Channel detection method and apparatus, and device and medium

Abstract

The present application belongs to the field of communications. Disclosed are a channel detection method and apparatus, and a device and a medium. The method is executed by a terminal device. The method comprises: on the basis of a measurement result of a first signal, detecting a control channel by means of or not by means of first indication information, wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal. The detection of the control channel is adjusted by means of the measurement result of the first signal. If the control channel is detected by means of the first indication information, meaningless channel detection can be avoided, and the channel detection efficiency is improved, thus saving on the power consumption. If the first indication information indicates that the terminal device does not need to detect the control channel, the number of times of detecting the control channel is reduced, and thus the effect of saving on power consumption is significant.

Description

Channel detection method, device, equipment and medium Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a channel detection method, apparatus, device, and medium. Background Art

[0002] In traditional control channel detection schemes, terminal devices must perform control channel detection slot by slot, even when no data is being transmitted. This detection scheme obviously results in significant and meaningless power waste. Even if power-saving mode is used to adjust the terminal device's control channel detection timing, the power savings achieved through power-saving mode are not significant, as the detection of the power-saving signal itself requires high power consumption.

[0003] Therefore, how to further save the power consumption required for the channel detection process is a problem that needs to be solved.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a channel detection method, apparatus, device, and medium. The technical solution at least includes:

[0006] According to one aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a channel detection method is provided. The method is performed by a terminal device, wherein the terminal device detects a first signal and / or a second signal, where the first signal and the second signal have different waveforms. The method includes:

[0007] Based on the measurement result of the first signal, the control channel is detected with or without first indication information; wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal.

[0008] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a method for channel detection is provided, the method being performed by a network device, the method comprising:

[0009] A first signal and a second signal are sent, and a measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect a control channel through first indication information; wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal, and the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0010] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a channel detection device is provided, the device including:

[0011] a detection module, configured to detect a first signal and / or a second signal, wherein the first signal and the second signal have different waveforms;

[0012] The detection module is further configured to detect the control channel based on the measurement result of the first signal, with or without the first indication information;

[0013] The first indication information is the indication information carried by the first signal.

[0014] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a channel detection device is provided, the device including:

[0015] A sending module is used to send a first signal and a second signal, and the measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect the control channel through first indication information; wherein, the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal, and the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0016] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device is provided, comprising: a receiver; wherein the terminal device is configured to execute the channel detection method as described above.

[0017] According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present application, a network device is provided, the network device comprising: a processor; a transmitter connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

[0018] The network device is configured to execute the channel detection method as described above.

[0019] According to one aspect of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which executable instructions are stored. The executable instructions are loaded and executed by the processor to implement the channel detection method as described in the above aspect.

[0020] According to one aspect of the present application, a computer program product is provided, which includes computer instructions, wherein the computer instructions are stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and a processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions, so that the computer device executes to implement the channel detection method as described in the above aspects.

[0021] According to one aspect of the present application, a chip is provided, which includes a programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions, and when the chip is running, is used to implement the channel detection method as described in the above aspects.

[0022] According to one aspect of the present application, a computer program is provided, which includes computer instructions. A processor of a computer device executes the computer instructions, so that the computer device performs the channel detection method as described in the above aspect.

[0023] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application may have the following beneficial effects:

[0024] The detection of the control channel is adjusted based on the measurement result of the first signal. If the control channel is detected based on the first indication information, meaningless channel detection can be avoided, the efficiency of channel detection can be improved, and power consumption can be saved. If the first indication information indicates that the terminal device does not need to detect the control channel, the number of control channel detections is reduced, significantly saving power consumption. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0026] FIG1 is a schematic diagram showing a discontinuous reception state provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0027] FIG2 shows a schematic diagram of a receiver provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG3 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG4 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG5 is a schematic flow chart showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG6 shows a schematic flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG7 shows a schematic flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG8 is a schematic flow chart showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0034] FIG9 is a schematic flow chart showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0035] FIG10 is a schematic diagram showing enabling or disabling multi-level control detection according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG11 is a schematic flow chart showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG12 is a schematic flow chart showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0038] FIG13 is a schematic diagram showing enabling or disabling multi-level control detection according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0039] FIG14 is a schematic diagram showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0040] FIG15 is a schematic flow chart showing a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG16 shows a structural block diagram of a channel detection device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG17 shows a structural block diagram of a channel detection device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG18 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG19 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present application more clear, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, with examples shown in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. Instead, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present application, as detailed in the appended claims.

[0046] The terms used in this application are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments only and are not intended to limit this application. As used in this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," "the," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0047] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used in this application to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at the time of" or "when" or "in response to determining".

[0048] First, the communication technology involved in the embodiments of this application is introduced:

[0049] Typically, a terminal device has a single receiver. This receiver receives signals and data. This means that the receiver must remain powered on for extended periods, or even continuously monitoring, to meet communication needs. However, such a receiver inherently requires high power, and the power consumption associated with prolonged operation or continuous monitoring is substantial. Clearly, the power consumption of terminal devices is a significant issue that must be addressed.

[0050] The discontinuous reception (DRX) transmission mechanism is a communication technology that can be used to reduce the power consumption of terminal devices. Its main principle is to configure a DRX cycle (DRX Cycle) for a terminal device in the radio resource control connected state (RRC_Connected), and use the DRX cycle to achieve discontinuous reception of the terminal device in the time domain. The DRX cycle consists of an active time (Active Time) and an inactive time (Inactive Time). The active time is after DRX is turned on, or before the inactive timer is turned on, or when the inactive timer does not expire. The active time is also called the on-duration, and the inactive time is also called the off-duration (Opportunity for DRX).

[0051] As shown in Figure 1, a terminal device that applies the DRX transmission mechanism wakes up in each DRX cycle, monitors and receives the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) during the active time, and does not monitor or receive the PDCCH during the inactive time, so as to achieve the effect of reducing power consumption.

[0052] However, the terminal device does not need to receive signals or data in every DRX cycle. Therefore, if the terminal device wakes up to monitor in every DRX cycle, some meaningless power consumption will be wasted.

[0053] Therefore, in order to further reduce the power consumption of terminal devices on the basis of the DRX transmission mechanism, a wake-up signal (WUS) mechanism is introduced to dynamically wake up the receiver of the terminal device. The US mechanism is a deeper sleep mode with the characteristics of extremely low cost, extremely low complexity and extremely low power consumption. If the receiver of the terminal device receives a WUS, it will wake up in the next DRX cycle and monitor or receive the PDCCH during the activation time. If the receiver of the terminal device does not receive a WUS, it will remain in a sleep state in the next one or more DRX cycles until it receives a WUS. This design avoids the power consumption waste caused by the terminal device continuously and fixedly monitoring the PDCCH in each DRX cycle, and achieves further energy saving of the terminal device through dynamic wake-up.

[0054] In addition, adding an auxiliary receiver to the terminal device is also a communication technology that can be used to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. As shown in Figure 2, on the basis that the terminal device has a receiver 101, another receiver 103 is introduced. For the sake of distinction, the receiver 101 can also be referred to as at least one of the following: a traditional receiver 101, a main receiver 101, a first receiver 101, and the receiver 103 can also be referred to as at least one of the following: an auxiliary receiver 103, a second receiver 103, a wake-up receiver (WUR) 103, a low-power receiver 103. The main receiver 101 and the auxiliary receiver 103 are used in this application, but this does not mean to limit the naming. The newly introduced auxiliary receiver 103 can replace the main receiver 101 to receive part of the signal, that is, some operations that originally had to be performed by the main receiver 101 can be performed by the auxiliary receiver 103. Furthermore, the primary receiver 101 can remain off unless instructed to do so by the secondary receiver 103, preventing the primary receiver 101 from wasting power when it is not receiving signals or data. The secondary receiver 103 consumes several orders of magnitude less power than a traditional primary receiver 101. Traditional receivers typically consume more than 100 milliwatts, while low-power receivers can consume less than 1 milliwatt. Therefore, the secondary receiver's replacement function can significantly reduce the overall power consumption of the terminal device, achieving energy conservation.

[0055] If the DRX transmission mechanism, the WUS mechanism, and the introduction of a secondary receiver are combined, it is clear that even better energy-saving effects can be achieved. If the secondary receiver 103 receives a WUS, it dynamically wakes up the primary receiver 101. If the secondary receiver 103 does not receive a WUS, it does not wake up the primary receiver 101, leaving the primary receiver 101 in a powered-down state. Because the secondary receiver 103 does not need to be turned on or off to save power like the primary receiver 101, but can be activated by the WUS at any time and receive wake-up information, compared to the solution where the primary receiver 101 receives the WUS, receiving the WUS by the secondary receiver 103 can reduce power consumption even further. Therefore, the low-power characteristics of the secondary receiver 103 can further enhance the energy-saving effects of the DRX transmission mechanism and the WUS mechanism, further reducing the overall power consumption of the terminal device.

[0056] To achieve its low power characteristics, the auxiliary receiver 103 is typically designed with minimalist hardware. The signals received by the auxiliary receiver 103 are typically simple waveforms. If the auxiliary receiver 103 is configured to receive the WUS for energy conservation, the WUS also needs to be transmitted using a simple waveform, such as an envelope signal generated by ASK modulation.

[0057] The demodulation of the envelope signal can be accomplished by driving a low-power circuit based on the induced current generated by electromagnetic induction, or by driving a low-power circuit based on the energy provided by the wireless radio frequency signal. Therefore, the terminal device including the auxiliary receiver 103 can be passive or semi-passive. The demodulation of the envelope signal can also be accomplished based on the device's built-in battery or power supply system. Therefore, the terminal device including the auxiliary receiver 103 can also be active.

[0058] The auxiliary receiver 103 can be combined with the main receiver 101 as an additional module of the main receiver 101; or, the auxiliary receiver 103 can be a separate module of the terminal device, such as a wake-up function module.

[0059] In traditional control channel detection schemes, even when there is no data transmission, the terminal device needs to perform control channel detection slot by slot. Obviously, such a detection scheme will cause serious and meaningless waste of power consumption.

[0060] If we consider using power-saving mode to adjust the time a terminal device detects control channels—for example, by causing the terminal device to detect or not detect control channels according to the instructions of a power-saving signal—while this can avoid some meaningless detection behaviors, the detection of the power-saving signal itself requires a high level of power consumption. Furthermore, given the inherently high power consumption of traditional receivers, if traditional receivers are required to maintain monitoring, receiving, and detecting power-saving signals for extended periods, the power savings achieved through power-saving mode will not be significant, and there is still considerable room for improvement in the power consumption of terminal devices.

[0061] Therefore, the present application provides a channel detection method, apparatus, device and medium, which optimize the channel detection scheme by introducing a first signal, thereby helping to reduce power consumption waste.

[0062] 3 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication system includes a network device 110 and a terminal device 120, and / or a terminal device 120 and a terminal device 130, which are not limited in the present application.

[0063] The network device 110 in the present application provides wireless communication functions, and the network device 110 includes but is not limited to: Evolved Node B (eNB), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Node B (NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Home Base Station (e.g., Home Evolved Node B, or Home Node B, HNB), Baseband Unit (BBU), Access Point (AP) in Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, Wireless Relay Node, Wireless Backhaul Node, Transmission Point (TP) or Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), etc., and can also be the Next Generation Node B (NGNB) in the 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system. B, gNB) or transmission point (TRP or TP), or one or a group of (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a gNB or transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or distributed unit (DU), or a base station in a Beyond Fifth Generation (B5G) mobile communication system or a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, or a core network (CN), fronthaul, backhaul, radio access network (RAN), network slice, etc., or a reader / writer of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system.

[0064] The terminal device 120 and / or terminal device 130 in this application are also called user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, and user device. The terminals include, but are not limited to, handheld devices, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and IoT devices, such as electronic tags, controllers, mobile phones, tablet computers, e-book readers, laptop computers, desktop computers, televisions, game consoles, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), augmented reality (AR) terminals, virtual reality (VR) terminals, and mixed reality (MR) terminals, wearable devices, handles, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loops (WLANs), and wireless terminals in industrial control. Loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDA), TV set-top boxes (STB), customer premises equipment (CPE), etc.

[0065] In some embodiments, the network device 110 and the terminal device 120 communicate with each other via some air interface technology, such as a Uu interface.

[0066] In some embodiments, there are two communication scenarios between the network device 110 and the terminal device 120: uplink communication scenario and downlink communication scenario. Uplink communication refers to sending signals to the network device 110; downlink communication refers to sending signals to the terminal device 120.

[0067] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 and the terminal device 130 communicate with each other via some direct communication interface, such as a PC5 interface.

[0068] In some embodiments, there are two communication scenarios between terminal device 120 and terminal device 130: a first sideline communication scenario and a second sideline communication scenario. The first sideline communication refers to sending signals to terminal device 130, while the second sideline communication refers to sending signals to terminal device 120.

[0069] In some embodiments, terminal device 120 and terminal device 130 are both within the network coverage and located in the same cell, or terminal device 120 and terminal device 130 are both within the network coverage but located in different cells, or terminal device 120 is within the network coverage but terminal device 130 is outside the network coverage.

[0070] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Global System of Mobile communication (GSM) system, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A) system, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, 5G mobile communication system, New Radio (NR) system, NR system evolution system, LTE on unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) system, NR on unlicensed spectrum (NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum) system. Unlicensed spectrum, NR-U) system, terrestrial communication network (Terrestrial Networks, TN) system, non-terrestrial communication network (Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTN) system, wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Networks, WLAN), wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, Wi-Fi), cellular Internet of Things system, cellular passive Internet of Things system, ambient power Internet of Things (Ambient Power Enabled Internet of Things, Ambient IoT / A-IoT) system, zero power Internet of Things system, can also be applied to the subsequent evolution system of the 5G NR system, and can also be applied to B5G, 6G and subsequent evolution systems. In some embodiments of the present application, "NR" may also be referred to as a 5G NR system or a 5G system.Among them, the 5G mobile communication system may include non-standalone networking (NSA) and / or standalone networking (SA).

[0071] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to machine type communication (MTC), long term evolution technology for machine-to-machine communication (LTE-M), device-to-device (D2D) network, machine-to-machine (M2M) network, Internet of Things (IoT) network or other networks. Among them, the IoT network can include, for example, the Internet of Vehicles. Among them, the communication mode in the Internet of Vehicles system is collectively referred to as vehicle to other devices (Vehicle to X, V2X, X can represent anything), for example, the V2X can include: vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle to pedestrian communication (V2P) or vehicle to network (V2N) communication, etc.

[0072] The wireless communication system provided in this embodiment can be applied to, but is not limited to, at least one of the following communication scenarios: an uplink communication scenario, a downlink communication scenario, and a sidelink communication scenario.

[0073] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 shown in FIG3 can be implemented as a low-power device. A low-power device can also be referred to as at least one of the following: an ultra-low-power device, a zero-power device, a passive IoT device, or an ambient power enabled IoT (Ambient IoT / A-IoT) device. The communication technology implemented by the low-power device can also be referred to as at least one of the following: zero-power communication technology, ultra-low-power communication technology, low-power communication technology, ambient power enabled IoT (Ambient IoT / A-IoT) technology, passive IoT technology, or zero-power IoT technology.

[0074] Low-power devices can harvest energy from the environment (such as radio frequency energy, solar energy, light energy, thermal energy, mechanical energy, kinetic energy, etc.) to obtain energy for communication. Generally speaking, based on the energy source and usage method, low-power devices can be divided into the following three types:

[0075] (1) Passive devices; Passive devices do not require built-in batteries. When a passive device approaches a network device (such as the reader of an RFID system), the passive device is within the near field formed by the radiation of the network device antenna. Therefore, the passive device antenna generates an induced current through electromagnetic induction, and the induced current drives the low-power chip circuit of the passive device. This realizes the demodulation of the forward link signal and the modulation of the backward link signal. For the backscatter link, the passive device can use backscatter or extremely low-power active transmission to transmit the signal. Passive devices do not require built-in batteries to drive either the forward link or the reverse link. Therefore, passive devices can be considered as zero-power devices.

[0076] In addition to not requiring batteries, the RF circuits and baseband circuits of passive devices are also very simple. For example, they do not require components such as LNA, power amplifier (PA), crystal oscillator, analog to digital converter (ADC), etc., which makes passive devices have many advantages such as small size, light weight, very low price, and long service life.

[0077] Passive devices can also support other energy harvesting methods by harvesting energy from the environment (such as solar energy, light energy, thermal energy, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, etc.) to obtain energy for driving circuits, thereby achieving communication.

[0078] (2) Semi-passive devices: Semi-passive devices do not have conventional batteries installed on them. They can use radio frequency energy harvesting modules to harvest radio wave energy, or use energy harvesting modules to harvest energy from the environment (such as solar energy, light energy, thermal energy, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, etc.), and store the harvested energy in an energy storage unit (such as a capacitor). After the energy storage unit obtains energy, it can drive the low-power chip circuit of the semi-passive device. It can realize the demodulation of the forward link signal and the modulation of the backward link signal. For the backscatter link, the semi-passive device can use backscattering to transmit the signal. The semi-passive device can also have the ability to actively transmit, that is, in addition to communicating through backscattering, the backward link can also use active transmission to communicate.

[0079] Semi-passive devices do not require built-in batteries to drive either the forward link or the reverse link. Although they use energy stored in capacitors, this energy comes from radio energy or ambient energy collected by the energy harvesting module. Therefore, semi-passive devices can be considered zero-power devices.

[0080] Semi-passive devices inherit many advantages of passive devices, such as small size, light weight, very low price, long service life, etc.

[0081] (3) Active devices: Active devices can have built-in batteries. The battery is used to drive the low-power chip circuit of the active device to realize the demodulation of the forward link signal and the modulation of the reverse link signal. The reverse link signal transmission of the active device does not need to consume the active device's own power, and the reverse link transmission is realized by backscattering, thereby achieving the effect of zero power consumption. The active device can also have the ability to actively transmit, that is, in addition to communicating by backscattering, the reverse link can also use active transmission to communicate.

[0082] Despite having built-in batteries, these active devices have extremely low power consumption and complexity, allowing the battery capacity to be set within a narrow range, resulting in lower cost and size. The built-in battery in the active device can also serve as an energy storage unit, storing ambient energy collected by the energy harvesting module. This reduces the maintenance cycle of the active device, or even makes it maintenance-free.

[0083] Active devices use built-in batteries to increase their communication range, for example, by increasing the read / write distance of electronic tags, thereby improving communication reliability. Therefore, active devices are used in scenarios where communication distance and read latency are relatively high.

[0084] In terms of communication methods, low-power devices can support backscatter and / or active transmission communication methods. Generally speaking, based on the transmitter type, low-power devices can be divided into the following three types:

[0085] (1) Low-power devices based on backscattering: These devices use the backscattering method described above for uplink data transmission. These devices do not have an active transmitter for active transmission, but only a backscattering transmitter. Therefore, when these devices transmit uplink data, they need network equipment to provide a carrier. These devices use backscattering based on the carrier to achieve uplink data transmission.

[0086] (2) Low-power devices based on active transmitters: These devices use active transmitters with active transmission capabilities for uplink data transmission. Therefore, when sending uplink data, these devices can use their own active transmitters to send uplink data without the need for network equipment to provide a carrier. Active transmitters suitable for this type of device can be, for example, ultra-low-power ASK transmitters and ultra-low-power FSK transmitters. Based on current implementations, when transmitting a 100-microwatt signal, the overall power consumption of these transmitters can be reduced to 400-600 microwatts.

[0087] (3) Low-power devices with both backscatter and active transmitters: These devices can support both backscatter and active transmitters. They can determine whether to use backscatter or active transmitters based on different situations (such as different power levels, different available environmental energy levels), or based on the scheduling of network devices.

[0088] In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may be implemented as the terminal device 320 shown in FIG. 4 , and the network device 110 may be implemented as the network device 340 shown in FIG. 4 .

[0089] Terminal device 320 includes primary receiver 101 and secondary receiver 103, as shown in Figure 2. As previously mentioned, secondary receiver 103 can significantly reduce the overall power consumption of the terminal device. Therefore, terminal device 320 including primary receiver 101 and secondary receiver 103 can also be considered a low-power device. In some cases, it is even possible for terminal device 320 to include only secondary receiver 103 (also referred to as a low-power receiver) to achieve further power savings.

[0090] Optionally, the terminal device 320 further includes an energy harvesting module 321. Optionally, the terminal device 320 further includes a backscatter communication module 322. Optionally, the terminal device 320 further includes a low-power computing module 323. Optionally, the terminal device 320 further includes a sensor module 324. Optionally, the terminal device 320 further includes a memory 325. Optionally, in addition to the primary receiver 101 and the secondary receiver 103, the terminal device 320 further includes one or more of the energy harvesting module 321, the backscatter communication module 322, the low-power computing module 323, the sensor module 324, and the memory 325.

[0091] Optionally, the energy collection module 321 can collect energy carried by radio waves in space to power the various modules of the terminal device 320. After the terminal device 320 obtains energy, it can receive signals from the network device 340 through the auxiliary receiver 103 and the main receiver 101, or send data to the network device 340 through the backscatter communication module 322. The data sent by the terminal device 320 can be data stored by itself (such as an identity identifier or pre-written information, such as the production date, brand, manufacturer, etc. of the product). The sensor module 324 can include various sensors, and the terminal device 320 can report the data collected by various sensors based on a low-power mechanism. The memory 325 is used to store some basic information (such as item identification, etc.) or obtain sensor data such as ambient temperature and ambient humidity.

[0092] Optionally, the terminal device 320 uses a low-power computing module 323 to implement simple signal demodulation, decoding or encoding, modulation and other simple computing tasks. The hardware design can be very simple, making the terminal device 320 very low in cost and small in size.

[0093] It should be understood that the modules included in the terminal device 320 shown in FIG4 are merely examples and not limiting.

[0094] It should be understood that in the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "corresponding" may indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between the two, or an association relationship between the two, or a relationship between indication and being indicated, configuration and being configured, etc.

[0095] In the embodiments of the present application, "agreement" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in a communication device (such as a terminal device, a network device), and the present application does not limit its specific implementation method. The communication protocol agreement can also be understood as a predefined communication protocol.

[0096] FIG5 shows a flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by the terminal device shown in FIG1 or FIG2 or FIG3 or FIG4 . The method includes:

[0097] Step 510: Based on the measurement result of the first signal, detect the control channel with or without first indication information; wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal.

[0098] In the present application, the control channel includes, for example, one or more of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH).

[0099] The first indication information is related to the detection of the control channel, which can also be understood as that the first indication information is related to the control channel that needs to be detected.

[0100] The terminal device detects the control channel through or without the first indication information based on the measurement result of the first signal. It can also be understood that: the terminal device detects the control channel through or without the first indication information, wherein whether the first indication information is passed is determined according to the measurement result of the first signal.

[0101] Detecting the control channel using the first indication information means that the control channel is detected based on the indication information carried by the first signal. Because the first indication information is related to the control channel, the terminal device can detect the control channel more accurately, quickly, and efficiently. Compared with the traditional blind detection method of each time slot, the use of the first indication information can avoid a large number of meaningless detection behaviors of the terminal device, improve the efficiency of channel detection, and achieve power saving.

[0102] Not detecting the control channel based on the first indication information means that the control channel is not detected based on the indication information carried by the first signal. Therefore, the terminal device does not need to detect the first signal to obtain the first indication information, that is, the terminal device does not actually need to decode the first signal. Compared with traditional solutions, this does not result in significant additional power consumption.

[0103] In some embodiments, the first indication information instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel. In this case, the terminal device needs to decode the first signal, but the terminal device no longer needs to consume resources to detect the control channel, thereby reducing the number of control channel detections and significantly saving power.

[0104] In some embodiments, the terminal device receives a first signal and / or a second signal; wherein the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0105] In some embodiments, the terminal device detects the first signal and / or the second signal; wherein the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0106] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application adjusts the detection of the control channel based on the measurement results of the first signal. If the control channel is detected using the first indication information, meaningless channel detection can be avoided, the efficiency of channel detection can be improved, and power consumption can be saved. If the first indication information indicates that the terminal device does not need to detect the control channel, the number of control channel detections is reduced, and the power consumption effect is significantly saved.

[0107] Compared with the traditional design that uses the same detection scheme regardless of whether the communication quality is good or bad, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application has better flexibility. Moreover, since the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually adopted by the terminal device matches the current communication quality in the system, which helps to improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0108] In some embodiments, step 510 may also be implemented as step 610, as shown in FIG6 . FIG6 shows a flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the method being executed by the terminal device shown in FIG1 or FIG2 or FIG3 or FIG4 , and the method comprising:

[0109] Step 610: When the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a first condition, detect the control channel through first indication information; wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal.

[0110] In some embodiments, the first condition includes: a signal quality of the first signal is greater than a first threshold.

[0111] In some embodiments, the first threshold is agreed upon by a communication protocol, or indicated by a network device, or determined by a terminal device, or determined by negotiation between the network device and the terminal device.

[0112] In some embodiments, the signal quality of the first signal is represented by at least one of the following: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) value, a reference signal strength indicator (RSSI) value, a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) value, a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) value, a cross link interference (CLI) value, and a channel state information (CSI) value.

[0113] In some embodiments, the first indication information is obtained by the terminal device detecting the first signal. It can also be understood that the first indication information is obtained by the terminal device decoding the first signal.

[0114] In some embodiments, the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel, or instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel.

[0115] If the first indication information instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel, then although the terminal device needs to decode the first signal, the terminal device no longer needs to consume resources to detect the control channel, thereby reducing the number of times the control channel is detected and significantly saving power consumption.

[0116] In some embodiments, the terminal device receives a first signal and / or a second signal; wherein the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0117] In some embodiments, the terminal device detects the first signal and / or the second signal; wherein the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0118] In some embodiments, the control channel is transmitted using the waveform of the second signal.

[0119] In some embodiments, the first signal uses any one of the following waveforms: On-Off Keying (OOK) waveform, Multi-Carrier OOK (MC-OOK) waveform, Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) waveform, Phase Shift Keying (PSK) waveform, Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) waveform, Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) waveform.

[0120] In some embodiments, the second signal uses any one of the following waveforms: Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveform, Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) waveform, or Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) waveform.

[0121] As can be seen, the waveform used by the first signal is simpler than that used by the second signal, and the power consumption required to generate, receive, and detect the first signal is lower than that required to generate, receive, and detect the second signal. Therefore, compared to the second signal, the first signal can be considered a low-power signal.

[0122] In some embodiments, the first signal adopts any one of the following modulation modes: OOK modulation, MC-OOK modulation, FSK modulation, PSK modulation, BPSK modulation, and ASK modulation.

[0123] In some embodiments, the second signal adopts any one of the following modulation modes: OFDM modulation, QAM modulation, and QPSK modulation.

[0124] In some embodiments, the first signal is generated using at least one of the following sequences: a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence; an m-sequence; a gold sequence; or a Hadamard sequence.

[0125] A pseudo-noise sequence can also be called a pseudo-random sequence. An m-sequence is also known as a longest linear feedback shift register sequence or a maximum-length sequence. A gold sequence is constructed by performing modulo-2 addition on the m-sequence.

[0126] The binary sequence referred to in this application refers to a sequence of sequence elements that can take on only two possible values. This can also be understood as meaning that each bit in a binary sequence can take on only two possible values. For example, any bit in a PN sequence, m sequence, or gold sequence can take on the value "1" or "0." For example, any bit in a Hadamard sequence can take on the value "+1" or "-1."

[0127] In some embodiments, the first signal is a signal that is sent periodically, or the first signal is a signal that is sent aperiodically.

[0128] In some embodiments, the first signal is related to a cell, which can also be understood as the first signal being a cell-level signal, or the first signal being applicable to all terminal devices within a cell.

[0129] In some embodiments, the first signal is related to the cell group, which can also be understood as the first signal being a cell group-level signal, or as the first signal being applicable to all terminal devices within a cell group.

[0130] In some embodiments, a terminal device includes a primary receiver and a secondary receiver. The primary receiver may also be referred to as at least one of the following: a traditional receiver or a first receiver. The secondary receiver may also be referred to as at least one of the following: a second receiver, a wake-up receiver, or a low-power receiver. The secondary receiver consumes less power than the primary receiver. Optionally, the secondary receiver has a lower complexity than the primary receiver.

[0131] In some embodiments, the first signal is received by a secondary receiver and the second signal is received by a primary receiver.

[0132] In some embodiments, the first signal is a wake-up signal.

[0133] In some embodiments, the type of the second signal includes at least one of the following: synchronization signal block (Synchronization Signal and PBCH Block, SS / PBCH Block, SSB); channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS); tracking reference signal (TRS); phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); demodulation reference signal (DMRS); sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0134] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application detects the control channel using the first indication information when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition. Because the first indication information is related to the control channel, the terminal device can detect the control channel more accurately, quickly, and efficiently. Compared to the traditional blind detection method of each time slot, the use of the first indication information can avoid a large number of meaningless detection behaviors of the terminal device, significantly saving power consumption.

[0135] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal device to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0136] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0137] Compared to conventional designs that employ the same detection scheme regardless of good or bad communication quality, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application also offers greater flexibility. Furthermore, because the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually employed by the terminal device matches the current communication quality within the system, which helps improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0138] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a first condition, multi-level control detection is enabled. The multi-level control detection includes a first-level control detection and a second-level control detection.

[0139] Furthermore, step 610 may also be implemented as step 710 and step 730, as shown in FIG. 7 .

[0140] Step 710: When the measurement result of the first signal meets the first condition, perform a first level control detection on the first signal to obtain first indication information;

[0141] When the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect a control channel, the indication information carried by the first signal is associated with channel control detection. Alternatively, it can be understood that the indication information carried by the first signal is associated with the control channel to be detected. Therefore, detecting the first signal can be understood as the first level of detection in the process of detecting a control channel.

[0142] In some embodiments, the first signal is a periodically transmitted signal. The terminal device periodically measures the first signal, periodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and periodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition.

[0143] In some embodiments, the first signal is a signal sent aperiodically. The terminal device aperiodically measures the first signal, aperiodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and aperiodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a first condition.

[0144] For details about the first condition, please refer to step 610 and will not be repeated here.

[0145] Step 730: Perform a second-level control detection on the control channel according to the first indication information.

[0146] The control channel is detected after the first signal is detected. Therefore, the control channel detection can be understood as the second level detection in the control channel detection process.

[0147] If the first indication information instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel, the terminal device does not perform step 730. In other words, the terminal device no longer needs to consume resources to perform the second level control detection, which reduces the number of control channel detections and significantly saves power consumption.

[0148] The embodiments of the present application mainly discuss the situation where the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel.

[0149] In some embodiments, when the first indication information includes the first identifier, and / or the first indication information is used to instruct detection of a control channel associated with the first identifier, a second-level control detection is performed on the control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0150] In some embodiments, the first indication information carries a first identifier. If the first indication information carries the first identifier, it means that the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to detect the control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0151] In some embodiments, the first indication information indicates whether to detect the control channel associated with the first identifier through a bitmap. Exemplarily, the bitmap includes multiple bits, and these multiple bits correspond one-to-one to multiple first identifiers. When the bit value is the first value, it indicates that the terminal device detects the control channel associated with the first identifier corresponding to the bit. When the bit value is the second value, it indicates that the terminal device does not detect the control channel associated with the first identifier corresponding to the bit. The first value is "1" and the second value is "0"; or, the first value is "0" and the second value is "1". Of course, the first value and the second value can also be other values, as long as the first value and the second value are different.

[0152] In some embodiments, the first identifier includes at least one of the following: a network identifier (Network Identity, Network ID); an access identifier (Access ID) of the terminal device; an access group identifier (Access Group ID, AG ID) of the terminal device; a physical identifier (Physical ID) of the terminal device; or a hardware identifier of the terminal device.

[0153] In some embodiments, the network identifier is associated with the first cell identifier, and / or the network identifier is associated with the first beam identifier, wherein the first cell identifier is the cell identifier corresponding to the second signal, and the first beam identifier is the beam identifier corresponding to the second signal.

[0154] In some embodiments, the network identifier is associated with one cell identifier, or the network identifier is associated with multiple cell identifiers, or the network identifier is associated with one cell group identifier, or the network identifier is associated with multiple cell group identifiers. It can also be understood that the network identifier carried by the first indication information corresponds to one cell identifier, or the network identifier carried by the first indication information corresponds to multiple cell identifiers, or the network identifier carried by the first indication information corresponds to one cell group identifier, or the network identifier carried by the first indication information corresponds to multiple cell group identifiers.

[0155] If the network identifier corresponds to one cell identifier, it means that the first indication information is only applicable to the cell corresponding to the one cell identifier. If the network identifier corresponds to multiple cell identifiers, it means that the first indication information is applicable to multiple cells corresponding to the multiple cell identifiers.

[0156] In some embodiments, the network identifier is associated with one beam identifier, or the network identifier is associated with multiple beam identifiers. It can also be understood that the network identifier carried by the first indication information corresponds to one beam identifier, or the network identifier carried by the first indication information corresponds to multiple beam identifiers.

[0157] If the network identifier corresponds to one beam identifier, it means that the first indication information is only applicable to the control channel transmitted via the beam corresponding to this beam identifier. If the network identifier corresponds to multiple beam identifiers, it means that the first indication information is applicable to the control channel transmitted via at least one beam corresponding to these multiple beam identifiers.

[0158] In some embodiments, the access identifier and access group identifier of the terminal device are obtained during the registration process of the terminal device.

[0159] In some embodiments, the first indication information indicates whether the terminal device detects or does not detect the control channel by whether it carries the first identifier.

[0160] Exemplarily, the first identifier carried by the first indication information includes an access identifier. If the access identifier carried by the first indication information is consistent with the access identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel. If the access identifier carried by the first indication information is inconsistent with the access identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information does not instruct the terminal device to detect the control channel.

[0161] Exemplarily, the first identifier carried by the first indication information includes an access group identifier. If the access group identifier carried by the first indication information is consistent with the access group identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel. If the access group identifier carried by the first indication information is inconsistent with the access group identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information does not instruct the terminal device to detect the control channel.

[0162] Exemplarily, the first identifier carried by the first indication information includes a physical identifier. If the physical identifier carried by the first indication information is consistent with the physical identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel. If the physical identifier carried by the first indication information is inconsistent with the physical identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information does not instruct the terminal device to detect the control channel.

[0163] Exemplarily, the first identifier carried by the first indication information includes a hardware identifier. If the hardware identifier carried by the first indication information is consistent with the hardware identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel. If the hardware identifier carried by the first indication information is inconsistent with the hardware identifier of the terminal device, it means that the first indication information does not instruct the terminal device to detect the control channel.

[0164] For other contents, please refer to step 510 and step 610, which will not be repeated here.

[0165] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application enables multi-level control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition. Because the power consumption required for the first-level control detection is much lower than that required for the second-level control detection, the terminal device is supported to determine whether to detect a control channel, how to detect the control channel, and which control channel to detect using the low-power first signal. This not only reduces the overall power consumption of the channel detection process, but also improves the efficiency of channel detection and avoids meaningless channel detection behavior.

[0166] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0167] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0168] Compared to conventional designs that employ the same detection scheme regardless of good or bad communication quality, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application also offers greater flexibility. Furthermore, because the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually employed by the terminal device matches the current communication quality within the system, which helps improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0169] In some embodiments, step 510 may also be implemented as step 810, as shown in FIG8 . FIG8 shows a flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the method being executed by the terminal device shown in FIG1 or FIG2 or FIG3 or FIG4 , and the method comprising:

[0170] Step 810: When the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the control channel is not detected through the first indication information; wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal.

[0171] In some embodiments, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the signal quality of the first signal is less than a second threshold; obtaining the measurement result of the first signal is unsuccessful; and obtaining the first indication information is unsuccessful.

[0172] The failure to obtain the first indication information may also be understood as the failure to detect the first signal, or the failure to decode the first signal.

[0173] In some embodiments, the second threshold is agreed upon by a communication protocol, or indicated by a network device, or determined by a terminal device, or determined by negotiation between the network device and the terminal device.

[0174] In some embodiments, the second threshold is a difference between a measurement result of the first signal and a measurement result of the second signal.

[0175] Exemplarily, the second threshold is 0dB, or -3dB, or -6dB, or -9dB, or -12dB, or -20dBm, or -40dBm, or -60dBm, or -80dBm. Exemplarily, the second threshold is preconfigured by the network device. Exemplarily, the first threshold is configured by the network device through high-layer signaling.

[0176] In some embodiments, the signal quality of the first signal is represented by at least one of the following: an RSRP value, an RSSI value, an RSRQ value, an SINR value, a CLI value, and a CSI value.

[0177] In some embodiments, the terminal device receives a first signal and / or a second signal; wherein the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0178] In some embodiments, the terminal device detects the first signal and / or the second signal; wherein the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0179] In some embodiments, the control channel is transmitted using the waveform of the second signal.

[0180] The waveforms, modulation methods, generation sequences, etc. of the first signal and the second signal can be referred to in step 610 and will not be described in detail here.

[0181] In some embodiments, the first signal is a signal that is sent periodically, or the first signal is a signal that is sent aperiodically.

[0182] In some embodiments, the first signal is related to a cell, which can also be understood as the first signal being a cell-level signal, or the first signal being applicable to all terminal devices within a cell.

[0183] In some embodiments, the first signal is related to the cell group, which can also be understood as the first signal being a cell group-level signal, or as the first signal being applicable to all terminal devices within a cell group.

[0184] In some embodiments, a terminal device includes a primary receiver and a secondary receiver. The primary receiver may also be referred to as at least one of the following: a traditional receiver or a first receiver. The secondary receiver may also be referred to as at least one of the following: a second receiver, a wake-up receiver, or a low-power receiver. The secondary receiver consumes less power than the primary receiver. Optionally, the secondary receiver has a lower complexity than the primary receiver.

[0185] In some embodiments, the first signal is received by a secondary receiver and the second signal is received by a primary receiver.

[0186] In some embodiments, the first signal is a wake-up signal.

[0187] In some embodiments, the type of the second signal includes at least one of the following: SSB; CSI-RS; TRS; PT-RS; DMRS; SRS.

[0188] In summary, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application does not detect the control channel using the first indication information when the measurement result of the first signal meets the second condition. Since decoding of the first signal is not required, no significant additional power consumption is actually wasted.

[0189] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0190] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0191] Compared to conventional designs that employ the same detection scheme regardless of good or bad communication quality, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application also offers greater flexibility. Furthermore, because the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually employed by the terminal device matches the current communication quality within the system, which helps improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0192] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the multi-level control detection is disabled.

[0193] Furthermore, step 810 may also be implemented as step 910, as shown in FIG9 .

[0194] Step 910: When the measurement result of the first signal meets the second condition, detect the control channel in a default manner.

[0195] In some embodiments, the default method includes at least one of the following: a channel detection method agreed upon by a communication protocol, and a traditional channel detection method.

[0196] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the terminal device directly detects the control channel.

[0197] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the terminal device monitors the control channel.

[0198] In some embodiments, if the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the terminal device no longer monitors or receives the first signal. As mentioned above, the first signal can be considered a low-power signal. Therefore, the terminal device no longer monitors or receives the first signal, which can be understood as the terminal device no longer maintaining the low-power receiving state, or can also be understood as the terminal device switching to a normal receiving state or a normal receiving state.

[0199] In some embodiments, the first signal is a periodically transmitted signal. The terminal device periodically measures the first signal, periodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and periodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition.

[0200] In some embodiments, the first signal is a signal sent aperiodically. The terminal device aperiodically measures the first signal, aperiodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and aperiodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition.

[0201] For other contents, please refer to step 510 and step 810, which will not be repeated here.

[0202] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application does not enable multi-stage control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition. This provides a feasible channel detection solution for situations where it is impossible to determine whether to detect a control channel or how to detect a control channel based on the first indication information.

[0203] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0204] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0205] Compared to conventional designs that employ the same detection scheme regardless of good or bad communication quality, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application also offers greater flexibility. Furthermore, because the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually employed by the terminal device matches the current communication quality within the system, which helps improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0206] Figure 10 shows a schematic diagram of enabling and disabling multi-level control detection. If the measurement result of the first signal meets the first condition, multi-level control detection is enabled, and the first signal is first detected to obtain the first indication information, and then the control channel is detected based on the first indication information. If the measurement result of the first signal meets the second condition, multi-level control detection is disabled, and the control channel is detected directly.

[0207] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a first condition, multi-level control detection is enabled. The multi-level control detection includes a first level control detection and a second level control detection.

[0208] Furthermore, step 610 may also be implemented as steps 1110, 1130, and 1150, as shown in FIG11. FIG11 shows a flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application, the method being executed by the terminal device shown in FIG1 or FIG2 or FIG3 or FIG4, and the method comprising:

[0209] Step 1110: When the measurement result of the first signal meets the first condition, perform a first level control detection on the first signal to obtain first indication information;

[0210] In some embodiments, the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel, or instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel.

[0211] If the first indication information instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel, then although the terminal device needs to decode the first signal, the terminal device no longer needs to consume resources to detect the control channel, thereby reducing the number of times the control channel is detected and significantly saving power consumption.

[0212] The embodiments of the present application mainly discuss the situation where the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel.

[0213] When the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect a control channel, the indication information carried by the first signal is associated with channel control detection. Alternatively, it can be understood that the indication information carried by the first signal is associated with the control channel to be detected. Therefore, detecting the first signal can be understood as the first level of detection in the process of detecting a control channel.

[0214] In some embodiments, the first signal is a periodically transmitted signal. The terminal device periodically measures the first signal, periodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and periodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition.

[0215] In some embodiments, the first signal is a signal sent aperiodically. The terminal device aperiodically measures the first signal, aperiodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and aperiodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a first condition.

[0216] For details about the first condition, please refer to step 610 and will not be repeated here.

[0217] In some embodiments, the first indication information carries a first identifier. If the first indication information carries the first identifier, it means that the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to detect the control channel associated with the first identifier and / or to instruct the terminal device to start a first DRX cycle.

[0218] In some embodiments, the first indication information indicates, via a bitmap, whether to detect a control channel associated with the first identifier and / or whether to start the first DRX cycle.

[0219] Exemplarily, the bit map includes multiple bits, which correspond one-to-one to multiple first identifiers. When the bit value is a first value, it instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel associated with the first identifier corresponding to the bit. When the bit value is a second value, it instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel associated with the first identifier corresponding to the bit.

[0220] Exemplarily, the bit map includes multiple bits, which correspond one-to-one to multiple DRX cycles. When the bit value is a first value, it instructs the terminal device to start the DRX cycle corresponding to the bit; when the bit value is a second value, it instructs the terminal device not to start the DRX cycle corresponding to the bit.

[0221] The first value is "1" and the second value is "0"; or the first value is "0" and the second value is "1". Of course, the first value and the second value can also be other values, as long as the first value and the second value are different.

[0222] For the relevant content of the first identification, please refer to step 730 and will not be repeated here.

[0223] In some embodiments, the first indication information indicates whether the terminal device detects or does not detect the control channel by whether it carries the first identifier.

[0224] In some embodiments, the first indication information indicates whether the terminal device starts or does not start the first DRX cycle by whether it carries the first identifier.

[0225] Step 1130: Start a first DRX cycle, where the first DRX cycle is associated with the first indication information;

[0226] In some embodiments, the first indication information instructs the terminal device to start a first DRX cycle.

[0227] In some embodiments, when the first indication information includes the first identifier and / or the first indication information is used to instruct detection of a control channel associated with the first identifier, the first DRX cycle is started. The first DRX cycle is associated with the first identifier.

[0228] In some embodiments, the first DRX cycle is agreed upon by a communication protocol, or indicated by a network device, or determined by a terminal device, or determined by negotiation between the network device and the terminal device.

[0229] Step 1150: During the activation time of the first DRX cycle, perform a second level control detection on the control channel.

[0230] Active Time can also be called On Duration.

[0231] The control channel is detected after the first signal is detected. Therefore, the control channel detection can be understood as the second level detection in the control channel detection process.

[0232] In some embodiments, during the inactive time of the first DRX cycle, the second-level control detection of the control channel is not performed. This can also be understood as the terminal device being in a dormant state during the inactive time of the first DRX cycle. The inactive time can also be referred to as the off duration / opportunity for DRX.

[0233] In some embodiments, when the first indication information includes the first identifier, and / or the first indication information is used to instruct detection of a control channel associated with the first identifier, a second-level control detection is performed on the control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0234] In some embodiments, during the activation time of the first DRX cycle, a second level control detection is performed on the control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0235] For other contents, please refer to step 510 and step 610, which will not be repeated here.

[0236] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application enables multi-level control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition. Because the power consumption required for the first-level control detection is much lower than that required for the second-level control detection, the terminal device is supported to determine whether to detect a control channel, how to detect the control channel, and which control channel to detect using the low-power first signal. This not only reduces the overall power consumption of the channel detection process, but also improves the efficiency of channel detection and avoids meaningless channel detection behavior.

[0237] In addition, the embodiment of the present application combines multi-level control detection with the first DRX cycle, so that the terminal device detects the control channel during the activation time of the DRX cycle and does not detect the control channel during the non-activation time, thereby further reducing power consumption on the basis of enabling multi-level control detection.

[0238] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0239] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0240] Compared to conventional designs that employ the same detection scheme regardless of good or bad communication quality, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application also offers greater flexibility. Furthermore, because the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually employed by the terminal device matches the current communication quality within the system, which helps improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0241] In some embodiments, if the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the multi-level control detection is not enabled.

[0242] Furthermore, step 810 may also be implemented as step 1210 and step 1230, as shown in FIG12 .

[0243] Step 1210: If the measurement result of the first signal meets the second condition, start the second DRX cycle;

[0244] In some embodiments, the second DRX cycle is a default DRX cycle, wherein the default DRX cycle includes at least one of the following: a DRX cycle agreed upon in a communication protocol, a DRX cycle unrelated to the first identifier, and a DRX cycle unrelated to multi-stage control detection.

[0245] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the terminal device directly detects the control channel.

[0246] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal meets the second condition, the terminal device monitors the control channel within the activation time of the second DRX cycle.

[0247] In some embodiments, if the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the terminal device no longer monitors or receives the first signal. As mentioned above, the first signal can be considered a low-power signal. Therefore, the terminal device no longer monitors or receives the first signal, which can be understood as the terminal device no longer maintaining the low-power receiving state, or can also be understood as the terminal device switching to a normal receiving state or a normal receiving state.

[0248] In some embodiments, the first signal is a periodically transmitted signal. The terminal device periodically measures the first signal, periodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and periodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition.

[0249] In some embodiments, the first signal is a signal sent aperiodically. The terminal device aperiodically measures the first signal, aperiodically obtains a measurement result of the first signal, and aperiodically determines whether the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition.

[0250] For other contents, please refer to step 510 and step 810, which will not be repeated here.

[0251] Step 1230: Detect the control channel during the activation time of the second DRX cycle.

[0252] In some embodiments, the control channel is not detected during the inactive time of the second DRX cycle. This can also be understood as the terminal device being in a dormant state during the inactive time of the second DRX cycle. The inactive time can also be referred to as the off duration / opportunity for DRX.

[0253] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application does not enable multi-stage control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition. This provides a feasible channel detection solution for situations where it is impossible to determine whether to detect a control channel or how to detect a control channel based on the first indication information.

[0254] In addition, the embodiment of the present application combines the detection of the control channel with the second DRX cycle, so that the terminal device detects the control channel during the activation time of the DRX cycle and does not detect the control channel during the non-activation time. Compared with the solution of continuously monitoring the control channel, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application reduces the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0255] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0256] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0257] Compared to conventional designs that employ the same detection scheme regardless of good or bad communication quality, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application also offers greater flexibility. Furthermore, because the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually employed by the terminal device matches the current communication quality within the system, which helps improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0258] Figure 13 shows a schematic diagram of enabling and disabling multi-level control detection. If the measurement result of the first signal meets the first condition, multi-level control detection is enabled. The first signal is first detected to obtain the first indication information. The first DRX cycle associated with the first identifier is then initiated. Then, based on the first indication information, control channels are detected within the active time of the first DRX cycle. If the measurement result of the first signal meets the second condition, multi-level control detection is disabled, a second DRX cycle is initiated, and control channels are detected within the active time of the second DRX cycle.

[0259] Figure 14 shows a schematic diagram of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. Network device 141 transmits a first signal and a second signal, wherein the first signal and the second signal have different waveforms. Optionally, the waveform of the first signal is simpler than the waveform of the second signal, and optionally, the power consumption required to detect the first signal is lower than the power consumption required to detect the second signal.

[0260] UE 142 is within the coverage of the first signal, receives and measures the first signal, and when the signal quality of the first signal is higher than a first threshold, UE 142 decodes the first signal to obtain first indication information, and then detects the control channel according to the first indication information.

[0261] However, UE 143 cannot receive the first signal, or, although UE 143 can receive the first signal, the signal quality of the first signal obtained by UE 143 is lower than the second threshold. UE 143 can only continuously monitor the control channel.

[0262] The total power consumption required for the control channel detection by UE 142 is significantly lower than the total power consumption required for the control channel detection by UE 143. UE 142 saves power consumption through the first signal.

[0263] FIG15 is a flow chart of a channel detection method provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by the network device shown in FIG3 or FIG4 , or the terminal device 130 shown in FIG1 . The method includes:

[0264] Step 1510: Send a first signal and a second signal; wherein the measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect the control channel through first indication information or not, and the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal.

[0265] In the present application, the control channel includes, for example, one or more of PDCCH and PSCCH.

[0266] In some embodiments, step 1510 can be implemented as: sending a first signal, the measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect the control channel through or not through first indication information, the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal; sending the control channel based on the waveform of the second signal; wherein the waveform of the first signal is different from the waveform of the second signal.

[0267] The first indication information is related to the detection of the control channel, which can also be understood as that the first indication information is related to the control channel that needs to be detected.

[0268] Detecting the control channel through the first indication information means that the control channel is detected according to the indication information carried by the first signal.

[0269] Not detecting the control channel through the first indication information means that the control channel is not detected according to the indication information carried by the first signal.

[0270] In some embodiments, the first indication information instructs the terminal device to detect the control channel, or instructs the terminal device not to detect the control channel.

[0271] In some embodiments, the first signal and the second signal have different waveforms.

[0272] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition, the terminal device is supported to detect the control channel through the first indication information. For related content, please refer to step 610.

[0273] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition, the terminal device is supported to enable multi-level control detection. For related content, please refer to steps 710, 730, 1110, 1130, and 1150.

[0274] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition, the terminal device is supported not to detect the control channel through the first indication information. For related content, please refer to steps 810, 910, 1210, and 1230.

[0275] In summary, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application supports adjusting the detection of the control channel using the measurement results of the first signal. If the control channel is detected using the first indication information, meaningless channel detection can be avoided, the efficiency of channel detection can be improved, and power consumption can be saved. If the first indication information indicates that the terminal device does not need to detect the control channel, the number of control channel detections is reduced, and the power consumption effect is significantly saved.

[0276] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal device to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0277] Furthermore, multi-level control detection not only reduces the overall power consumption of the channel detection process, but also improves its efficiency and avoids meaningless channel detection. Combining multi-level control detection with the first DRX cycle allows terminal devices to detect control channels during the active time of the DRX cycle and not during the inactive time, further reducing power consumption while enabling multi-level control detection.

[0278] Compared with the traditional design that uses the same detection scheme regardless of whether the communication quality is good or bad, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application has better flexibility. Moreover, since the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually adopted by the terminal device matches the current communication quality in the system, which helps to improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0279] In the embodiments shown in Figures 5 to 15 , the first signal may be modulated using any of the following modulation schemes: OOK modulation, MC-OOK modulation, FSK modulation, PSK modulation, BPSK modulation, and ASK modulation. Several modulation schemes are briefly introduced here in conjunction with binary sequences.

[0280] Taking OOK modulation as an example, the sequence elements with the values ​​"1" and "0" in the binary sequence correspond to the high and low levels in the OOK sequence, respectively. For example, the sequence element with the value "1" in the binary sequence corresponds to the high level in the OOK sequence, and the sequence element with the value "0" in the binary sequence corresponds to the low level in the OOK sequence; alternatively, the sequence element with the value "1" in the binary sequence corresponds to the low level in the OOK sequence, and the sequence element with the value "0" in the binary sequence corresponds to the high level in the OOK sequence. When the binary sequence consists of "+1" and "-1", the OOK modulation principle is similar and will not be further explained.

[0281] Taking PSK modulation as an example, the sequence elements with the values ​​"1" and "0" in the binary sequence correspond to phase continuity (+1) and phase jumps (0 or -1) in the PSK sequence, respectively. For example, the sequence elements with the value "1" in the binary sequence correspond to phase continuity (+1) in the PSK sequence, and the sequence elements with the value "0" in the binary sequence correspond to phase jumps (0 or -1) in the PSK sequence; alternatively, the sequence elements with the value "1" in the binary sequence correspond to phase jumps (0 or -1) in the PSK sequence, and the sequence elements with the value "0" in the binary sequence correspond to phase continuity (+1) in the PSK sequence. When the binary sequence consists of "+1" and "-1", the PSK modulation principle is similar and will not be further explained.

[0282] Taking BPSK modulation as an example, the sequence elements with the values ​​"1" and "0" in the binary sequence correspond to the positive level (+1) and negative level (-1) in the BPSK sequence, respectively. For example, the sequence element with the value "1" in the binary sequence corresponds to the positive level (+1) in the BPSK sequence, and the sequence element with the value "0" in the binary sequence corresponds to the negative level (-1) in the BPSK sequence; alternatively, the sequence element with the value "1" in the binary sequence corresponds to the negative level (-1) in the BPSK sequence, and the sequence element with the value "0" in the binary sequence corresponds to the positive level (+1) in the BPSK sequence. When the binary sequence consists of "+1" and "-1", the BPSK modulation principle is similar and will not be further explained.

[0283] Taking FSK modulation as an example, the sequence elements with the values ​​"1" and "0" in the binary sequence correspond to the two carrier frequencies of the FSK sequence. For example, the sequence element with the value "1" in the binary sequence corresponds to the FSK carrier frequency 1, and the sequence element with the value "0" in the binary sequence corresponds to the FSK carrier frequency 0; or, the sequence element with the value "1" in the binary sequence corresponds to the FSK carrier frequency 0, and the sequence element with the value "0" in the binary sequence corresponds to the FSK carrier frequency 1. When the binary sequence consists of "+1" and "-1", the FSK modulation principle is similar and will not be further explained.

[0284] FIG16 shows a block diagram of a channel detection apparatus provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The apparatus can be implemented as a terminal device as shown in FIG1 , FIG2 , FIG3 , or FIG4 , or as a part of a terminal device as shown in FIG1 , FIG2 , FIG3 , or FIG4 . The apparatus includes a detection module 1610. Optionally, the apparatus further includes at least some of the receiving module 1630 and the sending module 1650.

[0285] A detection module 1610 is configured to detect a first signal and / or a second signal, wherein the first signal and the second signal have different waveforms;

[0286] The detection module 1610 is further configured to detect a control channel based on a measurement result of the first signal, with or without first indication information; wherein the first indication information is indication information carried by the first signal.

[0287] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to detect the control channel using the first indication information when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a first condition.

[0288] In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a receiving module 1630 configured to receive the first signal and / or the second signal.

[0289] In some embodiments, the receiving module 1630 is further configured to obtain a measurement result of the first signal.

[0290] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to perform a first-level control detection on the first signal to obtain the first indication information.

[0291] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to perform a second level control detection on the control channel using the first indication information.

[0292] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further used to: perform a second-level control detection on the control channel associated with the first identifier when the first indication information includes a first identifier and / or the first indication information is used to indicate detection of a control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0293] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further used to: start a first DRX cycle, where the first DRX cycle is associated with the first indication information; and perform a second level control detection on the control channel within an activation time of the first DRX cycle.

[0294] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to:

[0295] When the first indication information includes a first identifier and / or the first indication information is used to instruct detection of a control channel associated with the first identifier, starting the first DRX cycle;

[0296] During the activation time of the first DRX cycle, a second-level control detection is performed on the control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0297] In some embodiments, the first identifier includes at least one of the following: a network identifier; an access identifier of the device; an access group identifier of the device; a physical identifier of the device; or a hardware identifier of the device.

[0298] In some embodiments, the network identifier is associated with a first cell identifier, and / or the network identifier is associated with a first beam identifier; wherein the first cell identifier is a cell identifier corresponding to the second signal, and the first beam identifier is a beam identifier corresponding to the second signal.

[0299] In some embodiments, the first condition includes: a signal quality of the first signal is greater than a first threshold.

[0300] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to enable multi-level control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition; wherein the multi-level control detection includes a first-level control detection and a second-level control detection.

[0301] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to, if the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a second condition, not detect the control channel through the first indication information.

[0302] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to detect the control channel in a default manner, where the default manner is agreed upon by a communication protocol or indicated by a network device.

[0303] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to: start a second DRX cycle, where the second DRX cycle is a default DRX cycle; and detect the control channel within an activation time of the second DRX cycle.

[0304] In some embodiments, the second condition includes at least one of the following: signal quality of the first signal is less than a second threshold; obtaining a measurement result of the first signal is unsuccessful; and obtaining the first indication information is unsuccessful.

[0305] In some embodiments, the second threshold is a difference between a measurement result of the first signal and a measurement result of the second signal.

[0306] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is further configured to disable multi-level control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition; wherein the multi-level control detection includes a first-level control detection and a second-level control detection.

[0307] In some embodiments, the signal quality of the first signal is represented by at least one of the following: RSRP value; RSSI value; RSRQ value; SINR value; CLI value; CSI value.

[0308] In some embodiments, the first signal is generated using a binary sequence; wherein the binary sequence includes at least one of the following: a pseudo-noise PN sequence; a gold sequence; an m sequence; and a Hadamard sequence.

[0309] In some embodiments, the type of the second signal includes at least one of the following: SSB; CSI-RS; TRS; PT-RS.

[0310] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a sending module 1650 configured to send a signal and / or data based on the detection result of the control channel.

[0311] In some embodiments, the detection module 1610 is used to perform one or more of the following steps: step 510, step 610, step 710, step 730, step 1110, step 1130, step 1150, step 810, step 910, step 1210, and step 1230.

[0312] In summary, the apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application supports adjusting control channel detection based on the measurement results of the first signal. Detecting the control channel based on the first indication information can avoid meaningless channel detection, improve channel detection efficiency, and save power. If the first indication information indicates that control channel detection is not necessary, the number of control channel detections is reduced, significantly saving power.

[0313] Furthermore, the first signal waveform is simple, and the power consumption required for monitoring, receiving, measuring, and detecting the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly lower than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and significantly lower than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0314] Furthermore, compared with monitoring and receiving signals through a traditional receiver, if the first signal is monitored and received through an auxiliary receiver with low power consumption and low complexity, the overall power consumption of the channel detection process can be further reduced.

[0315] Compared with the traditional design that uses the same detection scheme regardless of whether the communication quality is good or bad, this device has better flexibility. Moreover, since the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually adopted is matched with the current communication quality in the system, which helps to improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0316] FIG17 shows a block diagram of a channel detection apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application. The apparatus may be implemented as a network device as shown in FIG3 or FIG4 , or as a portion of a network device as shown in FIG3 or FIG4 . The apparatus includes a sending module 1710 . Optionally, the apparatus also includes a receiving module 1730 .

[0317] The sending module 1710 is used to send a first signal and a second signal, and the measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect the control channel through the first indication information; wherein, the first indication information is the indication information carried by the first signal, and the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

[0318] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal meets a first condition, the measurement result of the first signal is used to detect the control channel through the first indication information.

[0319] In some embodiments, detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: enabling multi-level control detection; wherein the multi-level control detection includes performing a first-level control detection on the first signal and a second-level control detection on the control channel.

[0320] In some embodiments, detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: enabling multi-level control detection and starting a first DRX cycle; wherein the multi-level control detection includes performing a first-level control detection on the first signal, and performing a second-level control detection on the control channel within the activation time of the first DRX cycle.

[0321] In some embodiments, the first indication information includes a first identifier, and / or the first indication information is used to indicate detection of a control channel associated with the first identifier.

[0322] In some embodiments, the first identifier includes at least one of the following: a network identifier; an access identifier of the terminal device; an access group identifier of the terminal device; a physical identifier of the terminal device; or a hardware identifier of the terminal device.

[0323] In some embodiments, the network identifier is associated with a first cell identifier, and / or the network identifier is associated with a first beam identifier; wherein the first cell identifier is a cell identifier corresponding to the second signal, and the first beam identifier is a beam identifier corresponding to the second signal.

[0324] In some embodiments, the first condition includes: a signal quality of the first signal is greater than a first threshold.

[0325] In some embodiments, when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a second condition, the measurement result of the first signal is used to detect the control channel without using the first indication information.

[0326] In some embodiments, not detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: detecting the control channel through a default manner, where the default manner is agreed upon by a communication protocol or indicated by the device.

[0327] In some embodiments, not detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: starting a second discontinuous reception DRX cycle, where the second DRX cycle is a default DRX cycle; and detecting the control channel within an activation time of the second DRX cycle.

[0328] In some embodiments, the second condition includes at least one of the following: signal quality of the first signal is less than a second threshold; obtaining a measurement result of the first signal is unsuccessful; and obtaining the first indication information is unsuccessful.

[0329] In some embodiments, the second threshold is a difference between a measurement result of the first signal and a measurement result of the second signal.

[0330] In some embodiments, not detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: disabling multi-level control detection; wherein the multi-level control detection includes first-level control detection and second-level control detection.

[0331] In some embodiments, the signal quality of the first signal is represented by at least one of the following: RSRP value; RSSI value; RSRQ value; SINR value; CLI value; CSI value.

[0332] In some embodiments, the first signal is generated using a binary sequence; wherein the binary sequence includes at least one of the following: a pseudo-noise PN sequence; a gold sequence; an m sequence; and a Hadamard sequence.

[0333] In some embodiments, the type of the second signal includes at least one of the following: SSB; CSI-RS; TRS; PT-RS.

[0334] In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a receiving module 1730 for receiving signals and / or data from a terminal device.

[0335] In some embodiments, the sending module 1710 is used to execute step 1510.

[0336] In summary, the apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application supports adjusting control channel detection using the measurement results of the first signal. If the control channel is detected using the first indication information, meaningless channel detection can be avoided, the efficiency of channel detection can be improved, and power consumption can be saved. If the first indication information indicates that the terminal device does not need to detect the control channel, the number of control channel detections is reduced, significantly saving power consumption.

[0337] Furthermore, the first signal waveform provided by the embodiments of the present application is simple, and the power consumption required by the terminal device to monitor, receive, measure, and detect the first signal is extremely low. Therefore, the power consumption required for channel detection by monitoring the first signal is significantly less than that required for monitoring the control channel in traditional solutions, and is also significantly less than that required for monitoring and detecting the power-saving signal, both compared to monitoring the control channel and monitoring the power-saving signal.

[0338] Furthermore, multi-level control detection not only reduces the overall power consumption of the channel detection process, but also improves its efficiency and avoids meaningless channel detection. Combining multi-level control detection with the first DRX cycle allows terminal devices to detect control channels during the active time of the DRX cycle and not during the inactive time, further reducing power consumption while enabling multi-level control detection.

[0339] Compared with the traditional design that uses the same detection scheme regardless of whether the communication quality is good or bad, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application has better flexibility. Moreover, since the channel detection scheme is associated with the measurement result of the first signal, the channel detection scheme actually adopted by the terminal device matches the current communication quality in the system, which helps to improve the efficiency and reliability of channel detection.

[0340] Figure 18 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1800 provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application, including a processor 1801, a receiver 1802, a transmitter 1803, a memory 1804, and a bus 1805. The communication device 1800 may be used to execute some or all of the steps executed by the terminal device shown in Figures 5 to 14 , and may also be used to execute some or all of the steps executed by the network device shown in Figure 15 .

[0341] The processor 1801 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 1801 executes various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules. In some embodiments, the processor 1801 can be used to implement the functions and steps of the detection module 1610 described above.

[0342] Receiver 1802 and transmitter 1803 may be implemented as a communication component, which may be a communication chip and referred to as a transceiver. In some embodiments, receiver 1802 may be used to implement the functions and steps of receiving module 1630 and / or receiving module 1730 and / or detecting module 1610 described above, and transmitter 1803 may be used to implement the functions and steps of transmitting module 1650 and / or transmitting module 1710 described above.

[0343] The memory 1804 is connected to the processor 1801 via a bus 1805 .

[0344] The memory 1804 may be used to store at least one instruction, and the processor 1801 may be used to execute the at least one instruction to implement each step in the above method embodiment.

[0345] In addition, the memory 1804 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof. Volatile or non-volatile storage devices include but are not limited to: magnetic disks or optical disks, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, and programmable read-only memory (PROM).

[0346] In some embodiments, the receiver 1802 receives signals / data independently, or the processor 1801 controls the receiver 1802 to receive signals / data, or the processor 1801 requests the receiver 1802 to receive signals / data, or the processor 1801 cooperates with the receiver 1802 to receive signals / data.

[0347] In some embodiments, the transmitter 1803 independently sends signals / data, or the processor 1801 controls the transmitter 1803 to send signals / data, or the processor 1801 requests the transmitter 1803 to send signals / data, or the processor 1801 cooperates with the transmitter 1803 to send signals / data.

[0348] FIG19 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1900 provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present application, including a receiver 1910 and a transmitter 1920. The communication device 1900 may be used to execute some or all of the steps executed by the terminal devices shown in FIG5 to FIG14.

[0349] The receiver 1910 and the transmitter 1920 may be implemented as a communication component, which may be a communication chip and may be referred to as a transceiver.

[0350] In some embodiments, the receiver 1910 may be used to implement the functions and steps of the above-mentioned receiving module 1630 and / or detecting module 1610. Optionally, the receiver 1910 may be implemented as a first receiver 1911 and a second receiver 1912.

[0351] In some embodiments, the transmitter 1920 may be used to implement the functions and steps of the aforementioned sending module 1650. Optionally, the transmitter 1920 may be implemented as a first transmitter 1921 and a second transmitter 1922.

[0352] Optionally, the communication device 1900 may further include a processor 1930. The processor 1930 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 1930 executes various functional applications and information processing by running software programs and modules.

[0353] Optionally, the communication device 1900 may further include a memory 1940. The memory 1940 may be configured to store at least one instruction, and the processor 1910 may be configured to execute the at least one instruction to implement the various steps in the above-described method embodiment. Furthermore, the memory 1904 may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device, or a combination thereof. Volatile or non-volatile storage devices include, but are not limited to, magnetic or optical disks, EEPROMs, EPROMs, SRAMs, ROMs, magnetic memories, flash memories, and PROMs.

[0354] Optionally, the communication device 1900 may further include a bus (not shown). Optionally, the memory 1940 is connected to the processor 1930 via a bus.

[0355] In some embodiments, the receiver 1910 receives signals / data independently, or the processor 1930 controls the receiver 1910 to receive signals / data, or the processor 1930 requests the receiver 1910 to receive signals / data, or the processor 1930 cooperates with the receiver 1910 to receive signals / data.

[0356] In some embodiments, the transmitter 1920 independently sends signals / data, or the processor 1930 controls the transmitter 1920 to send signals / data, or the processor 1930 requests the transmitter 1920 to send signals / data, or the processor 1930 cooperates with the transmitter 1920 to send signals / data.

[0357] In some embodiments, the first receiver 1911 is implemented as a WUR (also referred to as a secondary receiver, a low-power receiver), and / or the second receiver 1912 is implemented as a primary receiver.

[0358] In some embodiments, receiver 1910 is implemented as a combined receiver of a WUR and a main receiver.

[0359] In some embodiments, the first transmitter 1921 is implemented as a primary transmitter, and / or the second transmitter 1922 is implemented as a backscatter transmitter.

[0360] In some embodiments, transmitter 1920 is implemented as a combination transmitter of a main transmitter and a backscatter transmitter.

[0361] In some embodiments, the processor 1930 and the receiver 1910 may be implemented as one module, or the processor 1930 may be implemented as a part of the receiver 1910 .

[0362] In some embodiments, the processor 1930 and the transmitter 1920 may be implemented as one module, or the processor 1930 may be implemented as a part of the transmitter 1920 .

[0363] In some embodiments, the communication device 1900 includes one or more processors 1930 , and different processors are configured to execute the same or different steps among the above-mentioned processing-related steps.

[0364] In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is further provided, wherein at least one program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and the at least one program is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the channel detection method provided by the above-mentioned various method embodiments.

[0365] In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, a chip is further provided, which includes a programmable logic circuit and / or program instructions. When the chip runs on a communication device, it is used to implement the channel detection method provided by the above-mentioned various method embodiments.

[0366] In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, a computer program product is further provided. When the computer program product is executed on a processor of a computer device, the computer device is enabled to perform the above-mentioned channel detection method.

[0367] In an exemplary embodiment of the present application, a computer program is further provided. The computer program includes computer instructions. A processor of a computer device executes the computer instructions, so that the computer device performs the above-mentioned channel detection method.

[0368] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps of implementing the above embodiments may be accomplished by hardware, or may be accomplished by instructing relevant hardware through a program, and the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the above-mentioned storage medium may be a read-only memory, a disk, or an optical disk, etc.

[0369] The above are merely optional embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A channel detection method, characterized in that, the method is executed by a terminal device, the terminal device detects a first signal and / or a second signal, and the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different. The method includes: detecting a control channel based on the measurement result of the first signal, with or without first indication information; wherein, the first indication information is the indication information carried by the first signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the detecting the control channel based on the measurement result of the first signal with the first indication information includes: detecting the control channel with the first indication information when the measurement result of the first signal meets a first condition.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, before detecting the control channel with the first indication information, the method further includes: performing a first-level control detection on the first signal to obtain the first indication information.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, the detecting the control channel with the first indication information includes: performing a second-level control detection on the control channel with the first indication information.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, the performing a second-level control detection on the control channel with the first indication information includes: performing a second-level control detection on the control channel associated with the first identifier when the first indication information includes a first identifier, and / or when the first indication information is used to indicate detecting the control channel associated with the first identifier.

6. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, the detecting the control channel with the first indication information includes: starting a first discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, where the first DRX cycle is associated with the first indication information; performing a second-level control detection on the control channel during the active time of the first DRX cycle.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, the starting the first DRX cycle includes: starting the first DRX cycle when the first indication information includes a first identifier, and / or when the first indication information is used to indicate detecting the control channel associated with the first identifier; the performing a second-level control detection on the control channel during the active time of the first DRX cycle includes: performing a second-level control detection on the control channel associated with the first identifier during the active time of the first DRX cycle.

8. The method according to claim 5 or 7, characterized in that, the first identifier includes at least one of the following: a network identifier; an access identifier of the terminal device; an access group identifier of the terminal device; a physical identifier of the terminal device; a hardware identifier of the terminal device.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, the network identifier is associated with a first cell identifier, and / or the network identifier is associated with a first beam identifier; Wherein, the first cell identifier is the cell identifier corresponding to the second signal, and the first beam identifier is the beam identifier corresponding to the second signal.

10. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that the first condition includes: the signal quality of the first signal is greater than a first threshold.

11. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 10, characterized in that the method further includes: enabling multi-level control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the first condition; wherein the multi-level control detection includes first-level control detection and second-level control detection.

12. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that detecting the control channel based on the measurement result of the first signal without using the first indication information includes: detecting the control channel without using the first indication information when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies a second condition.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that for detecting the control channel without using the first indication information, the method further includes: detecting the control channel in a default manner, where the default manner is specified by a communication protocol or indicated by a network device.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that detecting the control channel in the default manner includes: starting a second discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, where the second DRX cycle is a default DRX cycle; detecting the control channel during the active time of the second DRX cycle.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that the second condition includes at least one of the following: the signal quality of the first signal is less than a second threshold; obtaining the measurement result of the first signal is unsuccessful; obtaining the first indication information is unsuccessful.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the second threshold is the difference between the measurement result of the first signal and the measurement result of the second signal.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that the method further includes: disabling multi-level control detection when the measurement result of the first signal satisfies the second condition; wherein the multi-level control detection includes first-level control detection and second-level control detection.

18. The method according to claim 10 or 15, characterized in that the signal quality of the first signal is represented by at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) value; reference signal strength indication (RSSI) value; reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value; signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) value; cross-link interference (CLI) value; channel state information (CSI) value.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 18, characterized in that the first signal is generated using a binary sequence; wherein the binary sequence includes at least one of the following: pseudo-noise (PN) sequence; gold sequence; m-sequence; Hadamard sequence.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, characterized in that The type of the second signal includes at least one of the following: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB); Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS); Tracking Reference Signal (TRS); Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PT-RS).

21. A channel detection method, characterized in that, the method is executed by a network device, and the method includes: sending a first signal and a second signal, where the measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect a control channel through or without first indication information; wherein, the first indication information is the indication information carried by the first signal, and the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that, when the measurement result of the first signal meets a first condition, the measurement result of the first signal is used to detect the control channel through the first indication information.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: enabling multi-level control detection; wherein, the multi-level control detection includes performing a first-level control detection on the first signal and performing a second-level control detection on the control channel.

24. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, detecting the control channel through the first indication information includes: enabling multi-level control detection and starting a first Discontinuous Reception (DRX) cycle; wherein, the multi-level control detection includes performing a first-level control detection on the first signal, and performing a second-level control detection on the control channel during the active time of the first DRX cycle.

25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that, the first indication information includes a first identifier, and / or, the first indication information is used to indicate detecting the control channel associated with the first identifier.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that, the first identifier includes at least one of the following: network identifier; access identifier of the terminal device; access group identifier of the terminal device; physical identifier of the terminal device; hardware identifier of the terminal device.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that, the network identifier is associated with a first cell identifier, and / or, the network identifier is associated with a first beam identifier; wherein, the first cell identifier is the cell identifier corresponding to the second signal, and the first beam identifier is the beam identifier corresponding to the second signal.

28. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 27, characterized in that, the first condition includes: the signal quality of the first signal is greater than a first threshold.

29. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that, when the measurement result of the first signal meets a second condition, the measurement result of the first signal is used to detect the control channel without the first indication information.

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that, Said detecting the control channel without using the first indication information includes: detecting the control channel in a default manner, where the default manner is specified by a communication protocol or indicated by the network device.

31. The method according to claim 29 or 30, wherein, said detecting the control channel without using the first indication information includes: starting a second discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, where the second DRX cycle is a default DRX cycle; detecting the control channel during the active time of the second DRX cycle.

32. The method according to any one of claims 29 to 31, wherein, said second condition includes at least one of the following: the signal quality of the first signal is less than a second threshold; obtaining the measurement result of the first signal is unsuccessful; obtaining the first indication information is unsuccessful.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein, said second threshold is the difference between the measurement result of the first signal and the measurement result of the second signal.

34. The method according to any one of claims 29 to 33, wherein, said detecting the control channel without using the first indication information includes: disabling multi-level control detection; where the multi-level control detection includes first-level control detection and second-level control detection.

35. The method according to claim 28 or 32, wherein, the signal quality of the first signal is represented by at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) value; reference signal strength indication (RSSI) value; reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value; signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) value; cross-link interference (CLI) value; channel state information (CSI) value.

36. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 35, wherein, the first signal is generated using a binary sequence; wherein, the binary sequence includes at least one of the following: pseudo-noise (PN) sequence; gold sequence; m-sequence; Hadamard sequence.

37. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 36, wherein, the type of the second signal includes at least one of the following: synchronization signal block (SSB); channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS); tracking reference signal (TRS); phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS).

38. A channel detection device, wherein, the device includes: a detection module, configured to detect a first signal and / or a second signal, where the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different; the detection module is further configured to detect a control channel based on the measurement result of the first signal, with or without using a first indication information; wherein, the first indication information is the indication information carried by the first signal.

39. A channel detection device, wherein, the device includes: a transmission module, configured to transmit a first signal and a second signal, where the measurement result of the first signal is used to determine whether to detect the control channel with or without using the first indication information; wherein, the first indication information is the indication information carried by the first signal, and the waveforms of the first signal and the second signal are different.

40. A terminal device, characterized in that, the terminal device includes: a receiver; wherein, the terminal device is configured to execute the channel detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

41. A network device, characterized in that, the network device includes: a processor; a transmitter connected to the processor; a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein, the network device is configured to execute the channel detection method according to any one of claims 21 to 37.

42. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, executable instructions are stored in the readable storage medium, and the executable instructions are loaded and executed by a processor to implement the channel detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, or any one of claims 21 to 37.

43. A chip, characterized in that, the chip includes a programmable logic circuit or a program, and the chip is used to implement the channel detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, or any one of claims 21 to 37.

44. A computer program product, characterized in that, the computer program product includes computer instructions, the computer instructions are stored in a computer-readable storage medium, a processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions so that the computer device executes the channel detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, or any one of claims 21 to 37.

45. A computer program, characterized in that, the computer program includes computer instructions, and a processor of a computer device executes the computer instructions so that the computer device executes the channel detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, or any one of claims 21 to 37.

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