Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus. The communication method comprises: when a first PDCCH candidate can be used for bearing first DCI, a terminal device performs blind detection (BD) or non-overlapping control channel element (CCE) counting on a first cell for the first PDCCH candidate, wherein the first DCI is DCI in a first format, one DCI in the first format schedules data transmission of one cell at most, the first DCI is used for scheduling data transmission of a second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

Description

Communication method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on November 13, 2023, with application number 202311508900.2 and application name “Communication Method and Communication Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and in particular to a communication method and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] Two aspects of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring significantly impact the implementation complexity of terminal devices: the number of monitored PDCCH candidates, also known as the number of blind detections (BDs), and the number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs). The more PDCCH candidates a terminal monitors, the higher its decoding complexity. The more non-overlapping CCEs within a PDCCH candidate, the higher its channel estimation complexity.

[0004] In order to reduce the complexity of the terminal monitoring PDCCH, the protocol presets an upper limit on the number of PDCCH candidates and / or an upper limit on the number of non-overlapping CCEs that the terminal device monitors on a cell within a time unit, where the upper limit on the number of PDCCH candidates is also called the BD upper limit, and the upper limit on the number of non-overlapping CCEs is also called the CCE upper limit.

[0005] In the current protocol, access network equipment and terminal devices perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on a PDCCH candidate capable of carrying DCI in a first format on a cell scheduled by the DCI in the first format. A DCI in the first format can schedule data transmission on at most one carrier. However, this approach has the problem of limited flexibility when scheduling PDCCHs for access network equipment.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a communication method to improve the flexibility of access network equipment when scheduling PDCCH.

[0008] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, applied to a terminal device, comprising: when a first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry a first DCI, performing blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate on a first cell, the first DCI is a DCI in a first format, one DCI in the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in a second cell, and the first cell and the second cell are different. That is, the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI in the first format that schedules the second cell.

[0009] In the embodiment of the present application, the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first DCI is also referred to as a PDCCH candidate associated with the first DCI.

[0010] Among them, a DCI in the first format schedules data transmission for at most one cell, which can also be described as: a DCI in the first format schedules data transmission for at most one carrier, or a DCI in the first format schedules data transmission for at most one cell, or a DCI in the first format schedules data transmission for at most one carrier. That is, the first format can be considered as a single-cell scheduling DCI format, or also called a single-carrier scheduling DCI format.

[0011] That is to say, in this embodiment, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of the second cell. Or in other words, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of the second cell.

[0012] It should be understood that when a PDCCH candidate capable of carrying a first format DCI for scheduling a second cell is counted with BD and / or non-overlapping CCEs on the first cell, it is possible to give more BDs and / or non-overlapping CCEs to a PDCCH candidate capable of carrying a second format DCI that needs to be counted with BD and / or non-overlapping CCEs on the second cell, wherein a second format DCI can simultaneously schedule data transmission for two or more cells, that is, the second format can be considered a multi-cell scheduling DCI format. Therefore, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can improve the scheduling flexibility of the PDCCH candidate capable of carrying the second format DCI, that is, improve the flexibility of the access network device in scheduling the PDCCH.

[0013] In conjunction with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving first information sent by an access network device, the first information indicating that the terminal device will be able to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first DCI. Or, to put it another way, the first information indicates that the terminal device will be able to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry a first format of DCI for scheduling a second cell.

[0014] In this implementation, the access network device sends a first message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the DCI in the first format for scheduling data transmission of the second cell. Or to put it another way, the access network device sends a first message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the DCI in the first format for scheduling data transmission of the second cell.

[0015] That is, in this implementation, after receiving the first information, the terminal device will perform blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell based on the instruction of the first information.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation method, the first PDCCH candidate is blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting is performed on the first cell, including: if the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI is blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting is performed on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate is blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting is performed on the first cell; wherein, the second DCI is a DCI of the second format, and a DCI of the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission of two or more cells.

[0017] The second format is a multi-cell scheduling DCI format, or may also be called a multi-carrier scheduling DCI format.

[0018] In the embodiment of the present application, a DCI in the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission of two or more cells, which can also be described as: a DCI in the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission of two or more carriers.

[0019] In the embodiment of the present application, cells that can be scheduled by a DCI of the second format include a second cell, and a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the second cell.

[0020] That is to say, in this implementation, it is further restricted that the first PDCCH candidate will be counted for BD and / or non-overlapping CCE on the first cell only when the second cell is a counting cell for BD and / or non-overlapping CCE of PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the second format of DCI. In other words, in this implementation, if there is no PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate will not be counted for BD and / or non-overlapping CCE on the first cell.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, blind detection (BD) and / or non-overlapping control channel element (CCE) counting is performed on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell, including: if the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting is performed on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; wherein the third DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the first cell. The first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, which can be understood as the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same bandwidth part (BWP) of the same cell, and this BWP can be the downlink activation BWP of this cell.

[0022] That is, in this implementation, it is further restricted that only when the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling the second cell and the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling the first cell are on the same cell, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling the second cell on the first cell, or in other words, perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the first PDCCH candidate on the first cell. In other words, in this implementation, if the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI are not on the same cell, the first PDCCH candidate does not perform BD and non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell.

[0023] In combination with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first cell, including: if the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is the same, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; wherein the fourth DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the fourth DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the first cell.

[0024] That is, in this implementation, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI that can be used to schedule the second cell, only when the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is the same, or in other words, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the first PDCCH candidate. In other words, in this implementation, if the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is different, the first PDCCH candidate does not perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell. In other words, in this implementation, the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI are on the downlink activation BWP of the same cell, or the first PDCCH candidate is on the downlink activation BWP of one cell, and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is on the downlink activation BWP of another cell, and the subcarrier spacing of these two downlink activation BWPs is the same.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: receiving second information sent by the access network device, the second information is used to configure at least one first PDCCH candidate; wherein the second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell. The second information includes one or more aggregation levels of PDCCH candidates of the first format DCI that can carry the data transmission of the second cell and the number of PDCCH candidates of each aggregation level. Based on the second information, the terminal device can determine the time-frequency resources of the PDCCH candidates of the first format DCI that can carry the data transmission of the second cell. Exemplarily, the second information can be the search space set configuration information. It should be noted that there is no strict order between the first information and the second information. The first information can be sent before the second information, or later than the second information, or the first information and the second information can be sent at the same time.

[0026] Specifically, the BD upper limit is the upper limit of the number of PDCCH candidates monitored by the terminal device in the first cell within a unit time, and the non-overlapping CCE upper limit is the upper limit of the number of non-overlapping CCEs monitored by the terminal device in the first cell within a unit time.

[0027] In the second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to an access network device, including: sending first information to a terminal device, the first information indicating that the terminal device will be able to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on a first cell for a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry a first DCI; wherein the first DCI is a DCI of a first format, and a DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell, and the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in a second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method further includes: when the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, performing blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell.

[0029] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation method, the first PDCCH candidate is blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting is performed on the first cell, including: if the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI is blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting is performed on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate is blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting is performed on the first cell; wherein, the second DCI is a DCI of the second format, and a DCI of the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission of two or more cells.

[0030] In combination with the second aspect, in one possible implementation method, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting in the first cell, including: if the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting in the first cell; wherein, the third DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the first cell.

[0031] In combination with the second aspect, in one possible implementation, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first cell, including: if the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is the same, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; wherein the fourth DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the fourth DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the first cell.

[0032] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the method also includes: second information sent to the terminal device, the second information is used to configure at least one first PDCCH candidate; wherein the second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

[0033] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising: a memory configured to execute the method as described in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0034] In combination with the third aspect, in one possible implementation, the communication device also includes a processor; the memory is used to store program instructions; and the processor is used to call the program instructions in the memory to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising: a memory configured to execute the method as described in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0036] In combination with the fourth aspect, in one possible implementation, the communication device also includes a processor; the memory is used to store program instructions; and the processor is used to call the program instructions in the memory to execute the method described in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0037] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising the communication device described in the third aspect and the communication device described in the fourth aspect.

[0038] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable medium storing a program code for computer execution, the program code including instructions for executing the method as described in any one of the first to second aspects or any possible implementation thereof.

[0039] In the seventh aspect, the present application provides a chip system comprising at least one processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the at least one processor being interconnected by lines, and the at least one processor being used to run computer programs or instructions to perform the methods described in the first aspect to the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof.

[0040] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program code. When the computer program code is run on a computer, the computer implements the method described in any one of the first to second aspects or any possible implementation thereof.

[0041] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any implementation method of the second aspect to the eighth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought about by the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible implementation method therein, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of counting BD or non-overlapping CCEs provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG3 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in one embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of counting BD or non-overlapping CCEs according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG5 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in another embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG6 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in one embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG7 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] To facilitate a clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. For example, the first information and the second information are used to distinguish different information and do not limit their order. Those skilled in the art will understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily mean that they are different.

[0050] It should be noted that, in this application, words such as "exemplarily" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplarily" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0051] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device, wherein the method and device are based on the same technical concept. Since the principles of solving problems by the method and device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0052] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, the communication systems used may be global system of mobile communication (GSM) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, wideband radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) systems, advanced long term evolution (LTE-A), LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS), fifth generation mobile communication systems, and some future communication systems (such as sixth generation mobile communication systems).

[0053] In conjunction with Figure 1, a communication system applicable to the communication method proposed in this application is exemplified. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes a terminal device, an access network device, and a core network device. The terminal device is connected to the access network device via a wireless connection, and the access network device is connected to the core network device via a wireless or wired connection.

[0054] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to users, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with wireless connection capabilities. The terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile, remote station, remote terminal, mobile equipment, user terminal, wireless telecom equipment, user agent, user equipment, or user device. The terminal device can be a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a terminal in a next-generation communication system (for example, a fifth-generation (5G) communication network) or a terminal device in a future-evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) network. Among them, 5G can also be referred to as a new radio (NR). In one possible application scenario of the present application, the terminal device can also be a terminal device that often works on the ground, such as a vehicle-mounted device. In this application, for the sake of convenience, the chip deployed in the above-mentioned device, or the chip can also be referred to as a terminal device.

[0055] The access network device may be any device with wireless transceiver functions. The device includes but is not limited to: an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB), a radio network controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP) or a transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. It can also be a gNB in ​​a 5G, such as NR, system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), etc.

[0056] In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a radio unit (RU). The CU implements some gNB functions, while the DU implements some gNB functions. For example, the CU implements the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layers, while the DU implements the functions of the radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layers. Because RRC layer information ultimately becomes physical layer information, or is converted from physical layer information, in this architecture, higher-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or by both the DU and the CU. It is understood that a network device can be a CU node, a DU node, or a device that includes both a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into a network device in an access network (radio access network, RAN), and the CU can also be divided into a network device in a core network (core network, CN), which is not limited in this application.

[0057] In the embodiments of the present application, the terms terminal device and UE can be interchanged, and the terms base station and access network device can also be interchanged.

[0058] In this application, the access network device and the terminal device can communicate through the authorized spectrum, the unlicensed spectrum, or both the authorized spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum. The access network device and the terminal device can communicate through the spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHZ), the spectrum above 6 GHZ, or the spectrum below 6 GHZ and the spectrum above 6 GHZ simultaneously. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used between the access network device and the terminal device.

[0059] Specifically, the information exchanged between the terminal device and the access network device is carried through a physical channel. Among them, the control information sent by the access network device to the terminal device, such as downlink control information (DCI), can be carried by the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); the data sent by the access network device to the terminal device, that is, downlink data, can be carried by the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); the data sent by the terminal device to the access network device, that is, uplink data, can be carried by the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Among them, the physical channel used to carry DCI can also be a channel with other names, such as an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCC); the channel used to carry downlink data at the physical layer can be a channel with other names other than PDSCH; the channel used to carry uplink data at the physical layer can be a channel with other names other than PUSCH, and the embodiments of the present application do not impose any restrictions.

[0060] Core network equipment primarily includes user plane functions (UPF) and control plane functions. Core network equipment and access network equipment can be independent, distinct physical devices. Alternatively, the core network equipment and access network equipment can be integrated into the same physical device. Alternatively, a single physical device can combine some core network equipment and some access network equipment functions.

[0061] It is understandable that the number of terminal devices shown in FIG1 is only an example and in practice the number of terminal devices may be other numbers.

[0062] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device or access network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory management unit (MMU), and memory (also known as main memory). The operating system can be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes, such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a Windows operating system. The application layer includes applications such as browsers, address books, word processing software, and instant messaging software. In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the specific structure of the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, as long as it is possible to communicate according to the method provided in the embodiments of the present application by running a program that records the code of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the execution subject of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module in a terminal device or a network device that can call and execute a program.

[0063] In addition, the methods of various aspects of the present application can be implemented using programming and form a computer program accessed by a computer-readable device, carrier or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to: magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, or magnetic tapes, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), cards, sticks, or key drives, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0064] It should be understood that FIG1 is only an example, and the communication system may also include other network devices, which will not be described in detail here.

[0065] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, before introducing the embodiments of the present application, the terms that may be involved in the embodiments of the present application are first introduced.

[0066] 1. Bandwidth Part (BWP)

[0067] In a wireless communication system, such as an NR communication system, an access network device can configure a BWP for a terminal device, and the terminal device and the access network device exchange information in the BWP.

[0068] BWP can be understood as a frequency domain working range configured by the access network equipment for the terminal device, including the frequency domain range and subcarrier spacing. A BWP can be used only to transmit uplink data, and this BWP can be called an uplink BWP; or a BWP can be used only to transmit downlink data, and this BWP can be called a downlink BWP; for time division duplex systems, uplink BWP and downlink BWP are often configured in pairs, and their center frequencies are the same. The access network equipment can configure one or more BWPs for the terminal device. In the downlink BWP, the terminal device can receive one or more of the following channels from the access network device: PDCCH, PDSCH, and uplink demodulation reference signal. In the uplink BWP, the terminal device can send one or more of the following channels to the network device: PUSCH, PUCCH, and downlink demodulation reference signal.

[0069] 2. Subcarrier spacing (SCS):

[0070] There are five subcarrier spacings in the NR system, and the subcarrier spacing configuration parameter μ ranges from 0 to 4, corresponding to 15KHz, 30KHz, 60KHz, 120KHz, and 240KHz respectively.

[0071] 3. Primary and Secondary Cells

[0072] Under dual connectivity (DC), a terminal device can establish connections with multiple cells, which are divided into two groups: a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG).

[0073] An MCG consists of one primary cell and may also include one or more secondary cells. Similarly, an SCG consists of one primary cell and may also include one or more secondary cells. The primary cell in an MCG is called a primary cell (PCell), and the primary cell in an SCG is called a primary secondary cell (PSCell). Other cells in the MCG and SCG are secondary cells (SCells).

[0074] The PCell under the MCG and the SCell under the MCG are combined through carrier aggregation (CA). The PSCell under the SCG and the SCell under the SCG are also combined through CA.

[0075] If not otherwise specified, the primary cell in the embodiments of the present application may refer to the primary cell of the MCG or the primary cell of the SCG.

[0076] 4. Cell and carrier:

[0077] The cell is described by a higher layer (such as the radio resource control layer, the media access control layer, and other protocol layers above the physical layer) from the perspective of resource management or mobility management. The coverage of each network device can be divided into one or more cells. In the NR system, a cell can be configured with one downlink carrier and optionally at least one uplink carrier. Cell is a general name. For a terminal device, the cell that provides service for it is called a service cell. The cell involved in this application may also be a service cell.

[0078] 5. Self-scheduling and cross-carrier scheduling

[0079] The cell that sends the control channel corresponding to the data channel is called the scheduling cell, also called the master cell; the cell that sends the data channel is called the scheduled cell.

[0080] Data within a cell is scheduled using the PDCCH on that cell, a process known as self-scheduling. Alternatively, a cell's downlink carrier carries a control channel, which schedules its uplink and downlink data channels. In self-scheduling, the cell acts as both the scheduling cell and the scheduled cell.

[0081] Cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) involves scheduling data in one cell using the PDCCH of another cell. Alternatively, cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) involves using a downlink carrier in one cell to carry control channels and schedule uplink and downlink data channels in another cell. In cross-carrier scheduling, the cell carrying the PDCCH is called the master cell, or scheduling cell, while the cell carrying data (uplink or downlink) is called the scheduled cell.

[0082] Optionally, in cross-carrier scheduling, one master cell may correspond to multiple slave cells, that is, one master cell may send a control channel to perform data scheduling for multiple slave cells.

[0083] 6. PDCCH candidates and DCI formats

[0084] The access network equipment will configure a set of PDCCH candidates for the terminal device. Among them, a PDCCH candidate can contain L = {1, 2, 4, 8, 16} control channel elements (CCE). Here L is called the aggregation level (AL) of PDCCH. A CCE contains 6 resource element groups (REG). REG is a unit of time-frequency resource block, which is an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the time domain and a resource block (RB) in the frequency domain. A search space with an AL of L is defined as a set of PDCCH candidates containing several CCEs of size L. A search space set is a set of search spaces containing different ALs. A search space set is associated with a control resource set (CORESET).

[0085] Accordingly, the terminal device monitors the group of PDCCH candidates, wherein monitoring refers to performing PDCCH decoding on each PDCCH candidate according to a downlink control information (DCI) format to be detected.

[0086] There are many DCI formats: DCI format 0_0, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, DCI format 1_2, DCI format 0_3 and DCI format 1_3. Specifically:

[0087] 1) DCI format 0_0, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, and DCI format 1_2 are single-cell scheduling DCI formats.

[0088] The single-cell scheduling DCI format may also be called a single-carrier scheduling DCI format. The single-cell scheduling DCI format can schedule data of at most one cell for transmission.

[0089] If a DCI format is any of DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, and DCI format 0_2, then this DCI can schedule PUSCH transmission on at most one uplink carrier of one cell. If a DCI format is any of DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, and DCI format 1_2, then this DCI can schedule PDSCH transmission on at most one downlink carrier of one cell.

[0090] 2) DCI format 0_3 and DCI format 1_3 are multi-cell scheduling DCI formats.

[0091] The multi-cell scheduling DCI format may also be referred to as a multi-carrier scheduling DCI format. The multi-cell scheduling DCI format may schedule data of at least two cells for transmission simultaneously.

[0092] If a DCI format is DCI format 0_3, then this DCI can schedule PUSCH transmission on one uplink carrier in each of two or more cells. If a DCI format is DCI format 1_3, then this DCI can schedule PDSCH transmission on one downlink carrier in each of two or more cells.

[0093] Since the access network device may or may not send a DCI for a terminal device in a PDCCH candidate, the result of the terminal device monitoring may be that the DCI is detected (dected) or not. In other words, the result of the terminal device monitoring may be that the PDCCH is detected or not.

[0094] After introducing the above concepts, the problems to be solved by the communication method of the present application are described below.

[0095] When a terminal device monitors the PDCCH, two tasks have a significant impact on the implementation complexity of the terminal device:

[0096] 1) The number of monitored PDCCH candidates, also known as the number of blind detections (BDs).

[0097] 2) Number of non-overlapping CCEs. CCEs associated with the same CORESET with overlapping time-frequency resources are considered overlapping CCEs, while other CCEs are considered non-overlapping CCEs. In other words, CCEs with different CORESET numbers or different starting symbols for PDCCH candidates are considered non-overlapping CCEs.

[0098] Generally, the more PDCCH candidates a terminal device monitors, the higher the decoding complexity of the terminal device; the more non-overlapping CCEs in the PDCCH candidates a terminal device monitors, the higher the channel estimation complexity of the terminal device. In other words, the more PDCCH candidates a terminal device monitors, or the more non-overlapping CCEs, the greater the implementation complexity of the terminal device.

[0099] In order to reduce the complexity of terminal monitoring of PDCCH, the protocol presets an upper limit on the number of PDCCH candidates and the upper limit on the number of non-overlapping CCEs that the terminal device monitors in one time unit on one cell, also known as the BD / CCE upper limit. Or to put it another way, in order to reduce the complexity of terminal monitoring of PDCCH, the BD number corresponding to all PDCCH candidates monitored by the terminal device in one time unit and performing BD or non-overlapping CCE counting on the same cell should be less than or equal to the BD upper limit of this cell, and the corresponding non-overlapping CCE number should be less than or equal to the CCE upper limit of this cell.

[0100] The unit time here can be a time slot, a time span, a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, or a number of slots, where a span is a number of consecutive OFDM symbols within a slot.

[0101] Specifically, in the current protocol, when the terminal device performs BD / non-overlapping CCE counting, the access network device and the terminal device will perform BD / non-overlapping CCE counting on a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format on the cell scheduled by the DCI in the single-cell scheduling DCI format.

[0102] In addition, if the cell scheduled by the DCI in the single-cell scheduling DCI format and one or more other scheduled cells are scheduled together by a DCI in a multi-cell scheduling DCI format, then the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format may also be instructed to perform BD / non-overlapping CCE counting on the cell scheduled by the DCI in the single-cell scheduling DCI format.

[0103] For example, as shown in FIG2 , the access network device transmits DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format on cell 1 for scheduling data transmission in cell 1, transmits DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format on cell 2 for scheduling data transmission in cell 2, and transmits DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format on cell 3 for scheduling data transmission in cell 3. In addition, the access network device transmits DCI in a multi-cell scheduling DCI format on cell 4. The DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format can simultaneously schedule data transmission in cells 1, 2, and 3.

[0104] Then, the terminal device will be able to perform BD / non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 1 for the PDCCH candidates that carry the DCI for scheduling data transmission in cell 1, will be able to perform BD / non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 2 for the PDCCH candidates that carry the DCI for scheduling data transmission in cell 2, and will be able to perform BD / non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 3 for the PDCCH candidates that carry the DCI for scheduling data transmission in cell 3. In addition, the PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry DCI in a multi-cell scheduling DCI format may be instructed to perform BD / non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 1.

[0105] In some embodiments, when the scheduled cell is a secondary cell, within each unit time, the configuration of the access network equipment directly ensures that the number of BDs corresponding to all PDCCH candidates for BD / CCE counting on the scheduled cell is less than or equal to the BD upper limit of the scheduled cell, and the corresponding non-overlapping total number of CCEs is less than or equal to the CCE upper limit of the scheduled cell.

[0106] In some embodiments, when the scheduled cell is the primary cell, within a certain unit time, the number of BDs / CCEs corresponding to all PDCCH candidates configured by the access network device for BD / CCE counting on the scheduled cell may be greater than the BD upper limit / CCE upper limit of the scheduled cell. At this time, the access network device and the terminal device will give up monitoring some PDCCH candidates through a method specified by a protocol, thereby ensuring that within this unit time, the number of BDs corresponding to all PDCCH candidates actually monitored by the terminal device for BD / CCE counting on the scheduled cell is less than or equal to the BD upper limit of this cell, and the corresponding non-overlapping total number of CCEs is less than or equal to the CCE upper limit of this cell.

[0107] However, the above method has the problem of low flexibility in scheduling PDCCH for access network equipment. The reasons are as follows: Under normal circumstances, DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format occupies more CCEs. In addition, DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format may also require a large number of PDCCH candidates. Therefore, in order to improve the scheduling flexibility of DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format, it is necessary to give DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format more scheduling opportunities. However, in the prior art, when the PDCCH candidates associated with the DCI in the single-cell scheduling DCI format for scheduling data transmission of the target cell and the PDCCH candidates associated with the DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format for scheduling data transmission of at least one cell are both counted by BD / CCE on the target cell, it may result in the inability to schedule the PDCCH candidates associated with the DCI in the multi-cell scheduling DCI format on the target cell.

[0108] In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and a communication device for improving the flexibility of access network equipment when scheduling PDCCH.

[0109] Below, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0110] Refer to Figure 3, which is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 3, the method includes:

[0111] S301, the access network device sends the first information to the terminal device, the first information indicates that the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first DCI is to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell, wherein the first DCI is a DCI of the first format, and one DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell, and the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the second cell.

[0112] In the embodiment of the present application, the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first DCI is also referred to as a PDCCH candidate associated with the first DCI.

[0113] The fact that a DCI of the first format schedules data transmission of at most one cell can also be described as: a DCI of the first format schedules data transmission of at most one carrier. That is, the first format is the single-cell scheduling DCI format described above, or also called the single-carrier scheduling DCI format.

[0114] In an embodiment of the present application, the first information indicates that the terminal device will be able to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate that carries the first DCI, which can also be described as: the first information indicates that the terminal device performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the first DCI.

[0115] Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the second cell. In other words, the PDCCH candidate associated with the first DCI in this embodiment is a PDCCH candidate used to schedule data transmission of the second cell.

[0116] That is to say, in this embodiment, the access network device sends the first information to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the second cell. Or to put it another way, the access network device sends the first information to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the second cell.

[0117] S302 : When the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell.

[0118] That is, in an embodiment of the present application, for a terminal device, if it is determined that the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell.

[0119] Or in other words, for the terminal device, the PDCCH candidate associated with the DCI in the first format for scheduling data transmission of the second cell will be subjected to BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell.

[0120] Or in other words, for the terminal device, the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE count of the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI for scheduling data transmission of the second cell will be performed on the first cell.

[0121] As mentioned above, the second format DCI usually occupies a larger number of CCEs. In addition, the second format DCI may also require a larger number of PDCCH candidates. Therefore, in order to improve the scheduling flexibility of the second format DCI, it is necessary to give the second format DCI more scheduling opportunities. However, if the existing method is used, that is, the first PDCCH candidate associated with the first DCI is counted as BD and / or non-overlapping CCE on the second cell, at this time, if the PDCCH candidate associated with the second format DCI is also counted as BD and / or non-overlapping CCE on the second cell, then it may result in insufficient scheduling opportunities for the PDCCH candidate associated with the second format DCI. However, the solution proposed in the embodiment shown in Figure 3 of the present application, when the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling the second cell is counted as BD and / or CCE on the first cell, it is possible to give more BD and / or non-overlapping CCE to the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second format DCI that needs to be counted as BD and / or CCE on the second cell, so that the second format DCI is more likely to be sent. Therefore, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can improve the scheduling flexibility of PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the second format DCI, that is, the sending flexibility of the second format DCI of the access network device is improved.

[0122] It should be noted that the above description is from the perspective of the terminal device. It should be understood that for the access network device, like the terminal device, when the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, the first PDCCH candidate will be blindly detected BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counted on the first cell, that is, the access network device will also perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of the second cell on the first cell to ensure consistency between the network side and the terminal side.

[0123] As an optional embodiment, in the embodiment shown in FIG3 above, S301 may be an optional step. That is, there is no step in which the access network device sends first information to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first DCI. Exemplarily, during implementation, an advance agreement stipulates that the access network device and the terminal device perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first DCI.

[0124] As an optional embodiment, in an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device performs blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell, including: if the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; wherein, the second DCI is a DCI of the second format, a DCI of the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission of two or more cells, and the cells that can be scheduled by a DCI of the second format include the second cell.

[0125] The second format is the multi-cell scheduling DCI format described above, or may also be called a multi-carrier scheduling DCI format.

[0126] Among them, one DCI in the second format can schedule data transmission of two or more cells at the same time, which can also be described as: one DCI in the second format can schedule data transmission of two or more carriers at the same time.

[0127] In this embodiment, cells that can be scheduled by a DCI of the second format include the second cell, and the PDCCH candidate carrying the second DCI performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting in the second cell.

[0128] That is to say, in this embodiment, it is further restricted that the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the first PDCCH candidate on the first cell will be performed only when the second cell is a counting cell that can be used to carry the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE of the PDCCH candidate of the second format DCI.

[0129] In some embodiments, the DCI in the first format used for scheduling the second cell is DCI sent by the access network device on the second cell. That is, the access network device schedules data transmission of the second cell in a self-scheduling manner.

[0130] Figure 2 is used as an example for illustration. As shown in Figure 2, the access network device can send DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format (i.e., the first format) in cell 1 for scheduling data transmission in cell 1, the access network device can send DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format in cell 2 for scheduling data transmission in cell 2, and the access network device can send DCI in a single-cell scheduling DCI format in cell 3 for scheduling data transmission in cell 3. That is, the access network device schedules data transmission in cell 1, data in cell 2, and data transmission in cell 3 based on self-scheduling. In addition, the access network device can send DCI in a multi-cell scheduling DCI format (i.e., the second format) in cell 4. This multi-cell scheduling DCI format can simultaneously schedule data transmission in cells 1, 2, and 3. It should be noted that, based on high-layer parameter configuration, a DCI in a multi-cell scheduling DCI format may be able to schedule data transmission in one of cells 1, 2, and 3 individually, or simultaneously schedule data transmission in two of cells 1, 2, and 3, or simultaneously schedule data transmission in cells 1, 2, and 3. In the prior art, PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 1 perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 1, PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 2 perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 2, and PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 3 perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 3. However, in this embodiment, if the PDCCH candidate associated with the second format DCI sent by the access network device on cell 4 performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 1, then the terminal device can perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on other cells other than cell 1 for the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 1. Specifically, which other cell is which may be agreed in advance by the protocol or indicated by the access network device.

[0131] For example, a PDCCH candidate capable of carrying a first format DCI for scheduling data transmission in cell 1 may be subjected to BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting in cell 2. In this case, cell 1 may be considered the second cell, and cell 2 may be considered the first cell.

[0132] For example, a PDCCH candidate capable of carrying a first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 1 may be subjected to BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting in cell 3. In this case, cell 1 may be considered the second cell, and cell 3 may be considered the first cell.

[0133] In some embodiments, the DCI in the first format used to schedule the second cell is DCI sent by the access network device on a cell other than the second cell. That is, the access network device schedules data transmission of the second cell through cross-carrier scheduling.

[0134] Take Figure 4 as an example. The access network device can send DCI in the first format for scheduling data transmission in cell 1, DCI in the first format for scheduling data transmission in cell 2, and DCI in the first format for scheduling data transmission in cell 3 in cell 41. In addition, the access network device can send DCI in the second format in cell 42, and the DCI in the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission in cell 1, cell 2, and cell 3. It should be noted that, based on high-level parameter configuration, a DCI in the second format may be able to separately schedule data transmission in one of cells 1, cell 2, and cell 3, or simultaneously schedule data transmission in two of cells 1, cell 2, and cell 3, or simultaneously schedule data transmission in cells 1, cell 2, and cell 3. In the prior art, PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 1 perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 1, PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 2 perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 2, and PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 3 perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 3. However, in this embodiment, if the PDCCH candidate associated with the second format DCI sent by the access network device on cell 42 performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on cell 1, then the terminal device can perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on other cells other than cell 1 for the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the first format DCI for scheduling data transmission of cell 1. Specifically, which other cell is which may be agreed in advance by the protocol or indicated by the access network device.

[0135] As an optional embodiment, in the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell, the following is included: if the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, performing BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; wherein the third DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the first cell. The first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, which can be understood as the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same bandwidth part BWP of the same cell, and this BWP can be the downlink activation BWP of this cell.

[0136] Or in other words, in this embodiment, it is further restricted that the terminal device will perform the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE count of the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI for scheduling the second cell on the first cell only when the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI for scheduling the second cell and the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format of DCI for scheduling the first cell are on the same cell.

[0137] Take Figures 2 and 4 as examples for explanation. When the method is restricted to the terminal device only performing the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling the second cell on the first cell when the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling the first cell and the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling the second cell are on the same cell, then for the scenario shown in Figure 2, since the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling cell 1 and the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling cell 2 are not on the same cell, the terminal device will not perform the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling the second cell on the first cell. For the scenario shown in Figure 4, since the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling cell 1 and the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling cell 2 are sent on the same cell, the terminal device can perform the BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting of the first format DCI-associated PDCCH candidate for scheduling cell 1 on cell 2.

[0138] As an optional embodiment, in an embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell, the following steps are performed: if the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is the same, the first PDCCH candidate is performed BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; wherein the fourth DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the fourth DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the first cell. That is, in an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate associated with the first format DCI for scheduling the second cell only when the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is the same. In an embodiment of the present application, the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI are on the downlink activation BWP of the same cell, or the first PDCCH candidate is on the downlink activation BWP of one cell, and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is on the downlink activation BWP of another cell, and the subcarrier spacing of these two downlink activation BWPs is the same.

[0139] It should be understood that, generally, the access network device will also configure information of at least one first PDCCH candidate to the terminal device.

[0140] In an embodiment of the present application, the information of at least one first PDCCH candidate configured by the access network device is also referred to as second information. In some embodiments, the second information includes one or more aggregation levels of PDCCH candidates of the first format DCI that can carry the data transmission of the second cell and the number of PDCCH candidates of each aggregation level. Based on the second information, the terminal device can determine the time-frequency resources of the PDCCH candidates of the first format DCI that can carry the data transmission of the second cell. Exemplarily, the second information can be search space set configuration information. Based on the second information, the terminal device can monitor at least one first PDCCH candidate in the configured first format. It should be noted that the temporal order of sending the first information and the second information is uncertain. The first information may be sent before the second information, the second information may be sent before the first information, or the first information and the second information may be sent simultaneously.

[0141] In this embodiment, when the access network device transmits the second information, since the second information includes the number of at least one first PDCCH candidate and the time-frequency resource of the at least one first PDCCH candidate can also be determined based on the second information, the access network device determines the second information based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell. Thus, when the first cell is a primary cell, the access network device can ensure that, within a unit time, the BDs and / or non-overlapping CCEs of PDCCH candidates that can be used to transmit DCI, when counted in the first cell, do not exceed the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit specified for the first cell within the unit time. Furthermore, when the first cell is a secondary cell, the access network device can ensure that, within a unit time, the BDs and / or non-overlapping CCEs of PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry DCI, when counted in the first cell, do not exceed the BD upper limit or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit specified for the first cell within the unit time.

[0142] The concepts of the BD upper limit and the non-overlapping CCE upper limit can be referred to in the description of the previous related sections and will not be repeated here.

[0143] A detailed embodiment is described below in conjunction with FIG5 . As shown in FIG5 , the method includes:

[0144] S501, determine the second information based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit of the first cell, the second information indicates a PDCCH candidate of the first DCI in the first format that can be used to carry and schedule data transmission of the second cell, the first cell and the second cell are different, and a DCI in the first format can only schedule data transmission of one cell at most.

[0145] The detailed description of the first DCI and the first format refers to the description in the aforementioned embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0146] S502, the access network device sends second information to the terminal device; the terminal device receives the second information.

[0147] S503, the access network device sends first information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the first information, where the first information indicates that the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first DCI.

[0148] S504: When the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, the terminal device performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell.

[0149] It should be noted that there is no strict order between S501 and S502. The first information may be sent before or after the second information, or the first information and the second information may be sent simultaneously.

[0150] The communication method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 3 to 5. The communication device provided in the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 6 and 7.

[0151] FIG6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Specifically, as shown in FIG6 , the device 600 includes: a transceiver module 601 and a processing module 602 .

[0152] In the first embodiment, the communication apparatus is applied to a terminal device.

[0153] Specifically, in the first embodiment, the processing module 602 is used to perform blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell when the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI. The first DCI is a DCI of the first format. One DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell. The first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the second cell. The first cell is different from the second cell.

[0154] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 601 is used to: receive first information sent by the access network device, the first information indicating that the terminal device will be able to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE calculation on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate that carries the first DCI.

[0155] In one possible implementation, the processing module 602 is specifically used to: if the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate is performed BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; wherein, the second DCI is a DCI of the second format, a DCI of the second format can simultaneously schedule data transmission of two or more cells, and the cells that can be scheduled by a DCI of the second format include the second cell.

[0156] In one possible implementation, the processing module 602 is specifically used to: if the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; wherein the third DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the first cell.

[0157] In one possible implementation, the processing module 602 is specifically used to: if the subcarrier spacing of the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the fourth DCI is the same, perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; wherein the fourth DCI is a DCI of the first format, and the fourth DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the first cell.

[0158] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is also used to: receive second information sent by the access network device, the second information is used to configure a PDCCH candidate for the DCI that can be used to carry and schedule data transmission of the second cell; wherein the second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

[0159] In a second embodiment, the communication device is used for access network equipment.

[0160] Specifically, in the second embodiment, the transceiver module 601 is used to send first information to the terminal device, and the first information indicates that the terminal device will be able to perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for the PDCCH candidate that carries the first DCI; wherein the first DCI is a DCI of a first format, and a DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell, and the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in the second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

[0161] In one possible implementation, the transceiver module 601 is also used to: send second information to the terminal device, the second information is used to configure a PDCCH candidate of the first DCI that can be used to carry and schedule data transmission of the second cell; wherein the second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

[0162] Figure 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application. The device shown in Figure 7 can be used to execute the method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0163] As shown in Figure 7, the apparatus 700 of this embodiment includes a memory 701 and a processor 702. Optionally, the apparatus 700 further includes a communication interface 703 and a bus 704. The memory 701, the processor 702, and the communication interface 703 are connected to each other via the bus 704.

[0164] The memory 701 may be a read-only memory (ROM), a static storage device, a dynamic storage device, or a random access memory (RAM). The memory 701 may store a program. When the program stored in the memory 701 is executed by the processor 702, the processor 702 is configured to perform the steps of the method shown in Figures 3 to 5.

[0165] The processor 702 can be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits to execute relevant programs to implement the methods shown in Figures 3 to 5 of the present application.

[0166] The processor 702 may also be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the method of FIG3 to FIG5 of the embodiment of the present application may be completed by the hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor 702 or the software instruction.

[0167] The processor 702 may also be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The processor 702 may implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0168] The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory 701, and the processor 702 reads the information in the memory 701 and, in combination with its hardware, completes the functions required to be performed by the units included in the device of the present application. For example, the various steps / functions of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 5 can be executed.

[0169] The communication interface 703 may use, but is not limited to, a transceiver or other transceiver device to implement communication between the apparatus 700 and other devices or a communication network.

[0170] The bus 704 may include a path for transmitting information between various components of the device 700 (eg, the memory 701 , the processor 702 , and the communication interface 703 ).

[0171] It should be understood that the apparatus 700 shown in the embodiment of the present application can be an electronic device, or a chip configured in an electronic device. The apparatus 700 can be deployed in a terminal device, or can also be deployed in a network device.

[0172] The above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any other combination. When implemented using software, the above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. 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 contains one or more available media sets. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium can be a solid-state drive.

[0173] It should be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein simply describes a relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A alone, A and B together, or B alone. A and B can be singular or plural. Furthermore, the character " / " as used herein generally indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects, but it may also indicate an "and / or" relationship. For specific understanding, please refer to the context.

[0174] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0175] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0176] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0177] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0178] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0179] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0180] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0181] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0182] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to terminal equipment, including: When the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, the first PDCCH candidate is subjected to blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first cell, the first DCI is a DCI of a first format, and one DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell, and the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in a second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive first information sent by an access network device, where the first information indicates that the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first DCI.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The performing blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell includes: If the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; The second DCI is a DCI in a second format, and one DCI in the second format can schedule data transmission of two or more cells at the same time.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The performing blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell includes: If the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, performing BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; The third DCI is the DCI in the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the first cell.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The performing blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell includes: If the first PDCCH candidate has the same subcarrier spacing as a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry a fourth DCI, performing BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; The fourth DCI is the DCI in the first format, and the fourth DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the first cell.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving second information sent by an access network device, where the second information is used to configure at least one of the first PDCCH candidates; The second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

7. A communication method, characterized in that: Application and access network equipment, including: Sending first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information indicates that the terminal device performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on a first cell for a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry a first DCI; The first DCI is a DCI of a first format, and one DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell. The first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in a second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to configure at least one of the first PDCCH candidates; The second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

9. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processing module is used to perform blind detection BD and / or non-overlapping control channel element CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in a first cell when the first PDCCH candidate can be used to carry the first DCI, the first DCI is a DCI in a first format, and one DCI in the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell, the first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in a second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that The device further comprises a transceiver module, wherein the transceiver module is used for: Receive first information sent by an access network device, where the first information indicates that the terminal device will perform BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell for PDCCH candidates that can be used to carry the first DCI.

11. The device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that The processing module is specifically used for: If the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the second DCI performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the second cell, the first PDCCH candidate performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first cell; The second DCI is a DCI of a second format, and one DCI of the second format can simultaneously schedule two or two Data transmission in the upper cell.

12. The device according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that The processing module is specifically used for: If the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry the third DCI are in the same cell, performing BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; The third DCI is the DCI in the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the first cell.

13. The device according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that The processing module is specifically used for: If the first PDCCH candidate has the same subcarrier spacing as a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry a third DCI, performing BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on the first PDCCH candidate in the first cell; The third DCI is the DCI in the first format, and the third DCI is used to schedule data transmission of the first cell.

14. The device according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that The transceiver module is also used for: receiving second information sent by an access network device, where the second information is used to configure at least one of the first PDCCH candidates; The second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

15. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A transceiver module, configured to send first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information indicates that the terminal device performs BD and / or non-overlapping CCE counting on a first cell for a PDCCH candidate that can be used to carry a first DCI; The first DCI is a DCI of a first format, and one DCI of the first format schedules data transmission in at most one cell. The first DCI is used to schedule data transmission in a second cell, and the first cell is different from the second cell.

16. The device according to claim 15, characterized in that The transceiver module is also used for: second information sent to the terminal device, where the second information is used to configure at least one of the first PDCCH candidates; The second information is determined based on the BD upper limit and / or the non-overlapping CCE upper limit corresponding to the first cell.

17. A communication system, characterized in that: The method comprises the communication device according to any one of claims 9 to 14 and the communication device according to any one of claims 15 or 16.

18. A computer readable medium, characterized in that The computer-readable medium stores a program code for computer execution, the program code including instructions for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or claims 7 to 8.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product includes computer program codes, and when the computer program codes are executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or claims 7 to 8.

20. A chip, characterized in that: It includes at least one processor and a communication interface, the communication interface and the at least one processor are interconnected through a line, and the at least one processor is used to run a computer program or instruction to perform the communication method as described in any one of claims 1 to 6 or the communication method as described in any one of claims 7 to 8.

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