Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and a related apparatus, which are beneficial to improving the energy-saving gain of a terminal device using a wake-up signal in a connected state. The method comprises: a network device sends a wake-up signal to a terminal device, the wake-up signal being used for instructing to monitor a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH; the terminal device starts a first timer, and, during running of the first timer, monitors the PDCCH and / or PDSCH; and, on the basis of whether first indication information is received during running of the first timer, the terminal device determines whether to start a second timer after timing of the first timer ends, the first indication information being used to indicate that service transmission has finished, and the second timer being used for continuing monitoring the PDCCH and / or PDSCH after timing of the first timer ends.

Description

Communication method and related apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202411369373.6, filed on September 27, 2024, and entitled “Communication method and related apparatus”, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication, and in particular, to a communication method and related apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Wake up radio (WUR) can be understood as a function of reducing the power consumption of a terminal device. For a terminal device, WUR refers to introducing a lower power (LP) interface on the basis of a traditional main radio (MR). The LP interface is implemented by a simple structure circuit or chip, and has low power consumption. For example, the LP interface can be implemented by a wake up receiver (WUR). The MR is used for normally receiving data / service transmission, and when there is no ongoing data / service transmission on the MR, the MR can enter a sleep state to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device as much as possible. When there is a transmission demand of data / service, the WUR can be used to receive a wake up signal (WUS), and the wake up signal is used to wake up the MR.

[0004] The current standard discusses that a terminal device in a connected state can monitor a wake up signal outside an active time of discontinuous reception (DRX) to trigger monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). Specifically, after receiving the wake up signal, the terminal device starts a timer, and monitors the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the timer. The terminal device starts a DRX inactivity timer (drx-InactivityTimer) once successfully decoding a PDCCH, and after the timer or the DRX inactivity timer expires, the terminal device can enter a sleep state to continue monitoring the wake up signal.

[0005] However, under the working mode of the wake up signal, the multiplexing mechanism of the DRX inactivity timer can cause unnecessary PDCCH monitoring, which affects the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake up signal in the connected state. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and related apparatus, which is beneficial to improve the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to the terminal side, such as a terminal device or a communication module in the terminal device, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in the terminal device (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core), which is described below as an example of the method applied to the terminal device.

[0008] The method comprises: receiving a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH; starting a first timer and monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the first timer; determining whether to start a second timer after the first timer expires according to whether first indication information is received during running of the first timer, the first indication information being used to indicate that service transmission has ended, and the second timer being used to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after the first timer expires.

[0009] Based on the technical solution of the present application, the terminal device determines whether to start the second timer to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH according to whether the first indication information is received during running of the first timer. If the first indication information is received during running of the first timer, it indicates that the service transmission has ended, and the terminal device does not need to start the second timer. If the first indication information is not received during running of the first timer, it indicates that the service transmission has not ended, and the terminal device can start the second timer to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH. In this way, the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, which is beneficial to avoid unnecessary power consumption caused by monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, thereby improving the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0010] The second timer can be the same as the first timer, that is, the terminal device starts the second timer after the first timer expires, which can be regarded as restarting the first timer.

[0011] The second timer can also be regarded as an extension of the first timer, that is, the duration of the second timer is extended after the first timer expires to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

[0012] In some implementations of the first aspect, the determining whether to start the second timer after the first timer expires comprises: determining to start the second timer after the first timer expires if the first indication information is not received during the running of the first timer; and determining not to start the second timer after the first timer expires if the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer.

[0013] In some implementations of the first aspect, the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer; and the first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of the service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH. In this way, the form of carrying the first indication information is more flexible.

[0014] In some implementations of the first aspect, if the first indication information is not received during the running of the first timer, the method further comprises: starting the second timer after the first timer expires; continuing to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the second timer; and determining whether to restart the second timer after the second timer expires according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the second timer.

[0015] In the present application, the terminal device can determine whether to restart the second timer to continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the second timer, so that the way of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, which is conducive to avoiding the power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, thereby being conducive to improving the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0016] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a network side, for example, a network device or a communication module in the network device, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication functions in the network device (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core), and hereinafter the method is described by taking the application to the network device as an example.

[0017] The method comprises: sending a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to instruct to monitor a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH; starting a first timer and sending the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the first timer; and sending first indication information, the first indication information being used to instruct that the service transmission has ended.

[0018] Based on the technical solutions of the present application, the network device can send first indication information to the terminal device according to the transmission of service data, and the terminal device can determine whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or PDSCH according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer. If the traffic is small and can be sent during the running of the first timer, the network device sends the first indication information during the running of the first timer, and if the traffic is large and cannot be sent during the running of the first timer, the network device does not send the first indication information during the running of the first timer. In this way, the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or PDSCH is more flexible, which is beneficial to avoiding the power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or PDSCH, thereby improving the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0019] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first indication information is sent during the running of the first timer. The first indication information is carried in the first PDSCH or the first PDCCH, the first PDSCH is a PDSCH carrying the last data packet of the service, and the first PDCCH is a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

[0020] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, before the first indication information is sent, the method further includes starting a second timer after the first timer expires, the second timer being used for the terminal device to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or PDSCH after the first timer expires. The first indication information is sent during the running of the second timer. The first indication information is carried in the first PDSCH or the first PDCCH, the first PDSCH is a PDSCH carrying the last data packet of the service, and the first PDCCH is a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

[0021] It should be understood that the second aspect of the present application corresponds to the technical solutions of the first aspect of the present application, and the beneficial effects obtained by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation manner are similar, which will not be described again.

[0022] The third aspect provides a communication method, which can be applied to the terminal side, such as a terminal device or a communication module in the terminal device, or a circuit or chip responsible for communication function in the terminal device (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core), and the following description takes the method applied to the terminal device as an example.

[0023] The method comprises: starting a first timer after receiving a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH; monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the first timer; and receiving second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate whether to start a second timer after expiration of the first timer, the second timer being used to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after expiration of the first timer.

[0024] Based on the technical solutions of the present application, the terminal device can determine whether to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer according to the second indication information. The second indication information indicates whether to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer or not according to the transmission condition of the service data. For example, in the case of non-intensive service data transmission, the second indication information is used to indicate that the second timer does not need to be started, while in the case of intensive service data transmission, the second indication information is used to indicate that the second timer needs to be started. In this way, the monitoring manner of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, which is beneficial to avoiding power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, and ensuring energy saving gain of the terminal device in the connected state using the wake-up signal.

[0025] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, in the case where the second indication information is used to indicate starting of the second timer after expiration of the first timer, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: the number of times of starting of the second timer, the length of the second timer, the time domain position of the second timer, or the frequency domain position of monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the second timer.

[0026] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, receiving the second indication information comprises: receiving the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the second indication information. In this way, it is beneficial to reduce signaling overhead.

[0027] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, receiving the second indication information comprises: monitoring the second indication information in a first time window, an end time of the first time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the first time window being during running of the first timer. Such a transmission manner is more flexible.

[0028] In some implementations of the third aspect, the second indication information is carried in any one of the following signaling: a downlink control information (DCI), a media access control control element (MAC CE) message, a radio resource control (RRC), or a broadcast message.

[0029] In some implementations of the third aspect, in a case where the second indication information is used to indicate to start the second timer after the first timer expires, the method further includes: starting the second timer after the first timer expires; and receiving third indication information during the running of the second timer, the third indication information being used to indicate whether to restart the second timer after the second timer expires.

[0030] In the present application, if the service data still cannot be completely transmitted during the running of the second timer, the third indication information can be used to indicate to restart the second timer after the second timer expires, so as to continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH. If the service data can be completely transmitted during the running of the second timer, the third indication information can be used to indicate that the second timer does not need to be restarted after the second timer expires. In this way, the way of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, which is beneficial to avoid the power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, thereby being beneficial to improve the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0031] The fourth aspect provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network side, such as a network device or a communication module in the network device, or a circuit or chip (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core) responsible for communication functions in the network device. Hereinafter, the method is described by taking the case of being applied to the network device.

[0032] The method includes: determining whether to need to start a second timer after a first timer expires, the first timer being started after sending a wake-up signal and being used to monitor a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH, the wake-up signal being used to indicate to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the second timer being used to continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after the first timer expires; and sending second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate whether to start the second timer after the first timer expires.

[0033] Based on the technical solutions of the present application, the network device can determine whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires according to the transmission of the service data. For example, if the service data transmission is intensive (or the service volume is large), the network device can instruct the terminal device to start the second timer after the first timer expires; for example, if the service data transmission is not intensive (or the service volume is small), the network device can instruct the terminal device not to start the second timer after the first timer expires. In this way, the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, which is conducive to avoiding the power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, and ensuring the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0034] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, determining whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires comprises: determining that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires in the case of intensive service data transmission; and determining that the second timer does not need to be started after the first timer expires in the case of non-intensive service data transmission.

[0035] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, in the case where the second indication information is used to instruct to start the second timer, the second indication information is further used to instruct one or more of the following: the number of times the second timer needs to be started, the length of the second timer, the time domain position of the second timer, or the frequency domain position of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the second timer.

[0036] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, sending the second indication information comprises: sending the wake-up signal, and the wake-up signal comprises the second indication information.

[0037] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, sending the second indication information comprises: sending the second indication information within a first time window, and the end time of the first time window is located before the start time of the first timer, or the start time and the end time of the first time window are during the running of the first timer.

[0038] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the second indication information is carried in any of the following signaling: DCI, MAC CE, RRC message, or broadcast message.

[0039] It should be understood that the fourth aspect of the present application corresponds to the technical solutions of the third aspect of the present application, and the beneficial effects obtained by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation manners are similar, and will not be repeated.

[0040] In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a network side, e.g., a network device or a communication module in the network device, or a circuit or chip (e.g., a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core) responsible for communication functions in the network device. Hereinafter, the method is described by taking the application to the network device as an example.

[0041] The method comprises: determining a length of a first timer and / or a length of a third timer, the first timer being started after sending a wake-up signal and being used for the terminal device to monitor a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH, the wake-up signal being used to indicate the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the third timer being a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH; and sending fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used to indicate the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer.

[0042] Based on the technical solutions of the present application, the network device can dynamically adjust the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer according to the transmission of the service data. For example, in the case of intensive transmission of service data, the network device indicates a longer first timer and / or a longer third timer to the terminal device, which is beneficial to guarantee the transmission of service data; in the case of non-intensive transmission of service data, the network device indicates a shorter first timer and / or a shorter third timer to the terminal device, which is beneficial to avoid unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, and thus improve the energy saving gain of the terminal device in the connected state using the wake-up signal.

[0043] In combination with the fifth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fifth aspect, the determination of the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer comprises: in the case of intensive transmission of service data, determining that the length of the first timer is greater than or equal to a first value, and / or determining that the length of the third timer is greater than or equal to a second value; in the case of non-intensive transmission of service data, determining that the length of the first timer is less than the first value, and / or determining that the length of the third timer is less than the second value.

[0044] In combination with the fifth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fifth aspect, the sending of the fourth indication information comprises: sending the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the fourth indication information. Such a sending manner is beneficial to save signaling overhead.

[0045] In combination with the fifth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fifth aspect, the sending of the fourth indication information comprises: sending the fourth indication information within a second time window, an end time of the second time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the second time window being during the running of the first timer. Such a sending manner is more flexible.

[0046] In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a terminal side, e.g., a terminal device or a communication module in a terminal device, or a circuit or chip (e.g., a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core) responsible for communication functions in a terminal device. Hereinafter, the method is described by taking the application to a terminal device as an example.

[0047] The method comprises: receiving fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used to indicate a length of a first timer and / or a length of a third timer, the first timer being started after receiving a wake-up signal and being used for the terminal device to monitor a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH, the wake-up signal being used to indicate the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the third timer being a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

[0048] Based on the technical solutions of the present application, the terminal device can dynamically adjust the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer based on the indication of the network device, which is conducive to avoiding unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, reducing the power consumption of the terminal device, and thus improving the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0049] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the receiving of the fourth indication information comprises: receiving a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the fourth indication information.

[0050] In combination with the sixth aspect, in some implementations of the sixth aspect, the receiving of the fourth indication information comprises: receiving the fourth indication information within a second time window, an end time of the second time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the second time window being during a running period of the first timer.

[0051] It should be understood that the sixth aspect of the present application corresponds to the technical solutions of the fifth aspect of the present application, and the beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementations are similar, which will not be described again.

[0052] In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which is configured to perform the method in any possible implementation manner of any of the above aspects. Specifically, the apparatus comprises modules for performing the method in any possible implementation manner of any of the above aspects.

[0053] In one design, the apparatus can include modules corresponding to each of the methods / operations / steps / actions described in any of the above aspects, which can be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software.

[0054] In another design, the apparatus is a communication chip, which can include an input circuit or interface to send information or data, and an output circuit or interface to receive information or data.

[0055] In another design, the apparatus is a terminal device or a network device, which can include a transmitter to send information or data, and a receiver to receive information or data.

[0056] In another design, the apparatus is configured to perform a method in any possible implementation of any of the aspects above, and the apparatus can be configured in a terminal device or a network device.

[0057] In an eighth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which includes at least one processor configured to invoke and run a computer program from a memory, so that the apparatus performs a method in any possible implementation of any of the aspects above.

[0058] Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory configured to store instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor implements the methods described in the aspects above when executing the instructions stored in the memory.

[0059] Optionally, the apparatus further includes a transmitter and a receiver, which can be separate or integrated together as a transceiver.

[0060] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions), which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method in any possible implementation of any of the aspects above.

[0061] In a tenth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions), which when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform a method in any possible implementation of any of the aspects above.

[0062] In an eleventh aspect, a chip system is provided, which includes at least one processor configured to support the functions involved in any possible implementation of any of the aspects above, such as receiving or processing data involved in the methods above.

[0063] In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory configured to save program instructions and data, which is located inside or outside the processor.

[0064] Optionally, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can contain a chip and other discrete devices.

[0065] In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising a terminal device for implementing the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and a network device for implementing the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

[0066] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising a terminal device for implementing the method in the third aspect and any possible implementation manner of the third aspect, and a network device for implementing the method in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect.

[0067] In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising a network device for implementing the method in the fifth aspect and any possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, and a terminal device for implementing the method in the sixth aspect and any possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect.

[0068] It should be understood that the seventh aspect to the fourteenth aspect of the present application correspond to the technical solutions of the first aspect to the sixth aspect of the present application, and the beneficial effects obtained by each aspect and the corresponding possible implementation manners are similar, which will not be described herein again. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0069] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic diagrams of a communication system suitable for embodiments of the present application;

[0070] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an O-RAN architecture;

[0071] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a wake-up mechanism of an MR;

[0072] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a DRX cycle;

[0073] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a DRX timer;

[0074] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a MAC CE in a DRX mechanism;

[0075] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a working mode of a wake-up signal;

[0076] FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram of not starting a second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 10B is a schematic diagram of starting a second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG. 10C is a schematic diagram of stopping the first timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG. 12A is a schematic diagram of starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG. 12B is a schematic diagram of not starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG. 12C is a schematic diagram of starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIGS. 13A to 13C are schematic diagrams of a timing of sending the second indication information according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG. 14 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG. 15A is a schematic diagram of starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG. 15B is a schematic diagram of not starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG. 16A is a schematic diagram of starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG. 16B is a schematic diagram of not starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0090] FIG. 17A is a schematic diagram of not starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] FIG. 17B is a schematic diagram of starting the second timer according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0092] FIG. 18 is a schematic flowchart of reporting the UE capability information according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0093] FIGS. 19 and 20 are schematic block diagrams of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0094] FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of a chip system according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0095] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0096] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to embodiments of the present application. The communication system 1000 shown in FIG. 1 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 101. Optionally, the communication system 1000 also includes an Internet 102. The radio access network 100 can include at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1). The terminal is connected to the RAN node wirelessly, and the RAN node is connected to the core network 101 wirelessly or by wire. The core network device and the RAN node can be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the RAN node can be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device can integrate part of the functions of the core network device and part of the functions of the RAN node. The terminals and the terminals, and the RAN nodes and the RAN nodes can be connected to each other by wire or wirelessly. FIG. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0097] The radio access network 100 can be a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) related cellular system, for example, a 4th generation mobile communication technology (4G) system (also referred to as a long term evolution (LTE) system), a 5th generation mobile communication technology (5G) system (also referred to as a new radio (NR) system), or can also be applied to future communication systems or other similar communication systems, which are not limited in the present application.

[0098] The wireless access network 100 can also be an open RAN (open-RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN). The wireless access network 100 can also be a non-terrestrial network (NTN), a satellite communication network, a high altitude platform station (HAPS) communication network, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) communication network, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) communication network, etc. The wireless access network 100 can also be a communication system that combines two or more of the above systems.

[0099] The RAN node can also be referred to as a RAN device or an access network device. The RAN node is used to help the terminal to implement wireless access. The plurality of RAN nodes in the communication system 1000 can be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types.

[0100] In a possible scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmitting and receiving point (TRP), a transmitting point (TP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a base station in a future mobile communication system, an access point (AP) in a satellite, an IAB node, an access network device in an NTN communication system, i.e., can be deployed in a high-altitude platform or a satellite, etc. The RAN node can be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. The RAN node can also be a device that plays a base station function in device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, unmanned aerial vehicle communication, machine communication. Optionally, the access network device can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. For example, the access network device in the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU).

[0101] In another possible scenario, a terminal device is assisted by multiple RAN nodes to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can be included in the same network element, for example, in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). It can be understood that the RAN node can be a CU node, or a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into an access network device in the RAN, or into a core network device in the core network, which is not limited here.

[0102] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an O-RAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0103] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiving function, which can send signals to a RAN node or receive signals from a RAN node. A terminal can also be referred to as a terminal apparatus, a terminal device, user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. A terminal can be widely applied to various scenarios, for example, at least one of the following scenarios, including but not limited to: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), D2D, V2X communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal can be specifically a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiving function, a wearable device, a vehicle, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, etc. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the terminal.

[0104] A RAN node and a terminal can be fixed in position or movable. A RAN node and a terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water surface; can also be deployed on an airplane, a balloon and a man-made satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of a RAN node and a terminal.

[0105] The roles of a RAN node and a terminal can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured to move a RAN node, which is a RAN node for a terminal 120j accessing to the wireless access network 100 through 120i; but for a RAN node 110a, 120i is a terminal, i.e., 110a and 120i communicate with each other through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate with each other through an interface protocol between RAN nodes, in which case, 120i is also a RAN node relative to 110a. Therefore, a RAN node and a terminal can be collectively referred to as a communication apparatus, 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with RAN node function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication apparatus with terminal function.

[0106] The communication between the RAN nodes and the terminals, between the RAN nodes, and between the terminals can be performed through a licensed frequency spectrum, through an unlicensed frequency spectrum, or through both the licensed frequency spectrum and the unlicensed frequency spectrum; the communication can be performed through a frequency spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), through a frequency spectrum above 6 GHz, or through both the frequency spectrum below 6 GHz and the frequency spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the frequency spectrum used for wireless communication.

[0107] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the RAN node can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the RAN node, or by a control subsystem containing RAN node functions. The control subsystem containing RAN node functions herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device containing terminal functions.

[0108] The core network device refers to a device in the core network that provides service support for the terminal. Currently, some examples of core network devices are: access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, session management function (SMF) network element, user plane function (UPF) network element, and the like, which are not listed one by one here.

[0109] Taking the above wireless access network 100 as an example of a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN), i.e., a 5G wireless access network, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application. Referring to FIG. 2, the communication system includes a 5G core network (5GC), an NG-RAN, and a UE.

[0110] The 5GC includes multiple network elements, such as the AMF and the UPF shown in FIG. 2, and can further include other more network elements, which are not shown in FIG. 2. The NG-RAN includes multiple network elements, such as the gNB (i.e., a 5G base station) and the ng-eNB (i.e., a 4G base station connected to the 5GC) shown in FIG. 2. The NG-RAN can further include other more network elements, which are not shown in FIG. 2.

[0111] A gNB is a device deployed in a RAN to provide wireless communication functions for UEs to meet 5G standards. The gNB can include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, wearable devices, and vehicle-mounted devices. The gNB can also be a TRP, a transmission measurement function (TMF). The gNB can include a CU and a DU integrated on the gNB.

[0112] In FIG. 2, the serving base station gNB of the UE is responsible for providing the UE with user plane and control plane protocol functions of 5G NR, and the serving base station ng-eNB of the UE is responsible for providing the UE with user plane and control plane protocol functions of the evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (TRAN).

[0113] Taking the above wireless access network 100 as an example of O-RAN, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an O-RAN provided by an embodiment of the present application. Referring to FIG. 3, the O-RAN network structure further decomposes the network functions of the CU and the DU defined by 3GPP, and these functions are interconnected through open, standardized security interfaces. Compared with the architecture of 3GPP, the O-RAN defines an orchestration layer with a non-real-time RAN intelligent controller (RAN intelligent controller non-real time) and a function layer with a near-real-time RAN intelligent controller (RAN intelligent controller real time), and defines an exchange interface A1 between the two layers. In addition, the near-real-time RAN intelligent controller and the O-CU and the O-DU are defined with an E2 interface, the O-CU and the O-DU are defined with an F1 interface, and the O-DU and the O-RU are defined with a fronthaul interface.

[0114] Among them, the orchestration layer further includes design / intent (design), inventory, configuration (configuration). The function layer further includes third party application (3rd party application), radio connection management (radio connection management), mobility management (mobility management), quality of service (quality of service, QoS) management, interference management (interface manegemnet), trained model and RAN database (RAN database).

[0115] The O-CU and the O-DU are deployed with different protocol layers. As an implementation manner, the O-CU-CP is deployed with the RRC layer and the control plane part (referred to as PDCP-C) of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the O-CU-UP is deployed with the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer and the user plane part (referred to as PDCP-U) of the PDCP layer, and the O-DU is deployed with the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer and the physical (PHY) layer. The O-CU-CP can interact with a network element in the core network for implementing control plane functions. The network element in the core network for implementing control plane functions can be an access and mobility function network element, such as an AMF network element in the 5G system. The O-CU-UP can interact with a network element in the core network for implementing user plane functions, such as a UPF network element in the 5G system. The O-RU is deployed with the RRC layer.

[0116] It should be understood that the system architecture described in the present application is for more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0117] Before introducing the communication method and related apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application, the following points are explained.

[0118] First, in the embodiments shown below, each term and English abbreviation, such as wake-up signal (WUS), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc., is an exemplary example given for convenience of description, and should not constitute any limitation on the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms capable of achieving the same or similar functions in existing or future protocols.

[0119] Second, in the embodiments shown below, the first, second, and various numerical designations are merely used to distinguish between functionally and / or operationally similar or identical items for ease of description. For example, the first indication information and the second indication information are merely used to distinguish between different indication information, and do not limit the order thereof, nor limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can understand that the terms "first", "second", and the like do not limit the number and execution order, and the terms "first", "second", and the like do not necessarily mean different.

[0120] Third, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The term "and / or" describes the association relationship between the associated objects, and means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which means that A exists alone, A and B exist together, B exists alone, and A, B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects. The term "at least one of the following" or the like means any combination of the items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, and (or) c means a, or b, or c, or a and b, or a and c, or b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can be singular or plural.

[0121] Fourth, in the present application, "indication" can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (such as the first indication information) is referred to as the to-be-indicated information, such as one or more contents indicated by the first indication information in the embodiments of the present application. In the implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example, but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or an index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance, for example, the indication of a specific information can be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, protocol predefined), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The present application does not limit the specific manner of indication. It can be understood that for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the to-be-indicated information, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the to-be-indicated information.

[0122] Fifth, the correspondence relationship shown in each table in the present application can be configured or predefined. The values of the information in each table are only examples, and other values can be configured, and the present application does not limit. When configuring the correspondence relationship between the information and each parameter, it is not necessarily required to configure all the correspondence relationships shown in each table. For example, the correspondence relationship shown in some rows in the table in the present application can also not be configured. For another example, the above tables can be appropriately deformed, such as splitting, merging, etc. The names of the parameters shown in the titles of the above tables can also use other names understandable by the communication device, and the values or representations of the parameters can also use other values or representations understandable by the communication device. The above tables can also use other data structures when implemented, such as arrays, queues, containers, stacks, linear tables, pointers, linked lists, trees, graphs, structures, classes, heaps, hash tables, etc.

[0123] Sixth, in the present application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending a wake-up signal to a terminal device" can be understood as that the destination of the wake-up signal is the terminal device, which can include direct transmission through the air interface, and also includes indirect transmission through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving a wake-up signal from a network device" can be understood as that the source of the wake-up signal is the network device, which can include direct reception from the network device through the air interface, and also includes indirect reception from the network device through the air interface from other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as "output" of a chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as "input" of a chip interface.

[0124] In other words, sending and receiving can be between devices, such as between a terminal device and a network device, or within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within a device through a bus, wire or interface.

[0125] Seventh, in the present application, a time unit generally refers to a unit of time. The time unit can be a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a millisecond (ms), or a fractional millisecond (such as 1 / 32 ms). Alternatively, the time unit is a plurality of slots, a plurality of subframes, a plurality of mini-slots, a plurality of OFDM symbols, a plurality of milliseconds, or a plurality of fractional milliseconds. Wherein, one radio frame can include a plurality of subframes, one subframe can include one or more slots, and one slot can include at least one symbol. Alternatively, one radio frame can include a plurality of slots, and one slot can include at least one symbol.

[0126] Eighth, in the present application, "when", "if" and "whether" all refer to the device will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, not limited time, and also does not require the device to realize the judgment action, also does not mean that there are other limitations. Unless otherwise specified, "if" and "whether" can be replaced, "when" and "in the case of" can be replaced. "When" and "if" / "whether" can be replaced.

[0127] Ninth, in the present application, "exemplarily" or "for example" and the like are used to indicate as an example, illustration or description. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplarily" or "for example" in the present application should not be interpreted as more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Rather, the use of "exemplarily" or "for example" and the like is intended to present the relevant concept in a specific manner.

[0128] Tenth, in the present application, the schemes in various embodiments can be reasonably combined, and the explanation or description of each term appearing in the embodiments, similar operations or steps can be mutually referred to or explained in various embodiments, and this is not limited.

[0129] In order to better understand the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the related technologies and concepts involved in the present application are briefly described below.

[0130] 1, wake-up radio (WUR)

[0131] WUR can be understood as a function of reducing the power consumption of a terminal device. For a terminal device, the wake-up radio refers to introducing an LP interface on the basis of a traditional MR. The LP interface is implemented through a simple structure circuit or chip, and has low power consumption. The present application does not limit the specific form of the LP interface, for example, the LP interface can be implemented through a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR), a wake-up receiver (WUR), a low-power radio (LR), a wake-up module or a wake-up circuit. The WUR in this paper can be a wake-up radio or a wake-up receiver. The WUR in this paper can be replaced by LP-WUR, LR, wake-up module or wake-up circuit.

[0132] The MR is used for normally receiving data / service transmission, and when there is no ongoing data / service transmission on the MR, or in other words, there is no transmission demand of data / service, the MR can enter a closed state or a sleep state or a hibernation state to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device as much as possible. When there is a transmission demand of data / service, the WUR can be used to wake up the MR in the closed state or the sleep state or the hibernation state.

[0133] Referring to the diagram of the wake-up mechanism of the MR shown in FIG. 4, the signal received by the terminal device through the WUR can be referred to as a WUS. When the WUR detects / receives the WUS, the MR in the off state or sleep state or hibernate state can be woken up.

[0134] It should be understood that the present application does not limit the type of wake-up signal. For example, the wake-up signal can be a signal, a low power wake up signal (LP-WUS), a low power PDCCH, a low power PDSCH, a low power physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a low power physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a low power synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB), a low power synchronization signal (LP-SS), a low power tracking reference signal (TRS), a low power channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), a low power positioning signal, a low power sensing communication signal, a low power sounding reference signal (SRS) signal, a low power random access channel (RACH) signal, a low power preamble signal, a low power contention resolution message, a low power downlink control information (DCI) signal, or a low power uplink control information (UCI) signal, etc.

[0135] There are multiple ways of mapping the bit information of the WUS to the time unit, or in other words, multiple modulation ways of the bit information of the WUS. For example, the modulation way is on-off keying (OOK), and accordingly, the WUR in the terminal device receives the WUS in the way of envelope detection. For another example, the modulation way is OFDM, and accordingly, the WUR in the terminal device receives the WUS in the way of phase detection.

[0136] OOK modulation represents digital information by the presence or absence of a signal. Bit information corresponding to a signal is mapped to at least one time unit through OOK modulation, one time unit corresponds to one bit of information, and the bit information of the signal is determined by detecting whether there is a signal on the time unit. The presence of a signal on a time unit means that the signal amplitude on the time unit is not zero, such a time unit is also called an ON time unit, or the time unit is in an ON mode; correspondingly, the absence of a signal on a time unit means that the signal amplitude on the time unit is zero, such a time unit is also called an OFF time unit, or the time unit is in an OFF mode. Generally, a sequence is sent on a time unit, and the time unit has a signal; no sequence is sent on a time unit, and the time unit has no signal. For a time unit, the time unit is an ON time unit or the time unit is in an ON mode, which can be decoded as 1; correspondingly, the time unit is an OFF time unit or the time unit is in an OFF mode, which can be decoded as 0.

[0137] The modulation mode of the WUS can be a combination of the above-mentioned modulation modes, for example, a modulation mode combining OOK and OFDM, which can be simply understood as fusing / stacking an OFDM sequence on a time unit with a signal.

[0138] 2. Discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism

[0139] In a wireless communication system, if there is no DRX mechanism, the terminal device will always monitor the PDCCH and / or PDSCH to detect whether there is information from the serving cell. However, in practice, the terminal device is not always interacting with the network device for effective information, and will not always perform data upload or download service, and during a call, there is also not always voice data transmission. If the terminal device continues to monitor the PDCCH and / or PDSCH in the case where the terminal device and the network device have no data interaction, the power consumption of the terminal device will be increased. Therefore, under the premise of ensuring effective data transmission, in order to save the power consumption of the terminal device, the DRX mechanism can be introduced to control the behavior of the terminal device monitoring the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. It should be noted that the following figures take the terminal device monitoring the PDCCH as an example for description.

[0140] When the DRX is configured, the terminal device can periodically enter a sleep state for a period of time, and during this period of time, the terminal device does not need to monitor the PDCCH and / or PDSCH, and when the PDCCH and / or PDSCH need to be monitored, the terminal device is awakened from the sleep state, so as to achieve the purpose of saving the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0141] Figure 5 is a diagram of a DRX cycle. As shown in Figure 5, DRX is implemented in cycles, and each DRX cycle includes an active time and a non-active time. The time identified as on duration in Figure 5 is the active time, which is the time during which the terminal device monitors PDCCH and / or PDSCH. During the active time, the terminal device is in an awake state, and during the active time, the terminal device starts a timer (drx-onDurationTimer). During the running of the timer, the terminal device remains active and monitors PDCCH and / or PDSCH. After the timer expires, the terminal device enters the non-active time. For ease of description, the timer is referred to as a DRX wake-up timer hereinafter. When the terminal device enters the non-active time, the terminal device no longer monitors PDCCH and / or PDSCH, thereby achieving the purpose of saving power consumption. The longer the non-active time, the better the energy efficiency of the terminal device.

[0142] Figure 6 is a diagram of a DRX timer. As shown in Figure 6, during the active time, the terminal device starts a DRX active timer. When the terminal device has uplink and / or downlink scheduling, if the terminal device successfully decodes a PDCCH and / or PDSCH, the terminal device starts a DRX inactivity timer (drx-InactivityTimer) and waits to successfully decode PDCCH and / or PDSCH again. After successfully decoding a PDCCH and / or PDSCH that schedules a new transmission, the terminal device restarts the timer (the timer is not restarted when there is a retransmission). If the DRX inactivity timer is running, even if the DRX wake-up timer has expired, the terminal device still needs to monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH until the DRX inactivity timer expires and the terminal device returns to the non-active state.

[0143] The current protocol defines the DRX active time, which is the time during which the terminal device needs to remain awake to monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH, including:

[0144] (1) During the running of the DRX wake-up timer (started at the beginning of the DRX cycle) or the DRX inactivity timer (not necessarily started at the beginning of the DRX cycle).

[0145] (2) During the running of the DRX downlink retransmission timer (drx-RetransmissionTimerDL) or the DRX uplink retransmission timer (drx-RetransmissionTimerUL).

[0146] (3) A scheduling request (SR) is sent on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and the SR is waiting for processing (the activation time starts after the SR is sent).

[0147] (4) After successfully receiving a random access response (RAR) in a non-contention random access procedure, i.e., after a successful non-contention random access, a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH scrambled with a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) indicating a new transmission has not been received.

[0148] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of MAC CEs in a DRX mechanism, which includes two MAC CEs: a DRX command MAC CE and a long DRX command MAC CE. The DRX command MAC CE is used to stop the DRX active timer and the DRX inactivity timer, and the purpose is to terminate the DRX active time of the terminal device so as to make the terminal device enter the DRX sleep state as soon as possible. The long DRX command MAC CE is used to stop the DRX active timer and the DRX inactivity timer, and to instruct the terminal device to switch to a state using a long DRX cycle.

[0149] The MAC CE signaling can achieve early termination of the related timers, but using the MAC CE signaling will introduce a large resource overhead on the network side. Moreover, the MAC CE in the current protocol can only achieve early termination to shorten the PDCCH and / or PDSCH monitoring, but cannot be extended. If an additional PDCCH and / or PDSCH is selected to be sent to trigger the DRX inactivity timer, additional signaling overhead will be introduced, and the adjustment granularity may be large, causing unnecessary PDCCH and / or PDSCH monitoring, thereby affecting the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0150] Current standard discusses that terminal device in connected state can monitor wake-up signal outside the active period of DRX to trigger monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH, i.e. terminal device no longer starts existing DRX active timer to monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH. When terminal device works in WUR state and monitors wake-up signal for triggering wake-up terminal device in monitoring time of wake-up signal, WUR wakes up MR after a period of time and starts a new timer (hereinafter referred to as first timer), and terminal device monitors PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the first timer. At present, whether the first timer reuses existing timer (such as the above-mentioned DRX inactivity timer) or whether other timer is designed is not determined.

[0151] In the working mode of wake-up signal, current discussion provides that other timer behavior of terminal device monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH is not affected. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a working mode of wake-up signal. As shown in FIG. 8, after terminal device receives wake-up signal, terminal device enters wake-up state from sleep state, terminal device starts first timer, and terminal device monitors PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the first timer. When terminal device successfully decodes PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the first timer, terminal device starts a DRX inactivity timer, and terminal device can enter sleep state to continue monitoring wake-up signal after running of the first timer or the DRX inactivity timer ends.

[0152] The length of the first timer can be affected by some factors: if the first timer is configured too short, network device can not be able to ensure that PDCCH and / or PDSCH can be sent in time, which poses some challenges to network device scheduling resources. Network device cannot ensure that there are sufficient resources to send PDCCH and / or PDSCH in time by sending wake-up signal in advance, because network device cannot know in advance the service to be sent to terminal device. If network device chooses to delay sending wake-up signal to ensure sufficient resources, this will cause a certain delay in transmission of service data. If the first timer is configured too long, and service data transmission is sparse or not intensive, unnecessary monitoring of PDCCH and / or PDSCH can be caused, thereby affecting the energy saving gain of terminal device using wake-up signal in connected state.

[0153] If the first timer reuses existing DRX inactivity timer, because the length of DRX inactivity timer is usually configured to be up to 100 ms in existing network, and the transmission time of service data can be shorter than the length of configured DRX inactivity timer, unnecessary monitoring of PDCCH and / or PDSCH can be caused, thereby affecting the energy saving gain of terminal device using wake-up signal in connected state.

[0154] To avoid unnecessary power waste caused by monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH, the present application provides a communication method, in which the network device can dynamically adjust the behavior of the terminal device monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH according to the service condition of the terminal device through signaling, so that the monitoring behavior of the terminal device on PDCCH and / or PDSCH conforms to the transmission condition of the current service data, which is conducive to avoiding unnecessary monitoring of PDCCH and / or PDSCH, thereby facilitating the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0155] Firstly, the case where the first timer is multiplexed with the second timer will be considered in combination with FIGS. 9 to 13, and more specifically, whether the second timer needs to be started to continue monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH after the first timer expires. The second timer is a newly designed timer, which is different from the DRX inactivity timer in the above.

[0156] FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 900 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The steps of the method 900 can be executed by the terminal device (or a module in the terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, etc.) and the network device (or a module in the network device, such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, etc.) in interaction. Hereinafter, the terminal device and the network device will be taken as examples for description. In addition, the processing performed by a single execution subject can also be divided into processing performed by multiple execution subjects, which can be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device can be divided into processing performed by at least one of a CU, a DU, a RU, etc.

[0157] The method 900 includes S901 to S903, which will be described in detail below.

[0158] S901, the network device sends a wake-up signal to the terminal device, where the wake-up signal is used to instruct monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the wake-up signal.

[0159] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is in an RRC connected state, and the terminal device can enter a sleep state to save power consumption in the absence of service data transmission. When the terminal device is in the sleep state, the WUR of the terminal device is turned on, and the WUR is used to monitor the wake-up signal.

[0160] After the service data arrives at the network device, the network device sends a wake-up signal to the terminal device. The WUR of the terminal device monitors the wake-up signal and determines that PDCCH and / or PDSCH need to be monitored, and then the MR is woken up to monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH.

[0161] The wake-up signal is used to indicate monitoring of PDCCH and / or PDSCH, and can also be described as the wake-up signal being used to indicate that there is subsequent PDCCH transmission and / or PDSCH transmission, or the wake-up signal being used to indicate that there is subsequent PDCCH transmission and / or service data transmission.

[0162] S902, the terminal device starts a first timer, and monitors PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the first timer. Correspondingly, the network device starts the first timer, and transmits PDCCH and / or PDSCH to the terminal device during running of the first timer.

[0163] It should be understood that the terminal device and the network device maintain the first timer simultaneously. For the terminal device, the terminal device can start the first timer after receiving the wake-up signal, and the first timer can indicate a time domain position at which the terminal device starts to monitor PDCCH and a monitoring duration. For the network device, the network device can start the first timer after transmitting the wake-up signal, and the first timer can indicate a time domain position at which the network device starts to transmit PDCCH and a duration during which the network device can transmit PDCCH.

[0164] It should also be understood that the first timer can be regarded as a timer triggered / activated by the wake-up signal. The terminal device can start the first timer immediately after receiving the wake-up signal, or start the first timer after a period of time. Similarly, the network device can start the first timer immediately after transmitting the wake-up signal, or start the first timer after a period of time.

[0165] Optionally, a length of the first timer can be predefined by a protocol, or the length of the first timer can be indicated by the network device through broadcast signaling, dedicated signaling, etc., and embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0166] S903, the terminal device determines whether to start a second timer after the first timer expires, according to whether the first indication information is received during running of the first timer.

[0167] For the network device, the network device transmits the first indication information after starting the first timer.

[0168] The network device can determine the timing of sending the first indication information according to the transmission of the service data. If the service amount is small, or the service data transmission is not intensive, the service data can be transmitted during the running of the first timer, and the first indication information can be located in the running period of the first timer, that is, the network device sends the first indication information during the running of the first timer; or if the service amount is large, or the service data transmission is intensive, the service data cannot be transmitted during the running of the first timer, and the first indication information can be located in the running period of the second timer, that is, the network device sends the first indication information during the running of the second timer.

[0169] It should be understood that the terminal device and the network device can maintain the second timer at the same time. For the terminal device, the second timer can indicate the time domain position and the monitoring duration of the terminal device for monitoring the PDCCH after the first timer expires. For the network device, the second timer can indicate the time domain position and the duration of the network device for sending the PDCCH after the first timer expires.

[0170] The first indication information is used to indicate that the service transmission has ended, and the first indication information can also be described as an indication of the last packet (i.e., the last data packet of the service transmission).

[0171] The second timer is used for the terminal device to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after the first timer expires. In other words, if the service transmission is not completed, the terminal device can start the second timer after the first timer expires, and continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the second timer.

[0172] The length of the second timer can be pre-defined by a protocol, or the length of the second timer can be configured by the network device through broadcast signaling, for example, configured to the terminal device through a system information block (SIB) message with a cell granularity, or the length of the second timer can be configured by the network device through RRC signaling, for example, configured to the terminal device through an RRC reconfiguration message, or the length of the second timer can be configured by the network device through non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, for example, configured to the terminal device through a registration reception message with a terminal granularity.

[0173] The length of the second timer can be an absolute time unit, such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and can also be a time measurement unit of a communication system, such as a time slot, a symbol, a frame, a subframe, a mini-frame, or an absolute numerical value.

[0174] In another description, the second timer can be replaced by a time window, for example, referred to as an extended time window. If the terminal device fails to receive all PDCCHs and / or PDSCHs during the running of the first timer, the terminal device can start the extended time window, and continue to monitor PDCCHs and / or PDSCHs in the extended time window. In a possible implementation, the terminal device can identify the end position of the first timer and the end position of the extended time window, and then monitor PDCCHs and / or PDSCHs in the time period between the end position of the first timer and the end position of the extended time window.

[0175] It should be understood that the second timer can be the same as the first timer, that is, if the terminal device does not receive the first indication information during the running of the first timer, the terminal device can restart the first timer, that is, "S903, the terminal device determines whether to start the second timer after the end of the first timer according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer" can be replaced by "S903, the terminal device determines whether to restart the first timer after the end of the first timer according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer".

[0176] It should also be understood that starting the second timer can be regarded as prolonging the first timer, that is, prolonging the time for the terminal device to monitor PDCCHs and / or PDSCHs, that is, "S903, the terminal device determines whether to start the second timer after the end of the first timer according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer" can be replaced by "S903, the terminal device determines whether to prolong the time for monitoring PDCCHs and / or PDSCHs according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer". The prolonged time can be predefined by a protocol or indicated by the network device through signaling.

[0177] The first indication information can be carried in different forms, and the forms of carrying the first indication information are introduced below.

[0178] In a possible implementation, the first indication information can be carried in the first PDSCH or the first PDCCH. The first PDSCH is a PDSCH carrying the last data packet of the service, and the first indication information can be carried in the first PDSCH in the form of data or in the form of a MAC CE. The first PDCCH is a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH, that is, the first PDCCH can be regarded as a companion PDCCH, the first PDCCH can indicate the related information of the first PDSCH, for example, indicate the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the first PDSCH, and meanwhile, the first PDCCH also carries the first indication information indicating that the service transmission has ended. In this way, signaling overhead can be saved.

[0179] In another possible implementation, the first indication information can also be carried in the second PDCCH, and the second PDCCH is an unscheduled PDCCH or a non-companion PDCCH, and is used only for transmission of control information. The network device can send the second PDCCH to the terminal device immediately after sending the last data packet to the terminal device, or the network device can send the second PDCCH to the terminal device before sending the last data packet to the terminal device, that is, the second PDCCH can be sent before the first indication information or after the first indication information.

[0180] For example, if the first indication information carries a specific field, it indicates that the first indication information is a tail packet indication, that is, the first indication information is used to indicate that the service transmission has ended; if the specific field is default, it indicates that the first indication information is not a tail packet indication.

[0181] For example, if the first indication information carries a specific field of 1 bit, if the bit state is "1", it indicates that the first indication information is a tail packet indication, that is, the first indication information is used to indicate that the service transmission has ended; if the bit state is "0", it indicates that the first indication information is not a tail packet indication.

[0182] For example, if the first indication information carries a specific field, the specific field indicates "true", which indicates that the first indication information is a tail packet indication, that is, the first indication information is used to indicate that the service transmission has ended; the specific field indicates "false", which indicates that the first indication information is not a tail packet indication.

[0183] It should be noted that the network device can determine the timing of sending the first indication information according to the transmission of the service data. If the service data transmission ends, the network device can send the first indication information to the terminal device to indicate that the service transmission has ended. As shown in FIG. 10A, if the service transmission ends during the running of the first timer, the terminal device can receive the first indication information during the running of the first timer. In this case, since the service transmission has ended, the terminal device does not need to start the second timer. As shown in FIG. 10B, if the first indication information is not received during the running of the first timer, it means that the service transmission has not ended. In order to continue to monitor the subsequent PDCCH and / or PDSCH, the terminal device needs to prolong the time of monitoring the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. Then, the terminal device can start the second timer after the first timer expires, and continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the second timer.

[0184] It should be noted that after the terminal device starts the second timer, if the terminal device still does not receive the first indication information during the running of the second timer, the terminal device determines that the second timer needs to be restarted to continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. If the terminal device receives the first indication information during the running of the second timer, the terminal device can stop monitoring the PDCCH and / or PDSCH, and fall back to the sleep state to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0185] In a possible implementation, if the terminal device receives the first indication information during the running of the first timer, the terminal device can wait until the first timer expires, and then fall back to the sleep state to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device. Alternatively, if the terminal device receives the first indication information during the running of the second timer, the terminal device can wait until the second timer expires, and then fall back to the sleep state to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0186] In another possible implementation, as shown in FIG. 10C, if the terminal device receives the first indication information during the running of the first timer, the terminal device can stop the first timer immediately after receiving the last data packet. Alternatively, if the terminal device receives the first indication information after receiving the last data packet, for example, the first indication information is carried in the second PDCCH, the terminal device can stop the first timer immediately after receiving the second PDCCH. In this way, it is beneficial to reduce the monitoring of the additional PDCCH and / or PDSCH, and beneficial to save the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0187] In the embodiments described in combination with the method 900 described above, the network device indicates that the service transmission has ended through the first indication information, and the terminal device determines whether the second timer needs to be started to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH according to whether the first indication information is received during the running of the first timer. When the service data transmission is not intensive, the terminal device does not need to start the second timer, and can stop the running of the first timer in advance after receiving the first indication information; when the service data transmission is intensive, the terminal device needs to start the second timer to prolong the time for monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, so as to ensure the transmission of the service data. In this way, the way of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, which is beneficial to avoiding the power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, and thus is beneficial to improving the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0188] In the embodiments described in the method 900, the first indication information can be regarded as an implicit indication of whether the terminal device needs to start the second timer. In addition, the network device can also send the explicit signaling to the terminal device, and indicate whether the terminal device needs to start the second timer through the explicit signaling. For details, refer to the description of the method 1100 below.

[0189] FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method 1100 provided by the embodiments of the present application. The steps of the method 1100 can be executed by the terminal device (or a module in the terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, etc.) and the network device (or a module in the network device, such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, etc.) in interaction. Hereinafter, the terminal device and the network device are taken as examples for description. In addition, the processing performed by a single execution subject can also be divided into processing performed by multiple execution subjects, which can be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device can be divided into processing performed by at least one of a CU, a DU, a RU, etc.

[0190] The method 1100 includes S1101 to S1104, and each step is described in detail below.

[0191] S1101, after receiving the wake-up signal, the terminal device starts the first timer, and the wake-up signal is used to indicate monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

[0192] The introduction of the wake-up signal and the first timer can refer to the description in the foregoing, which will not be described here again.

[0193] S1102, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the first timer.

[0194] For the network device, the network device can start the first timer after sending the wake-up signal, and the network device sends the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH to the terminal device during running of the first timer; for the terminal device, the terminal device starts the first timer after receiving the wake-up signal, and the terminal device monitors the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the first timer.

[0195] It should be understood that the terminal device can start the first timer immediately after receiving the wake-up signal, or start the first timer after a period of time. Similarly, the network device can start the first timer immediately after sending the wake-up signal, or start the first timer after a period of time.

[0196] The introduction to this step can refer to the description of S902 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0197] S1103, the network device determines whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer ends.

[0198] The network device can determine whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer ends according to the transmission of the service data. For example, as shown in FIG. 12A, in the case of intensive service data transmission, or in the case of a large amount of data to be transmitted, which cannot be transmitted during the running of the first timer, the network device can determine that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer ends, so as to continue to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the second timer, and ensure the transmission of the service data; for example, as shown in FIG. 12B, in the case of non-intensive service data transmission, or in the case of a small amount of data to be transmitted, which can be transmitted during the running of the first timer, the network device can determine that the second timer does not need to be started after the first timer ends.

[0199] More introduction to the second timer can refer to the description above, which will not be repeated here.

[0200] S1104, the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer ends. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second indication information.

[0201] Exemplarily, the length of the second indication information is 1 bit, the bit state is “1”, which indicates that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer ends, and the bit state is “0”, which indicates that the second timer does not need to be started after the first timer ends. Or, the bit state is “0”, which indicates that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer ends, and the bit state is “1”, which indicates that the second timer does not need to be started after the first timer ends.

[0202] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device according to the transmission of the service data, to indicate whether the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires, so as to flexibly control the behavior of the terminal device in monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, so that the second timer can not be started in the case of non-intensive transmission of the service data, and the second timer is started in the case of intensive transmission of the service data to ensure the transmission of the service data, so that the way of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is more flexible, and it is beneficial to avoid the power consumption caused by unnecessary monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, and to ensure the energy saving gain of the terminal device in the connected state using the wake-up signal.

[0203] Optionally, in the case where the second indication information is used to indicate that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires, the terminal device starts the second timer after the first timer expires, and optionally, the network device also starts the second timer after the first timer expires. Further, the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device during the running of the second timer, and the third indication information is used to indicate whether the second timer needs to be restarted after the second timer expires. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third indication information during the running of the second timer.

[0204] It should be understood that if the third indication information is used to indicate that the second timer does not need to be restarted after the second timer expires, it means that the service data can be transmitted during the running of the second timer, and if the third indication information is used to indicate that the second timer needs to be restarted after the second timer expires, it means that the service data cannot be transmitted during the running of the second timer, and then the terminal device needs to restart the second timer to monitor the subsequent PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the second timer to ensure the transmission of the service data.

[0205] Optionally, in the case where the second timer is used to indicate that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires, the second indication information is also used to indicate one or more of the following: the number of times the second timer needs to be started, the length of the second timer, the time domain position of the second timer, or the frequency domain position of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the second timer.

[0206] It should be understood that because the network device can determine whether the service data can be transmitted during the running of the first timer in the case of the service data that the network device can reach before sending the wake-up signal, it can further determine whether the second timer needs to be started and the number of times the second timer needs to be started. The more intensive the service data is, the longer the time of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH needs to be, and the second timer may need to be started multiple times to ensure the transmission of the service data.

[0207] It should also be understood that the network device can have pre-allocated other functions on the time-frequency resources after the end of the first timer, and if it is necessary to start the second timer after the end of the first timer, the time-frequency resources for monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the second timer cannot be connected in the time domain with the time-frequency resources for monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the first timer. For such a scenario, the network device can indicate the time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the second timer through the second indication information.

[0208] Exemplarily, the second indication information indicates the start position and the length of the second timer. For time domain resources, the start position can be represented by a system frame number (SFN) or a system time, and the length can be an absolute time unit, such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and also time measurement units of a communication system, such as time slots, symbols, frames, subframes, mini-frames, etc. For frequency domain resources, the start position can be the serial number of a physical resource block (PRB) of a bandwidth part (BWP) of a cell, and the length can be a value with a granularity of a resource block (RB), an RB group (RBG), a resource element group (REG), or a subcarrier. When the network device does not configure the frequency domain resources of the second timer for the terminal device, but only configures the time domain resources of the second timer, it can be regarded as using the same frequency domain resources as the first timer.

[0209] The time domain position and / or the frequency domain position of the second timer can also be a mapping of time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources, indicated in an indexed manner, for example, through a protocol pre-defined / network device configured algorithm or formula to map an index (for example, 0, 1, 2…N) to a time domain / frequency domain relationship, and the first indication information includes an index value indicating the time domain position / frequency domain position of the second timer.

[0210] As shown in FIG. 12C, the start position of the second timer can also be a time domain position that is X time units apart after the end position of the first timer. The time unit can be an absolute time unit, such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and also time measurement units of a communication system, such as time slots, symbols, frames, subframes, mini-frames, etc.

[0211] It should be understood that the terminal device can receive the third indication information during the running of the second timer, i.e., the monitoring occasion of the third indication information is located in the running period of the second timer. If the terminal device receives the third indication information during the running of the second timer, and the third indication information is used to indicate restarting the second timer after the end of the second timer, the terminal device restarts the second timer after the end of the second timer. If the terminal device receives the third indication information during the running of the second timer, and the third indication information is used to indicate not restarting the second timer after the end of the second timer, the terminal device stops monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after the end of the second timer. Alternatively, if the second indication information is also used to indicate the number of times the second timer needs to be started, the network device can not send the third indication information to the terminal device during the running of the second timer, i.e., the terminal device can determine whether the second timer needs to be restarted after the end of the second timer based on the indication of the second indication information.

[0212] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can receive the second indication information at different monitoring occasions / monitoring positions / receiving positions. The occasions of receiving the second indication information are introduced below.

[0213] In a possible implementation, the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device, including: the network device sends a wake-up signal to the terminal device, and the wake-up signal includes the second indication information. As shown in FIG. 13A, the network device can send the second indication information to the terminal device in the wake-up signal, which is conducive to reducing signaling overhead. Correspondingly, the terminal device can receive the second indication information at the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal. In this implementation, after receiving the wake-up signal carrying the second indication information, the network device starts the first timer, i.e., the above S1104 can be executed before S1101.

[0214] In another possible implementation, the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device, including: the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device within the first time window. As shown in FIG. 13B, the end time of the first time window is located before the start time of the first timer. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 13C, the first time window is located during the running of the first timer, and more specifically, the start position and the end position of the first time window are located during the running of the first timer, that is, the network device can send the second indication information to the terminal device during the running of the first timer. Accordingly, the terminal device can monitor the second indication information within a period of time before the first timer is started, or the terminal device can monitor the second indication information during the running of the first timer. In this implementation, the network device can send the second indication information to the terminal device before starting the first timer, that is, the above-mentioned S1104 can be executed before S1101; or the network device can send the second indication information to the terminal device after starting the first timer, that is, the above-mentioned S1104 can be executed after S1101.

[0215] Optionally, the network device sends the second indication information before the start time of the first timer, and the terminal device receives the second indication information before the start time of the first timer, including: the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device through L1 signaling / L2 signaling before the start time of the first timer, where the L1 signaling is, for example, DCI, and the L2 signaling is, for example, MAC CE. The terminal device monitors the second indication information within the first time window before starting the first timer after receiving the wake-up signal. Wherein the start position of the first time window can be a position offset by a period of time backward from the start position / end position of the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal as a reference point, or the start position of the first time window can be a position offset by a period of time forward from the start position of the first timer as a reference point.

[0216] It should be understood that the length of the first time window, the time offset of the start position of the first time window relative to the reference point, the information of the reference point, etc. are time parameters, which can be absolute time units such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and can also be time measurement units of a communication system such as slots, symbols, frames, subframes, mini-frames, etc.

[0217] Optionally, the network device sends the second indication information during running of the first timer, including: the network device can send the second indication information at a position offsetting the starting position of the first timer by T1 time units, and the length of the time window for sending the second indication information can be M1 time units. Wherein, T1 is greater than or equal to 0, and M1 is greater than 0. The time unit can be an absolute time unit, such as second, millisecond, microsecond, and can also be a time measurement unit of a communication system, such as time slot, symbol, frame, subframe, mini-frame, etc. One possible design is that the terminal device monitors the second indication information within the first n symbols after the first timer is started.

[0218] Optionally, the network device sends the second indication information during running of the first timer, including: the network device can send the second indication information to the terminal device after sending the first PDCCH or the first PDSCH during running of the first timer. Alternatively, the network device can carry the second indication information in the first PDSCH or the first PDCCH, or the network device carries the second indication information in the second PDCCH. Wherein, the first PDSCH is a PDSCH carrying the last data packet of the service, the first PDCCH is a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH, and the second PDCCH is a non-co-located PDCCH.

[0219] More descriptions of the first PDCCH, the second PDCCH, and the first PDSCH can be referred to the descriptions in the above, which will not be repeated here.

[0220] Optionally, the second indication information can be carried in any of the following signaling: wake-up signal, DCI, MAC CE, RRC message or broadcast message. Wherein, the way of carrying the second indication information through the DCI or the MAC CE can more flexibly indicate whether to start the second timer, and reduce the transmission delay of the second indication information.

[0221] Optionally, the third indication information can be carried in any of the following signaling: DCI, MAC CE, RRC message or broadcast message.

[0222] Different from the scheme of triggering the DRX inactivity timer by the PDCCH, in the method 900 and the method 1100 described above, the terminal device does not start the DRX inactivity timer after successfully decoding, that is, the PDCCH is decoupled from the DRX inactivity timer, which can avoid the additional monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH caused by the excessively long DRX inactivity timer, and affect the power consumption of the terminal device.

[0223] The following considers a scheme in which the first timer reuses the third timer, i.e., the terminal device starts the third timer after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, but the network device can dynamically adjust the length of the third timer according to the transmission of the service data, see the description of method 1400 below.

[0224] FIG. 14 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method 1400 provided by the embodiments of the present application. The steps of method 1400 can be executed by the terminal device (or a module in the terminal device, such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, etc.) and the network device (or a module in the network device, such as a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, etc.) in interaction. In the following, the terminal device and the network device are taken as examples for description. In addition, the processing performed by a single execution subject can also be divided into processing performed by multiple execution subjects, which can be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device can be divided into processing performed by at least one of a CU, a DU, a RU, etc.

[0225] Method 1400 includes S1401 and S1402, and each step is described in detail below.

[0226] S1401, the network device determines the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer, the first timer is started after sending a wake-up signal and is used for the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the wake-up signal is used to indicate monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, and the third timer is a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

[0227] The third timer is a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, which can also be described as a timer activated by the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

[0228] It should be understood that the terminal device monitors the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the first timer after starting the first timer, monitors the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the third timer after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH for the first time, restarts the third timer and continues to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during the running of the third timer if the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is monitored during the running of the third timer, and returns to the sleep state until the third timer expires.

[0229] It should be understood that, during the running of the third timer, if the first timer has not yet expired, the first timer is running normally. During the running of the third timer, if the first timer has expired, the third timer is running normally. If no PDCCH and / or PDSCH is monitored during the running of the third timer, the terminal device can enter the sleep state after the expiration of the third timer.

[0230] Exemplarily, the third timer is a DRX inactivity timer.

[0231] More details of the first timer and the wake-up signal can be found in the description above, which will not be repeated here.

[0232] Optionally, the network device determines the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer, including: the network device determines the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer according to the transmission of the service data.

[0233] Optionally, the network device determines the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer according to the transmission of the service data, including: in the case of intensive transmission of service data, determining that the length of the first timer is greater than or equal to a first value, and / or determining that the length of the third timer is greater than or equal to a second value; in the case of non-intensive transmission of service data, determining that the length of the first timer is less than the first value, and / or determining that the length of the third timer is less than the second value. That is, in the case of intensive transmission of service data, a longer time is needed to ensure the transmission of service data, therefore, the network device can determine a longer first timer and / or a longer third timer. In the case of non-intensive transmission of service data, a shorter time is needed to complete the transmission of service data, therefore, the network device can determine a shorter first timer and / or a shorter third timer.

[0234] The length of the timer (the first timer or the third timer) described in the present application can be the absolute time length of the timer, and the time unit can be an absolute time unit, for example, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and also time measurement units of a communication system, such as time slots, symbols, frames, subframes, mini-frames, etc.

[0235] The length of the timer (the first timer or the third timer) described in the present application can also be a hierarchical length, for example, the fourth indication information carries different fields to represent the length of the timer. Different length levels can correspond to configured length values. The correspondence between the length level and the length value can be pre-defined by a protocol, or configured by the network device through dedicated signaling, broadcast signaling, etc., which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0236] Exemplarily, the field 1 (for example, named as "long") corresponds to a length value of 100 ms, the field 2 (for example, named as "medium") corresponds to a length value of "50 ms", and the field 3 (for example, named as "short") corresponds to a length value of "20 ms".

[0237] It should be understood that the different fields marked as "long", "medium" and "short" for representing the length of the timer are only examples, and the length of the timer can also be represented in more or less levels, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0238] In S1402, the network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth indication information.

[0239] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can receive the fourth indication information at different monitoring occasions / monitoring positions / receiving positions, and the occasions for receiving the second indication information are introduced as follows.

[0240] In a possible implementation, the network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device, including that the network device sends a wake-up signal to the terminal device, and the wake-up signal includes the fourth indication information. That is, the network device can indicate the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer through the wake-up signal. Such a sending manner is beneficial to reducing the signaling overhead.

[0241] In another possible implementation, the network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device, including that the network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device within a second time window. The end time of the second time window is located before the start time of the first timer, that is, the second time window is a time window between receiving the wake-up signal and starting the first timer. Alternatively, the start time and the end time of the second time window are during the running of the first timer, that is, the second time window is during the running of the first timer, and the network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device in the second time window during the running of the first timer. Such a sending manner is more flexible.

[0242] Optionally, the network device sends the fourth indication information before the start time of the first timer, and the terminal device receives the fourth indication information before the start time of the first timer, including: the network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device through L1 signaling / L2 signaling before the start time of the first timer, where the L1 signaling is, for example, DCI, and the L2 signaling is, for example, MAC CE. The terminal device monitors the fourth indication information in a monitoring occasion before starting the first timer, that is, in a second time window. Wherein the start position of the second time window can be a position offset by a period of time from the start position / end position of the monitoring occasion of the wake-up signal, or the start position of the second time window can be a position offset by a period of time from the start position of the first timer.

[0243] It should be understood that the length of the second time window, the time offset of the start position of the first time window relative to the reference point, the information of the reference point, etc. are time parameters, which can be absolute time units, such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and can also be time measurement units of a communication system, such as slots, symbols, frames, subframes, mini-frames, etc.

[0244] Optionally, the network device sends the fourth indication information to the terminal device in the second time window during the running of the first timer, including: the network device sends the fourth indication information at a position offset by T2 time units from the start position of the first timer, and the length of the time window for sending the fourth indication information can be M2 time units. Wherein T1 is greater than or equal to 0, and M2 is greater than 0. The time unit can be an absolute time unit, such as seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and can also be a time measurement unit of a communication system, such as slots, symbols, frames, subframes, mini-frames, etc. One possible design is that the terminal device monitors the fourth indication information in the first m symbols after the first timer is started.

[0245] In the embodiments of the present application, the network device can dynamically adjust the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer according to the transmission situation of the service data. For example, in the case of intensive service data transmission, the network device indicates a longer first timer and / or a longer third timer to the terminal device, which is beneficial to guarantee the transmission of service data; in the case of non-intensive service data transmission, the network device indicates a shorter first timer and / or a shorter third timer to the terminal device, which is beneficial to avoid unnecessary PDCCH and / or PDSCH monitoring, reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, and thus improve the energy saving gain of the terminal device using the wake-up signal in the connected state.

[0246] In the communication method described above in combination with FIG. 9 and FIG. 11, the terminal device can determine whether to start the second timer based on the indication of the network device. In addition to the indication of the network device, the terminal device can also determine whether the second timer needs to be started according to the monitoring situation of the PDCCH and / or PDSCH, as described below.

[0247] In a possible implementation, after receiving the wake-up signal, the terminal device starts the first timer, and during the running of the first timer, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. The terminal device counts the proportion of the number of time slots actually monitored to the PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the first timer in the total number of time slots of the first timer, which can reflect the size of the traffic to some extent.

[0248] For example, as shown in FIG. 15A, if the proportion of the number of time slots actually monitored to the PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the first timer in the total number of time slots of the first timer is greater than a first threshold, it indicates that the traffic is large, or in other words, the traffic data is relatively dense, and it is possible that the PDCCH and / or PDSCH cannot be received during the running of the first timer. In this case, the terminal device can start the second timer after the first timer expires. For example, as shown in FIG. 15B, if the proportion of the number of time slots actually monitored to the PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the first timer in the total number of time slots of the first timer is less than the first threshold, it indicates that the traffic is small, or in other words, the traffic data is not dense, and it is highly probable that the PDCCH and / or PDSCH can be received during the running of the first timer. In this case, the terminal device does not need to start the second timer. The first threshold can be an absolute value, and the unit can be a percentage, for example, 80%, 90%.

[0249] In another possible implementation, after receiving the wake-up signal, the terminal device starts the first timer, and during the running of the first timer, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. The terminal device counts the number of time slots actually monitored to the PDCCH and / or PDSCH during the running of the first timer, and compares the number of time slots with a second threshold, which can reflect the size of the traffic to some extent.

[0250] For example, as shown in FIG. 16A, if the number of time slots in which the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is actually monitored during the running of the first timer is greater than the second threshold, it indicates that the traffic volume is large, or in other words, the service data is relatively dense, and it is possible that the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH cannot be received during the running of the first timer. In this case, the terminal device can start the second timer after the running of the first timer ends. For example, as shown in FIG. 16B, if the number of time slots in which the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH is actually monitored during the running of the first timer is less than the second threshold, it indicates that the traffic volume is small, or in other words, the service data is not dense, and it is highly probable that the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH can be received during the running of the first timer. In this case, the terminal device does not need to start the second timer. The second threshold can be an absolute value.

[0251] In yet another possible implementation, after receiving the wake-up signal, the terminal device starts the first timer, and during the running of the first timer, the terminal device monitors the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH. The terminal device records a time interval between the position of the last PDCCH and / or PDSCH monitored during the running of the first timer and the end position of the first timer, and compares the size of the time interval with a third threshold. The time interval can reflect whether the service data is transmitted within the first timer to a certain extent.

[0252] For example, as shown in FIG. 17A, if the time interval between the position of the last PDCCH and / or PDSCH monitored during the running of the first timer and the end position of the first timer is greater than the third threshold, it indicates that the traffic volume is small, or in other words, the service data transmission is not dense, and it is highly probable that the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH can be received during the running of the first timer. In this case, the terminal device does not need to start the second timer. For example, as shown in FIG. 17B, if the time interval between the position of the last PDCCH and / or PDSCH monitored during the running of the first timer and the end position of the first timer is less than the third threshold, it indicates that the traffic volume is large, or in other words, the service data transmission is relatively dense, and it is possible that the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH cannot be received during the running of the first timer. In this case, the terminal device can start the second timer after the running of the first timer ends.

[0253] The first threshold, the second threshold or the third threshold in the above can be pre-defined by a protocol, or configured by the network device through dedicated signaling, broadcast signaling, etc., and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0254] In the foregoing description, the terminal device can start the second timer to extend the time of monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, whether the terminal device can start the second timer can be regarded as a UE capability, and the network device needs to acquire whether the terminal device has the capability of starting the second timer. Therefore, the terminal device can report the capability information of whether it supports using the second timer to the network device.

[0255] For example, as shown in FIG. 18, in a case where the AMF network element does not store the UE context, the terminal device sends the UE capability information (UECapabilityInformation) to the network device, where information indicating whether the terminal device supports using the second timer is carried. The network device can forward the air interface capability of the terminal device to the AMF network element through the UE radio capability information indication message (containing the UE Radio Capability IE and the UE Radio Capability for Paging IE). In a case where the AMF network element stores the UE context, the AMF network element sends the UE capability information to the network device.

[0256] Optionally, after receiving the UE capability information, the network device can send an acknowledgement (ACK) to the terminal device, indicating that the UE capability information has been successfully received.

[0257] It should be understood that, since the second timer is used in the DRX mechanism, in a possible design, the terminal device supports using the second timer in a case where it supports the DRX mechanism.

[0258] In the foregoing description with respect to FIG. 8 and FIG. 11, the first timer is decoupled from the DRX inactivity timer, and the scheme of multiplexing the first timer with the second timer is adopted. The DRX inactivity timer is a currently existing mechanism, and therefore, the network device needs to enable and control the DRX inactivity timer and the second timer.

[0259] For example, the network device can provide the enablement control in a cell granularity in broadcast signaling, such as an SIB message, or provide the enablement control in a UE granularity in RRC dedicated signaling (such as an RRC reconfiguration message) or NAS signaling (such as a registration accept message).

[0260] In a possible implementation, the enablement control information of the DRX inactivity timer and the enablement control information of the second timer can be carried in a same information element (IE), and the information indicated by the information element can include: indicating to use the second timer and not to use the DRX inactivity timer, or indicating to use the DRX inactivity timer and not to use the second timer.

[0261] In one possible design, the information element uses 1-bit indication, e.g., bit state "1" indicates using DRX inactivity timer, bit state "0" indicates using the second timer, or vice versa.

[0262] In another possible design, the information element uses string enumeration indication, e.g., DRX inactivity timer is named as name 1, the second timer is named as name 2, using the form of ENUMERATED(name 1) indicates using DRX inactivity timer, or ENUMERATED(name 2) indicates using the second timer. Or, the information element carries ENUMERATED(true), "true" indicates using DRX inactivity timer, the information element carries ENUMERATED(false), "false" indicates using the second timer, or vice versa.

[0263] In another possible implementation, the enabling control information of the DRX inactivity timer and the enabling control information of the second timer can be carried in two information elements respectively. For example, information element 1 indicates whether to support DRX inactivity timer, information element 2 indicates whether to support the second timer.

[0264] In one possible design, the form of the information element can be 1-bit indication, e.g., bit state "1" in information element 1 indicates supporting DRX inactivity timer, bit state "0" indicates not supporting DRX inactivity timer, or vice versa. Similarly, bit state "1" in information element 2 indicates supporting the second timer, bit state "0" indicates not supporting the second timer, or vice versa.

[0265] In another possible design, the form of the information element can be string enumeration indication, e.g., the form of information element 1 is ENUMERATED(supported / true, or, not supported / false), when information element 1 indicates supported / true, it indicates supporting DRX inactivity timer, when information element 1 indicates not supported / false, it indicates not supporting DRX inactivity timer. Similarly, the form of information element 2 is ENUMERATED(supported / true, or, not supported / false), when information element 2 indicates supported / true, it indicates supporting the second timer, when information element 2 indicates not supported / false, it indicates not supporting the second timer.

[0266] It should be noted that in the case that the enablement control information of the DRX inactivity timer and the enablement control information of the second timer are respectively carried in two information elements, if both information elements indicate that the corresponding mechanism is supported, for example, information element 1 indicates that the DRX inactivity timer is supported, and information element 2 indicates that the second timer is supported, the terminal device and the network device use the mechanism of the DRX inactivity timer by default.

[0267] In addition to the above method in which the terminal device enables the DRX inactivity timer or the second timer based on the indication of the network device, the terminal device can also report the preference for the two monitoring mechanisms to the network device through UE assistance information (UAI), for example, report the preference for using the DRX inactivity timer / second timer, or report the preference for not using the DRX inactivity timer / second timer, or report the high or low of the energy saving requirement, if the energy saving requirement is high, the second timer can be used, and if the energy saving requirement is low, the DRX inactivity timer can be used.

[0268] Alternatively, for the scenario of disabling, in a possible implementation, when the terminal device is in a low power mode, the terminal device can send UAI to the network device, the UAI carries disabling information, and the disabling information is used to request the network device to disable the DRX inactivity timer or the second timer.

[0269] It can be understood that the various numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only used for differentiation for convenience of description, and do not limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of each process does not mean the execution order, and the execution order of each process should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

[0270] The method provided in the embodiments of the present application is introduced by taking the terminal device and the network device as an example. In the present application, each embodiment can be implemented independently or in combination based on certain internal relationship. In each embodiment, different implementation manners can be implemented in combination or independently. In order to implement the functions in the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the steps performed by the terminal device can be implemented by the terminal device itself, or by different functional entities constituting the terminal device. The steps performed by the network device can be implemented by the network device itself, or by different functional entities constituting the network device. For example, the network device is an access network device, which can be a CU-DU architecture. The CU can generate the indication information, and the DU can send the indication information. In order to implement the functions in the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device and the network device can include hardware structures and / or software modules, and the above functions are implemented in the form of hardware structure, software module, or hardware structure plus software module. Whether a certain function in the above functions is implemented in the form of hardware structure, software module, or hardware structure plus software module depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0271] The communication method according to the embodiments of the present application is described in detail above in combination with FIG. 9, FIG. 11 and FIG. 14. The communication apparatus according to the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in combination with FIG. 19 and FIG. 20.

[0272] FIG. 19 and FIG. 20 are schematic block diagrams of the communication apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application. These communication apparatuses can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments.

[0273] As shown in FIG. 19, the communication apparatus 1900 includes a transceiver module 1910 and a processing module 1920. The transceiver module 1910 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication module.

[0274] The apparatus 1900 can be used to perform the actions performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments. Alternatively, the apparatus 1900 is a component (for example, a chip) configured in the terminal device or the network device. The processing module 1920 is used to perform the processing-related operations of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments. The transceiver module 1910 is used to perform the receiving and sending-related operations of the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0275] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 can include a sending module and a receiving module. The sending module is used to perform the sending operations in the above method embodiments. The receiving module is used to perform the receiving operations in the above method embodiments.

[0276] It should be noted that the apparatus 1900 can include a sending module but not a receiving module. Alternatively, the apparatus 1900 can include a receiving module but not a sending module. Specifically, whether the apparatus 1900 includes a sending module or a receiving module depends on whether the apparatus 1900 performs the sending action and the receiving action in the above-mentioned solutions.

[0277] Optionally, the apparatus 1900 is configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above-mentioned embodiments of FIG. 9, FIG. 11, and FIG. 14. For details, refer to the related description in the above-mentioned embodiments of FIG. 9, FIG. 11, and FIG. 14, which will not be repeated here.

[0278] Optionally, the apparatus 1900 can further include a storage module, which can be configured to store data, and / or store a computer program or instructions, and the processing module 1920 can read the computer program / instructions and / or data in the storage module, so that the apparatus 1900 implements the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0279] When the apparatus 1900 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment of FIG. 9, the transceiver module 1910 receives a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being configured to indicate monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH; and the processing module 1920 is configured to start a first timer, and monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the first timer; and determine whether to start a second timer after the first timer expires according to whether first indication information is received during running of the first timer, the first indication information being configured to indicate that service transmission has ended, and the second timer being configured to continue monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH after the first timer expires.

[0280] Optionally, if the first indication information is not received during running of the first timer, it is determined to start the second timer after the first timer expires; and if the first indication information is received during running of the first timer, it is determined not to start the second timer after the first timer expires.

[0281] Optionally, the first indication information is received during running of the first timer; and the first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of the service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

[0282] Optionally, in the case that the first indication information is not received during running of the first timer, the processing module 1920 is configured to start the second timer after the first timer expires; continue monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the second timer; and determine whether to restart the second timer after the second timer expires according to whether the first indication information is received during running of the second timer.

[0283] When the apparatus 1900 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment as shown in FIG. 9, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: send a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH; and the processing module 1920 is configured to: start a first timer, and send PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the first timer; and the transceiver module 1910 is further configured to: send first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that service transmission has ended.

[0284] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: send the first indication information during running of the first timer. The first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

[0285] Optionally, the processing module 1920 is configured to: after the first timer ends, start a second timer, the second timer being used for the terminal device to continue monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH after the first timer ends. The transceiver module 1910 is configured to: during running of the second timer, send the first indication information. The first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

[0286] When the apparatus 1900 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment as shown in FIG. 11, the processing module 1920 is configured to: after receiving a wake-up signal, start a first timer, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH; and during running of the first timer, monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH. The transceiver module 1910 is configured to: receive second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate whether to start a second timer after the first timer ends, the second timer being used for continuing monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH after the first timer ends.

[0287] Optionally, in the case where the second indication information is used to indicate starting the second timer after the first timer ends, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: a number of times the second timer needs to be started, a length of the second timer, a time domain position of the second timer, or a frequency domain position for monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the second timer.

[0288] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: receive the second indication information, including: receiving a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal including the second indication information.

[0289] Optionally, the transceiver 1910 is configured to receive the second indication information, including: monitoring the second indication information in a first time window, an end time of the first time window is before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the first time window are during running of the first timer.

[0290] Optionally, the second indication information is carried in any one of the following signaling: DCI, MAC CE, RRC message or broadcast message.

[0291] Optionally, in the case that the second indication information is used to indicate to start the second timer after the first timer expires, the processing module 1920 is configured to start the second timer after the first timer expires. The transceiver 1910 is configured to receive third indication information during running of the second timer, the third indication information being used to indicate whether to restart the second timer after the second timer expires.

[0292] When the apparatus 1900 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the processing module 1920 is configured to determine whether to need to start a second timer after a first timer expires, the first timer being started after sending a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate to monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH, the second timer being used to continue to monitor PDCCH and / or PDSCH after the first timer expires. The transceiver 1910 is configured to send second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate whether to start the second timer after the first timer expires.

[0293] Optionally, in the case that the second indication information is used to indicate to start the second timer, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: a number of times the second timer needs to be started, a length of the second timer, a time domain position of the second timer or a frequency domain position of monitoring PDCCH and / or PDSCH during running of the second timer.

[0294] Optionally, the transceiver 1910 is configured to send the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal including the second indication information.

[0295] Optionally, the transceiver 1910 is configured to send the second indication information in a first time window, an end time of the first time window is before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the first time window are during running of the first timer.

[0296] Optionally, the second indication information is carried in any one of the following signaling: DCI, MAC CE, RRC message or broadcast message.

[0297] When the apparatus 1900 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the method embodiment as shown in FIG. 14, the processing module 1920 is configured to: determine the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer, the first timer being started after sending the wake-up signal and being used for the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the wake-up signal being used to indicate the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the third timer being a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH. The transceiver module 1910 is configured to: send the fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used to indicate the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer.

[0298] Optionally, the processing module 1920 is configured to: in the case of intensive transmission of service data, determine that the length of the first timer is greater than or equal to a first value, and / or, determine that the length of the third timer is greater than or equal to a second value; in the case of non-intensive transmission of service data, determine that the length of the first timer is less than the first value, and / or, determine that the length of the third timer is less than the second value.

[0299] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: send the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the fourth indication information.

[0300] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: send the fourth indication information within a second time window, the end time of the second time window being located before the start time of the first timer, or the start time and the end time of the second time window being during the running of the first timer.

[0301] When the apparatus 1900 is configured to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment as shown in FIG. 11, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: receive the fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used to indicate the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer, the first timer being started after receiving the wake-up signal and being used for the terminal device to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the wake-up signal being used to indicate the monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the third timer being a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

[0302] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: receive the fourth indication information, comprising: receiving the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the fourth indication information.

[0303] Optionally, the transceiver module 1910 is configured to: receive the fourth indication information within a second time window, the end time of the second time window being located before the start time of the first timer, or the start time and the end time of the second time window being during the running of the first timer.

[0304] For more detailed descriptions of the steps, reference can be made to the related descriptions in the method embodiments above, which will not be repeated here.

[0305] Figure 20 is a schematic block diagram of another communication apparatus 2000 provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 20, the apparatus 2000 includes one or more processors 2010 and interface circuitry 2020. The one or more processors 2010 and the interface circuitry 2020 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the interface circuitry 2020 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the apparatus 2000 can further include a memory 2030 for storing instructions executed by the processor 2010, or for storing input data required by the instructions executed by the processor 2010, or for storing data generated by the processor 2010 after executing the instructions. Sometimes, the interface circuitry 2020 can also be understood as a part of the one or more processors 2010, and in this case, the apparatus 2000 includes the one or more processors 2010.

[0306] The one or more processors 2010 and the memory 2030 can be separately arranged or integrally arranged, which is not limited in the present application.

[0307] When the apparatus 2000 is used to implement the method shown in Figure 9, Figure 11 or Figure 14, the one or more processors 2010 are configured to implement the functions of the processing module 1920, and the interface circuitry 2020 is configured to implement the functions of the transceiver module 1910.

[0308] When the apparatus 2000 is a chip for a terminal device, the chip for the terminal device implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The chip for the terminal device receives information from a network device, which can be understood as that the information is first received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and then transmitted to the chip for the terminal device by the other modules. The chip for the terminal device transmits information to the network device, which can be understood as that the information is first transmitted to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and then transmitted to the network device by the other modules.

[0309] When the apparatus 2000 is a chip for a network device, the chip for the network device implements the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments. The chip for the network device receives information from a terminal device, which can be understood as that the information is first received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and then transmitted to the chip for the terminal device by the other modules. The chip for the network device transmits information to the terminal device, which can be understood as that the information is first transmitted to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device, and then transmitted to the terminal device by the other modules.

[0310] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, which can make a computer execute the method in the above embodiment when the computer program runs on the computer. Alternatively, the computer program comprises instructions for implementing the method in the above embodiment.

[0311] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions, which can make a computer execute the method in the above embodiment when the computer program or instructions run on the computer.

[0312] The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip comprising at least one processor for supporting implementation of the method in the above embodiment, for example, receiving or processing data involved in the method in the above embodiment.

[0313] FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of a chip system 2100 provided by the embodiment of the present application. The chip system 2100 comprises a processor module, a storage module, a radio frequency / antenna module and a power supply module.

[0314] The processor module is used for various calculations, including a central processing unit (CPU) responsible for executing various instructions, including instructions of application programs, operating systems and other software; a graphics processing unit (GPU) mainly responsible for graphics processing, but the CPU can also process some graphics tasks, such as rendering of application interfaces; a modem for modulating or demodulating signals so that digital signals can be transmitted in space;

[0315] The storage module comprises a random access memory (RAM) and a read-only memory (ROM). The RAM is a temporary storage space in the terminal device, used for temporarily storing data in use, such as opened web pages, messages of chat applications, game states, etc.; the ROM is a read-only storage space in the terminal device, used for storing system files, pre-installed application programs and firmware;

[0316] The power supply module is used for providing voltage and current to other modules to maintain normal operation of the chip;

[0317] The radio frequency / antenna module is used for amplifying signals and radiating them into space, or receiving wireless signals in space; for the present application, the radio frequency / antenna module comprises an MR and a WUR, the WUR is used for receiving a wake-up signal, and the MR is used for receiving a PDCCH and / or a PDSCH.

[0318] It should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the processor can be a CPU, and the processor can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor.

[0319] In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in combination with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as hardware processor execution completion, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, and other mature storage media in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor executes the instructions in the memory to complete the steps of the above method in combination with the hardware thereof. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0320] Those of ordinary skill in the art can realize that the modules and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are executed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0321] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described system, device and module can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here.

[0322] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other manners. For example, the division of the above-described device embodiment is merely an example, and there can be other division manners. For example, multiple modules or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices or modules, and can be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0323] The modules illustrated as separated components can or can not be physically separated, and the components illustrated as modules can or can not be physical modules, i.e., can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment.

[0324] In addition, the functional modules in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing module, or each module can be physically present alone, or two or more modules can be integrated into one module.

[0325] If the functions are realized in the form of software function modules and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as U disk, mobile hard disk, ROM, RAM, magnetic disk or optical disk, etc.

[0326] The above description is merely a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); starting a first timer and monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the first timer; determining whether to start a second timer after expiration of the first timer according to whether first indication information is received during running of the first timer, the first indication information being used to indicate that service transmission has ended, and the second timer being used to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after expiration of the first timer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The determining whether to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer according to whether the first indication information is received during running of the first timer comprises: if the first indication information is not received during running of the first timer, determining to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer; if the first indication information is received during running of the first timer, determining not to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first indication information is received during running of the first timer; wherein the first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, In a case where the first indication information is not received during running of the first timer, the method further comprises: starting the second timer after expiration of the first timer; continuing to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the second timer; determining whether to restart the second timer after expiration of the second timer according to whether the first indication information is received during running of the second timer.

5. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: sending a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); starting a first timer and sending the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the first timer; sending first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that service transmission has ended.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The sending of the first indication information comprises: sending the first indication information during running of the first timer; wherein the first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein, Before the sending of the first indication information, the method further comprises: starting a second timer after expiration of the first timer, the second timer being used for the terminal device to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after expiration of the first timer; the sending of the first indication information comprises: sending the first indication information during running of the second timer; wherein the first indication information is carried in a first PDSCH or a first PDCCH, the first PDSCH being a PDSCH carrying a last data packet of a service, and the first PDCCH being a PDCCH scheduling the first PDSCH.

8. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: starting a first timer after receiving a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the first timer; receiving second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate whether to start a second timer after expiration of the first timer, the second timer being used to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after expiration of the first timer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, In a case where the second indication information is used to indicate starting of the second timer after expiration of the first timer, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: a number of times the second timer needs to be started, a length of the second timer, a time domain position of the second timer, or a frequency domain position for monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH during running of the second timer.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The receiving of the second indication information comprises: receiving the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the second indication information.

11. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The receiving of the second indication information comprises: monitoring the second indication information within a first time window, an end time of the first time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the first time window being during running of the first timer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The second indication information is carried in any of the following signaling: downlink control information (DCI), a medium access control control element (MAC CE), a radio resource control (RRC) message, or a broadcast message.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that, In a case where the second indication information is used to indicate starting of the second timer after expiration of the first timer, the method further comprises: starting the second timer after expiration of the first timer; receiving third indication information during running of the second timer, the third indication information being used to indicate whether to restart the second timer after expiration of the second timer.

14. A communication method, comprising: The method comprises: determining whether to need to start a second timer after expiration of a first timer, the first timer being started after receiving a wake-up signal and being used to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the second timer being used to continue monitoring the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH after expiration of the first timer; sending second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate whether to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, The determining of whether to need to start the second timer after expiration of the first timer comprises: in a case where service data transmission is intensive, determining that the second timer needs to be started after the first timer expires; in a case where service data transmission is not intensive, determining that the second timer does not need to be started after the first timer expires.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, in a case where the second indication information is used to indicate that the second timer is started, the second indication information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: a number of times the second timer needs to be started, a length of the second timer, a time domain position of the second timer, or a frequency domain position at which PDCCH and / or PDSCH is monitored during running of the second timer.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that, the sending of the second indication information comprises: sending the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the second indication information.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, characterized in that, the sending of the second indication information comprises: sending the second indication information within a first time window, an end time of the first time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the first time window being during running of the first timer.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, the second indication information is carried in any one of the following signaling: downlink control information (DCI), a medium access control control element (MAC CE), a radio resource control (RRC) message, or a broadcast message.

20. The method of any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein, in a case where the second indication information is used to indicate that the second timer is started after the first timer expires, the method further comprises: starting the second timer after the first timer expires; during running of the second timer, sending third indication information, the third indication information being used to indicate whether the second timer is restarted after the first timer expires.

21. A method of communication, comprising: comprises: determining a length of a first timer and / or a length of a third timer, the first timer being started after sending a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal being used to indicate monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the third timer being a timer triggered after successful decoding of the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH; sending fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used to indicate the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein, determining the length of the first timer and / or the length of the third timer comprises: in a case where service data transmission is intensive, determining that the length of the first timer is greater than or equal to a first value, and / or determining that the length of the third timer is greater than or equal to a second value; in a case where service data transmission is not intensive, determining that the length of the first timer is less than the first value, and / or determining that the length of the third timer is less than the second value.

23. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein, the sending of the fourth indication information comprises: sending the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the fourth indication information.

24. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein, the sending of the fourth indication information comprises: sending the fourth indication information within a second time window, an end time of the second time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the second time window being during running of the first timer.

25. A method of communication, comprising: comprising: receiving fourth indication information, the fourth indication information being used for indicating a length of a first timer and / or a length of a third timer, the first timer being started after receiving a wake-up signal, and being used for the terminal device to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the wake-up signal being used for indicating to monitor the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH, the third timer being a timer triggered after successfully decoding the PDCCH and / or the PDSCH.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein, The receiving fourth indication information comprises: receiving the wake-up signal, the wake-up signal comprising the fourth indication information.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein, The receiving fourth indication information comprises: receiving the fourth indication information within a second time window, an end time of the second time window being located before a start time of the first timer, or a start time and an end time of the second time window being during running of the first timer.

28. A communications device, characterized by comprising a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, or a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, or a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, or a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, or a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, or a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 25 to 27.

29. A communications device, characterized by comprising at least one processor coupled with a memory, the memory being used for storing a program or instructions, when the program or instructions are executed by the at least one processor, causing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 5 to 7 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 13 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 20 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 21 to 24 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 25 to 27 to be executed.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program for storing, when the computer program is run on a computer, causing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 5 to 7 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 8 to 13 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 20 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 21 to 24 to be executed, or causing the method according to any one of claims 25 to 27 to be executed.

31. A computer program product, characterised in that, comprising: A computer program or instructions, which, when executed, cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 to be performed, or cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 7 to be performed, or cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 8 to 13 to be performed, or cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 20 to be performed, or cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 24 to be performed, or cause a method as claimed in any one of claims 25 to 27 to be performed.

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