Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: receiving a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal occasion, wherein the first wake-up signal occasion is associated with K paging occasions, the first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier, the first identifier is used for waking up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with a first paging occasion, the first paging occasion belongs to the K paging occasions, and K is an integer greater than 1; and determining a first value N, wherein N*K is less than or equal to a second value X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging occasions is equal to N, the first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, N is a positive integer, and Y is an integer greater than 1. On this basis, when one wake-up signal occasion is associated with a plurality of paging occasions, all candidate identifiers can be allocated to waking up each terminal device group associated with each paging occasion, and allocated to waking up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal occasion.

Description

Communication methods and communication devices

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202510390621.3, filed on March 28, 2025, entitled "Communication Method and Communication Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202510578591.9, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on April 30, 2025, entitled "Communication Method and Communication Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device. Background Technology

[0004] Terminal devices can receive a wake-up signal at the designated wake-up time via a separate low-power circuit, such as a wake-up radio (WUR), while the main receiver can be in sleep mode. When the terminal device detects the wake-up signal via the WUR, it triggers the main receiver to wake up. After the main receiver wakes up, the terminal device can receive data, etc., through it. Currently, different identifiers can be included in the wake-up signal to wake up individual terminal devices or groups of terminal devices separately.

[0005] As one possible scenario, a wake-up signal timing can be associated with multiple paging timings, and each paging timing can be associated with multiple terminal device groups. In this case, how to assign candidate identifiers to wake up each terminal device group associated with each paging timing, and how to assign them to wake up all terminal devices, is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a communication method and a communication device that, when a wake-up signal timing is associated with multiple paging timings, can assign all candidate identifiers to each terminal device group associated with each paging timing, and to all terminal devices associated with the aforementioned wake-up signal timing.

[0007] Firstly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a first device. The first device can be a terminal device, or a component applied to the terminal device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the terminal device; this application does not limit this. The component applied to the terminal device can be within the terminal device or can be independent of the terminal device. For ease of description, the first device will be used as an example below.

[0008] The method may include: a first device receiving a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, the first wake-up signal indicating a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing, the first paging timing belonging to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1; the first device determining a first value N, where N*K is less than or equal to a second value X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging timings being equal to N, the first identifier being one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include a second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include a second identifier, X = Y-1, the second identifier being used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0009] Based on the above technical solution, the first wake-up signal timing is associated with multiple (K) paging timings. Each paging timing can be associated with N terminal device groups. The first device (e.g., a terminal device in any terminal device group associated with any paging timing) can be woken up by a first identifier in the received first wake-up signal. The first identifier is one of all (Y) candidate identifiers. Specifically, when all candidate identifiers do not include a second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, N*K is less than or equal to Y; when all candidate identifiers include a second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, N*K is less than or equal to Y-1. Therefore, all N*K terminal device groups can correspond one-to-one with N*K identifiers in the Y candidate identifiers, so that a terminal device in any of the N*K terminal device groups can be woken up by one of the N*K identifiers. This achieves the allocation of candidate identifiers to wake up each terminal device group associated with each paging timing, and to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0010] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first device determines the first value N by: the first device receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating the N; or, the first device calculating the N based on the X and the K.

[0011] Based on the above technical solution, the number N of terminal device groups associated with each paging opportunity can be configured based on the first configuration information, or it can be determined by the first device based on the number K of paging opportunities associated with the first wake-up signal opportunity, the number Y of all candidate identifiers, and whether the all candidate identifiers include the second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal opportunity.

[0012] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the N satisfies: N = floor(X / K).

[0013] Based on the above technical solution, when the candidate identifiers do not include the second identifiers of all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, the value of N is the largest positive integer satisfying N*K≤Y; when the candidate identifiers include the second identifiers of all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, the value of N is the largest positive integer satisfying N*K≤Y-1. Therefore, each terminal device associated with a paging timing can be divided into as many terminal device groups as possible, thus each identifier can wake up fewer terminal devices, improving the energy-saving effect of the terminal.

[0014] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index of the first paging time in the K paging times, and the index of the first terminal device group in all terminal device groups associated with the first paging time.

[0015] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index P of the first paging time in the K paging times, and the index Q of the first terminal device group in all terminal device groups associated with the first paging time, including: the value T of the first identifier satisfies: T = P * N + Q.

[0016] Based on the above technical solution, the value of the first identifier is equal to the product of the index of the first paging time and the number of terminal device groups associated with each paging time, plus the index of the first terminal device group. Based on this, the first device can determine which terminal device in which terminal device group the first identifier is used to wake up.

[0017] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, the value of the second identifier being N*K, or the value of the second identifier being Y-1.

[0018] Based on the above technical solution, the value of the second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal is N*K or Y-1. Based on this design, the correspondence between the value of the identifier and the index of the paging timing and the index of the terminal device group can be maintained without affecting the fact that the second identifier is included in all candidate identifiers.

[0019] Secondly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a first device. The first device can be a terminal device, or a component applied to the terminal device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the terminal device; this application does not limit this. The component applied to the terminal device can be within the terminal device or can be independent of the terminal device. For ease of description, the first device will be used as an example below.

[0020] The method may include: a first device receiving a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, the first wake-up signal indicating a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing, the first paging timing belonging to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1; the first device determining a first value N, where N*K is greater than or equal to a second value X, when N*K is greater than X, the K paging timings including a second paging timing and a third paging timing, the number of terminal device groups associated with the second paging timing being equal to N, the number of terminal device groups associated with the third paging timing being less than N, the first identifier being one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, the second identifier being used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0021] Based on the above technical solution, the first wake-up signal timing is associated with multiple (K) paging timings. The number of terminal device groups associated with each paging timing can be different, and a paging timing can be associated with a maximum of N terminal device groups. The first device (e.g., a terminal device in any terminal device group associated with any paging timing) can be woken up by a first identifier in the received first wake-up signal. The first identifier is one of all (Y) candidate identifiers. Specifically, when all candidate identifiers do not include a second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, N*K>Y, and the total number of all terminal device groups associated with the K paging timings equals Y; when all candidate identifiers include a second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, N*K>Y-1, and the total number of all terminal device groups associated with the K paging timings equals Y-1, and the remaining candidate identifier can be used as the second identifier. Based on this, any one of the candidate identifiers is assigned to wake up a terminal device group, or to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, so that all candidate identifiers are utilized, and the total number of all terminal device groups associated with K paging timings reaches the maximum, so that each identifier can wake up fewer terminal devices, thus improving the terminal energy saving effect.

[0022] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, when N*K equals X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities is equal to N, the first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, N is a positive integer, and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal opportunity.

[0023] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first device determines the first value N by: the first device receiving first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating the N; or, the first device calculating the N based on the X and the K.

[0024] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the N satisfies: N = ceil(X / K).

[0025] Based on the above technical solution, when the candidate identifiers do not include the second identifiers of all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, the value of N is the smallest positive integer satisfying N*K≥Y; when the candidate identifiers include the second identifiers of all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing, the value of N is the smallest positive integer satisfying N*K≥Y-1. Therefore, with all candidate identifiers utilized, the number of terminal device groups associated with each paging timing is also as even as possible, thus ensuring fairness among paging timings and improving terminal energy-saving performance. Conversely, if the number of terminal device groups associated with different paging timings varies significantly, some terminal device groups may contain a large number of terminal devices, and waking up these numerous terminal devices through identifiers may lead to a decrease in energy-saving performance.

[0026] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, when N*K is greater than X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities satisfies: the K paging opportunities include Each paging opportunity is associated with N terminal device groups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K paging opportunities include... Each paging opportunity is associated with floor(X / K) terminal device groups; or, the K paging opportunities include K-1 paging opportunities associated with N terminal device groups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K paging opportunities include 1 paging opportunity associated with... A group of terminal devices; where ceil represents the round-up operation and floor represents the round-down operation.

[0027] Based on the above technical solution, the number of terminal device groups associated with each paging opportunity in K paging opportunities can prioritize ensuring fairness, or prioritize satisfying that the number of terminal device groups associated with each paging opportunity in K-1 paging opportunities reaches the maximum value N.

[0028] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, Y=32, K=2, N=16, and the K paging opportunities include one paging opportunity associated with 16 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 15 terminal device groups; or, K=3, N=11, and the K paging opportunities include one paging opportunity associated with 11 terminal device groups and two paging opportunities associated with 10 terminal device groups; or, K=3, N=11, and the K paging opportunities include two paging opportunities associated with 11 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 9 terminal device groups; or, K=4, N=8, and the K paging opportunities include three paging opportunities associated with 8 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 7 terminal device groups.

[0029] In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, and the value of the second identifier is Y-1.

[0030] Based on the above technical solution, the value of the second identifier used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal can be fixed as Y-1. Based on this design, it is possible to ensure that all candidate identifiers are utilized and that the second identifier is included among all candidate identifiers, without affecting the correspondence between the identifier value and the index of the paging timing and the index of the terminal device group.

[0031] In combination with the first or second aspect, in some implementations of the first or second aspect, Y is 32.

[0032] Based on the above technical solution, the total number of candidate identifiers can be 32, in other words, the length of the identifier can be 5 bits.

[0033] Regarding the beneficial effects not described in detail in the second aspect, please refer to the relevant description in the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0034] Thirdly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a second device. This second device can be a network device, or a component applied to the network device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device; this application does not limit this. The component applied to the network device can be within the network device or independent of the network device. For ease of description, the following explanation uses the second device as an example.

[0035] The method may include: a second device sending a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, the first wake-up signal indicating a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing, the first paging timing belonging to the K paging timings, K being an integer greater than 1; the second device sending first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating N, N*K being less than or equal to a second value X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging timings being equal to N, the first identifier being one of Y candidate identifiers, N being a positive integer, Y being an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, the second identifier being used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0036] In conjunction with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the N satisfies: N = floor(X / K).

[0037] In conjunction with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index of the first paging time in the K paging times, and the index of the first terminal device group in all terminal device groups associated with the first paging time.

[0038] In conjunction with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index P of the first paging time in the K paging times, and the index Q of the first terminal device group in all terminal device groups associated with the first paging time, including: the value T of the first identifier satisfies: T = P * N + Q.

[0039] In conjunction with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, the value of the second identifier being N*K, or the value of the second identifier being Y-1.

[0040] Fourthly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a second device. This second device can be a network device, or a component applied to the network device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device; this application does not limit this. The component applied to the network device can be within the network device or can be independent of the network device. For ease of description, the second device will be used as an example below.

[0041] The method may include: a second device sending a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, the first wake-up signal indicating a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing, the first paging timing belonging to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1; the second device sending first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating N, N*K being greater than or equal to a second value X, when N*K is greater than X, the K paging timings including a second paging timing and a third paging timing, the number of terminal device groups associated with the second paging timing being equal to N, the number of terminal device groups associated with the third paging timing being less than N, the first identifier being one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, when the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, when the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, the second identifier being used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0042] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, when N*K equals X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities is equal to N, the first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, N is a positive integer, and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal opportunity.

[0043] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the N satisfies: N = ceil(X / K).

[0044] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, when N*K is greater than X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities satisfies: the K paging opportunities include Each paging opportunity is associated with N terminal device groups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K paging opportunities include... Each paging opportunity is associated with floor(X / K) terminal device groups; or, the K paging opportunities include K-1 paging opportunities associated with N terminal device groups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K paging opportunities include 1 paging opportunity associated with... A group of terminal devices; where ceil represents the round-up operation and floor represents the round-down operation.

[0045] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, Y=32, K=2, N=16, and the K paging opportunities include one paging opportunity associated with 16 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 15 terminal device groups; or, K=3, N=11, and the K paging opportunities include one paging opportunity associated with 11 terminal device groups and two paging opportunities associated with 10 terminal device groups; or, K=3, N=11, and the K paging opportunities include two paging opportunities associated with 11 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 9 terminal device groups; or, K=4, N=8, and the K paging opportunities include three paging opportunities associated with 8 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 7 terminal device groups.

[0046] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, and the value of the second identifier is Y-1.

[0047] In conjunction with the third or fourth aspect, in some implementations of the third or fourth aspect, Y is 32.

[0048] For any beneficial effects not described in detail in the third or fourth aspect, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the first or second aspect; they will not be repeated here.

[0049] Fifthly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a first device. The first device can be a terminal device, or a component applied to the terminal device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the terminal device; this application does not limit this. The component applied to the terminal device can be within the terminal device or can be independent of the terminal device. For ease of description, the first device will be used as an example below.

[0050] The method may include: a first device receiving a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, each of the K paging timings corresponding to N subgroups, where K and N are both positive integers; the first device determining the identifier value carried in the first wake-up signal, if the identifier value carried in the first wake-up signal is a first identifier value corresponding to the first device, or if the identifier value carried in the first wake-up signal is a second identifier value corresponding to the first device, the first device, upon receiving the first wake-up signal, begins monitoring the paging downlink control information (DCI) or the paging advance indication (PEI).

[0051] Sixthly, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a second device. The second device can be a network device, or a component applied to the network device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor), or a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device; this application does not limit this. The component applied to the network device can be within the network device or can be independent of the network device. For ease of description, the following description directly uses the second device as an example.

[0052] The method may include: a second device sending a first wake-up signal to a first device at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, each of the K paging timings corresponding to N subgroups, where K and N are both positive integers; if the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal is a first identifier value corresponding to the first device, or if the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal is a second identifier value corresponding to the first device, the first wake-up signal instructs the first device to start monitoring paging downlink control information (DCI) or paging advance indication (PEI) after receiving the first wake-up signal.

[0053] Based on the above technical solution, the first wake-up signal timing is associated with multiple (K) paging timings. Each paging timing can be associated with N terminal device groups. The first device (e.g., a terminal device in any terminal device group associated with any paging timing) can be woken up by the first identifier in the received first wake-up signal corresponding to the first identifier of the subgroup to which the first device belongs, or by the second identifier corresponding to the paging timing corresponding to the first device. Based on this, all the above-mentioned N*K terminal device groups can be one-to-one with (N+1)*K identifiers, so that the terminal device in any terminal device group among the N*K terminal device groups can be woken up by two identifiers among the (N+1)*K identifiers, realizing the allocation of candidate identifiers to wake up each terminal device group associated with each paging timing, and to wake up all terminal devices associated with each paging timing.

[0054] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in some implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the relative index value of the PO corresponding to the first device is k, and the corresponding subgroup ID is n, where 0≤k≤K-1, 0≤n≤N-1.

[0055] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in some implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device is k·N+n, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device is K·N+n.

[0056] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in some implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device takes the value k·N+n+N, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device takes the value n.

[0057] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in some implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device is k·(N+1)+n, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device is k·(N+1)+N.

[0058] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in some implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device is k·(N+1)+n+1, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device is k·(N+1).

[0059] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device is set to a value of The second identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: Where log() represents taking the logarithm to the base 2. This indicates rounding up to the nearest integer.

[0060] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device is set to a value of The second identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: Where log() represents taking the logarithm to the base 2. This indicates rounding up to the nearest integer.

[0061] In conjunction with the fifth or sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the third or fourth aspect, the first identifier corresponding to the first device is set to a value of The second identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: Where log() represents taking the logarithm to the base 2. This indicates rounding up to the nearest integer.

[0062] A seventh aspect provides a communication apparatus for performing the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above. Specifically, the apparatus may include units and / or modules for performing the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect, such as processing units and / or communication units.

[0063] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device). When the device is a communication device, the communication unit can be a transceiver or an input / output interface; the processing unit can be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0064] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment (such as terminal equipment or network equipment). When the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment, the communication unit can be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; the processing unit can be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0065] Eighthly, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: at least one processor for executing a computer program or instructions stored in a memory to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory for storing the computer program or instructions; correspondingly, at least one processor is configured to execute the computer program or instructions in the memory. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a communication interface coupled to the processor, which can be used to input information to the processor or output information from the processor. Optionally, the processor reads the computer program or instructions from the memory through the communication interface.

[0066] In one implementation, the device is a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0067] In another implementation, the device is a chip, chip system, or circuit for communication equipment (such as terminal equipment or network equipment).

[0068] Ninth aspect, a processor is provided for performing the methods provided in the first or second aspect above.

[0069] Unless otherwise specified, or if it does not contradict its actual function or internal logic in the relevant description, the transmission and acquisition / reception operations involved in the processor can be understood as processor output and reception, input and other operations, or as transmission and reception operations performed by radio frequency circuits and antennas. This application does not limit them in this regard.

[0070] In a tenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program or instructions are stored, which, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method provided in the first or second aspect described above.

[0071] Eleventhly, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions for performing the methods in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect described above. In other words, when the computer program product is run on a computer, it causes the computer to perform the methods provided in the first or second aspect described above.

[0072] In a twelfth aspect, a chip is provided, the chip including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the processor reads instructions from a memory through the communication interface and executes the methods provided in the first or second aspect above.

[0073] Optionally, as one implementation, the chip further includes a memory storing computer programs or instructions, and a processor for executing the computer programs or instructions in the memory. When the computer programs or instructions are executed, the processor is used to perform the methods provided in the first or second aspect above.

[0074] In a thirteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a first device (or a first communication device) and a second device (or a second communication device). The first device is configured to execute the method provided in any implementation of the first aspect, and the second device is configured to execute the method provided in any implementation of the third aspect; or, the first device is configured to execute the method provided in any implementation of the second aspect, and the second device is configured to execute the method provided in any implementation of the fourth aspect. Attached Figure Description

[0075] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application.

[0076] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the main circuit and the wake-up circuit.

[0077] Figure 3 is a waveform diagram of the signal when OOK modulation is used.

[0078] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the waveform of the signal after Manchester encoding.

[0079] Figure 5 is another schematic diagram of the waveform of the signal after Manchester encoding.

[0080] Figures 6 and 7 are schematic diagrams of the OOK symbol in the time and frequency domains.

[0081] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 800 provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0082] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 900 provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0083] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0084] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 1100 provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0085] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1200 provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0086] The technical solutions in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0087] Before introducing the scheme of this application, the following points should be noted.

[0088] (1) In this application, "instruction" can include direct instruction, indirect instruction, explicit instruction, implicit instruction, etc. When describing an instruction information as indicating A, it can be understood that the instruction information carries A, carries the identifier of A, carries B which is associated with A, carries the identifier of B which is associated with A, etc. In other words, if the receiving side of an instruction information can determine A based on the instruction information, it can be described as the instruction information indicating A, and the specific method of determination is not limited. When it is understood that the instruction information carries A, "instruction" can be replaced with "includes". In this case, a statement such as "send / receive instruction information, the instruction information indicates A" can be replaced with "send / receive A".

[0089] In this application, the information indicated by the instruction information is called the information to be instructed. In specific implementations, there are many ways to indicate the information to be instructed, such as, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be instructed, such as the information to be instructed itself or its index. It can also indirectly indicate the information to be instructed by indicating other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be instructed. It can also indicate only a part of the information to be instructed, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) arrangement of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to some extent. Furthermore, the information to be instructed can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information pieces, and the sending period and / or timing of these sub-information pieces can be the same or different.

[0090] (2) In this application, the expression " / " is used to indicate that the objects before and after are in an "or" relationship; for example, A / B can mean: A or B. The expression "and / or" is used to indicate that the objects before and after are in a relationship of either "and" or "or"; for example, A and / or B can mean the following: A exists alone, B exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, where A and B can be single or multiple. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions are used to indicate any combination of the listed items; for example, at least one of A, B and / or C can mean the following: A exists alone, B exists alone, C exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, B and C exist simultaneously, A and C exist simultaneously, A, B and C exist simultaneously, where A, B, and C can be single or multiple.

[0091] (3) In this application, "send" and "receive" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "send information to XX" can be understood as the destination of the information being XX, which may include direct transmission via the air interface or indirect transmission by other units or modules via the air interface. "Receive information from YY" can be understood as the source of the information being YY, which may include direct reception from YY via the air interface or indirect reception from YY by other units or modules via the air interface. "Send" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receive" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can occur between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules, or hardware modules within the device via a bus, wiring, or interface.

[0092] (4) In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0093] (5) In this application, "first," "second," and "#1," "#2," "#A," "#B," etc., are merely for descriptive convenience and are used to distinguish objects, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. They are not used to describe the order or sequence of features. It should be understood that such described objects can be interchanged where appropriate so as to describe solutions other than those in the embodiments of this application.

[0094] (6) In this application, "predefined" or "defined" may refer to a predefined standard protocol, or it may refer to a pre-agreed or pre-negotiated agreement between devices. Here, "protocol" may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, such as fourth-generation (4G) protocols. thGeneration 4G network, fifth generation (5G) network th This application does not limit the scope to network protocols such as 5G (generation, 5G), New Radio (NR), 5.5G, and related protocols applied in future communication networks.

[0095] (7) In this application, the configuration can be signaling configuration, such as radio resource control (RRC) messages, downlink control information (DCI), or medium access control (MAC) signaling (e.g., MAC control element (MAC CE / MAC-CE)). As an example, signaling configuration can be configured to the terminal device by signaling, for example, the network device configures time-domain resources (or the network device configures time-domain resources for the terminal device, which can be understood as the network device indicating the time-domain resource (also the location of the time-domain resource) to the terminal device through signaling).

[0096] (8) In this application, the words “exemplary,” “for example,” etc., are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as an “example” in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of the word “example” is intended to present the concept in a concrete manner. In the embodiments of this application, “of,” “corresponding, relevant,” and “corresponding” may sometimes be used interchangeably, and it should be noted that their intended meanings are consistent unless their distinction is emphasized.

[0097] First, let me introduce the communication system to which this application applies.

[0098] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, and LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication network systems. Furthermore, the technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems such as inter-satellite communication and satellite communication.

[0099] As an example, a satellite communication system includes a satellite base station and terminal equipment. The satellite base station provides communication services to the terminal equipment. Satellite base stations can also communicate with each other. A satellite can act as a base station or as a terminal device. Here, "satellite" can refer to drones, hot air balloons, low-Earth orbit satellites, medium-Earth orbit satellites, high-Earth orbit satellites, etc. "Satellite" can also refer to non-terrestrial base stations or non-terrestrial equipment.

[0100] As an example, V2X communication can include: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, and vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication.

[0101] In a communication system, a device can send signals to or receive signals from another device. These signals can include information, signaling, or data. The device can also be replaced by an entity, network entity, communication equipment, communication module, node, communication node, etc. This application uses a device as an example for description.

[0102] The terminal device in this application embodiment can be a device or module that accesses the aforementioned communication system and has corresponding communication functions. The terminal device can include various devices with wireless communication capabilities, which can be used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied in various scenarios, such as: cellular communication, D2D, V2X, peer-to-peer (P2P), M2M, MTC, IoT, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, etc. The terminal device can be a terminal in any of the above scenarios, such as an MTC terminal, an IoT terminal, etc. Terminal equipment can be user equipment (UE), terminal, fixed equipment, mobile station equipment or mobile equipment, subscriber unit, handheld device, vehicle-mounted equipment, wearable device, cellular phone, smartphone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless data card, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, tablet computer, laptop computer, wireless modem, handset, laptop computer, computer with wireless transceiver capability, smart book, vehicle, satellite, global positioning system (GPS) device, target tracking device, aircraft (e.g., drone, helicopter, multiple helicopters, four helicopters, or airplanes), ship, remote control device, smart home device, industrial equipment, transportation vehicle with wireless communication capability, communication module, or roadside unit with terminal function, all conforming to the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard. The device may be a wireless communication unit (RSU), or a device built into the aforementioned device (e.g., a communication module, modem, or chip in the aforementioned device), or other processing devices connected to the wireless modem.

[0103] It should be understood that in certain scenarios, a UE can also be used as a base station. For example, a UE can act as a scheduling entity, providing sidelink signaling between UEs in scenarios such as V2X, D2D, or P2P.

[0104] In this embodiment, the device for implementing the functions of a terminal device, i.e., the terminal device, can be the terminal device itself, or it can be any device capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing the functions, such as a chip system, chip, circuit, or communication module (i.e., a communication module that performs communication functions). This device can be installed in the terminal device. In this embodiment, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. Furthermore, the device can also be configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions.

[0105] The network device in this application embodiment can be a device or module with corresponding communication functions. The network device can be a device used to communicate with terminal devices; it can also be called an access network device or a wireless access network device, such as a base station. In this application embodiment, the network device can refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) that connects the terminal device to the wireless network. A base station can broadly encompass, or be replaced by, various names including: NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), next-generation NodeB (gNB), relay station, access point, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitter, master station, auxiliary station, multiple standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc. A base station can be a macro base station, micro base station, relay node, donor node, or similar, or a combination thereof. A base station can also refer to a communication module, modem, or chip installed within the aforementioned equipment or apparatus. A base station can also be a mobile switching center, a device that performs base station functions in D2D, V2X, and M2M communications, a network-side device in future communication networks, or a device that performs base station functions in future communication systems. A base station can support networks using the same or different access technologies. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or device forms used in the network equipment.

[0106] Base stations can be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or drone can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move depending on the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or drone can be configured as a device to communicate with another base station.

[0107] In some deployments, the network devices mentioned in the embodiments of this application may be devices including CU, or DU, or devices including CU and DU, or devices with control plane CU nodes (central unit-control plane (CU-CP)) and user plane CU nodes (central unit-user plane (CU-UP)) and DU nodes.

[0108] In some deployments, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes each implementing some of the base station's functions. For example, RAN nodes can be CUs, DUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, or radio units (RUs). CUs and DUs can be configured separately or included in the same network element, such as a BBU. RUs can be included in radio equipment or radio units, such as RRUs, AAUs, or RRHs.

[0109] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, a radio access network can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture. In an O-RAN system, CU can also be called an open CU (open CU, O-CU), DU can also be called an open DU (open DU, O-DU), CU-CP can also be called an open CU-CP (O-CU-CP), CU-UP can also be called an open CU-UP (O-CU-UP), and RU can also be called an open RU (open RU, O-RU). Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software modules and hardware modules.

[0110] In this embodiment, the device for implementing the functions of a network device can be a network device itself, or a device capable of supporting the network device in implementing those functions, such as a chip system, chip, circuit, or communication module (i.e., a communication module that performs communication functions). This device can be installed within the network device. In this embodiment, the chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices. Furthermore, the device can be configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions. This embodiment only uses a network device as an example to illustrate the device for implementing the functions of a network device, and does not limit the solution of this embodiment.

[0111] Network devices and terminal devices can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can also be deployed in the air on airplanes, balloons, and satellites. This application does not limit the scenario in which the network devices and terminal devices are located.

[0112] The communication system applicable to the embodiments of this application is briefly described below with reference to Figure 1.

[0113] Referring to Figure 1, as an example, Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 1, the wireless communication system includes a wireless access network 100. The wireless access network 100 may be a next-generation (e.g., future or higher version) wireless access network or a traditional (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G, or 2G) wireless access network. One or more terminal devices (120a-120j, collectively referred to as 120) may be interconnected or connected to one or more network devices (110a, 110b, collectively referred to as 110) in the wireless access network 100. Network elements in the wireless communication system are connected through interfaces (e.g., NG, Xn) or air interfaces.

[0114] When network devices and terminal devices communicate, the network device can manage one or more cells, and a cell can include at least one terminal device. A cell can be understood as an area within the wireless signal coverage range of the network device.

[0115] Figure 1 is just a schematic diagram. The wireless communication system may also include other devices, such as core network devices, wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1.

[0116] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the terminology used in this application will be briefly explained. The terms or concepts used in this application described below are merely illustrative examples for ease of understanding and do not limit the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0117] 1. Wake-up circuit: Also known as a wake-up receiver / radio (WUR), low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR), or wake-up module, it can be understood as a single, low-power small circuit, such as the circuit used by a terminal device in the idle state. This low-power small circuit can be implemented using a simple, single small circuit or chip with low power consumption. It is understood that the term "wake-up circuit" is merely a designation for differentiation, and its specific naming does not limit the scope of protection of this application. For example, without loss of generality, a wake-up circuit can also be described as a first circuit (or first module). The following description will uniformly refer to it as a wake-up circuit.

[0118] The signal received by the terminal device through the wake-up circuit can be referred to as being transmitted on the wake-up link. The wake-up link represents a connection relationship between the terminal device and the network device; it is a logical concept, not a physical entity. It is understood that the term "wake-up link" is merely a designation for differentiation, and its specific naming does not limit the scope of protection of this application. For example, without loss of generality, a wake-up link can also be described as a first link. Hereinafter, it will be uniformly referred to as a wake-up link.

[0119] The signals received by the terminal device using the wake-up circuit may include, but are not limited to: a wake-up signal (WUS) (or low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS)) and a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS). It is understood that the terms "wake-up signal" and "low-power synchronization signal" are merely designations for distinction, and their specific names do not limit the scope of protection of this application. For example, without loss of generality, the wake-up signal may also be referred to as a signal.

[0120] 2. Main Circuit: Also known as the main receiver (MR) or main module, this can be understood as the circuit used by the terminal device during normal data transmission, or the circuit used by the terminal device during data transmission in the connected state. For example, the circuit or module used by the terminal device when performing the paging process in the idle or inactive state, or the circuit or module used by the terminal device when transmitting and receiving data in the connected state, can all be considered main circuits or main modules. Terminal devices consume significant power when transmitting data through the main circuit. It is understood that the term "main circuit" is merely a designation for differentiation and does not limit the scope of protection of this application. For example, without loss of generality, the main circuit can also be described as a second circuit (or second module). The following text will uniformly describe it as a main circuit.

[0121] Signals received by a terminal device through the main circuit can be referred to as being transmitted on the main link. The main link represents a connection between the terminal device and the network device; it is a logical concept, not a physical entity. It is understood that the term "main link" is merely a designation for distinction, and its specific naming does not limit the scope of protection of this application. For example, without loss of generality, the main link can also be described as a second link. The following text will uniformly refer to it as the main link.

[0122] In the following text, for the sake of distinction, the signals transmitted by the main circuit of the terminal device will be referred to as data signals.

[0123] Referring to Figure 2, as an example, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the main circuit and the wake-up circuit.

[0124] As shown in Figure 2, the terminal device can receive (or detect, or monitor) a wake-up signal through a wake-up circuit, and can receive data signals through the main circuit. Assume the terminal device receives the wake-up signal through the wake-up circuit. If the terminal device does not detect the wake-up signal, it continues to receive it through the wake-up circuit, and the main circuit can be in a closed state (or sleep state). If the terminal device detects the wake-up signal, it triggers the main circuit to wake up, that is, it puts the main circuit into / switches to an open state (or working state, or active state). After the main circuit is turned on, the terminal device can transmit data signals through the main circuit.

[0125] As an example, when the terminal device is in idle or inactive state, the wake-up signal can be used to carry paging-related information. When the terminal device is in connected state, the wake-up signal can be used to carry scheduling-related information, such as indicating whether the terminal device needs to activate the main circuit to receive scheduling information (e.g., whether it needs to monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)).

[0126] 3. On-Off-Key (OOK) Modulation: This modulates information based on whether a signal is transmitted or not. The corresponding wake-up circuit can use envelope detection to receive the signal. OOK modulation technology can be demodulated using a low-complexity receiver, thus achieving the low-power goal of the wake-up circuit. To ensure power efficiency, the wake-up signal can use OOK modulation. It is understood that other modulation methods can also be used for the wake-up signal; there are no restrictions on this.

[0127] When a signal uses OOK modulation, each bit (i.e., the encoded bit) corresponds to a symbol, where the encoding can include Manchester encoding. Equivalently, a symbol can also be called a chip, or other names, without restriction here.

[0128] For example, when a bit is "1", a signal is transmitted within the symbol length (i.e., the signal transmission power within that symbol length is not 0); when a bit is "0", no signal is transmitted within the symbol length (i.e., the signal transmission power within that symbol length is 0). Alternatively, it can be understood that in OOK modulation, transmitting energy represents "1", and not transmitting energy represents "0".

[0129] For example, when the bit is "0", a signal is transmitted within the symbol length (i.e., the signal transmission power within that symbol length is not 0); when the bit is "1", no signal is transmitted within the symbol length (i.e., the signal transmission power within that symbol length is 0). Alternatively, it can be understood that in OOK modulation, transmitting energy represents "0", and not transmitting energy represents "1".

[0130] For ease of description, the following text will primarily use the example of a signal being emitted within the symbol length when the bit is "1" and no signal being emitted within the symbol length when the bit is "0" as an example for illustration.

[0131] Furthermore, for ease of description, if a symbol emits a signal, it is denoted as an ON symbol; if a symbol emits no signal, it is denoted as an OFF symbol. Taking the example that when a bit is "1", a signal is emitted within the length of the symbol; and when a bit is "0", no signal is emitted within the length of the symbol, the ON symbol represents an information bit of "1", and the OFF symbol represents an information bit of "0". The ON symbol can also be called an ON signal, and the OFF symbol can also be called an OFF signal; for consistency, the ON and OFF symbols will be used in the following descriptions.

[0132] In this context, the signal amplitude of the ON symbol is greater than or equal to a threshold (e.g., threshold #A), and the signal amplitude of the OFF symbol is less than or equal to a threshold (e.g., threshold #B); or, the signal amplitude of the ON symbol is greater than the signal amplitude of the OFF symbol; or, within a preset time period, the signal amplitude of the ON symbol is greater than the signal amplitude of the OFF symbol; or, within a preset time period, the signal power of the ON symbol is greater than the signal power of the OFF symbol; or, within a preset time period, the signal power of the ON symbol is greater than or equal to threshold #A, and the signal power of the OFF symbol is less than or equal to threshold #B; or, within a preset time period, the signal power of the ON symbol is greater than or equal to threshold #A. The signal power of the ON symbol is equal to threshold #A, and the signal power of the OFF symbol is less than or equal to threshold #B; or the signal level of the ON symbol is greater than the signal level of the OFF symbol; or, within a preset time period, the signal level of the ON symbol is greater than the signal level of the OFF symbol; or the signal level of the ON symbol is greater than or equal to threshold #A, and the signal level of the OFF symbol is less than or equal to threshold #B; or, within a preset time period, the signal level of the ON symbol is greater than or equal to threshold #A, and the signal level of the OFF symbol is less than or equal to threshold #B; or, the ON symbol indicates (or corresponds to, or represents) the first bit value, and the OFF symbol indicates (or corresponds to, or represents) the second bit value. The first bit value and the second bit value are different. For example, the first bit value is "1", and the second bit value is "0".

[0133] Furthermore, the OOK symbol mentioned below refers to a symbol obtained by OOK modulation. An OOK symbol can be either an ON symbol or an OFF symbol. For example, if the information bit is "1", the OOK symbol obtained by OOK modulation is an ON symbol; if the information bit is "0", the OOK symbol obtained by OOK modulation is an OFF symbol. The OOK symbol can also be called an OOK signal; for consistency, it will be described as an OOK symbol below.

[0134] Referring to Figure 3, as an example, Figure 3 is a waveform diagram of a signal using OOK modulation.

[0135] As an example, suppose that when the bit is "1", a signal is transmitted within the length of the OOK symbol; when the bit is "0", no signal is transmitted within the length of the OOK symbol. Therefore, the waveform shown in Figure 3 can represent the four bits "0100", that is, the first is the OFF symbol, the second is the ON symbol, and the third and fourth are both OFF symbols. As shown in Figure 3, communication systems generally use a certain frequency to transmit, and the transmitted signal needs to be modulated onto the carrier wave. At the receiving end, the receiver detects the envelope (or energy) of the received signal to determine whether the OOK symbol corresponds to a bit "0" or a bit "1", thereby completing demodulation.

[0136] After a signal passes through a channel, it may be distorted due to factors such as channel conditions. Therefore, to determine whether the signal corresponds to a bit "0" or a bit "1", the receiver can compare the received signal level with a threshold. For example, if the received signal level is greater than the threshold, it means the signal corresponds to a bit "1"; if the received signal level is less than the threshold, it means the signal corresponds to a bit "0". However, setting the threshold is difficult. For instance, an inappropriate threshold selection may lead to demodulation errors. To solve this problem, one possible approach is to use Manchester encoding.

[0137] 4. Manchester encoding: This is a biphase encoding method that uses high-low level switching to represent bits "0" or "1". For example, Manchester encoding can encode a raw bit "0" as bit "10" and a raw bit "1" as bit "01". To distinguish them, the encoded bits, such as bits "10" and "01", are called encoded bits. When transmitting a signal, the transmitter can use two OOK symbols to send one bit of original information. If the raw bit "0" is encoded as bit "10" and the raw bit "1" is encoded as bit "01", then the raw bit "0" corresponds to one ON symbol followed by one OFF symbol, and the raw bit "1" corresponds to one OFF symbol followed by one ON symbol. When the receiver demodulates the Manchester encoded signal, it can compare the relative magnitudes of the signal power (or signal amplitude) within two adjacent OOK symbols. If the signal power (or signal amplitude) in the preceding OOK symbol is greater than the signal power (or signal amplitude) in the following OOK symbol, the received information bit is considered to be "0"; otherwise, it is considered to be "1". This method avoids using an absolute threshold for decision-making.

[0138] It is understood that the above example of encoding a raw bit "0" as bit "10" and a raw bit "1" as bit "01" is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting. For example, a raw bit "0" can be encoded as bit "01" and a raw bit "1" can be encoded as bit "10".

[0139] As an example, a signal can be generated based on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmitter, that is, an OFDM transmitter can be used to modulate the signal.

[0140] One possible approach is to transmit an OOK symbol within the length of an OFDM symbol, or in other words, an OOK symbol occupies one OFDM symbol. For example, to transmit an ON symbol within the length of an OOK symbol, the transmitter can send a specific signal whose contour within the OOK symbol length is as square as possible; to transmit an OFF symbol within the length of an OOK symbol, the transmitter can turn off the signal for the length of an OOK symbol.

[0141] Referring to Figure 4, as an example, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the waveform of a signal after Manchester encoding. As shown in Figure 4, the original bits are "0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0". Assuming that the original bit "0" is encoded as "10" and the original bit "1" is encoded as "01", then the encoded bits after Manchester encoding are "10 10 01 10 10 01 10 01 01 10", as shown in Figure 4. The time length corresponding to each encoded bit can be considered as the length of one OFDM symbol, that is, one OOK symbol is transmitted within the length of one OFDM symbol, or one OOK symbol occupies one OFDM symbol. When demodulating the signal, the receiver can compare the relative magnitudes of the signal power (or signal amplitude) within two adjacent OOK symbols, and determine the demodulated information bits based on the comparison results.

[0142] In the above method, one OOK symbol is transmitted within the length of one OFDM symbol. This method is simple, but it also supports a relatively low data rate. This is because, regardless of the signal bandwidth, only one OOK symbol is transmitted within the length of one OFDM symbol. If the system uses a sub-carrier space (SCS) of 30 GHz (kHz), a slot length of 0.5 ms, and one slot contains 14 OFDM symbols, assuming no coding is used and each OOK symbol carries 1 bit of information, then the maximum supported data rate is 1 / 0.5 × 14 × 1000 = 28 kbps.

[0143] To increase the data rate of OOK symbols, one possible approach is to shorten the length of the OOK symbols, that is, to transmit at least two OOK symbols within the length of one OFDM symbol, or in other words, to have at least two OOK symbols occupy one OFDM symbol.

[0144] Referring to Figure 5, as an example, Figure 5 is another schematic diagram of the waveform after the signal is encoded using Manchester encoding. As shown in Figure 5, the original bits are "0 0 0 1". Assuming that the original bit "0" is encoded as "10" and the original bit "1" is encoded as "01", then the encoded bits after Manchester encoding are "10 10 10 10 01", as shown in Figure 5. Within one OFDM symbol length (2192 sampling points in Figure 5), eight OOK symbols are transmitted: ON symbol-OFF symbol-ON symbol-OFF symbol-ON symbol-OFF symbol-OFF symbol-ON symbol. When demodulating the signal, the receiver can compare the relative magnitudes of the signal power (or signal amplitude) of two adjacent OOK symbols, and determine the demodulated information bits based on the comparison results.

[0145] To generate the above waveform, one possible approach is to first determine the target waveform x in the time domain, and then perform some operations, such as discrete fourier transformation (DFT) and inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT), to obtain the sequence to be sent.

[0146] Referring to Figures 6 and 7, as examples, Figures 6 and 7 are schematic diagrams of the OOK symbol in the time and frequency domains. As shown in Figure 6, assuming we want to generate an "ON symbol - OFF symbol - ON symbol - OFF symbol" waveform, the target waveform can be set to: x = [1,1,…,1,0,0,…,0,1,1,…,1,0,0,…,0], or, That is, the amplitude of part of the ON symbol is 1, and the phase of part of the ON symbol can be inconsistent, as shown in Figure 6. As shown in Figure 7, a DFT can be performed on x to obtain the frequency domain sequence y corresponding to x; then y is mapped to a frequency resource (such as the frequency resource corresponding to the wake-up signal); then an IFFT is performed on the frequency domain signal; and a cyclic prefix (CP) is added to the signal after the IFFT to obtain the sequence to be transmitted x' (see the curve in Figure 6). As can be seen from Figure 6, x and x' have similar shapes, so at least two OOK symbols can be transmitted within the length of one OFDM symbol.

[0147] For the receiving end, one possible implementation is to use envelope detection or energy detection to receive the signal. For example, the signal received by the receiver (for distinction, it is called an OOK receiver) first passes through a matching network and a radio frequency (RF) filter to filter out out-of-band noise / interference; then, the spectrum is shifted to baseband (BB) by a mixer, and further filtered out out-of-band noise / interference by a baseband filter; then, envelope detection / energy detection is performed on the signal (at this time, the value of the baseband signal is mathematically represented as a real number, with only amplitude and no phase). Specifically, the OOK receiver can determine whether the received signal is ON or OFF by detecting the energy level in different time ranges, and then perform subsequent processing.

[0148] To further improve demodulation performance, a more advanced receiver can be considered, such as a receiver with both in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) paths (referred to as an OFDM receiver for distinction).

[0149] One possible implementation involves the OFDM receiver receiving a signal that first passes through a matching network and an RF filter to remove out-of-band noise / interference. Then, a mixer shifts the spectrum to baseband. During this shift, two branches, I and Q (corresponding to a phase difference of pi / 2), are distinguished. The signals on each branch are further filtered by a baseband filter to remove out-of-band noise / interference. The two signals are then combined, at which point the baseband signal is mathematically represented as a complex number, possessing both amplitude and phase. Further processing is then performed on the baseband signal.

[0150] When receiving the aforementioned OOK symbol using an OFDM receiver, the OFDM receiver's ability to detect signal phase allows it to further detect the sequence information within the ON symbol of the OOK symbol. For example, if the OFDM receiver knows in advance (e.g., predefined by the protocol, or pre-configured parameters by the network device for the terminal device), it can generate a local sequence based on this sequence. By correlating the received signal with the local sequence, it can mitigate the impact of unfiltered noise (such as in-band noise) and / or interference, thereby improving demodulation performance. Alternatively, if there may be multiple sequences generating the ON symbol, the OFDM receiver can identify which sequence is being transmitted, thus obtaining more information. For example, assuming there may be four sequences generating the ON symbol, each corresponding to the information {00, 01, 10, 11}, the OFDM receiver can obtain an additional 2 bits of information by detecting which sequence is being used. This can increase the data rate carried by the wake-up signal. The method described above, which "allows the OFDM receiver to know the sequence information used to generate the OOK symbol, thereby improving demodulation performance and / or increasing the data rate," can be called sequence on top of OOK or overlaid sequence over OOK.

[0151] 5. Wake-up Signal Monitoring: In connected mode, before the terminal device begins monitoring the wake-up signal, the network device configures the relevant parameters of the wake-up signal. These configuration parameters may include at least one of the following: the time-domain monitoring location of the wake-up signal (e.g., monitoring occasion (MO)), the frequency-domain resource location of the wake-up signal, the signal length of the wake-up signal, and the format of the wake-up signal. The time-domain monitoring location of the wake-up signal refers to the time-domain resource location for monitoring the wake-up signal, such as the wake-up signal occasion or low-power wake-up signal occasion (LP-WUS occasion, LO). An LO may include one or more MOs; that is, the time-domain monitoring location of the wake-up signal may include one or more MOs. An MO can also be called a wake-up signal MO (LP-WUS MO). An MO can be the basic time unit (or time-domain unit) for the wake-up circuit to operate. A wake-up signal may occupy one or more MOs. MO and OFDM symbol are similar concepts; that is, an MO is a unit (e.g., the smallest unit) of time-domain resource scheduling, meaning that one time unit (or time-domain unit) can be one MO. As an example, an MO may include one or more OOK symbols, or an MO may include one or more OFDM symbols, etc.

[0152] 6. Information carried by LP-WUS: LP-WUS can carry a codepoint (or codepoint value, or identifier, ID), which can wake up a terminal device or a group of terminal devices. In this mode, a wake-up signal can be used for a terminal device or a group of terminal devices, and the wake-up signal carries the codepoint corresponding to a terminal device or a group of terminal devices. The N1-bit codepoint can have a maximum of 2... N1 A codepoint value.

[0153] As an example, when a terminal device is in idle or inactive, each PO can support up to 31 terminal device groups (or subgroups), and each terminal device group can correspond to a codepoint value. Additionally, the communication system can support a special codepoint value used to wake up all terminal devices. Therefore, when a terminal device is in idle or inactive, LP-WUS can indicate one of 31+1=32 candidate codepoint values, and the bit length of the information carried by LP-WUS to indicate the codepoint value does not exceed 5 bits.

[0154] In some cases, a single LO can be associated with multiple POs; however, the bit length of the information used to indicate the codepoint value may remain constant. For example, if the bit length of the information used to indicate the codepoint value is N1, then regardless of how many POs a single LO is associated with, the codepoint carried by LP-WUS can only indicate 2. N1 A specific codepoint value among a variety of codepoint values.

[0155] In view of this, this application proposes a scheme in which one LO is associated with K POs, and each PO can be associated with N terminal device groups, where N*K is less than or equal to Y, or N*K is less than or equal to Y-1, where Y is the total number of candidate codepoint values. In this way, N*K terminal device groups can be mapped one-to-one with N*K codepoint values, realizing the allocation of candidate codepoint values ​​to wake up each terminal device group associated with each PO, and to wake up all terminal devices associated with the LO.

[0156] The methods provided by the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments provided by this application can be applied to the scenarios shown in the above figures and are not limited thereto. Furthermore, the terms used below are as explained above and will not be repeated hereafter.

[0157] For ease of description, the first device and the second device will be used as examples for illustrative purposes.

[0158] As an example, the first device may be a terminal device, or it may be a component applied to the terminal device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor, etc.), or it may be a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the terminal device, etc., which is not limited in this application. The component applied to the terminal device may be within the terminal device or may be independent of the terminal device.

[0159] As an example, the second device may be a network device, or it may be a component applied to the network device (e.g., a chip, chip system, circuit, communication module, or processor, etc.), or it may be a logic module or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions of the network device, etc., which are not limited in this application. The component applied to the network device may be within the network device or may be independent of the network device.

[0160] Furthermore, the steps described below as being performed by a single execution entity can also be divided into being performed by multiple execution entities, which may be logically and / or physically separate.

[0161] Referring to Figure 8, as an example, Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 800 provided in an embodiment of this application. The method 800 shown in Figure 8 may include the following steps.

[0162] S810, the first device receives the first wake-up signal at the first wake-up signal timing. Correspondingly, the second device sends the first wake-up signal to the first device at the first wake-up signal timing.

[0163] As an example, the first wake-up signal timing may include a set of all candidate locations for the first device to monitor the wake-up signal, or in other words, the first wake-up signal timing may include a set of locations where the second device may send the wake-up signal. Specifically, the first wake-up signal timing may occur periodically, and correspondingly, the first device monitors the wake-up signal within the periodically occurring first wake-up signal timing. In this case, the first wake-up signal timing may include a set of all candidate locations for the first device to monitor the wake-up signal within a monitoring cycle. A monitoring cycle may be a paging cycle or an idle discontinuous reception cycle (I-DRX cycle).

[0164] Optionally, the first wake-up signal is LP-WUS (hereinafter referred to as LP-WUS#1 for ease of description), and the timing of the first wake-up signal is LO (hereinafter referred to as LO#1 for ease of description).

[0165] As an example, LO#1 is associated with K POs, which can also be replaced with any of the following descriptions: LO#1 is associated with / corresponds to K POs, or in other words, LO#1 has an association / correspondence / mapping relationship with K POs.

[0166] In this context, LO#1 is associated with K POs. This can be understood as follows: when a terminal device detects LP-WUS on LO#1, it can monitor paging within one of the K POs. Alternatively, it can be understood as any terminal device among the K POs that supports LP-WUS can monitor LP-WUS on LO#1. The association between the K POs and LO#1 can be configured by the network device; that is, the network device can configure which K POs are associated with LO#1. Furthermore, the time-frequency positions of the K POs and LO#1 can be configured by the network device, or they can be predefined by the protocol.

[0167] As an example, K is an integer greater than 1. That is, LO#1 can be associated with multiple POs.

[0168] For example, K=4, the network device sends LP-WUS#1 at LO#1. LO#1 is associated with PO#A, PO#B, PO#C, and PO#D, meaning the network device can send paging signals at one or more of PO#A to PO#D. Alternatively, the terminal device receiving LP-WUS#1 at LO#1 can monitor the paging signal within one of PO#A to PO#D.

[0169] LP-WUS#1 indicates the first identifier. In other words, LP-WUS#1 includes / carries the first identifier; in other words, LP-WUS#1 indicates the value of the first identifier.

[0170] Here, the first identifier is one of the Y candidate identifiers. In other words, the value of the first identifier is one of the values ​​of the Y candidate identifiers. Y is an integer greater than 1.

[0171] As an example, an identifier can be understood as a form of wake-up signal carrying wake-up information. For example, LP-WUS#1 indicating a first identifier can be understood as LP-WUS#1 carrying the first identifier as wake-up information, or LP-WUS#1 waking up one or a group of terminal devices through the carried first identifier. As an example, the identifier can be replaced by any of the terms ID, codepoint, or code point, and its name does not limit the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0172] As an example, the Y candidate identifiers can be understood as the Y types of identifiers that LP-WUS#1 may carry, or the values ​​of the Y types of identifiers that LP-WUS#1 may carry, or the set of all candidate identifiers that LP-WUS#1 may carry. As an example, the first identifier is one of the Y candidate identifiers; it can also be understood as the first identifier being one of the Y different identifiers, or the value of the first identifier being one of the Y different values.

[0173] Alternatively, Y equals 2 N1 N1 is a positive integer. In other words, the bit length of each candidate identifier is N1.

[0174] Optionally, Y is 32. This can be understood as the number of candidate identifiers being 32, or the candidate identifiers having 32 possible values, or the LP-WUS#1 supporting a maximum of 32 identifiers. In other words, each candidate identifier has a bit length of 5, or the value of each candidate identifier is determined based on 5 bits, or the first identifier has a bit length of 5, or the first identifier's value is determined based on 5 bits.

[0175] The first identifier is used to wake up the terminal devices in the first terminal device group (hereinafter referred to as subgroup, and the first terminal device group as subgroup#1) associated with the first PO (hereinafter referred to as PO#1 for ease of description).

[0176] Among them, PO#1 belongs to the aforementioned K POs. In other words, PO#1 is one of the K POs associated with LO#1; in other words, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in a subgroup associated with one of the K POs associated with LO#1.

[0177] S820, the first device determines a first value N, where N is a positive integer.

[0178] The following examples, Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, illustrate how many subgroups each of the K POs can be associated with under different values ​​of N.

[0179] Case 1: N*K is less than or equal to the second value X.

[0180] The following examples, 1A and 1B, illustrate the different values ​​of the second value X.

[0181] Case 1A: If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y.

[0182] The second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with LO#1. This can also be understood as all terminal devices associated with LO#1 being able to wake up upon receiving the second identifier. In other words, all terminal devices associated with LO#1 will monitor the paging process in their corresponding PO after receiving the second identifier.

[0183] As an example, all terminal devices associated with LO#1 can also be understood as all terminal devices monitoring LP-WUS within LO#1, or all LP-WUS monitoring terminal devices associated with each of the K POs associated with LO#1.

[0184] As an example, the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier and can be replaced with any of the following: none of the Y candidate identifiers can be used to wake up all terminal devices associated with LO#1, or the network device is not configured with an identifier for waking up all terminal devices associated with LO#1, or there is no predefined identifier for waking up all terminal devices associated with LO#1.

[0185] Case 1B: If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier mentioned above, then X = Y-1.

[0186] As an example, the Y candidate identifiers include a second identifier, which can be replaced with any of the following: one of the Y candidate identifiers is an identifier that can wake up all terminal devices associated with LO#1, or the network device is configured with an identifier for waking up all terminal devices associated with LO#1, or a predefined identifier for waking up all terminal devices associated with LO#1 exists.

[0187] The above examples, Scenario 1A and Scenario 1B, illustrate the different possible values ​​of the second value X. The following section describes how many subgroups each of the K POs can be associated with.

[0188] One possible implementation is that each of the K product points (POs) is associated with N subgroups. This can be understood as: each PO is associated with N subgroups, and the K POs are associated with a total of N*K subgroups.

[0189] As an example, the second value N can represent the number of subgroups associated with each PO; for example, the second value can be represented as subgroupNumPerPO.

[0190] The following example, with Y equal to 32, illustrates the number of subgroups associated with each PO under either case 1A or case 1B.

[0191] Example 1, in case 1A, K=2, X=Y=32, since N*K is less than or equal to X, N is less than or equal to 16. Optionally, N=16, that is, the number of subgroups associated with each of the two POs associated with LO#1 is equal to 16.

[0192] Example 2, in case 1B, K = 2, X = Y - 1 = 31. Since N*K is less than or equal to X, N is less than or equal to 15. Optionally, N = 15, that is, the number of subgroups associated with each of the two POs associated with LO#1 is equal to 15.

[0193] It is understood that Examples 1 and 2 use the maximum value of N among the selectable values ​​as examples, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of this application. For example, in Example 1 or Example 2, N can also be equal to 13, 14, etc. In this case, the value of N is not calculated based on the values ​​of Y (or X) and K, but can be configured by the network device to the terminal device as described in Example 1 below.

[0194] As an example, in case 1A, K POs are associated with N*K subgroups, and N*K is less than or equal to Y. This can be understood as follows: the N*K subgroups can be one-to-one corresponded with the N*K identifiers among the Y candidate identifiers, or the N*K identifiers among the Y candidate identifiers are used to wake up the terminal devices in the N*K subgroups respectively.

[0195] Example 3, combined with Example 1, N=16 and K=2, meaning that the two POs are associated with a total of 16*2=32 subgroups. Simultaneously, the number of candidate identifiers is also 32, meaning each of the 32 candidate identifiers can be one-to-one with one of the 32 subgroups.

[0196] As another example, in case 1B, the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, meaning there are Y-1 candidate identifiers remaining besides the second identifier. The K POs are associated with N*K subgroups, and N*K is less than or equal to Y-1. This can be understood as follows: the N*K subgroups can correspond one-to-one with the N*K identifiers among the remaining Y-1 candidate identifiers, or the N*K identifiers among the remaining Y-1 candidate identifiers are used to wake up the terminal devices in the N*K subgroups respectively.

[0197] Example 4, combined with Example 2, N=15 and K=2, meaning that the two POs are associated with a total of 15*2=30 subgroups. Meanwhile, the number of candidate identifiers remaining after the second identifier is 31. Therefore, 30 of these 31 remaining candidate identifiers can correspond one-to-one with each of the 30 subgroups. Identifiers among the 31 remaining candidate identifiers that do not correspond to a subgroup can be reserved (i.e., not used).

[0198] Combining Case 1A and Case 1B above, S820 can optionally be implemented using either Example 1 or Example 2 below.

[0199] Example 1: A first device receives first configuration information. Correspondingly, a second device sends the first configuration information to the first device. The first configuration information indicates N, or in other words, it indicates the value of N. In other words, the second value N can be configured by the second device.

[0200] Example 2: The first device can calculate N based on X and K. In other words, the second value N can be calculated by the first device itself.

[0201] As an example, in case 1, N can satisfy: N = floor(X / K). In other words, in example 2, the first device can calculate N based on the formula N = floor(X / K).

[0202] Specifically, the value of N can be the largest positive integer that satisfies N*K≤X. Based on this, the terminal devices associated with each PO can be divided into as many subgroups as possible, so that each identifier can wake up fewer terminal devices, thus improving the energy-saving effect of the terminal.

[0203] As an example, the first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index of PO#1 among K POs, and the index of subgroup#1 among all subgroups associated with PO#1. In other words, the first device can determine, based on the value of the first identifier, which PO and which subgroup of the terminal device is to be woken up by the first identifier.

[0204] As an example, the index of PO#1 in the K POs can be replaced with the number of PO#1 in the K POs, and the index of subgroup#1 in all subgroups associated with PO#1 can be replaced with the number of subgroup#1 in all subgroups associated with PO#1. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0205] As one possible implementation, the value T of the first identifier can satisfy: T = P * N + Q. Here, P can represent the index of PO#1 among K POs, and Q can represent the index of subgroup#1 among all subgroups associated with PO#1.

[0206] Example 5, combined with Example 4 above, where N = 15 and K = 2, then P takes the value 0 or 1, and Q takes the value of an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 14. When T is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 14, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index T associated with the PO at index 0. For example, if T = 9, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index 9 associated with the PO at index 0. When T is greater than or equal to 15 and less than or equal to 29, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index T-15 associated with the PO at index 1. For example, if T = 19, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index 4 associated with the PO at index 1.

[0207] It is understood that in case 1A, the value T of the first identifier also satisfies: T = P * N + Q. The example is similar to that of example 5, and will not be repeated in the embodiments of this application.

[0208] As another possible implementation, the value T of the first identifier can satisfy: T = [PQ]. Here, P can represent the index of PO#1 in K POs, Q can represent the index of subgroup#1 in all subgroups associated with PO#1, and [PQ] can represent the concatenation of the binary values ​​of P and Q.

[0209] In example 5A, combined with example 4 above, if N = 15 and K = 2, then P can be 0 or 1, and Q can be an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 14. When T is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 14, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index T associated with the PO at index 0. For example, if T = 9, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index 9 associated with the PO at index 0. When T is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 30, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index T-16 associated with the PO at index 1. For example, if T = 20, the first flag is used to wake up the subgroup with index 4 associated with the PO at index 1.

[0210] It is understood that in case 1A, the value T of the first identifier also satisfies: T = [PQ], and the example is similar to that of example 5A, which will not be repeated in the embodiments of this application.

[0211] As one possible implementation, the Y candidate identifiers include a second identifier, the value of which is N*K, or the value of which can be fixed at Y-1. In other words, the identifiers with values ​​of N*K or Y-1 among the Y candidate identifiers are used to wake up all terminal devices associated with LO#1.

[0212] For example, referring to Example 5 above, if N = 15 and K = 2, then the value of the second identifier can be 15 * 2 = 30, and correspondingly, the identifier with a value of 31 is retained. Alternatively, the value of the second identifier can be 32 - 1 = 31, and correspondingly, the identifier with a value of 30 is retained.

[0213] The above describes Case 1, where N*K is less than or equal to the second value X, detailing how many subgroups each of the K POs can be associated with, and the correspondence between candidate identifiers and subgroups. Case 2 will be explained in more detail below.

[0214] Case 2: N*K is greater than or equal to the second value X.

[0215] The following sections will illustrate the different values ​​of the second value X using cases 2A and 2B.

[0216] Case 2A: If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y.

[0217] Case 2B: If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier mentioned above, then X = Y-1.

[0218] It is understood that Case 2A is the same as Case 1A, and Case 2B is the same as Case 1B. For specific descriptions, please refer to Case 1A and Case 1B respectively. The embodiments in this application will not be repeated.

[0219] As an example, when N*K equals X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K POs is equal to N.

[0220] It is understood that when the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K POs is equal to N, the possible implementation methods can refer to all the contents of Case 1 above, and will not be repeated in the embodiments of this application.

[0221] As another example, when N*K is greater than X, the K POs include the second paging time (hereinafter referred to as PO#2 for ease of description) and the third paging time (hereinafter referred to as PO#3 for ease of description). The number of subgroups associated with PO#2 is equal to N, and the number of subgroups associated with PO#3 is less than N.

[0222] Specifically, the second value N can represent the maximum number of subgroups associated with any of the K POs. For example, when K=2, the number of subgroups associated with PO#2 is N, and the number of subgroups associated with PO#3 can be N-1.

[0223] As one possible implementation, the number of subgroups associated with each of the K POs can satisfy Example 3 or Example 4.

[0224] Example 3, K POs include A PO is associated with N subgroups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K POs include... Each PO is associated with floor(X / K) subgroups.

[0225] Example 4: K product points (POs) include K-1 POs associated with N subgroups, where N = ceil(X / K). One of the K POs is associated with... Subgroup.

[0226] As examples, in Examples 3 and 4, ceil represents the rounding up operation and floor represents the rounding down operation.

[0227] The following example, with Y equal to 32, illustrates the number of subgroups associated with each PO under the different conditions described above.

[0228] Specifically, the calculation method in Example 3 prioritizes ensuring the fairness of the number of subgroups associated with different POs, while the calculation method in Example 4 prioritizes satisfying the condition that the number of subgroups associated with each PO among K-1 POs reaches the maximum value N.

[0229] Example 6, in case 2A, K = 3, X = Y = 32. Based on Example 3, the three POs include... A PO is associated with One subgroup, including 3 POs A PO is associated with 3 subgroups. Or, based on Example 4, 3-1=2 POs are associated with 3 subgroups. There are 3 subgroups, including 1 PO associated with... Subgroup.

[0230] It is understood that Examples 3 and 4 are merely one possible way to determine the number of subgroups associated with each of the K POs, and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this. For example, in Example 6, the 3 POs may also include 2 POs associated with 12 subgroups, 1 PO associated with 8 subgroups, etc.

[0231] Example 7, in case 2B, X = Y - 1 = 31. K takes the values ​​2, 3, and 4 respectively. The number of subgroups associated with each of the K POs can be determined by substituting into Example 3 or Example 4. The specific substitution process can be found in Example 6. Examples 7A to 7D will not be elaborated on in detail hereafter.

[0232] For example 7A, K=2, based on example 3 or example 4, N=16, the 2 POs include 1 PO associated with 16 subgroups and 1 PO associated with 15 subgroups.

[0233] In Example 7B, K=3, based on Example 3, N=11, the 3 POs include 1 PO associated with 11 subgroups and 2 POs associated with 10 subgroups.

[0234] In example 7C, K=3, based on example 4, N=11, the 3 POs include 2 POs associated with 11 subgroups and 1 PO associated with 9 subgroups.

[0235] For example, in 7D, K=4, based on example 3 or example 4, N=8, the 4 POs include 3 POs associated with 8 subgroups and 1 PO associated with 7 subgroups.

[0236] As an example, in case 2A, Y = 32, and the K POs are associated with a total of 32 subgroups. This can be understood as the 32 subgroups corresponding one-to-one with the 32 candidate identifiers, or the 32 candidate identifiers being used to wake up the terminal devices in the 32 subgroups respectively.

[0237] Example 8, combined with Example 6, K=3, N=11. Among the 3 POs, 2 POs are associated with 11 subgroups, and 1 PO is associated with 10 subgroups. Also, the number of candidate identifiers is 32, meaning each of the 32 candidate identifiers can be one-to-one with one of the 32 subgroups.

[0238] As another example, in case 2B, the 32 candidate identifiers include the second identifier, meaning there are 31 candidate identifiers remaining besides the second identifier. Simultaneously, the K POs are associated with 31 subgroups. This can be understood as follows: the 31 subgroups can correspond one-to-one with the remaining 31 candidate identifiers, or the remaining 31 candidate identifiers are used to wake up the terminal devices in the respective subgroups.

[0239] Example 9, combined with Example 7A, N=16 and K=2, the two POs include one PO associated with 16 subgroups and one PO associated with 15 subgroups. Then, the remaining 31 identifiers, excluding the second identifier, can correspond one-to-one with the above 16+15=31 subgroups.

[0240] Combining Case 2A and Case 2B above, S820 can optionally be implemented using Example 5 or Example 6 below.

[0241] Example 5: The first device receives first configuration information. Correspondingly, the second device sends the first configuration information to the first device. The first configuration information indicates N, or in other words, it indicates the value of N. In other words, the second value N can be configured by the second device.

[0242] Example 6: The first device can calculate N based on X and K. In other words, the second value N can be calculated by the first device itself.

[0243] As an example, in case 2, N can satisfy: N = ceil(X / K). In other words, the first device in example 6 can calculate N based on the formula N = ceil(X / K).

[0244] Specifically, the value of N can be the smallest positive integer that satisfies N*K>X. Based on this, with all candidate identifiers being utilized, the number of subgroups associated with each PO is also made as even as possible, thereby ensuring fairness among POs and improving the energy-saving effect of the terminal.

[0245] It is understood that the implementation order of S810 and S820 is not limited in the embodiments of this application. That is, the first device may receive LP-WUS#1 first and then determine N; or, the first device may determine N first and then receive LP-WUS#1; or, the first device may determine N and receive LP-WUS#1 at the same time.

[0246] As an example, the first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index of PO#1 among K POs, and the index of subgroup#1 among all subgroups associated with PO#1. In other words, the first device can determine, based on the first identifier, which PO and which subgroup of the terminal device is associated with the first identifier to wake up.

[0247] As an example, the index of PO#1 in the K POs can be replaced with the number of PO#1 in the K POs, and the index of subgroup#1 in all subgroups associated with PO#1 can be replaced with the number of subgroup#1 in all subgroups associated with PO#1. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0248] As one possible implementation, the value T of the first identifier can satisfy: T = P * N + Q. Here, P can represent the index of PO#1 among K POs, and Q can represent the index of subgroup#1 among all subgroups associated with PO#1.

[0249] Example 10, combined with Example 7A above, N=16 and K=2, the two POs include one PO associated with 16 subgroups, the candidate identifiers of these 16 subgroups have values ​​from 0 to 15; the two POs also include one PO associated with 15 subgroups, the candidate identifiers of these 15 subgroups have values ​​from 16 to 30.

[0250] At this point, P can be 0 or 1. When P is 0, Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 15. When P is 1, Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 14. When T is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 15, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index T associated with the PO at index 0. For example, if T = 9, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index 9 associated with the PO at index 0. When T is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 30, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index T-16 associated with the PO at index 1. For example, if T = 19, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index 3 associated with the PO at index 1.

[0251] As another possible implementation, the value T of the first identifier can satisfy: T = [PQ]. Here, P can represent the index of PO#1 in K POs, Q can represent the index of subgroup#1 in all subgroups associated with PO#1, and [PQ] can represent the concatenation of the binary values ​​of P and Q.

[0252] For example 10A, combined with example 7A above, N=16 and K=2. Among the two POs, there is one PO associated with 16 subgroups, and the candidate identifiers corresponding to these 16 subgroups have values ​​from 0 to 15. The two POs also include one PO associated with 15 subgroups, and the candidate identifiers corresponding to these 15 subgroups have values ​​from 16 to 30.

[0253] At this time, P can be 0 or 1. When P is 0, Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 15. When P is 1, Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 14. When T is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 15, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index T associated with PO at index 0. For example, if T = 9, the 5 bits of the first identifier can be 01001, which can be obtained by concatenating the binary values ​​of P = 0 and Q = 9. In this case, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index 9 associated with PO at index 0. When T is greater than or equal to 16 and less than or equal to 30, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index T-16 associated with PO at index 1. For example, if T=19, the 5 bits of the first identifier can be 10011, which can be obtained by concatenating the binary values ​​of P=1 and Q=3. The first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in the subgroup with index 3 associated with PO with index 1.

[0254] It is understood that in any example under case 2, the correspondence between the identifier and the subgroup can be determined by referring to the method in example 10. This application will not provide separate examples.

[0255] It is also understood that the embodiments of this application do not limit the order of the candidate identifier values ​​corresponding to different subgroups. For example, in Example 10, the following rules can be followed for numbering: the two POs include one PO associated with 15 subgroups, and the candidate identifier values ​​corresponding to these 15 subgroups are 0 to 14; the two POs also include one PO associated with 16 subgroups, and the candidate identifier values ​​corresponding to these 16 subgroups are 15 to 30.

[0256] As one possible implementation, the Y candidate identifiers include a second identifier, the value of which can be fixed at Y-1. In other words, the identifier with a value of Y-1 is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with LO#1.

[0257] For example, in any of the examples under case 2, the value of the second identifier can be 31.

[0258] Optionally, method 800 may also include S830.

[0259] S830, the first device determines whether it is awakened by the first identifier.

[0260] Specifically, the first device can determine which PO it belongs to and which subgroup it belongs to. The first device can also determine which PO and which subgroup the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in, based on the first identifier. Thus, the first device can determine whether it is woken up by the first identifier.

[0261] For example, referring to example 5 above, N=15 and K=2. Assuming the first device belongs to the subgroup with index 12 associated with PO with index 1, then when the value of the first identifier is 27, the first device is woken up by the first identifier, or when the value of the first identifier is equal to the value of the second identifier, the first device is woken up as one of all terminal devices associated with LO#1.

[0262] For another example, referring to example 10 above, N=16 and K=2. Assuming the first device belongs to the subgroup with index 12 associated with PO with index 1, then when the value of the first identifier is 28, the first device is woken up by the first identifier, or when the value of the first identifier is equal to the value of the second identifier, the first device is woken up as one of all terminal devices associated with LO#1.

[0263] It is understood that after the first device is woken up, it can monitor paging in one of the K POs associated with LO#1, or it can further receive system information blocks (SIBs), etc. This application embodiment does not limit the behavior of the first device after it is woken up.

[0264] In the above embodiments, it is assumed that all terminal devices in a single LO are associated with the same second identifier. Alternatively, it is possible that not all terminal devices in a single LO are associated with the same second identifier, but rather that terminal devices corresponding to different POs associated with a single LO are associated with different second identifiers. In this case, determining the codepoint value corresponding to different terminal devices in different POs is a problem to be solved.

[0265] In view of this, this application proposes a scheme in which 1 LO is associated with K POs, each PO is associated with N terminal device groups, and each terminal device has two associated codepoint values. One codepoint value is related to the relative index of the terminal device's PO and the subgroup ID of the terminal device, and is used to wake up the subgroup to which the terminal device belongs. The other codepoint value is related to the relative index of the terminal device's PO, and is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the PO corresponding to the terminal device.

[0266] Referring to Figure 9, as an example, Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 900 provided in an embodiment of this application. The method 900 shown in Figure 9 may include the following steps.

[0267] S910, the first device receives the first wake-up signal at the first wake-up signal timing. Correspondingly, the second device sends the first wake-up signal to the first device at the first wake-up signal timing.

[0268] As an example, the first wake-up signal timing may include a set of all candidate locations for the first device to monitor the wake-up signal, or in other words, the first wake-up signal timing may include a set of locations where the second device may send the wake-up signal. Specifically, the first wake-up signal timing may occur periodically, and correspondingly, the first device monitors the wake-up signal within the periodically occurring first wake-up signal timing. In this case, the first wake-up signal timing may include a set of all candidate locations for the first device to monitor the wake-up signal within a monitoring cycle. A monitoring cycle may be a paging cycle or an idle discontinuous reception cycle (I-DRX cycle).

[0269] Optionally, the first wake-up signal is LP-WUS (hereinafter referred to as LP-WUS#1 for ease of description), and the timing of the first wake-up signal is LO (hereinafter referred to as LO#1 for ease of description).

[0270] As an example, LO#1 is associated with K POs, which can also be replaced with any of the following descriptions: LO#1 is associated with / corresponds to K POs, or in other words, LO#1 has an association / correspondence / mapping relationship with K POs.

[0271] In this context, LO#1 is associated with K POs. This can be understood as follows: when a terminal device detects LP-WUS on LO#1, it can monitor paging within one of the K POs. Alternatively, it can be understood as any terminal device among the K POs that supports LP-WUS can monitor LP-WUS on LO#1. The association between the K POs and LO#1 can be configured by the network device; that is, the network device can configure which K POs are associated with LO#1. Furthermore, the time-frequency positions of the K POs and LO#1 can be configured by the network device, or they can be predefined by the protocol.

[0272] As an example, K is an integer greater than 1. That is, LO#1 can be associated with multiple POs. For example, the range of K can be {1, 2, 4}, meaning K can take any value from {1, 2, 4}.

[0273] For example, K=4, the network device sends LP-WUS#1 at LO#1. LO#1 is associated with PO#A, PO#B, PO#C, and PO#D, meaning the network device can send paging signals at one or more of PO#A to PO#D. Alternatively, the terminal device receiving LP-WUS#1 at LO#1 can monitor the paging signal within one of PO#A to PO#D.

[0274] LP-WUS#1 indicates the first identifier. In other words, LP-WUS#1 includes / carries the first identifier; in other words, LP-WUS#1 indicates the value of the first identifier.

[0275] Here, the first identifier is one of the Y candidate identifiers. In other words, the value of the first identifier is one of the values ​​of the Y candidate identifiers. Y is an integer greater than 1.

[0276] As an example, an identifier can be understood as a form of wake-up signal carrying wake-up information. For example, LP-WUS#1 indicating a first identifier can be understood as LP-WUS#1 carrying the first identifier as wake-up information, or LP-WUS#1 waking up one or a group of terminal devices through the carried first identifier. As an example, the identifier can be replaced by any of the terms ID, codepoint, or code point, and its name does not limit the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application.

[0277] As an example, the Y candidate identifiers can be understood as the Y types of identifiers that LP-WUS#1 may carry, or the values ​​of the Y types of identifiers that LP-WUS#1 may carry, or the set of all candidate identifiers that LP-WUS#1 may carry. As an example, the first identifier is one of the Y candidate identifiers; it can also be understood as the first identifier being one of the Y different identifiers, or the value of the first identifier being one of the Y different values.

[0278] Alternatively, Y equals 2 N1 N1 is a positive integer. In other words, the bit length of each candidate identifier is N1.

[0279] Optionally, Y is 32. This can be understood as the number of candidate identifiers being 32, or the candidate identifiers having 32 possible values, or the LP-WUS#1 supporting a maximum of 32 identifiers. In other words, each candidate identifier has a bit length of 5, or the value of each candidate identifier is determined based on 5 bits, or the first identifier has a bit length of 5, or the first identifier's value is determined based on 5 bits.

[0280] The first identifier is used to wake up the terminal devices in the first terminal device group (hereinafter referred to as subgroup, and the first terminal device group as subgroup#1) associated with the first PO (hereinafter referred to as PO#1 for ease of description).

[0281] Among them, PO#1 belongs to the aforementioned K POs. In other words, PO#1 is one of the K POs associated with LO#1; in other words, the first identifier is used to wake up the terminal device in a subgroup associated with one of the K POs associated with LO#1.

[0282] S920, the first device determines the value of the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal. Correspondingly, the second device determines the identifier value according to the terminal device to be woken up, and generates the first wake-up signal based on the identifier value.

[0283] If the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal is a first identifier value corresponding to the first device, or if the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal is a second identifier value corresponding to the first device, the first device will start monitoring paging DCI (paging DCI) or PEI (paging early indication) after receiving the first wake-up signal.

[0284] The following sections describe how to determine the first and second identifier values ​​corresponding to a terminal device using different methods. In these methods, it is assumed that one LO is associated with K POs, each PO is associated with N terminal device groups, the relative index value of the PO corresponding to the terminal device is k, and the corresponding subgroup ID value is n, where 0 ≤ k ≤ K-1, 0 ≤ n ≤ N-1.

[0285] Method 1A, where the first identifier is k·N+n and the second identifier is K·N+n.

[0286] In this way, codepoint values ​​from smallest to largest are first mapped to the subgroup ID of each PO, then to the common codepoint of each PO, and finally to the reserved codepoint value.

[0287] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 1A. In Table 1A, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values.

[0288] Table 1A

[0289] Method 1B, where the first identifier is k·N+n+N and the second identifier is n.

[0290] In this way, codepoint values ​​from smallest to largest are first mapped to the common codepoint of each PO, then to the subgroup ID of each PO, and finally to the reserved codepoint values.

[0291] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 1B. In Table 1B, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values.

[0292] Table 1B

[0293] Method 2A, where the first identifier is k·(N+1)+n and the second identifier is k·(N+1)+N.

[0294] In this way, the codepoint values, from smallest to largest, are first mapped to the subgroup ID and common codepoint of a PO, then to the subgroup ID and common codepoint of the next PO, and so on, and finally to the reserved codepoint values.

[0295] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 2A. In Table 2A, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values.

[0296] Table 2A

[0297] Method 2B, where the first identifier is k·(N+1)+n+1 and the second identifier is k·(N+1).

[0298] In this way, codepoint values ​​from smallest to largest are first mapped to the common codepoint and subgroup ID of a PO, then to the common codepoint and subgroup ID of the next PO, and so on, and finally to the reserved codepoint values.

[0299] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 2B. In Table 2B, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values.

[0300] Table 2B

[0301] Method 3A, the first identifier is set to... The second identifier is valued as follows:

[0302] From a binary perspective, this method allows a codepoint value to be equivalently divided into two fields: the first field corresponds to the PO's relative index value, and the second field corresponds to the common codepoint or subgroup ID. Specifically, the second field first maps to the subgroup ID, and then continuously maps to the common codepoint.

[0303] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 3A. In Table 3A, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values. In the binary value of the codepoint value, the first two bits can be considered as the first field, and their value, after being converted to decimal, is the same as the relative index value of the PO.

[0304] In this method, some codepoint values ​​are "skipped," or in other words, the values ​​of the reserved codepoint values ​​are not grouped together. For example, in the example in Table 3A, 3, 7, and 11 are reserved codepoint values.

[0305] Table 3A

[0306] Method 3B, the first identifier is set to... The second identifier is valued as follows:

[0307] From a binary perspective, this method effectively divides a codepoint value into two fields: the first corresponds to the PO's relative index value, and the second corresponds to the common codepoint or subgroup ID. Specifically, the second field first maps to the subgroup ID, and then to the common codepoint. However, the values ​​corresponding to the common codepoint and the subgroup ID may not be consecutive.

[0308] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 3B. In Table 3B, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values. In the binary value of the codepoint value, the first two bits can be considered as the first field, and their value, after being converted to decimal, is the same as the relative index value of the PO.

[0309] Unlike method 3A, in method 3B, for the same PO, the value corresponding to the common codepoint and the value corresponding to the subgroup ID are not consecutive. For example, 2, 6, and 10 are reserved codepoint values.

[0310] Table 3B

[0311] Method 3C, the first identifier is set to... The second identifier is valued as follows:

[0312] From a binary perspective, this method allows a codepoint value to be equivalently divided into two fields: the first field corresponds to the PO's relative index value, and the second field corresponds to the common codepoint or subgroup ID. Specifically, the second field first maps to the common codepoint, and then to the subgroup ID.

[0313] For example, assuming K=4 and N=2, a total of 4*3=12 codepoint values ​​are used, as shown in Table 3C. In Table 3C, the values ​​outside the parentheses are the decimal values ​​of the codepoint values, and the values ​​inside the parentheses are the binary values. In the binary value of the codepoint value, the first two bits can be considered as the first field, and their value, after being converted to decimal, is the same as the relative index value of the PO.

[0314] Table 3C

[0315] The methods provided by the embodiments of this application have been described in detail above with reference to Figures 8 and 9. The apparatus provided by the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 10 to 12. It should be understood that the descriptions of the apparatus embodiments correspond to the descriptions of the method embodiments; therefore, any content not described in detail can be referred to the method embodiments above, and for the sake of brevity, will not be repeated here.

[0316] Referring to Figure 10, which is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in an embodiment of this application, the communication device 1000 includes a transceiver unit 1010 and a processing unit 1020. The transceiver unit 1010 can be used to implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 1010 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit. The processing unit 1020 can be used to perform processing, such as determining information bits.

[0317] Optionally, the device 1000 may further include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing unit 1020 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit to enable the device to implement the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0318] In a first possible design, the device 1000 can be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments, which can implement the steps or processes corresponding to those executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. Specifically, the transceiver unit 1010 can be used to perform transceiver-related operations (such as sending and / or receiving data or messages) of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 1020 can be used to perform processing-related operations of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or operations other than transceiver (such as operations other than sending and / or receiving data or messages).

[0319] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1010 is configured to receive a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, the first wake-up signal indicating a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing, the first paging timing belonging to K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1; the processing unit 1020 is configured to determine a first value N, where N*K is less than or equal to a second value X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging timings being equal to N, the first identifier being one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, the second identifier being used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0320] Another possible implementation involves a transceiver unit 1010, configured to receive a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing. This first wake-up signal timing is associated with K paging timings. The first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier, which is used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing. The first paging timing belongs to K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1. A processing unit 1020 is configured to determine a first value N, where N*K is greater than or equal to a second value X. When N*K is greater than X, the K paging timings include a second paging timing and a third paging timing. The number of terminal device groups associated with the second paging timing is equal to N, and the number of terminal device groups associated with the third paging timing is less than N. The first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1. Specifically, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1. The second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0321] In a second possible design, the device 1000 can be a network device as described in the foregoing embodiments. This device 1000 can implement the steps or processes performed by the network device corresponding to those described in the above method embodiments. Specifically, the transceiver unit 1010 can be used to perform transceiver-related operations (such as sending and / or receiving data or messages) of the network device described in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 1020 can be used to perform processing-related operations of the network device described in the above method embodiments, or operations other than transceiver operations (such as operations other than sending and / or receiving data or messages).

[0322] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1010 is configured to send a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings, the first wake-up signal indicating a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing, the first paging timing belonging to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1; the transceiver unit 1010 is configured to send first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating N, N*K being less than or equal to a second value X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging timings being equal to N, the first identifier being one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1, the second identifier being used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0323] Another possible implementation involves a transceiver unit 1010 configured to send a first wake-up signal at a first wake-up signal timing, the first wake-up signal timing being associated with K paging timings. The first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier, the first identifier being used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing. The first paging timing belongs to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1. The transceiver unit 1010 is also configured to send first configuration information, the first configuration information indicating N, where N*K is greater than or equal to a second value X. When N*K is greater than X, the K paging timings include a second paging timing and a third paging timing. The number of terminal device groups associated with the second paging timing is equal to N, and the number of terminal device groups associated with the third paging timing is less than N. The first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1. Wherein, if the Y candidate identifiers do not include the second identifier, X = Y; or, if the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, X = Y-1. The second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing.

[0324] In conjunction with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, when N*K equals X, among the K paging opportunities...

[0325] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the above-mentioned corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0326] It should also be understood that the device 1000 here is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" here can refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuitry, a processor (e.g., a shared processor, a proprietary processor, or a group processor, etc.) and memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, integrated logic circuitry, and / or other suitable components supporting the described functions. In an alternative example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 1000 can be specifically the communication device in the above embodiments, and can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the communication device in the above method embodiments; to avoid repetition, these will not be described again here.

[0327] The apparatus 1000 of each of the above-described schemes has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the communication device (such as the first device, or the second device) in the above-described methods. The function can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (e.g., the transmitting unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as processing units, can be replaced by processors, each performing the transceiver operations and related processing operations in the respective method embodiments.

[0328] In addition, the transceiver unit 1010 may also be a transceiver circuit (for example, it may include a receiving circuit and a transmitting circuit), and the processing unit may be a processing circuit.

[0329] It should be noted that the device in Figure 10 can be the communication device in the foregoing embodiments (such as the first device or the second device), or it can be a chip or a chip system, such as a system on a chip (SoC). The transceiver unit can be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; the processing unit is a processor, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip. No limitations are imposed here.

[0330] Referring to Figure 11, as an example, Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 1100 provided in an embodiment of this application. The device 1100 includes a processor 1110, which is coupled to a memory 1120. The memory 1120 is used to store computer programs or instructions and / or data. The processor 1110 is used to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 1120, or to read the data stored in the memory 1120, in order to execute the methods in the above method embodiments.

[0331] Optionally, there may be one or more processors 1110.

[0332] Optionally, the memory 1120 may be one or more.

[0333] Alternatively, the memory 1120 can be integrated with the processor 1110, or it can be set separately.

[0334] Optionally, as shown in FIG11, the device 1100 further includes a transceiver 1130 for receiving and / or transmitting signals. For example, the processor 1110 is used to control the transceiver 1130 to receive and / or transmit signals.

[0335] As an example, processor 1110 may have the functions of processing unit 1020 shown in FIG10, memory 1120 may have the functions of storage unit, and transceiver 1130 may have the functions of transceiver unit 1010 shown in FIG10.

[0336] As one option, the device 1100 is used to implement the operations performed by the communication device (such as the first device, or the second device) in the various method embodiments described above.

[0337] For example, processor 1110 is used to execute computer programs or instructions stored in memory 1120 to implement the relevant operations of the communication device in the various method embodiments described above.

[0338] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0339] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be cache or random access memory (RAM). For example, RAM can be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0340] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0341] It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0342] Referring to Figure 12, as an example, Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 1200 provided in an embodiment of this application. The chip system 1200 (or may also be referred to as a processing system) includes logic circuitry 1210 and an input / output interface 1220.

[0343] The logic circuit 1210 can be a processing circuit in the chip system 1200. The logic circuit 1210 can be coupled to a memory unit, calling instructions from the memory unit, enabling the chip system 1200 to implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of this application. The input / output interface 1220 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system 1200, outputting processed information from the chip system 1200, or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 1200 for processing.

[0344] As one approach, the chip system 1200 is used to implement operations performed by a communication device (such as the first device, or the second device) in the various method embodiments described above.

[0345] For example, logic circuit 1210 is used to implement processing-related operations performed by a communication device (such as the first device or the second device) in the above method embodiments; input / output interface 1220 is used to implement sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by a communication device (such as the first device or the second device) in the above method embodiments.

[0346] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions for implementing the methods executed by a communication device (such as a first device or a second device) in the above-described method embodiments. For example, when the computer program or instructions are run on the communication device, the communication device (such as the first device or the second device) executes the above-described methods (such as method 800).

[0347] This application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, implement the methods described above as performed by a communication device (such as a first device or a second device). For example, when the computer program or instructions are run on the communication device, the communication device (such as the first device or the second device) performs the methods described above (such as method 800).

[0348] This application also provides a communication system that includes the first device and / or the second device described in the above embodiments. For example, the system includes the first device and the second device described in FIG8.

[0349] The explanations and beneficial effects of the relevant contents in any of the devices provided above can be found in the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0350] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of apparatus or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0351] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved, in whole or in part, through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented, in whole or in part, as a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. For example, the computer can be a personal computer, a server, or a second device, etc. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., DVDs), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks, SSDs). For example, the aforementioned available media include, but are not limited to, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks, and other media capable of storing program code.

[0352] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that, include: A first wake-up signal is received at a first wake-up signal timing. The first wake-up signal timing is associated with K paging timings. The first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier. The first identifier is used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing. The first paging timing belongs to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1. A first value N is determined, N*K is less than or equal to a second value X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities is equal to N, and the first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; where, If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y; or, If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, then X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Determining the first value N includes: Receive first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information indicates the N; or, The N is calculated based on the X and the K. A communication method, characterized in that, include: A first wake-up signal is sent at a first wake-up signal timing, which is associated with K paging timings. The first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier, which is used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing. The first paging timing belongs to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1. Send first configuration information, which indicates a first value N, where N*K is less than or equal to a second value X. The number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities is equal to N. The first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1. If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y; or, If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, then X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is characterized in that, The N satisfies: N = floor(X / K). The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index of the first paging time in the K paging times, and the index of the first terminal device group in all terminal device groups associated with the first paging time. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The first identifier is determined based on the first value N, the index P of the first paging time in the K paging times, and the index Q of the first terminal device group in all terminal device groups associated with the first paging time, including: the value T of the first identifier satisfies: T = P * N + Q. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, which has a value of N*K or a value of Y-1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: A first wake-up signal is received at a first wake-up signal timing. The first wake-up signal timing is associated with K paging timings. The first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier. The first identifier is used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing. The first paging timing belongs to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1. Determine the first value N, where N*K is greater than or equal to the second value X. When N*K is greater than X, the K paging opportunities include a second paging opportunity and a third paging opportunity. The number of terminal device groups associated with the second paging opportunity is equal to N, and the number of terminal device groups associated with the third paging opportunity is less than N. The first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1. If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y; or, If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, then X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, Determining the first value N includes: Receive first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information indicates the N; or, The N is calculated based on the X and the K. A communication method, characterized in that, include: A first wake-up signal is sent at a first wake-up signal timing, which is associated with K paging timings. The first wake-up signal indicates a first identifier, which is used to wake up terminal devices in a first terminal device group associated with the first paging timing. The first paging timing belongs to the K paging timings, where K is an integer greater than 1. Send first configuration information, which indicates that N, N*K is greater than or equal to a second value X. When N*K is greater than X, the K paging opportunities include a second paging opportunity and a third paging opportunity. The number of terminal device groups associated with the second paging opportunity is equal to N, and the number of terminal device groups associated with the third paging opportunity is less than N. The first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1. If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y; or, If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, then X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that, When N*K equals X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities is equal to N, and the first identifier is one of Y candidate identifiers, where N is a positive integer and Y is an integer greater than 1; where... If the second identifier is not included among the Y candidate identifiers, then X = Y; or, If the Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, then X = Y-1, and the second identifier is used to wake up all terminal devices associated with the first wake-up signal timing. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that, The N satisfies: N = ceil(X / K). The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that, When N*K is greater than X, the number of terminal device groups associated with each of the K paging opportunities satisfies: The K paging opportunities include Each paging opportunity is associated with N terminal device groups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K paging opportunities include... A paging opportunity is associated with a floor (X / K) group of terminal devices; or, The K paging opportunities include K-1 paging opportunities associated with N terminal device groups, where N = ceil(X / K), and the K paging opportunities include 1 paging opportunity associated with... A group of terminal devices; where ceil represents the round-up operation and floor represents the round-down operation. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that, The Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, where Y = 32. K=2, N=16, wherein the K paging opportunities include one paging opportunity associated with 16 terminal device groups and one paging opportunity associated with 15 terminal device groups; or, K=3, N=11, wherein the K paging opportunities include one paging opportunity associated with 11 terminal device groups and two paging opportunities associated with 10 terminal device groups; or, K=3, N=11, wherein the K paging opportunities include 2 paging opportunities associated with 11 terminal device groups and 1 paging opportunity associated with 9 terminal device groups; or, K=4, N=8, the K paging opportunities include 3 paging opportunities associated with 8 terminal device groups and 1 paging opportunity associated with 7 terminal device groups. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 14, characterized in that, The Y candidate identifiers include the second identifier, and the value of the second identifier is Y-1. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that, Y is 32. A communication method, characterized in that, include: A first wake-up signal is received at a first wake-up signal timing. The first wake-up signal timing is associated with K paging timings. Each of the K paging timings corresponds to N subgroups, where K and N are both positive integers. The identifier value carried in the first wake-up signal is determined. If the identifier value carried in the first wake-up signal is a first identifier value corresponding to the first device, or if the identifier value carried in the first wake-up signal is a second identifier value corresponding to the first device, the first device starts monitoring the paging downlink control information (DCI) or paging advance indication (PEI) after receiving the first wake-up signal. A communication method, characterized in that, include: A first wake-up signal is sent to the first device at the first wake-up signal timing. The first wake-up signal timing is associated with K paging timings, each of the K paging timings corresponding to N subgroups, where K and N are both positive integers. If the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal is a first identifier value corresponding to the first device, or if the identifier carried in the first wake-up signal is a second identifier value corresponding to the first device, the first wake-up signal instructs the first device to start monitoring the paging downlink control information (DCI) or paging advance indication (PEI) after receiving the first wake-up signal. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that, The relative index value of the PO corresponding to the first device is k, and the corresponding subgroup ID value is n, where 0≤k≤K-1, 0≤n≤N-1. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of k·N+n, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of K·N+n. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of k·N+n+N, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of n. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of k·(N+1)+n, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of k·(N+1)+N. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of k·(N+1)+n+1, and the second identifier corresponding to the first device has a value of k·(N+1). The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: The second identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: Where log() represents taking the logarithm to the base 2. This indicates rounding up to the nearest integer. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: The second identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: Where log() represents taking the logarithm to the base 2. This indicates rounding up to the nearest integer. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: The second identifier corresponding to the first device is valued as follows: Where log() represents taking the logarithm to the base 2. This indicates rounding up to the nearest integer. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes modules or units for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 16, or modules or units for performing the method of any one of claims 17 to 26. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a processor for executing computer programs or instructions to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 16, or to cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 17 to 26. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 16, or cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 17 to 26. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 16, or the computer program product includes a computer program or instructions for performing the method as described in any one of claims 17 to 26.

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