the SS of at least one cell and no monitoring opportunity of the WUS within the first time window, interference between the WUS and the SS can be prevented.

[0100] In this application, the SS and WUS can be transmitted via the same or different frequencies. The frequency domain location of the WUS and SS, also referred to as the frequency location, refers to the location area of ​​the WUS or SS transmission bandwidth on the transmission air interface frequency domain resources. This bandwidth is usually included in a frequency band, carrier, or BWP, and is smaller than the actual available bandwidth of the band, carrier, or BWP. Here, "SS and WUS are transmitted at the same frequency" means that the transmission bandwidth of SS and the transmission bandwidth of WUS are at the same frequency domain position on the air interface; for example, the transmission bandwidth of SS is the same as the transmission bandwidth of WUS, and the transmission bandwidth of SS and the transmission bandwidth of WUS are exactly the same in frequency position; for another example, the transmission bandwidth of SS is the same as the transmission bandwidth of WUS, and the transmission bandwidth of SS and the transmission bandwidth of WUS have an overlapping region in frequency position but do not completely overlap, and the time domain position of SS does not overlap with the time domain position of WUS; for another example, the transmission bandwidth of SS is different from the transmission bandwidth of WUS, and the transmission bandwidth of SS and the transmission bandwidth of WUS have an overlapping region in frequency position, and the time domain position of SS does not overlap with the time domain position of WUS. In addition, "SS and WUS are transmitted at different frequencies" means that the transmission bandwidth of SS and the transmission bandwidth of WUS are at different frequency domain positions on the air interface, or in other words, the transmission bandwidth of SS and the transmission bandwidth of WUS do not overlap in the frequency domain. For example, the schematic diagram of the first time window shown in FIG5 can be understood as a time domain schematic diagram, that is, the SS monitoring opportunity and the WUS monitoring opportunity in FIG5 can carry the SS and WUS of the same frequency or the SS and WUS of different frequencies.

[0101] As an example, when SS and WUS are sent through the same frequency, the service cell base station and at least one neighboring base station of the terminal device can send SS and WUS at the same frequency domain position or frequency domain range, and accordingly, the terminal device can receive SS and WUS from the service cell base station and at least one neighboring base station at the frequency domain position or frequency domain range.

[0102] As another example, when SS and WUS are sent through different frequencies, the service cell and at least one neighboring cell of the terminal device can respectively send SS at the frequency domain position of SS and send WUS at the frequency domain position of WUS. Accordingly, the terminal device can respectively listen to SS at the frequency domain position of SS and listen to WUS at the frequency domain position of WUS.

[0103] When WUS and SS are sent at different frequencies, the time-frequency resources occupied by SS on a single WUS transmission frequency can be reduced, thereby increasing the WUS capacity on a single frequency and facilitating the network to allocate the receiving bandwidth of the auxiliary function modules of multiple terminal devices to the same WUS frequency. This has the advantage that the network can deploy more low-power users to a single frequency, avoiding the need to allocate multiple frequencies for WUS.

[0104] Optionally, the frequency domain position of the SS sent by any cell may be the same as or different from the frequency domain position of the WUS sent by other cells. If the frequency domain position of the SS sent by any cell is different from the frequency domain position of the WUS of other cells, that is, the transmission bandwidth of the SS and the transmission bandwidth of the WUS do not overlap in the frequency domain, signal interference between the SS and WUS of the same frequency can be avoided. In this application, the cell sending a signal may refer to the base station to which the cell belongs sending a signal.

[0105] In addition, the SSs sent by different cells can be located at the same or different frequency domain positions or frequency domain ranges. If the SSs sent by different cells are located at the same frequency domain position, the auxiliary function module can avoid frequency switching when detecting the SS, which helps to reduce power consumption.

[0106] Alternatively, the WUSs sent by different cells may be located at the same or different frequency domain positions or frequency domain ranges. If the WUSs sent by different cells are located at different frequency domain positions or frequency domain ranges, signal interference between the same-frequency WUSs of different cells can be avoided.

[0107] The following describes possible time-frequency location designs for SS and WUS of multiple cells in conjunction with Figure 6. In this embodiment, multiple cells may send SS at the same frequency domain location F1, and multiple cells may send WUS at different frequency domain locations, and the frequency domain locations of the WUS sent by any two cells are different.

[0108] As shown in Figure 6, at frequency F1, the SS monitoring opportunity within the first time window can carry the SS of the first cell, referred to as the first SS. The frequency domain location of the first SS can be F1. The WUS of the first cell is referred to as the first WUS, and the frequency domain location of the first WUS is F2, where F1 and F2 are different. Optionally, the time domain location of the first WUS can be located at one or more WUS monitoring opportunities outside the first time window; for example, the auxiliary function module generally does not support receiving two different signals, SS and WUS, in different frequency domains.

[0109] In Figure 6, at frequency F1, the SS monitoring opportunity within the first time window can also carry the SS of a second cell, referred to as the second SS. The frequency domain location of the second SS can be F1. Furthermore, at least one WUS monitoring opportunity outside the first time window carries the WUS of the second cell, referred to as the second WUS. Optionally, the frequency domain location of the first SS is the same as the frequency domain location of the second SS.

[0110] In addition, the first time window shown in Figure 6 also includes the SS of the third cell and the SS of the fourth cell, and the WUS of the third cell and the WUS of the fourth cell can be located at different frequency domain positions. For example, the frequency domain position of the WUS sent by the third cell is recorded as F4, and the frequency domain position of the WUS sent by the fourth cell is recorded as F5. Among them, any two frequency domain positions from F1 to F5 are different.

[0111] It can be understood that the frequency domain position of the SS in this application can be pre-set or configured by the base station. The SS here refers to the frequency domain position of the SS of one or more cells. For example, when configured by the base station, the frequency domain positions of the SSs of multiple cells can be set to be the same, and the serving cell can optionally indicate the frequency domain position of the SS to the terminal device through the physical layer or high-layer signaling. The base station can also perform inter-base station collaboration with other base stations so that the cells under different base stations all send SSs through the frequency domain position.

[0112] Still taking FIG6 as an example, the first cell to the fourth cell all support sending SS at the F1 frequency position.

[0113] The first to fourth cells mentioned above may include the terminal's own cell and may also include neighboring cells. In this application, the "own cell" refers to the terminal's serving cell or resident cell.

[0114] Optionally, in the frequency domain positions of F1 to F5, any two or more frequency bands can be in the same frequency band (band) or in the same bandwidth part (BWP). NR signaling and / or data can be sent between the base station and the terminal device at time domain positions other than the sending SS and WUS of F1 to F5.

[0115] Optionally, in addition to sending SS at the frequency domain position corresponding to SS, any cell may also send SS at the frequency domain position of the cell's WUS to improve synchronization accuracy. For example, the first cell may send SS at F2, and accordingly, the terminal device may monitor the SS sent at F2 at the SS monitoring time through the auxiliary function module according to the configuration of the SS. The SS is the same frequency SS of the first WUS and is used to assist the terminal device in measurement and / or time-frequency synchronization. Optionally, the SS may be located within the first time window or outside the first time window. The SS may be sent periodically or non-periodically, which is not limited in this application. Among them, when the first cell sends the first SS through F1 and F2, the SS sent by the first cell through F2 may adopt a larger sending period or sending interval. For example, the period of the SS sent by the first cell through F2 is greater than the period of the first SS sent through F1, so that the total SS sending overhead of the first cell remains the same as the sending overhead when the SS is sent only at one frequency.

[0116] In the present application, when the frequency position of the SS and the frequency position of the WUS of the same cell are different, the terminal device can determine the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell according to the SS of the cell.

[0117] For example, information such as the waveform or sequence parameters of the SS of a cell corresponds to the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell. Therefore, after detecting the SS, the terminal device can determine the frequency domain position of the WUS based on the corresponding relationship. The SS parameter information may include parameters for generating the SS signal, or parameters carried or indicated by the SS signal. For example, when the SS is sent in the form of a sequence, the SS parameters include parameters for generating the sequence of the SS, hereinafter referred to as sequence parameters. In the present application, sequence parameters refer to parameters such as the root value, cyclic shift value or seed point of the sequence. For example, if the sequence used to generate the SS is a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence, the corresponding sequence parameters may include root and / or cyclic shift values; if the sequence used to generate the SS is a pseudo-random m sequence, the corresponding sequence parameters may include the seed point of the sequence. For another example, the parameters carried or indicated by the SS signal may be indication information carried in the SS signal, and the indication information may correspond to the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell.

[0118] The following describes how a terminal device determines the frequency domain position of a WUS with reference to an example.

[0119] In method 1, there is a correspondence between the frequency domain position of the SS of a cell and the WUS of the cell. The terminal device can query the correspondence based on the detected SS to determine the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell, and then monitor the WUS of the cell at the WUS monitoring opportunity based on the WUS location information.

[0120] The terminal device may receive configuration information of the frequency domain location of the WUS of at least one cell from the network device. The configuration information may include a correspondence between the SS of the cell and the frequency domain location of the WUS of the cell. Optionally, the base station may indicate the configuration information to the terminal device via an RRC message, MAC CE, or DCI. Optionally, the configuration information may also include indication information of F1, for example, including frequency point information or subcarrier index information of F1, where F1 is the frequency domain location of the SS of each cell.

[0121] Taking the correspondence between the sequence parameters of the SS and the frequency domain location information of the WUS as an example, as shown in Table 1, the configuration information may include the correspondence between the cell number, SS parameter information, and the frequency domain location information of the WUS. In Table 1, the SS parameter information is illustrated using a sequence parameter set as an example. The sequence parameter set of any cell may include rooting, cyclic shift value seed points, or other parameters. It will be understood that the sequence parameters corresponding to different cells in Table 1 belong to different sequence parameter sets.

[0122] In addition, the cell number in Table 1 may include the index or identifier of the cell; the frequency domain position information of WUS may include the frequency point or subcarrier index of each frequency domain position. For example, F2 in Table 1 represents the frequency point information of F2 and / or the subcarrier index where F2 is located.

[0123] Table 1

[0124] Taking Table 1 as an example, when the terminal device detects the SS at the listening opportunity of the SS within the first time window, it can parse the SS to obtain the sequence parameters. The terminal device can further query Table 1 according to the sequence parameter set to which the sequence parameters belong to determine the frequency domain position information of the WUS. For example, when the sequence parameter of the SS received by the terminal device is a sequence parameter in sequence parameter set 1, it indicates that the SS is the SS of the first cell. Therefore, the terminal device can determine that the frequency domain position of the WUS of the first cell is F2 according to Table 1. The terminal device can further detect the listening opportunity of the WUS at F2 through the auxiliary function module to monitor the WUS of the first cell.

[0125] It can be understood that Table 1 is only an exemplary description of the configuration information of the frequency domain position of the WUS of at least one cell. The present application does not exclude the possibility of making appropriate changes based on the records in Table 1 in actual applications. For example, appropriate changes may include expanding and / or deleting information based on Table 1. One way of deletion is, for example, deleting the cell number information based on Table 1. At this time, after determining the sequence parameters of the SS, the terminal device can determine the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell according to the correspondence between the sequence parameter set and the frequency domain position information of the WUS, and monitor the WUS of the cell according to the frequency domain position, that is, the step of determining the cell can be skipped.

[0126] Method 2: The frequency domain position of the SS of each cell is recorded as F1. There is a corresponding relationship between the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell and the difference between F1. The terminal device can determine the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell and F1 based on the detected SS query correspondence, and then determine the frequency domain position of the WUS based on F1 and the difference. After that, the WUS of the cell is monitored at the monitoring time of the WUS according to the position information of the WUS.

[0127] It can be understood that the difference between Mode 2 and Mode 1 is that in Mode 2, the network device does not need to indicate the absolute position of the frequency domain position of the WUS sent by each cell, that is, it does not need to directly indicate the frequency domain values ​​of F2, F3, F4 and F5 respectively, but indicates the frequency domain difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS sent by different cells and the frequency domain position of the SS sent by each cell. Since the number of bits required to indicate the frequency domain difference is generally less than the number of bits to indicate the absolute position of the frequency domain, Mode 2 requires less bit overhead when configuring the corresponding relationship than Mode 1, which can save air interface signaling overhead. In addition, in Mode 2, the configuration information can also include indication information of F1, for example, including frequency point information of F1.

[0128] Optionally, the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS and F1 can be represented by a frequency domain difference, or by a multiple relationship between the frequency domain difference and a unit increment. The unit increment is denoted as deltaF and represents a fixed bandwidth value. The difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS and F1 can be represented by n times deltaF, where n is a real number.

[0129] It can be understood that if the difference between the frequency domain position of WUS and F1 is represented by deltaF, the configuration information of the frequency domain position of WUS of at least one cell sent by the network device to the terminal device may include the value of deltaF.

[0130] As shown in Table 2, the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS of the first cell and F1 is 1 times deltaF, that is, n=1, indicating that the frequency domain position of the WUS of the first cell is (F1+deltaF).

[0131] The description of the cell number and SS transmission information can be found in Table 1 and will not be repeated here.

[0132] Table 2

[0133] Taking Table 2 as an example, when the terminal device detects the SS at the listening opportunity of the SS within the first time window, it can parse the SS to obtain the sequence parameters. The terminal device can further query Table 2 according to the sequence parameter set to which the sequence parameter belongs to determine the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS and F1, and then determine the frequency domain position of the WUS according to F1, deltaF and the difference. For example, when the sequence parameter of the SS received by the terminal device is the sequence parameter in the sequence parameter set 1, it means that the SS is the SS of the first cell, so the terminal device can determine that the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS and F1 is deltaF according to Table 2, and further determine that the frequency domain position of the WUS of the first cell is (F1+deltaF). The terminal device can further detect the listening opportunity of the WUS at (F1+deltaF) through the auxiliary function module to monitor the WUS of the first cell.

[0134] It can be understood that Table 2 is only an exemplary description of the configuration information of the frequency domain position of the WUS of at least one cell. The present application does not exclude making appropriate changes based on the records in Table 2 in actual applications. For example, appropriate changes may include expanding and / or deleting information based on Table 2. One way of deletion is, for example, deleting the cell number information based on Table 2. At this time, after determining the sequence parameters of the SS, the terminal device can determine the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell and F1 based on the correspondence between the sequence parameter set and the difference between the frequency domain position of the WUS and F1, and then determine the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell based on F1, deltaF and the difference, and monitor the WUS of the cell based on the frequency domain position, that is, the step of determining the cell can be skipped.

[0135] Optionally, as an implementation of the present application, based on the information of the first time window shown in S101, the terminal device may perform a cell search within the first time window through the auxiliary function module. If the measurement quality of a certain SS within the first time window meets the WUS reception requirements, the terminal device may determine the frequency domain position of the WUS of the cell according to the method shown in this application and receive the WUS of the cell at the corresponding frequency domain position. If there is no SS of the cell whose signal quality meets the WUS reception requirements, the terminal device may wake up the main function module to perform a cell search.

[0136] The WUS reception requirement is used to determine whether the cell meets the communication quality requirement. For example, the requirement includes: the measurement quality of the SS is not less than a certain threshold requirement and the duration is not less than a certain preset duration T1. For example, as shown in Figure 7, the terminal device can monitor the monitoring timing of the SS within the first time window at F1 through the auxiliary function module. When the terminal device detects the SS of the third cell and the signal quality of the SS of the third cell meets the requirement, the auxiliary function module can monitor the WUS of the third cell according to the WUS monitoring timing at the frequency domain position of the WUS of the third cell.

[0137] Optionally, as another implementation of the present application, after the terminal device obtains the configuration information of the SS and WUS of the current cell, it can use the auxiliary function module to monitor the WUS according to the monitoring timing and / or frequency domain position of the WUS of the current cell indicated by the configuration information, and periodically measure the SS of the current cell; and / or, the terminal device can measure the SS of the current cell within the LP-SS window of F1 according to the period of the first time window. For example, in Figure 8, the resident cell or service cell is the fourth cell, and the terminal device can monitor the monitoring timing of the WUS of the fourth cell at F5, and periodically monitor the SS at F5 according to the configuration information of the SS; and / or, the terminal device can periodically monitor the SS of the fourth cell at F1 according to the period of the first time window.

[0138] As shown in Figure 8, when the terminal device detects SS#1 of the fourth cell at F5, if the measurement value of SS#1 meets the neighboring cell search requirement, or the terminal device does not detect the SS of the fourth cell at F5, the terminal device can measure the quality of the SS of the neighboring cell through the auxiliary function module within the first time window of F1 to achieve neighboring cell search. Optionally, if the terminal device determines through monitoring that there is a neighboring cell SS that meets the WUS reception requirements, such as SS#2 as shown in Figure 8, the terminal device can determine SS#2 according to the method shown in this application. Since the cell to which SS#2 belongs is the third cell, the terminal device can monitor the WUS of the cell at the frequency domain position F4 of the WUS of the third cell. If there is no SS of the cell whose signal quality meets the WUS reception requirements within the first time window of F1, the terminal device can switch back to the main function module to perform cell search.

[0139] In this implementation, the neighboring cell search requirement can be used to trigger the terminal device to perform neighboring cell measurements. For example, when the requirement is met or satisfied, the terminal device is triggered to measure the SS of the neighboring cell within the first time window through the auxiliary function module. For example, the requirement may include: the measurement quality of the SS detected by the terminal device in the local cell is lower than a certain threshold, and the duration of the measurement value being lower than the threshold SS is greater than a certain preset time T2, or the number of times the measurement value is lower than the threshold is greater than a predetermined set number of times.

[0140] In addition, in this implementation, the WUS reception requirement is used to determine whether the cell meets the communication quality requirement. For example, the requirement includes: the measurement quality of the neighboring cell SS is not lower than a certain threshold requirement and / or the duration of the SS is not less than a certain preset time T1; or, the requirement includes one or more of the following conditions: the measurement quality of the neighboring cell SS is not lower than the measurement quality of the SS of the current cell, the measurement quality of the neighboring cell SS is not lower than the measurement quality of the SS of the current cell, the difference between the two is greater than the threshold, and the duration of the neighboring cell SS is greater than a certain preset time T3.

[0141] It is understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and the terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in conjunction with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0142] Figures 9 and 10 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or base station in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be one of the terminals 120a-120j shown in Figure 1, or it can be the base station 110a or 110b shown in Figure 1, or it can be a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal or base station.

[0143] As shown in Figure 9 , a communication device 900 includes a processing unit 910 and a transceiver unit 920. The communication device 900 is used to implement the functions of a UE or a base station in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4 above.

[0144] When the communication device 900 is used to implement the function of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4: the transceiver unit 920 can be used to receive information in the first time window, and detect the synchronization signal of at least one cell within the first time window through the auxiliary function module.

[0145] When the communication device 900 is used to implement the function of the base station in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4: the processing unit 910 can be used to determine the information of the first time window; the transceiver unit 920 can be used to send the information of the first time window and send the synchronization signal of at least one cell within the first time window.

[0146] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 910 and the transceiver unit 920 , reference may be made to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4 .

[0147] As shown in Figure 10, communication device 1000 includes a processor 1010 and an interface circuit 1020. Processor 1010 and interface circuit 1020 are coupled to each other. It will be appreciated that interface circuit 1020 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 1000 may further include a memory 1030 for storing instructions executed by processor 1010, input data required by processor 1010 to execute instructions, or data generated by processor 1010 after executing instructions.

[0148] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 4 , the processor 1010 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 910 , and the interface circuit 1020 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 920 .

[0149] When the above-mentioned communication device is a chip applied to a UE, the UE chip implements the functions of the UE in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The UE chip receives information sent by the base station to the UE through other modules in the UE (such as a radio frequency module or antenna); or the UE chip sends information to other modules in the UE (such as a radio frequency module or antenna), and the information is sent by the UE to the base station.

[0150] When the above-mentioned communication device is a module applied to a base station, the base station module implements the functions of the base station in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The base station module receives information from other modules in the base station (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), and the information is sent by the terminal device to the base station; or, the base station 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 base station to the terminal device. The base station 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.

[0151] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0152] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application 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 an O-RAN. The processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in a base station or an O-RAN.

[0153] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0154] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0155] In this application, "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 this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formula of this application, 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.

[0156] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers 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 communication method, applied to a terminal device or a chip system of the terminal device, characterized in that: The terminal device includes a main function module and an auxiliary function module, the auxiliary function module consumes less power than the main function module, and the method includes: receiving information of a first time window, wherein the first time window includes a monitoring opportunity for a synchronization signal, and the monitoring opportunity for a wake-up signal is outside the first time window; Detecting a synchronization signal of at least one cell within the first time window by the auxiliary function module; Time and frequency synchronization, neighboring cell measurement, serving cell measurement or resident cell measurement are performed according to the synchronization signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The auxiliary function module detects the wake-up signal at a listening opportunity of the wake-up signal outside the first time window.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The synchronization signal includes a first synchronization signal of a first cell, and the wake-up signal includes a first wake-up signal of the first cell; The frequency domain position corresponding to the first synchronization signal is different from the frequency domain position of the first wake-up signal.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The synchronization signal also includes a second synchronization signal of a second cell, and a frequency domain position corresponding to the first synchronization signal is the same as a frequency domain position corresponding to the second synchronization signal.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The wake-up signal includes a second wake-up signal of the second cell, wherein a frequency domain position corresponding to the second synchronization signal is different from a frequency domain position of the wake-up signal of the second cell.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that A frequency domain position corresponding to the first wake-up signal is different from a frequency domain position corresponding to the second wake-up signal.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A frequency domain position of the first wake-up signal is determined according to the first synchronization signal.

8. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The frequency domain position of the wake-up signal is the same as the frequency domain position of the synchronization signal.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Determining that neighboring cell measurement results corresponding to synchronization signals of all cells within the first time window do not meet a reception condition for a wake-up signal; The cell search is performed through the main function module.

10. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Sending information of a first time window, where the first time window includes a monitoring opportunity for a synchronization signal, and the monitoring opportunity for a wake-up signal is outside the first time window; A synchronization signal of at least one cell is sent within the first time window.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The method further comprises: The wake-up signal is sent at a listening opportunity for the wake-up signal outside the first time window.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The synchronization signal includes a first synchronization signal of a first cell, and the wake-up signal includes a first wake-up signal of the first cell; The frequency domain position corresponding to the first synchronization signal is different from the frequency domain position of the first wake-up signal.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The synchronization signal also includes a second synchronization signal of a second cell, and a frequency domain position corresponding to the first synchronization signal is the same as a frequency domain position corresponding to the second synchronization signal.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The wake-up signal includes a second wake-up signal of the second cell, wherein a frequency domain position corresponding to the second synchronization signal is different from a frequency domain position of the wake-up signal of the second cell.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that A frequency domain position corresponding to the first wake-up signal is different from a frequency domain position corresponding to the second wake-up signal.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that: The frequency domain position of the first wake-up signal is determined according to the first synchronization signal.

17. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that The frequency domain position of the wake-up signal is the same as the frequency domain position of the synchronization signal.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor configured to execute a computer program or an instruction to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. The device according to claim 18, characterized in that The device further comprises a memory and / or a transceiver, wherein the memory is used to store the computer program or instructions, and the transceiver is used for the device to communicate.

20. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises modules for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented.

22. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises a computer program or an instruction, which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

23. A communication system, characterized in that: The invention comprises a communication device for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, and a communication device for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 17.

24. A chip, characterized in that: The chip is coupled to a memory, and the chip reads a computer program stored in the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

25. A communication device, characterized in that: Used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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