Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: receiving first information, the first information being used for waking up a terminal device; and receiving second information, the second information being used for instructing the terminal device to perform at least one of measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication. In the present application, the specific operation of the terminal device after being woken up can be determined on the basis of the second information, such that power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced.

Description

Communication methods and communication devices

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410805908.3, filed on June 20, 2024, entitled "Communication Method and Communication Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device. Background Technology

[0003] With the development of communication technology, the power consumption of terminal and network devices will also increase. In order to save power consumption of terminal devices, current protocols employ various methods to achieve energy savings. For example, terminal devices use discontinuous reception (DRX) to avoid constantly monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Another example is receiving a wake-up signal during the DRX sleep period to determine whether to wake up the terminal device in the next active period. If the terminal device detects the wake-up signal, it is woken up in the next active period. If the terminal device does not detect the wake-up signal, it skips the entire DRX cycle and does not detect the PDCCH, thereby achieving energy saving.

[0004] However, in the above methods, the terminal device can know when it is to be woken up or needs to go into sleep mode, but the woken terminal device cannot clearly define the specific working behavior and needs to wake up all functions, which leads to a waste of power consumption.

[0005] Therefore, after a terminal device is woken up, how to determine its specific working behavior and reduce power consumption is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a communication method and a communication device to determine the specific working behavior of a terminal device after it is woken up, thereby reducing power consumption.

[0007] Firstly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device, or by a component of the terminal device (such as a chip, chip system, circuit, or communication module), and this application does not limit the scope of the method. The following description mainly uses a terminal device as an example.

[0008] The method includes: receiving first information for waking up a terminal device; and receiving second information for instructing the terminal device to perform at least one of measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

[0009] In one possible implementation, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to activate at least one first function among the M functions after waking up, or the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to deactivate at least one second function among the M functions after waking up. The M functions include: measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication, where M is a positive integer.

[0010] Optionally, the second information includes N fields, each corresponding to one of the M functions. The field corresponding to the first function carries a first preset value, or the field corresponding to the second function carries a second preset value, where M and N are positive integers. Alternatively, the second information includes N fields, each corresponding to one of the M functions. The field corresponding to the first function carries a first preset value, or the field corresponding to the second function carries a second preset value, where M and N are positive integers.

[0011] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device is woken up based on the first information, and then the specific working behavior after wake-up is specified according to the instruction of the second information, thereby avoiding the waking up of all working behaviors of the terminal device, and thus avoiding the problem of increased power consumption caused by the potential need for the terminal device to perform all functions. The terminal device is instructed to perform necessary working behaviors based on the second information, which can reduce power consumption.

[0012] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second information includes at least one field that corresponds to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication.

[0013] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the at least one field corresponds to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception of control information, the transmission and / or reception of data, the perception, and the artificial intelligence (AI) communication, including at least one of the following: a first field of the at least one field is used to indicate the measurement; a second field of the at least one field is used to indicate the transmission and / or reception of control information; a third field of the at least one field is used to indicate the transmission and / or reception of data; a fourth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the perception; and a fifth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the AI ​​communication.

[0014] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device clearly defines the specific working behavior after being woken up based on the indication of at least one field in the second information, thereby avoiding the waking up of all working behaviors of the terminal device, and thus avoiding the problem of increased power consumption caused by the potential need for the terminal device to perform all functions. Instructing the terminal device to perform necessary working behaviors based on the second information can reduce power consumption.

[0015] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second information is also used to indicate a first pattern, the first pattern including at least one of the measurement, the transmission and / or reception of control information, the transmission and / or reception of data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the second information is also used to indicate a first pattern, which includes the at least one first function.

[0017] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can determine which work behaviors need to be performed according to the first pattern indicated by the second information, thereby reducing power consumption.

[0018] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information and the second information are the same information.

[0019] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first information and the second information are carried on the same signaling.

[0020] Based on the above scheme, the first information and the second information are carried in the same signaling, which enables the network device to wake up the terminal device and instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, send and / or receive control information, send and / or receive data, sense, and AI communication through a single signaling, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0021] Secondly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by a component of the network device (such as a chip, chip system, circuit, or communication module), and this application does not limit the scope of the method. The following description mainly uses a network device as an example.

[0022] The method includes: sending a first message for waking up a terminal device; and sending a second message for instructing the terminal device to perform at least one of the following: measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

[0023] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second information includes at least one field that corresponds to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication.

[0024] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second information includes at least one field corresponding to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication, including at least one of the following: a first field of the at least one field is used to indicate the measurement; a second field of the at least one field is used to indicate the transmission and / or reception control information; a third field of the at least one field is used to indicate the transmission and / or reception data; a fourth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the perception; and a fifth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the AI ​​communication.

[0025] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second information is also used to indicate a first pattern, the first pattern including at least one of measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

[0026] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information and the second information are the same information.

[0027] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information and the second information are carried on the same signaling.

[0028] For the beneficial effects and possible designs of the second aspect, please refer to the relevant description in the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0029] Thirdly, a communication apparatus is provided for performing the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above. Specifically, the apparatus may include units and / or modules for performing the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects, such as processing units and / or communication units.

[0030] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device). When the device is a communication device, the communication unit can be a transceiver or an input / output interface; the processing unit can be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0031] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment (such as terminal equipment or network equipment). When the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment, the communication unit can be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; the processing unit can be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0032] Fourthly, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: at least one processor for executing a computer program or instructions to perform the methods in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory for storing the computer program or instructions. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a communication interface through which the processor reads the computer program or instructions.

[0033] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0034] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment (such as terminal equipment or network equipment).

[0035] Fifthly, a processor is provided for executing the methods provided in the first to second aspects described above.

[0036] Unless otherwise specified, or if it does not contradict its actual function or internal logic in the relevant description, the transmission and acquisition / reception operations involved in the processor can be understood as processor output and reception, input and other operations, or as transmission and reception operations performed by radio frequency circuits and antennas. This application does not limit them in this regard.

[0037] Optionally, the device further includes: a memory for storing a program; correspondingly, at least one processor for executing the computer program or instructions in the memory.

[0038] Optionally, the device also includes a communication interface. The communication interface is coupled to the processor and can be used to input information to the processor or output information from the processor.

[0039] A sixth aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium storing program code for execution by a device, the program code including methods for performing any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

[0040] In a seventh aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method in any of the possible implementations of the first to second aspects described above.

[0041] Eighthly, a chip is provided, the chip including a processor and a communication interface, the processor reading instructions from a memory through the communication interface and executing the method provided by any of the above implementations of the first to second aspects.

[0042] Optionally, as one implementation, the chip also includes a memory storing computer programs or instructions, and a processor for executing the computer programs or instructions in the memory. When the computer programs or instructions are executed, the processor is used to perform the method provided by any of the above implementations of the first to second aspects.

[0043] Ninth aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided by any of the above-described implementations of the first to second aspects.

[0044] In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, including a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to implement the method provided by the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect; and the network device is used to implement the method provided by the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect. Attached Figure Description

[0045] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application.

[0046] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to embodiments of this application.

[0047] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of DRX.

[0048] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of WUS.

[0049] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of control channel skipping.

[0050] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0051] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a second information indication provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0052] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a first pattern provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0053] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a first pattern indication provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0054] Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0055] Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0056] Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram of a chip system provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0057] The technical solutions in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0058] Before introducing the scheme of this application, the following points should be noted.

[0059] (1) In this application, "instruction" can include direct instruction, indirect instruction, explicit instruction, implicit instruction, etc. When describing an instruction information as indicating A, it can be understood that the instruction information carries A, carries the identifier of A, carries B which is associated with A, carries the identifier of B which is associated with A, etc. In other words, if the receiving side of an instruction information can determine A based on the instruction information, it can be described as the instruction information indicating A, and the specific method of determination is not limited. When it is understood that the instruction information carries A, "instruction" can be replaced with "includes". In this case, a statement such as "send / receive instruction information, the instruction information indicates A" can be replaced with "send / receive A".

[0060] In this application, the information indicated by the instruction information is called the information to be instructed. In specific implementations, there are many ways to indicate the information to be instructed, such as, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be instructed, such as the information to be instructed itself or its index. It can also indirectly indicate the information to be instructed by indicating other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be instructed. It can also indicate only a part of the information to be instructed, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) arrangement of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to some extent. Furthermore, the information to be instructed can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information pieces, and the sending period and / or timing of these sub-information pieces can be the same or different.

[0061] (2) In this application, the expression " / " is used to indicate that the objects before and after are in an "or" relationship; for example, A / B can mean: A or B. The expression "and / or" is used to indicate that the objects before and after are in a relationship of either "and" or "or"; for example, A and / or B can mean the following: A exists alone, B exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, where A and B can be single or multiple. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions are used to indicate any combination of the listed items; for example, at least one of A, B and / or C can mean the following: A exists alone, B exists alone, C exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, B and C exist simultaneously, A and C exist simultaneously, A, B and C exist simultaneously, where A, B, and C can be single or multiple.

[0062] (3) In this application, "send" and "receive" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "send information to XX" can be understood as the destination of the information being XX, which may include direct transmission via the air interface or indirect transmission by other units or modules via the air interface. "Receive information from YY" can be understood as the source of the information being YY, which may include direct reception from YY via the air interface or indirect reception from YY by other units or modules via the air interface. "Send" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receive" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can occur between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules, or hardware modules within the device via a bus, wiring, or interface.

[0063] (4) In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0064] (5) In this application, "first," "second," and "#1," "#2," and "#A" are merely for descriptive convenience and are used to distinguish objects, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. They are not used to describe the order or sequence of features. It should be understood that such described objects can be interchanged where appropriate in order to describe solutions other than those in the embodiments of this application.

[0065] (6) In this application, "predefined" can mean a standard protocol predefined, or it can mean a pre-agreed or pre-negotiated agreement between devices. Here, "protocol" can refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, for example, it may include fourth-generation (4G) protocols. th Generation 4G network, fifth generation (5G) network th This application does not limit the scope to network protocols such as generation (5G), new radio (NR) protocols, 5.5G network protocols, future communication network protocols, and related protocols applied in future communication systems.

[0066] (7) In this application, the words “exemplary,” “for example,” etc., are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as an “example” in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the word “example” is intended to present the concept in a concrete manner. In the embodiments of this application, “of,” “corresponding, relevant,” and “corresponding” may sometimes be used interchangeably, and it should be noted that their intended meanings are consistent unless their distinction is emphasized.

[0067] First, let me introduce the communication system to which this application applies.

[0068] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, and LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems. Furthermore, the technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems such as inter-satellite communication and satellite communication.

[0069] As an example, a satellite communication system includes a satellite base station and terminal equipment. The satellite base station provides communication services to the terminal equipment. Satellite base stations can also communicate with each other. A satellite can act as a base station or as a terminal device. Here, "satellite" can refer to drones, hot air balloons, low-Earth orbit satellites, medium-Earth orbit satellites, high-Earth orbit satellites, etc. "Satellite" can also refer to non-terrestrial base stations or non-terrestrial equipment.

[0070] As an example, V2X communication can include: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, and vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication.

[0071] In a communication system, a device can send signals to or receive signals from another device. These signals can include information, signaling, or data. The device can also be replaced by an entity, network entity, communication equipment, communication module, node, communication node, etc. This application uses a device as an example for description.

[0072] The terminal device in this application embodiment can be a device or module that accesses the aforementioned communication system and has corresponding communication functions. The terminal device can include various devices with wireless communication capabilities, which can be used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied in various scenarios, such as: cellular communication, D2D, V2X, peer-to-peer, M2M, MTC, IoT, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, etc. The terminal device can be a terminal in any of the above scenarios, such as an MTC terminal, an IoT terminal, etc. Terminal equipment can be user equipment (UE), terminal, fixed equipment, mobile station equipment or mobile equipment, subscriber unit, handheld device, vehicle-mounted equipment, wearable device, cellular phone, smartphone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless data card, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, tablet computer, laptop computer, wireless modem, handset, laptop computer, computer with wireless transceiver capability, smart book, vehicle, satellite, global positioning system (GPS) device, target tracking device, aircraft (e.g., drone, helicopter, multiple helicopters, four helicopters, or airplanes), ship, remote control device, smart home device, industrial equipment, transportation vehicle with wireless communication capability, communication module, or roadside unit with terminal function, all conforming to the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard. The device may be a wireless communication unit (RSU), or a device built into the aforementioned device (e.g., a communication module, modem, or chip in the aforementioned device), or other processing devices connected to the wireless modem.

[0073] It should be understood that in certain scenarios, a UE can also be used as a base station. For example, a UE can act as a scheduling entity, providing sidelink signaling between UEs in scenarios such as V2X, D2D, or end-to-end.

[0074] In this embodiment, the device for implementing the functions of a terminal device, i.e., the terminal device, can be the terminal device itself, or it can be any device capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing the functions, such as a chip system, chip, circuit, or communication module (i.e., a communication module that performs communication functions). This device can be installed in the terminal device. In this embodiment, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. Furthermore, the device can also be configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions.

[0075] The network device in this application embodiment can be a device or module with corresponding communication functions. The network device can be a device used to communicate with terminal devices; it can also be called an access network device or a radio access network device. The access network device communicates with the core network (CN) through a backhaul link and with the UE through an air interface. For example, the network device can be a base station. In this application embodiment, the network device can refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects the terminal device to the wireless network. A base station can broadly encompass, or be replaced by, various names including: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next-generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitter point, master station, auxiliary station, motor slide retainer (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. A base station can be a macro base station, micro base station (also called a small station), relay node, donor node, or similar, or a combination thereof. A base station can also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip installed within the aforementioned equipment or apparatus. A base station can also be a mobile switching center, a device that performs base station functions in D2D, V2X, and M2M communications, a network-side device in future communication networks, or a device that performs base station functions in future communication systems. A base station can support networks using the same or different access technologies. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or device forms used in the network equipment.

[0076] Base stations can be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move depending on the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or drone can be configured as a device to communicate with another base station.

[0077] In some deployments, the network devices mentioned in the embodiments of this application may be devices including control units (CU), or distributed units (DU), or devices including CU and DU, or control plane CU nodes (central unit-control plane (CU-CP)) and user plane CU nodes (central unit-user plane (CU-UP)) and DU nodes.

[0078] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes each implementing some of the base station's functions. For example, RAN nodes can be CUs, DUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, or radio units (RUs). CUs and DUs can be configured separately or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RUs can be included in radio equipment or radio units, such as RRUs, AAUs, or RRHs. The BBU communicates with the CN via a backhaul link, and the RUs in the access network equipment communicate with at least one UE via an air interface. The BBU communicates with at least one RU via a fronthaul link. The BBU and RUs can be co-located or not. A BBU includes at least one CU and at least one DU, which can communicate via at least one midhaul link.

[0079] In some examples, the CU is a logical node carrying the radio resource control (RRC) layer, service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and other control functions of the access network equipment. The CU connects to network nodes such as the core network through interfaces, which can be interfaces such as E2 interfaces. Optionally, the CU may have some core network functions. The CU (e.g., PDCP layer and higher layers) connects to the DU (e.g., RLC layer and lower layers) through interfaces, which can be interfaces such as F1 interfaces. In some examples, these interfaces (e.g., F1 interfaces) can provide control plane (C-plane) and user plane (U-plane) functions (e.g., interface management, system information management, UE context management, RRC message transmission, etc.). F1AP is the application protocol of the F1 interface, defining the signaling procedures of F1 in some examples. The F1 interface supports control plane F1-C and user plane F1-U.

[0080] In some examples, the CU can be split into CU-CP and CU-UP. CU-CP is a logical node carrying the RRC layer and the control plane part of PDCP (PDCP-C) layer, used to implement the CU's control plane functions. CU-CP can interact with network elements in the core network used to implement control plane functions. These network elements in the core network can be access and mobility function (AMF) network elements, such as the access and mobility management function (AMF) in a 5G system. The AMF network element is responsible for mobility management in the mobile network, such as terminal device location updates, terminal device registration with the network, and terminal device handover. CU-UP is a logical node carrying the SDAP layer and the user plane part of PDCP (PDCP-U) layer, used to implement the CU's user plane functions. CU-UP can interact with network elements in the core network used to implement user plane functions. The above CU and DU configurations are merely examples; the functions of CU and DU can be configured as needed. For example, CU or DU can be configured to have more protocol layer functions, or CU or DU can be configured to have only partial protocol layer processing functions. For example, some functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layer above the RLC layer can be placed in the CU, while the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layer below the RLC layer can be placed in the DU. Another example is that the functions of the CU or DU can be divided according to service type or other system requirements. For instance, based on latency, functions that need to meet low latency requirements can be placed in the DU, while functions that do not need to meet such latency requirements can be placed in the CU.

[0081] In some examples, a DU is a logical node that carries the radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer, higher physical layer (Higher PHY) layer, and other functions. In some examples, a DU can control at least one RU. The DU connects to the RU through interfaces, which can be fronthaul interfaces. In some examples, the Higher PHY layer includes the PHY layer processing, such as forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, and demodulation.

[0082] In some examples, the RU is a logical node that carries both lower physical layer (PHY) and radio frequency (RF) processing. In some examples, the RU can be a TRP (Telematics Reference Point) or remote radio head (RRH) in 3GPP, or other similar entities. In some examples, the LowPHY includes PHY processing functions such as fast fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT), digital beamforming, and filtering. The RU communicates with one or more UEs via a radio link.

[0083] The DU and RU can be co-located or not. The DU and RU exchange control plane and user plane information via a lower-layer split-control, user, and synchronization (LLS-CUS) interface through a fronthaul link. LLS-CUS may include LLS-C and LLS-U interfaces, respectively providing the control plane (C-plane) and user plane (U-plane). In some examples, the control plane (C-plane) refers to real-time control between the DU and RU. The DU and RU exchange management information via an LLS-M interface on the fronthaul link; the management plane (M-plane) refers to non-real-time management operations between the DU and RU.

[0084] DU and RU can cooperate to implement the functions of the PHY layer. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of DU and RU can be configured in various ways depending on the design. For example, a DU can be configured to implement baseband functions, and an RU can be configured to implement mid-RF functions. Another example is that a DU can be configured to implement higher-level functions in the PHY layer, and an RU can be configured to implement lower-level functions in the PHY layer, or to implement both lower-level and RF functions. Higher-level functions in the physical layer can include a portion of the physical layer's functions that are closer to the MAC layer, while lower-level functions in the physical layer can include another portion of the physical layer's functions that are closer to the mid-RF side.

[0085] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, a radio access network can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture. In an O-RAN system, CU can also be called an open CU (openCU, O-CU), DU can also be called an open DU (open DU, O-DU), CU-CP can also be called an open CU-CP (open CU-CP, O-CU-CP), CU-UP can also be called an open CU-UP (open CU-UP, O-CU-UP), and RU can also be called an open RU (openRU, O-RU). Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

[0086] In this embodiment, the device for implementing the functions of a network device can be a network device itself, or a device capable of supporting the network device in implementing those functions, such as a chip system, chip, circuit, or communication module (i.e., a communication module that performs communication functions). This device can be installed within the network device. In this embodiment, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. Furthermore, the device can be configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions. This embodiment only uses a network device as an example to illustrate the device for implementing the functions of a network device, and does not limit the solution of this embodiment.

[0087] Network devices and terminal devices can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can also be deployed in the air on airplanes, balloons, and satellites. This application does not limit the scenario in which the network devices and terminal devices are located.

[0088] The communication system applicable to the embodiments of this application is briefly described below with reference to Figures 1 and 2.

[0089] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 applicable to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 100 includes at least one terminal device and at least one network device. For example, terminal device 110, network device 120, network device 130, and network device 140. Terminal device 110 can simultaneously establish connections with network devices 120, 130, and 140 for communication. Network devices 120, 130, and 140 can also simultaneously transmit data or control signaling to terminal device 110. When the communication system 100 includes multiple terminal devices, any one of network devices 120, 130, and 140 can transmit data or control signaling to multiple terminal devices.

[0090] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system 200 applicable to embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 2, the communication system 200 includes a terminal device 210 and a network device 220. The terminal device 210 includes a processor 211, a memory 212, and a transceiver 213. The transceiver 213 includes a transmitter 2131, a receiver 2132, and an antenna 2133. The network device 220 includes a processor 221, a memory 222, and a transceiver 223. The transceiver 223 includes a transmitter 2231, a receiver 2232, and an antenna 2233. The receiver 2132 can be used to receive transmission control information through the antenna 2133, and the transmitter 2131 can be used to send transmission feedback information to the network device 220 through the antenna 2133. The transmitter 2231 can be used to send transmission control information to the terminal device 210 through the antenna 2233, and the receiver 2232 can be used to receive transmission feedback information sent by the terminal device 210 through the antenna 2233.

[0091] When network devices and terminal devices communicate, the network device can manage one or more cells, and a cell can include at least one terminal device. A cell can be understood as an area within the wireless signal coverage range of the network device.

[0092] Figures 1 and 2 are only schematic diagrams. The wireless communication system may also include other devices, such as core network devices, wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figures 1 and 2.

[0093] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the terms used in this application will be briefly explained.

[0094] 1. Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)

[0095] The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI). The PDCCH sends the DCI to the terminal device, which parses the DCI to determine the time and frequency domain locations of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for demodulation or decoding, and how to demodulate or decode the PDSCH. After being woken up, the terminal device can monitor the PDCCH and demodulate its own PDSCH at the corresponding resource locations by demodulating the DCI within the PDCCH.

[0096] 2. Discontinuous reception (DRX)

[0097] During Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle and connected states, the UE continuously monitors the PDCCH. However, most PDCCHs do not involve data scheduling. Therefore, UE monitoring of the PDCCH in these situations wastes power. To address this, the DRX mechanism is introduced. Specifically, the DRX mechanism configures the terminal device's wake-up and sleep periods. During the wake-up period, the UE is powered on, monitors the PDCCH, and performs data transmission, reception, and measurement. During the sleep period, the terminal device is powered off, no longer monitoring the PDCCH or receiving data, thus saving power consumption.

[0098] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of DRX. As shown in Figure 3, a DRX cycle includes an active period (onDuration) and a sleep period (sleep). During the active period, the UE is in a wake-up state and monitors the PDCCH. When the UE enters sleep mode to save power, the terminal device no longer monitors the PDCCH to achieve energy saving. The longer the sleep period, the better the energy saving effect of the terminal device. The active period (onDuration) can also include a DRX activation timer (drx-inactivity-timer) and a DRX retransmission timer (drx-retransmission-timer). The drx-inactivity-timer can be understood as an extension of the onDuration period. Near the end of the active period, when the terminal device needs to transmit uplink and / or downlink data, the network device will start or restart a drx-inactivity-timer. In this way, even if the active period has ended, the terminal device can still monitor the PDCCH to transmit data until the drx-inactivity-timer times out, at which point the terminal device enters sleep mode. If, during the activation period, the UE receives a negative acknowledgment (NACK) while transmitting data, the UE will initiate a drx-retransmission-timer for the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), which represents the maximum retransmission time the terminal device will wait for. During this drx-retransmission-timer, the terminal device will continuously monitor the PDCCH used for HARQ retransmission.

[0099] In addition, the terminal device is configured with DRX long cycle by default. When drx-inactivity-timer is triggered, it means that there is data to be transmitted. At this time, after drx-inactivity-timer times out, the terminal device enters DRX short cycle. After drx-inactivity-timer times out in DRX short cycle, DRX short cycle timer (drx-shortcycle-timer) will be started. If the terminal device does not receive data when drx-shortcycle-timer times out, it will switch from DRX short cycle to DRX long cycle, thereby achieving the purpose of saving power of the terminal device.

[0100] 3. Wake-up signal (WUS)

[0101] The wake-up signal is used to determine whether to wake up the terminal device for subsequent data transmission and reception, and WUS is used in RRC connected state DRX mode. Specifically, a WUS is sent during the sleep period (or before the activation period) in the DXR cycle, as shown in Figure 4. If the terminal device detects the WUS, it is woken up and monitors the PDCCH in the first activation period after the sleep period; if the terminal device does not detect the WUS, it skips the entire DRX cycle after the sleep period, meaning the terminal device is not woken up and does not monitor the PDCCH in the first activation period after the sleep period. Since the duration of WUS detection is shorter than the duration of the activation period, energy saving is achieved. The WUS is carried by DCI format 2_6, and 1 bit in DCI format 2_6 is used to indicate whether to skip PDCCH monitoring. Before the base station sends the DCI format 2_6 configuration information, the terminal device sends terminal device capability information (e.g., UECapabilityInfomation) to the network device. The drx-Adaptation-r16 field in this information indicates that the terminal device has WUS capability. Then, the network device configures WUS-related parameters for terminal devices that support drx-Adaptation-r16.

[0102] In this embodiment, the paging early indication (PEI) and low power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) can also be used to determine whether to wake up the terminal device. PEI is received before the paging opportunity in the RRC idle state to determine whether to wake up the terminal device to receive the paging at the next paging opportunity. LP-WUS is a wake-up signal for farmland power consumption; it can function as WUS, or as PEI, or it can be used to wake up the device at other times, such as during measurement.

[0103] 4. PDCCH skipping

[0104] When DRX is active, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH in each downlink slot during the DRX activation period. However, in heartbeat / sparse packet scenarios, if the base station does not send a PDCCH scheduling indication, the terminal device's monitoring of the PDCCH will result in wasted power. Therefore, the PDCCH skipping function is introduced. For terminal devices that support PDCCH skipping, the network device indicates via DCI that the terminal device does not need to monitor the PDCCH for n consecutive slots after this DCI. The PDCCH skipping workflow is as follows: the terminal device sends UECapabilityInformation to indicate that the terminal device has the capability for PDCCH skipping; the network device configures the skipped duration through RRC, where the pdcch-SkppingDurationList-r17 field indicates the skipped duration. Furthermore, the network device instructs the terminal device via DCI whether to monitor the PDCCH within the skipped duration; for example, the PDCCH monitoring adaptation indication field in the DCI indicates whether the terminal device should monitor the PDCCH within the skipped duration.

[0105] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the skipping duration. As shown in Figure 5, during the DRX activation period, assuming a skipping indicator is received in time slot 2, this skipping indicator indicates that the PDCCH will not be monitored in the subsequent four time slots, that is, the terminal device will not monitor the PDCCH in time slots 2 to 6. The skipping indicator can also be a DCI.

[0106] Power consumption of terminal devices can be reduced through WUS, LP-WUS, PEI, DRX mechanisms, and PDCCH skipping. Currently, power consumption of terminal devices can also be reduced through bandwidth part (BWP), cross-time slot scheduling, sparse monitoring occasion (MO) configuration, search space set group mechanism, secondary cell (Scell) hibernation, radio resource management (RRM) measurement optimization, and terminal device auxiliary information reporting. However, after the terminal device is woken up, it cannot know which specific working behavior needs to be woken up. Therefore, the terminal device will wake up all working behaviors, but in reality, it is not necessary for all working behaviors to be woken up, thus leading to additional waste of power consumption.

[0107] In view of this, this application proposes that the first information wakes up the terminal device, and the second information can determine the specific working behavior to be performed by the woken terminal device, such as measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication, so that the terminal device only performs the working behavior indicated by the second information after being woken up, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0108] The methods provided by the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments provided by this application can be applied to the scenarios shown in the above figures, and are not limited thereto.

[0109] Referring to Figure 6, as an example, Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 300 provided in an embodiment of this application. For ease of description, a terminal device and a network device are used as examples for illustrative purposes. The terminal device can be replaced by components of the terminal device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, or communication module), and the network device can be replaced by components of the network device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, or communication module). Furthermore, the steps described below as being performed by a single execution entity can also be divided into steps performed by multiple execution entities, which can be logically and / or physically separated. The method 300 shown in Figure 6 may include the following steps.

[0110] 310. The network device sends the first information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information from the network device.

[0111] The first information is used to wake up the terminal device. Optionally, the first information can be carried in RRC signaling, medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling, or DCI.

[0112] For example, the first information may include DRX configuration. After receiving the DRX configuration, the terminal device can wake up during the DRX activation period, and then perform subsequent working actions after the terminal device is woken up.

[0113] For example, when the first information is carried in WUS, the terminal device can detect the WUS. When the terminal device can detect the WUS or receive a WUS wake-up indication, the terminal device wakes up. When the terminal device does not detect the WUS or does not receive a WUS wake-up indication, the terminal device does not wake up.

[0114] It should be noted that waking up the terminal device can also be understood as putting the terminal device into an active state. It can also be understood as some or all components of the terminal device being powered on and activated, and capable of communication. Conversely, if the terminal device is not woken up or activated, it is considered to have entered sleep mode, which can be understood as some or all components of the terminal device being powered off or in standby mode. In this application, the first information can also be other information that can be used to wake up the terminal device, and is not limited here.

[0115] 320. The network device sends a second message to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second message from the network device.

[0116] The second information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform at least one of the following: measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

[0117] For example, the measurement can be any one of the following: RRM measurement, beam measurement, channel state information (CSI) measurement, synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement, time-frequency tracking, and phase tracking.

[0118] 1) RRM Measurement: Idle terminal equipment periodically performs RRM measurements to determine whether to reselect another cell. However, when the terminal equipment rate is low or the terminal equipment location remains unchanged, the terminal equipment's need for cell reselection is not urgent. In this case, periodic RRM measurements would waste the terminal equipment's power consumption. Therefore, when the terminal equipment rate is low or the terminal equipment location remains unchanged, RRM measurements can be relaxed, for example, by increasing the RRM measurement period. For example, if the terminal equipment rate is less than the rate threshold, and the terminal equipment's reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measurements are greater than the threshold, the RRM measurement conditions can be relaxed by increasing the RRM measurement period, reducing the number of cells measured, or reducing the amount of measurement load. RRM measurements include measurements of the synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0119] 2) Beam measurement: Also known as BM measurement, it refers to the evaluation of the received signal quality at network equipment (e.g., base station) or terminal equipment (e.g., UE). For example, the received signal quality can be evaluated through RSRP.

[0120] 3) CSI Measurement: The terminal device reports the CSI to the network device, which then adjusts scheduling and performs beam management based on the CSI. Specifically, the network device configures a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), the terminal device measures the CSI-RS and calculates the CSI information, and then reports the CSI information to the network device. The CSI information includes: channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), precoding type indicator (PTI), and rank indication (RI), etc.

[0121] 4) SSB Measurement: SSB includes synchronization signals and broadcast signals. Synchronization signals consist of the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS), while broadcast signals include data from the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) and the demodulation reference signal (DMRS). When a terminal device measures an SSB, the network device first periodically transmits the SSB via a specific beam in a specific direction. The terminal device then periodically measures the SSB to obtain its signal quality, such as the reference signal receiving power (RSRP).

[0122] 5) Time-frequency tracking: refers to the technology of tracking signals in the time and frequency domains. By utilizing the characteristics of signals in the time and frequency domains, algorithms and models are used to achieve accurate tracking and positioning of signals in order to cope with interference and changes encountered by signals during propagation.

[0123] 6) Phase tracking: This refers to the process by which network devices select appropriate criteria from multiple determination criteria to determine the frequency domain pattern of phase tracking reference signals (PTRS) based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) configured by the terminal device, the scheduling bandwidth, the information reported by the terminal device, and the capabilities of the terminal device. Then, the network device sends the PTRS to the terminal device. After receiving the PTRS, the terminal device uses the PTRS to track and correct the phase changes of the signal in real time.

[0124] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device may also perform other measurements, such as measuring the energy level of the signal, which are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0125] For example, the control information in the transmitted and / or received control information can be uplink control information (UCI), DCI, or other control information, such as RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, NAS signaling, etc., which are not limited here. When receiving DCI, since DCI is carried on PDCCH, the terminal device needs to perform PDCCH detection to obtain DCI.

[0126] It should be noted that the sending and / or receiving of control information in this application specifically includes: the second information instructing the awakened terminal device to perform PDCCH detection, and the terminal device further acquiring DCI through PDCCH, thereby realizing DCI reception. Furthermore, the terminal device transmits UCI through physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0127] PDCCH detection includes: PDCCH-only detection, PDCCH detection and physical downlink shared channel (PUSCH) reception and / or demodulation / decoding, PDCCH detection and PUSCH transmission and / or reception and / or demodulation / decoding, normal PDCCH detection, first-level PDCCH detection, and PDCCH signal detection. Through downlink scheduling information in the DCI, the terminal device knows how to receive data on the PDCCH; through uplink scheduling information in the DCI, the terminal device knows how to transmit data on the PUSCH.

[0128] 1) PDCCH-only: This means that the terminal device is only in the state of PDCCH monitoring and detection, and does not perform other data transmission and reception operations.

[0129] 2) PDCCH detection and PDSCH reception and / or demodulation / decoding: This refers to the terminal device obtaining the resources allocated by the PDCCH through detection, and the PDSCH using these resources for transmission. The DCI carried by the PDCCH can instruct the terminal device to monitor the time domain resources and frequency domain resources of the PDSCH.

[0130] 3) PDCCH detection and PUSCH transmission and / or reception and / or demodulation and decoding: This refers to the terminal device obtaining the DCI carried by the PDCCH through PDCCH detection. The uplink scheduling information in the DCI can indicate the way the terminal device transmits data on the PUSCH.

[0131] 4) First-level PDCCH detection: also known as primary PDCCH detection, is usually used to indicate relevant information of the second-level PDCCH or second-level control information, such as indicating whether the second-level PDCCH exists, or indicating the time domain / frequency domain / spatial domain / code domain configuration of the second-level PDCCH, or indicating the aggregation level of the second-level PDCCH, etc.

[0132] For example, the second information instructing the terminal device to perform sensing can be understood as the terminal device having the ability to perceive and analyze its own environment in real time. For instance, the terminal device can perceive human bodies, objects, or the environment, acquire sensing information, process the data itself, or send it to the base station.

[0133] For example, the second information instructs the terminal device to perform AI communication, which can be understood as the terminal device using AI technology to achieve intelligent communication.

[0134] In one implementation, the second information is further used to instruct the terminal device to perform WUS detection, PEI detection, and LP-WUS detection. The terminal device determines whether to perform PDCCH monitoring by detecting WUS, PEI, or LP-WUS. Therefore, PDCCH detection can also include WUS detection, PEI detection, and LP-WUS detection. However, it should be understood that when the terminal device performs WUS detection, PEI detection, or LP-WUS detection, it only performs PDCCH monitoring and detection if it detects WUS, PEI, or LP-WUS. The descriptions of WUS detection, PEI detection, and LP-WUS detection can be found in the terminology section above and will not be repeated here.

[0135] Optionally, the second information may also be used to instruct the terminal device to perform a state switch. A state switch can be understood as the terminal device changing from a wake-up state to a sleep state. More specifically, the second information instructs the terminal device to switch from a wake-up state to a sleep state; or to switch from a wake-up state to a sleep state, remain in a sleep state for a period of time, and then be woken up; or to remain in a wake-up state for a period of time before entering a sleep state. For example, the second information instructs the woken-up terminal device to switch to a sleep state at the next moment or at T moments after the current moment, where T is a positive integer.

[0136] Optionally, the second information includes at least one field, which corresponds to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication. The correspondence between the at least one field and the measurement, transmission and / or reception control information, transmission and / or reception data, perception, and AI communication can be understood as each field corresponding to one of the following: measurement, transmission and / or reception control information, transmission and / or reception data, perception, and AI communication; or, each field corresponding to at least one of the following: measurement, transmission and / or reception control information, transmission and / or reception data, perception, and AI communication. For example, the first field of the at least one field corresponds to the measurement, transmission and / or reception control information.

[0137] As an example, the second information includes at least one field corresponding to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication, including at least one of the following: a first field of the at least one field is used to indicate the measurement; a second field of the at least one field is used to indicate the transmission and / or reception control information; a third field of the at least one field is used to indicate the transmission and / or reception data; a fourth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the perception; and a fifth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the AI ​​communication.

[0138] For ease of description, the following text refers to measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and AI communication as the working behaviors / actions performed by the terminal device. That is, the working behaviors performed by the terminal device can be understood as the terminal device performing at least one of the following: measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and AI communication.

[0139] For example, when each field in at least one field carries a different value, the corresponding behavior of the terminal device will also be different. For instance, if the size of the first field is P bits and the value of P is 2, then the value carried by the first field can be 00, 01, 10, or 11. In this case, 00, 01, 10, or 11 indicate different working behaviors of the terminal device. For example, if the first field is 01, then the field indicates RRM measurement.

[0140] The following description uses the example of the second information including N fields, each field being P bits in size, where N and P are positive integers, to illustrate how the second information instructs the terminal device to perform at least one of the following: measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and AI communication.

[0141] Assuming N=5, the second information includes the following fields: Field 1, Field 2, Field 3, Field 4, and Field 5. Field 1 corresponds to the measurement behavior of the terminal device; Field 2 corresponds to the sending and / or receiving control information behavior of the terminal device; Field 3 corresponds to the sending and / or receiving data behavior of the terminal device; Field 4 corresponds to the sensing behavior of the terminal device; and Field 5 corresponds to the AI ​​communication behavior of the terminal device. Furthermore, each of these five fields is P bits in size, where P is a positive integer. For example, if P=2, the bit information of each field in the second information is different, indicating different operating behaviors of the terminal device. For instance, Field 1 instructs the terminal device to perform measurements. Specifically, when Field 1 is 00, it instructs the terminal device to perform all measurements; when Field 1 is 01, it instructs the terminal device to perform RRM measurement; when Field 10 is 10, it instructs the terminal device to perform BM measurement; and when Field 11 is 11, it instructs the terminal device to perform CSI measurement. All measurements include: RRM measurement, BM measurement, CSI measurement, SSB measurement, time-frequency tracking, phase tracking, etc. For example, the second field instructs the terminal device to send and / or receive control information. Specifically, the second field instructs the terminal device to perform PDCCH detection, and then send and / or receive control information. When the second field is 00, it instructs the terminal device to perform all detections; when the second field is 01, it instructs the terminal device to perform PDCCH-only detection; when the second field is 10, it instructs the terminal device to perform PDCCH detection; and when the second field is 11, it instructs the terminal device to perform first-level PDCCH detection. All detections include: PDCCH-only detection, PDCCH detection, first-level PDCCH detection, PDCCH and PUSCH reception and / or demodulation / decoding, and PDCCH and PDSCH transmission and / or reception and / or demodulation / decoding. As another example, the third field instructs to send and / or receive data. When the third field is 00, it instructs the terminal device to send and receive data; when the third field is 01, it instructs the terminal device to send data; when the third field is 10, it instructs the terminal device to receive data; and when the third field is 11, it instructs the terminal device to send or receive data.

[0142] It should be noted that the second information also includes other fields. For example, the second information includes a sixth field, which indicates that the terminal device is performing a state switch. In this application, the bit information represented by the above fields is only an example and has no specific order; that is, the first field can also indicate transmission and / or reception control information, and the second field can also indicate measurement.

[0143] The second information can be carried in RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, or DCI. Optionally, the first and second information can be the same information, or both can be carried in the same signaling. For example, if the first information is carried in RRC signaling, then the second information is also carried in RRC signaling.

[0144] For example, a network device can configure N fields for an end device via RRC, or indicate N fields via higher-layer signaling (MAC-CE), or the network device can also indicate N fields via physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI).

[0145] As one possible implementation, the aforementioned measurement, PDCCH-only, data transmission and / or reception, and sensing can be collectively referred to as the characteristic detection behavior (or characteristic detection function) of the terminal device; the transmission and / or reception of control information can be collectively referred to as the PDCCH detection behavior (or PDCCH detection function). In this case, assuming N=3 and P=2, it means that the second information includes three fields, each 2 bits. For example, the second information includes a first field, a second field, and a third field, where the first field indicates PDCCH detection, the second field indicates characteristic detection, and the third field indicates state switching. As shown in Table 1, Table 1 provides a detailed description of the working behavior of the terminal device indicated by the second information.

[0146] Table 1

[0147] As shown in Table 1, when the first field is “00”, it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform all detections related to PDCCH detection, such as: PDCCH-only detection, PDCCH detection, first-level PDCCH detection, PDCCH detection and PUSCH reception and / or demodulation / decoding, PDCCH detection and PDSCH transmission and / or reception and / or demodulation / decoding, WUS detection, LP-WUS detection, PEI detection, first-level PDCCH detection, PDCCH signal detection, etc.; when the first field is “01”, it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform WUS detection; when the first field is “10”, it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform LP-WUS detection; when the first field is “11”, it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform PDCCH detection. When the second field is "00", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform all characteristic-related detections, such as measurement, sensing, channel sounding and feedback, data transmission, and AI communication. When the second field is "01", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform measurements, such as RRM measurement, BM measurement, CSI measurement, SSB measurement, time-frequency tracking, and phase tracking. When the second field is "10", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to perform PDCCH-only detection. When the second field is "11", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to send and / or receive data. When the third field is "00", it indicates that the current state of the terminal device is retained, such as: wake-up state or sleep state; when the third field is "01", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to continue to wake up the terminal device; when the third field is "10", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to switch from the wake-up state to the sleep state. It can also be understood that when the terminal device receives the third field as "10", it will enter the sleep state. The sleep time of the terminal device is not limited in this application and can be determined according to the environment in which the terminal device is located; when the third field is "11", it indicates that the terminal device is instructed to work according to the current power saving state. For example, in the DRX cycle, the terminal device is woken up and the terminal device is put into sleep according to the configured DRX activation period duration and DRX sleep period duration.

[0148] As another example, measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and AI communication can also be working behaviors or functions of the terminal device. In this case, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to activate at least one first function among the M functions after waking up, or the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to deactivate at least one second function among the M functions after waking up. The M functions include: measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and AI communication.

[0149] It should be noted that the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to activate at least one first function among the M functions after waking up. This can be understood as follows: after waking up, the terminal device is instructed by the second information to activate some of the first functions, while the other functions among the M functions are in a disabled state. In other words, the terminal device only activates the at least one first function to execute the operation corresponding to that function. The second information is also used to instruct the terminal device to deactivate at least one second function among the M functions after waking up. This can be understood as follows: after waking up, the terminal device is instructed by the second information to deactivate some of the second functions, while the remaining functions are in an activated state. In other words, the terminal device does not execute the operation corresponding to the at least one second function, but instead executes the operations corresponding to the functions among the M functions excluding the at least one second function.

[0150] It should also be noted that the first function and the second function can be the same function or different functions, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0151] Optionally, the second information includes N fields, each corresponding one-to-one with one of the N functions. The field corresponding to the first function carries a first preset value, or the field corresponding to the second function carries a second preset value. That is, the first field carries a first preset value, instructing the terminal device to perform the operation corresponding to the first function; or the second field carries a second preset value, instructing the terminal device not to perform the operation corresponding to the second function. The first and second preset values ​​represent the bit information carried by the first field. Each of the N fields carries a value that can be understood as having a size of P bits. For example, if the first field has a size of 2 bits, the first preset value can be any one of 00, 01, 10, and 11. Similarly, the second preset value can be any one of 00, 01, 10, and 11.

[0152] These N fields correspond one-to-one with the N functions; that is, each of the N fields corresponds to one function. When the value carried by each field is different, the corresponding function will also be different.

[0153] In this embodiment, the terminal device can know which operations to perform after being woken up based on the second information. In this way, after the terminal device is woken up, it only needs to perform the working behavior indicated by the second information, thereby turning off unnecessary functions and avoiding waking up all functional modules of the terminal device, thus achieving the purpose of saving power consumption.

[0154] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a second information indication provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 7, "S" represents a sleep state and "On" represents a wake-up state. Assuming the sleep period is 240ms and the activation period is 80ms, the first field in the second information indicates that the terminal device performs PDCCH detection. More specifically, the first field being "01" indicates that the terminal device performs WUS detection (i.e., the shaded area in Figure 7). The terminal device is currently in a wake-up state, and the first field indicates that the terminal device will perform WUS detection at the next moment to determine whether to perform PDCCH detection.

[0155] For example, the first field "01" in Figure 7 indicates WUS detection, but it can also indicate that the location is in downlink transmission state, PDCCH detection, or the terminal device should be woken up. The first field can also indicate a flexible state, meaning that the terminal device can flexibly choose the action to take according to its own needs at the next moment.

[0156] Optionally, the second information is also used to indicate a first pattern, which includes at least one of measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and AI communication.

[0157] For example, the first pattern includes at least one pattern, each of which can be one of measuring, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, or AI communication.

[0158] The first pattern is constructed by the network device; specifically, it is configured by RRC or specified by the protocol. Each pattern in the first pattern has a different activation period duration and / or a different dormancy period duration.

[0159] For example, the first pattern includes a pattern with energy-saving characteristics. Specifically, the first pattern includes at least one of the following: DRX pattern, PDCCH skip pattern, WUS pattern, PEI pattern, LP-WUS pattern, hibernation BWP pattern, UE-assisted reporting pattern, hibernation Scell ​​pattern, sparse MO configuration pattern, RRM measurement relaxation pattern, and SSSG pattern.

[0160] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a first pattern provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 8, the first pattern includes 256 patterns, each pattern having energy-saving characteristics. For example, patterns 1 and 2 include a sleep state (denoted as S) and an active state (denoted as D). D can be considered as the terminal device being in an active state. At this time, patterns 1 and 2 can be considered similar to the DRX mechanism, having an active period and a sleep period, but the durations of S and D in patterns 1 and 2 are different. Pattern x includes the S state. For example, when the base station does not send a PDCCH scheduling instruction, the terminal device does not need to monitor the PDCCH in the following multiple time slots. This is similar to PDCCH skipping, that is, it can be considered to be in a sleep state. Pattern 256 includes an S state and a flexible state (denoted as F), where the S state and F state are alternated. In other words, in the S state, a part of the pattern changes to the F state. For example, the F state is WUS reception, PEI reception, or LP-WUS reception. At this time, pattern 256 is similar to WUS reception, PEI reception, or LP-WUS reception under the DRX mechanism. During the sleep period, WUS, PEI, or LP-WUS is received to determine whether to wake up the terminal device at the next moment.

[0161] The second information is used to indicate which of the at least one drawings are active. This can be understood as not all at least one drawing in the first drawing participating in the work at the same time, but rather the second information is used to determine which of the at least one drawings are ready to perform the work. In this embodiment, drawing activation can be understood as some or all of the at least one drawing being ready to perform the work action corresponding to that drawing.

[0162] For example, if the second information (e.g., MAC-CE or DCI) indicates that patterns 1 and 2 in Figure 8 are active, the terminal device will perform downlink transmission at the end of the S state and then perform uplink transmission. Further, the second information (e.g., MAC-CE) activates pattern 1 in pattern 1 and pattern 2; that is, MAC-CE or DCI can determine that the active patterns are pattern 1 and pattern 2, and MAC-CE further determines that the pattern activated in pattern 1 and pattern 2 is pattern 1.

[0163] Optionally, the second information is also used to indicate the pattern for which the update takes effect.

[0164] As an example, the second information is used to indicate the state corresponding to the updated pattern. When the second information indicates that pattern 256 is effective, it is used to indicate the update of the state corresponding to pattern 256. As shown in Figure 9, the sleep state is denoted as S, the active state as D, and the flexible state as F. The first F state in pattern 256 is updated to SSB transmit / receive, the second F state is modified to WUS receive, and the third segment of six consecutive F states is modified to one D state, two S states, one D state, and two S states. Modifying six consecutive F states to one D state, two S states, one D state, and two S states can also be considered a possible implementation of PDCCH skipping. That is, in the active state, the second information ensures that the PDCCH is not monitored in the subsequent two time slots.

[0165] As another example, the second information is used to indicate the working behavior corresponding to the updated drawing. For instance, the second information indicates that the working behavior of the terminal device in the SSB state in the updated drawing 256 is SSB measurement, that is, the first field in Table 1 is "01"; the working behavior of the terminal device in the WUS state is WUS detection, that is, the second field in Table 1 is "01".

[0166] Furthermore, after receiving the second information, the terminal device can determine its specific operational behavior after being woken up, based on the instructions in the second information. For example, if the first field in the second information indicates measurement, then the terminal device's next action will be to perform at least one of the following: RRM measurement, BM measurement, CSI measurement, and SSB measurement.

[0167] In this application, the terminal device is woken up based on the first information, and then the specific working behavior after wake-up is specified according to the instruction of the second information, thereby avoiding the waking up of all working behaviors of the terminal device, and thus avoiding the problem of increased power consumption caused by the potential need for the terminal device to perform all functions. The terminal device is instructed to perform necessary working behaviors based on the second information, which can reduce power consumption.

[0168] The methods provided by the embodiments of this application have been described in detail above with reference to Figures 6 to 9. The apparatus provided by the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 10 to 12. It should be understood that the descriptions of the apparatus embodiments correspond to the descriptions of the method embodiments; therefore, any content not described in detail can be referred to the method embodiments above, and for the sake of brevity, will not be repeated here.

[0169] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1100 provided in an embodiment of this application. The device 1100 includes a transceiver unit 1110. The transceiver unit 1110 can be used to implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 1110 can also be referred to as a communication interface or communication unit. Optionally, the device 1100 further includes a processing unit 1120. The processing unit 1120 can be used to perform processing, such as updating the pattern that is active in the first drawing.

[0170] Optionally, the device 1100 may further include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing unit 1120 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit to enable the device to implement the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0171] Optionally, the transceiver unit 1110 may include a receiving unit and a sending unit. The receiving unit can be used to perform receiving-related operations (such as receiving first information or second information), and the sending unit can be used to perform sending-related operations (such as sending first information or second information).

[0172] In a first possible design, the device 1100 can be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments, which can implement the steps or processes corresponding to those executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. Specifically, the transceiver unit 1110 can be used to perform transceiver-related operations of the terminal device in the above method embodiments (such as receiving first or second information), as shown in Figure 6. The processing unit 1120 can be used to perform processing-related operations of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or operations other than transceiver (such as receiving first or second information), as shown in Figure 6.

[0173] In a second possible design, the device 1100 can be a network device as described in the preceding embodiments. This device 1100 can implement the steps or processes performed by the network device corresponding to those described in the method embodiments above. Specifically, the transceiver unit 1110 can be used to perform transceiver-related operations of the second device in the method embodiments above (such as sending first or second information), for example, the transceiver unit 1110 can be used to perform transceiver-related operations of the network device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. The processing unit 1120 can be used to perform processing-related operations of the network device in the method embodiments above, or operations other than transceiver (such as operations other than sending first or second information), for example, the processing unit 1120 can be used to perform processing-related operations of the network device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6.

[0174] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the above-mentioned corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0175] It should also be understood that the device 1100 here is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" here can refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuitry, a processor (e.g., a shared processor, a proprietary processor, or a group processor, etc.) and memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other suitable components supporting the described functions. In an alternative example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 1100 can be specifically the communication device in the above embodiments, and can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the communication device in the above method embodiments; to avoid repetition, these will not be described again here.

[0176] The apparatus 1100 of each of the above-described schemes has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the communication device in the above-described methods. The function can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (e.g., the transmitting unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as processing units, can be replaced by processors, each executing the transceiver operations and related processing operations in the respective method embodiments.

[0177] In addition, the transceiver unit 1110 described above can also be a transceiver circuit (for example, it may include a receiving circuit and a transmitting circuit), and the processing unit can be a processing circuit.

[0178] It should be noted that the device in Figure 10 can be the communication device in the foregoing embodiments, or it can be a chip or a chip system, such as a system on a chip (SoC). The transceiver unit can be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; the processing unit is a processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip. No limitations are imposed here.

[0179] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 1200 provided in an embodiment of this application. The device 1200 includes a processor 1210, which is coupled to a memory 1220. The memory 1220 is used to store computer programs or instructions and / or data. The processor 1210 is used to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 1220, or to read the data stored in the memory 1220, so as to execute the methods in the above method embodiments.

[0180] Optionally, there may be one or more processors 1210.

[0181] Optionally, the memory 1220 may be one or more.

[0182] Alternatively, the memory 1220 can be integrated with the processor 1210, or it can be set separately.

[0183] Optionally, as shown in FIG11, the device 1200 further includes a transceiver 1230, which is used to receive and / or transmit first information or second information. For example, the processor 1210 is used to control the transceiver 1230 to receive and / or transmit the first information or second information.

[0184] As an example, processor 1210 may have the functions of processing unit 1120 shown in FIG10, memory 1220 may have the functions of storage unit, and transceiver 1230 may have the functions of transceiver unit 1110 shown in FIG10.

[0185] As one option, the device 1200 is used to implement the operations performed by the communication device in the various method embodiments described above.

[0186] For example, processor 1210 is used to execute computer programs or instructions, such as executing computer programs or instructions stored in memory 1220, to implement the relevant operations of the terminal device or network device in the various method embodiments described above.

[0187] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0188] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM). For example, RAM can be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0189] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0190] It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0191] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1300 provided in an embodiment of this application. The chip system 1300 (or may also be called a processing system) includes logic circuitry 1310 and an input / output interface 1320.

[0192] The logic circuit 1310 can be a processing circuit in the chip system 1300. The logic circuit 1310 can be coupled to a memory unit, calling instructions from the memory unit, enabling the chip system 1300 to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of this application. The input / output interface 1320 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system 1300, outputting processed information from the chip system 1300, or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 1300 for processing.

[0193] Optionally, the logic circuit 1310 may be implemented by one or more processors, including the one or more processors or the processing portion of the one or more processors.

[0194] Optionally, the input / output interface 1320 may include transceiver circuitry, a transceiver, input / output circuitry, or a communication interface.

[0195] As one approach, the chip system 1300 is used to implement operations performed by communication devices (such as terminal devices or network devices) in the various method embodiments described above.

[0196] For example, logic circuit 1310 is used to implement processing-related operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments; input / output interface 1320 is used to implement sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0197] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions for implementing the methods executed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above-described method embodiments.

[0198] For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, it enables the computer to implement the methods described in the embodiments of the above methods, which are executed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0199] This application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, implement the methods described above as being performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0200] This application also provides a communication system, which includes at least one of the terminal device and network device in the above embodiments.

[0201] The explanations and beneficial effects of the relevant contents in any of the devices provided above can be found in the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0202] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of apparatus or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0203] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. For example, the computer can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., DVDs), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks, SSDs). For example, the aforementioned available media include, but are not limited to, various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0204] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive first information, which is used to wake up the terminal device; The terminal device receives second information, which instructs the terminal device to perform at least one of the following: measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second information includes at least one field, which corresponds to the measurement, the sending and / or receiving control information, the sending and / or receiving data, the perception, and the artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The at least one field corresponds to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the artificial intelligence (AI) communication, and includes at least one of the following: The first field of the at least one field is used to indicate the measurement; The second field of the at least one field is used to indicate the sending and / or receiving control information; The third field in at least one field is used to indicate the data being sent and / or received; The fourth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the perception; The fifth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the AI ​​communication.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The second information is also used to indicate a first pattern, the first pattern including at least one of the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The first information and the second information are the same information.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The first information and the second information are carried in the same signaling.

7. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Send a first message, which is used to wake up the terminal device; Send a second message, which instructs the terminal device to perform at least one of the following: measurement, sending and / or receiving control information, sending and / or receiving data, sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The second information includes at least one field, which corresponds to the measurement, the sending and / or receiving control information, the sending and / or receiving data, the perception, and the artificial intelligence (AI) communication.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The at least one field corresponds to the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the artificial intelligence (AI) communication, and includes at least one of the following: The first field of the at least one field is used to indicate the measurement; The second field of the at least one field is used to indicate the sending and / or receiving control information; The third field in at least one field is used to indicate the data being sent and / or received; The fourth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the perception; The fifth field of the at least one field is used to indicate the AI ​​communication.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7-9, characterized in that, The second information is also used to indicate a first pattern, the first pattern including at least one of the measurement, the transmission and / or reception control information, the transmission and / or reception data, the perception, and the AI ​​communication.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7-10, characterized in that, The first information and the second information are the same information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 7-11, characterized in that, The first information and the second information are carried in the same signaling.

13. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes modules or units for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a processor for executing computer programs or instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The device further includes a memory for storing the computer program or instructions; and / or, The device further includes a communication interface coupled to the processor, the communication interface being used for inputting and / or outputting information.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12.

17. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12.

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