CN113973389A

CN113973389A - Control information transmission method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN113973389A
Application number: CN202010725901.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 温容慧; 余政
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-24
Filing date: 2020-07-24
Publication date: 2022-01-25
Also published as: WO2022017241A1

Abstract

The application discloses a control information transmission method and a communication device, which are used for reducing the blind detection times of a terminal on a PDCCH (physical Downlink control channel), saving signaling overhead and improving the scheduling flexibility of network side equipment. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal receives a first message from the network device, the first message comprising a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks comprising information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type, and the terminal determines the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type from the plurality of information blocks; the first type information block and the second type information block comprise at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used for indicating the transmission characteristic of each type information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter comprises attribute content, transmission period and bit number.

Description

Control information transmission method and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a device for transmitting control information.

Background

Before the network side device sends DCI to the terminal, the network side device may configure a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidate (candidate) corresponding to each DCI in advance to the terminal through a high-level signaling, and in order to determine whether there is DCI belonging to the terminal, the terminal needs to monitor a PDCCH candidate corresponding to the DCI to be received, which may also be understood as monitoring DCI.

The DCI includes a plurality of formats, such as DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, and DCI format 2_ x, it should be understood that one value of x represents one DCI format (DCI format). Each DCI format may include a plurality of blocks (blocks). The network side equipment can configure or fixedly set the information of each block and the number of bits (bit) occupied by each block. The total length (size) of each DCI is the sum of the number of bits included in each block included in the DCI. Since the number of bits included in each block is configurable, the number of bits included in each block varies widely, resulting in a large variation in the total length of each DCI. In other words, there are a plurality of DCI of different sizes. This requires the terminal to perform blind detection on the PDCCH according to the multiple sizes to determine whether there is DCI belonging to the terminal, and obviously, an increase in the number of sizes may result in more monitoring.

In order to reduce the complexity of the terminal, the number of blind detections for the PDCCH by the terminal (blind detection number) may be reduced, and especially a low-complexity or low-power (REDCAP) terminal needs to reduce the complexity of implementation by reducing the number of blind detections. In some embodiments, the number of different DCI sizes in each CSS may be reduced, e.g., the size of each DCI format 2_ x is set to be the same. However, for some DCI formats, this approach may increase redundant bits, i.e., increase resource overhead.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a control information transmission method and a communication device, which are used for reducing the blind detection times of a terminal, saving signaling overhead and improving the scheduling flexibility of network side equipment.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting control information is provided, where the method is executable by a first communication device, and the first communication device may be a communication apparatus or a communication device capable of supporting the communication apparatus to implement functions required by the method, such as a system on a chip. The following description will be given taking the communication device as a terminal as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

the terminal receives a first message from the network device, the first message comprising a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks comprising information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type, and the terminal determines the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type from the plurality of information blocks; the first type information block and the second type information block comprise at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used for indicating the transmission characteristic of each type information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter comprises attribute content, transmission period and bit number.

In this scheme, the first type information block and the second type information block may be transmitted to the terminal together through a first message, for example, DCI. The first type of information block may be considered as an information block included in one DCI format, and the second type of information block may be considered as an information block included in another DCI format. That is, information of different DCI formats may be transmitted through one DCI format together. Because a plurality of DCI formats are combined together, the types of the DCI formats can be reduced, namely the number of DCI sizes in a search space is reduced, thereby reducing the blind detection times of the terminal and saving the signaling overhead.

In a possible implementation, the type of the information block may indicate a function of the information block or a type of a transmission service corresponding to the information block, that is, the type includes a function type of the information block and/or a service type of the information block.

Illustratively, the function types include one or more of a preemption function, a cancellation function, a frame format function, a power control function, and a power saving function;

the service types include one or more of video monitoring service, wearable device service, sensor service, remote control service, Augmented Reality (AR) service, Virtual Reality (VR) service, and internet of vehicles service.

Illustratively, the aforementioned attribute content includes one or more of:

serving cell information, partial bandwidth information, terminal information, carrier information, bandwidth supported by a terminal, delay requirement, reliability requirement, coverage, terminal group characteristics, antenna configuration information, co-site information, beamforming information, Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI), transmission frequency resources, Synchronization Signal (SS) type, SS period, and resource offset (coreset) configuration.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal receives configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating the same characteristic parameter included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type. In the scheme, the characteristic parameters of the two types of information blocks are indicated through one piece of configuration information, and compared with the characteristic parameters of the two types of information blocks which are respectively indicated through two pieces of information, the signaling overhead can be saved. And the configuration information indicates the same characteristic parameter included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type, and can implicitly indicate the merging basis of the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type, so that the terminal can determine which types of information blocks are included in the plurality of information blocks according to the configuration information.

In this embodiment, the plurality of information blocks included in the first message include a plurality of types of information blocks. The network device may indicate to the terminal which of the plurality of information blocks belong to the same type of information block, so that the terminal can accurately receive information blocks belonging to each type.

Illustratively, in one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal receives first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information comprises a position identifier, and the position identifier is used for indicating the starting position of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks in the first message. According to the scheme, the initial position of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks in the first message can be indicated through the first indication information, so that the terminal can determine the initial position of each type of information block according to the first indication information, and further receive the information block of the corresponding type at the initial position of each type of information block, namely, the information block of the first type and the information block of the second type are determined.

Illustratively, in one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal receives second indication information from the network equipment, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises a first type information block and a second type information block. The scheme may directly indicate which types of information blocks are merged together by the second indication information. The network device may configure a plurality of types of information blocks included in each type of combination, for example, configure a start position of each type of information block in the type combination, so that the terminal accurately receives information blocks belonging to each type according to the second indication information.

In contrast, the terminal may determine a correspondence between a set of identities and a set of type combinations, where at least one identity in the set of identities is in one-to-one correspondence with at least one type combination in the set of type combinations, where the at least one identity includes the first identity, and the at least one type combination includes the first type combination; and the terminal determines the first type combination according to the first identification and the corresponding relation. In some embodiments, the correspondence may be predefined, or may be notified to the terminal by the network device.

Illustratively, in one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal receives third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block. In the scheme, each type of information block is provided with a corresponding type identifier, and no matter which types of information blocks are combined together, the terminal can accurately receive each type of information block according to the third indication information. Therefore, the type combination is not required to be defined in advance, the limitation on the type combination is less, and the type combination is more flexible.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the terminal receives configuration parameters from the network device, where the configuration parameters are used to configure a first Radio Network Temporary Identity (RNTI), the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of the RNTI and a second part of the RNTI, the first part of the RNTI belongs to the RNTI corresponding to the information block of the first type, and the second part of the RNTI belongs to the RNTI corresponding to the information block of the second type. In the scheme, the first RNTI configurable by the network device for the REDCAP UE is determined according to RNTIs respectively corresponding to various types of information blocks, so that the REDCAP UE and legacy UE can be prevented from falsely detecting DCI which does not belong to the first RNTI.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: and the terminal receives fourth indication information from the network equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI. In this scheme, the network device may indicate the valid time of the configured RNTI for the legacy UE and the REDCAP UE, for example, indicate that the legacy UE and the REDCAP UE respectively adopt different RNTIs at different times, so as to avoid collision between the legacy UE and the REDCAP UE.

In a second aspect, a method for transmitting control information is provided, where the method is executable by a second communication apparatus, and the second communication apparatus may be a communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the communication device to implement functions required by the method, such as a chip or a system-on-chip. The following description will be given taking the communication device as a network device as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

the network equipment determines a first message and sends the first message to a terminal, wherein the first message comprises a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks comprise information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type, the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type comprise at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used for indicating the transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter comprises attribute content, transmission period and bit number.

In one possible implementation, the type comprises a function type of the information block and/or a service type of the information block, wherein,

the function type comprises one or more of a preemption function, a cancellation function, a frame format function, a power control function and a power saving function;

the service types comprise one or more of video monitoring service, wearable equipment service, sensor service, remote control service, augmented reality AR service, virtual reality VR service and vehicle networking service.

In one possible implementation, the attribute content is one or more of the following:

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network device sends configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating the same characteristic parameters included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal, wherein the first indication information comprises a position identifier, and the position identifier is used for indicating the starting position of different types of information blocks in the first message.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network equipment sends second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises a first type information block and a second type information block.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network equipment sends third indication information to the terminal, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network equipment sends configuration parameters to the terminal, the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI for the terminal, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of RNTI and a second part of RNTI, the first part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: and the network equipment sends fourth indication information to the terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

With regard to the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or various possible embodiments of the second aspect, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or various possible embodiments of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal-side communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the terminal-side communication device to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip or a chip system. The communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein the transceiver module is configured to receive a first message from a network device, the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks includes a first type information block and a second type information block, the first type information block and the second type information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission period and a bit number; the processing module is configured to determine a first type of information blocks and a second type of information blocks.

In one possible implementation, the attribute content includes one or more of:

serving cell information, partial bandwidth information, communication device information, carrier information, bandwidth supported by a communication device, delay requirements, reliability requirements, coverage, communication device group characteristics, antenna configuration information, co-site information, beamforming information, Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI), transmission frequency resources, Synchronization Signal (SS) type, SS period, resource offset (coreset) configuration.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: configuration information is received from the network device indicating the same characteristic parameter comprised by the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: first indication information is received from the network equipment, and the first indication information comprises a position identifier which is used for indicating the starting position of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks in the first message.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and receiving third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: receiving configuration parameters from network equipment, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part RNTI and a second part RNTI, the first part RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and receiving fourth indication information from the network equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network-side communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the network-side communication device to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip or a chip system. The communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein the processing module is configured to determine a first message, the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks includes a first type information block and a second type information block, the first type information block and the second type information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission period and a bit number; the transceiver module is used for sending a first message to the terminal.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating the same characteristic parameter included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and sending first indication information to the terminal, wherein the first indication information comprises a position identifier, and the position identifier is used for indicating the starting position of the different types of information blocks in the first message.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and sending second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and sending third indication information to the terminal, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and sending configuration parameters to the terminal, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI for the terminal, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of RNTI and a second part of RNTI, the first part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

In one possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: and sending fourth indication information to the terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

With regard to the technical effects brought about by the third aspect or the fourth aspect or the various possible implementations of the third aspect or the various possible implementations of the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or the second aspect or the various possible implementations of the first aspect or the various possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which may be the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect of the foregoing embodiments, or a chip system provided in the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect. The communication device comprises a communication interface, a processor and optionally a memory. Wherein the memory is used for storing computer programs or instructions or data, the processor is coupled with the memory and the communication interface, and when the processor reads the computer programs or instructions or data, the communication device is caused to execute the method executed by the terminal or the network equipment in the above method embodiments.

In a possible implementation, the communication interface is configured to receive a first message from a network device, where the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks includes a first type information block and a second type information block, the first type information block and the second type information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission cycle, and a bit number; the processor is configured to determine a first type of information block and a second type of information block.

As an alternative implementation, the type includes a function type of the information block and/or a service type of the information block, wherein,

As an optional implementation manner, the attribute content includes one or more of the following:

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: configuration information is received from the network device indicating the same characteristic parameter comprised by the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: first indication information is received from the network equipment, and the first indication information comprises a position identifier which is used for indicating the starting position of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks in the first message.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and receiving third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: receiving configuration parameters from network equipment, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part RNTI and a second part RNTI, the first part RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and receiving fourth indication information from the network equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

In another possible implementation manner, the processor is configured to determine a first message, where the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, where the plurality of information blocks includes a first type information block and a second type information block, where the first type information block and the second type information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, where the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission period, and a bit number; the communication interface is used for sending a first message to the terminal.

As an optional implementation manner, the attribute content includes one or more of the following contents:

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating the same characteristic parameter included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and sending first indication information to the terminal, wherein the first indication information comprises a position identifier, and the position identifier is used for indicating the starting position of the different types of information blocks in the first message.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and sending second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and sending third indication information to the terminal, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and sending configuration parameters to the terminal, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI for the terminal, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of RNTI and a second part of RNTI, the first part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

As an optional implementation, the communication interface is further configured to: and sending fourth indication information to the terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

It is to be understood that the communication interface may be a transceiver in the communication device, for example implemented by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in said communication device, or, if the communication device is a chip provided in a network device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface of the chip, for example an input/output circuit, a pin, etc., for inputting/outputting instructions, data or signals. The transceiver is used for the communication device to communicate with other equipment. Illustratively, when the communication device is a terminal, the other device is a network device; or, when the communication device is a network device, the other device is a terminal.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, and may further include a memory and/or a communication interface, and is configured to implement the method in the first aspect or the second aspect. In one possible implementation, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and/or data. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the communication apparatus in the third aspect and the communication apparatus in the fourth aspect; or the communication system comprises the communication device of the third aspect and the communication device of another possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect; or the communication system comprises the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect and the communication apparatus of one possible implementation form of the fifth aspect; or the communication system comprises communication devices corresponding to the two possible implementation manners in the fifth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed, implements the method of the first or second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when executed, causes the method of the first or second aspect described above to be performed.

Advantageous effects of the above-described fifth to ninth aspects and implementations thereof may be referred to the description of the respective aspects or advantageous effects of the respective aspects and implementations thereof.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for use in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of DCI format 2_0 to DCI format 2_ 6;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a transmission method of control information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a starting position indication of multiple types of DCI formats included in a DCI format group according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a DCI format group to be transmitted according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is another schematic diagram of a transmission DCI format set according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is another schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is another schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, such as an NR system, or applied to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or may also be applied to a next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, which is not limited specifically.

Referring to fig. 1, an exemplary architecture diagram of a communication system applicable to the embodiment of the present application is shown, where the communication system may include a core network device, a network device, and at least one terminal. Fig. 1 illustrates an example in which at least one terminal is two terminals. The terminal is connected with the network equipment in a wireless mode, and the network equipment is connected with the core network equipment in a wireless or wired mode. The core network device and the network device may be independent different physical devices; or the function of the core network equipment and the logic function of the network equipment are integrated on the same physical equipment; or part of the functions of the core network device and part of the functions of the network device are integrated on the same physical device. It should be noted that fig. 1 is only an illustration, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of core network devices, and terminals included in the mobile communication system. In some embodiments, the communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices, wireless backhaul devices, and the like.

The network device is AN access device that the terminal accesses to the mobile communication system in a wireless manner, and includes, for example, AN Access Network (AN) device, such as a base station (e.g., AN access point). The network device may also refer to a device that communicates with the terminal at an air interface, such as other possible terminal apparatuses; also for example, in one V2X technology, the network device is a Road Side Unit (RSU). The base station may be configured to interconvert the received air frame with an Internet Protocol (IP) packet as a router between the terminal and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The RSU may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting the V2X application and may exchange messages with other entities supporting the V2X application. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-a) system; or may also include next generation node B (gNB) in a 5G NR system; or may also include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a Cloud RAN (Cloud radio access network) system; or may also include an access node in a wIreless fIdelity (Wi-Fi) system, and the like, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the wIreless network device.

A terminal (terminal), also referred to as terminal equipment or terminal device, comprises equipment providing voice and/or data connectivity to a user, which may comprise, for example, a handheld device having wireless connection capability or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a device-to-device communication (D2D) terminal device, a V2X terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (IoT) terminal device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber state), a mobile station (mobile state), a remote station (remote state), an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal (remote terminal), an access terminal (access terminal), a user terminal (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), or a user equipment (user device), etc. For example, the terminal may include a mobile telephone (or so-called "cellular" telephone), a computer having mobile terminal equipment, a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included mobile device, and the like. Also for example, the terminal may include a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical supply (remote), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and the like. As another example, a terminal may include a Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and the like. Or the terminal may also include limited devices such as devices that consume less power, or devices that have limited storage capabilities, or devices that have limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples of information sensing devices include bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), laser scanners, and the like.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable smart device or intelligent wearable equipment etc. is the general term of using wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop the equipment that can dress to daily wearing, like glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes etc.. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry and the like for monitoring physical signs. The various terminal devices described above, if located on a vehicle (e.g., placed in or installed in the vehicle), may be considered to be vehicle-mounted terminal devices, which are also referred to as on-board units (OBUs), for example.

Terminals can be classified into a plurality of types of terminals according to the types of services supported by the terminals. For example, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defines three major application scenarios for 5G and future mobile communication systems, which are enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), high-reliability and low-latency communications (URLLC), and massive machine type communications (mtc). Among the typical eMBB services are: ultra-high definition video, AR, VR, etc., which are mainly characterized by large transmission data volume and high transmission rate. Typical URLLC services are: the main characteristics of the applications of wireless control in industrial manufacturing or production processes, motion control of unmanned automobiles and unmanned airplanes, and haptic interaction such as remote repair and remote operation are that ultra-high reliability, low time delay, less transmission data volume and burstiness are required. Typical mtc services are: the intelligent power distribution automation system has the main characteristics of huge quantity of networking equipment, small transmission data volume and insensitivity of data to transmission delay, and the mMTC terminals need to meet the requirements of low cost and very long standby time. Currently, a terminal of the mtc service is referred to as a REDCAP UE in the standard, that is, a low-complexity or low-capability terminal, and the complexity of the terminal may be lower than that of other terminals in terms of bandwidth, power consumption, number of antennas, and the like, for example, the bandwidth is narrower, the power consumption is lower, the number of antennas is less, and the like. This type of terminal may also be referred to as an (NR light, NRL) terminal, i.e. a lightweight version of the terminal.

In embodiments of the present application, the network devices and terminals may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; it may also be deployed on airborne airplanes, balloons, and satellites. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the terminal.

In addition, the embodiments of the present application may be applicable to downlink signal transmission, may also be applicable to uplink signal transmission, and may also be applicable to signal transmission of device-to-device (D2D). For downlink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a network device, and the corresponding receiving device is a terminal. For uplink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a terminal, and the corresponding receiving device is a network device. For D2D signaling, the transmitting device is a terminal and the corresponding receiving device is also a terminal. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the transmission direction of the signal.

The network device may send DCI to the terminal through a downlink control channel, for example, a PDCCH, where the DCI may include uplink scheduling information for scheduling the terminal to transmit data in an uplink data channel, and the DCI may also include information such as downlink scheduling information for scheduling the terminal to receive a downlink data channel. It should be noted that the downlink control channel is used for carrying downlink data information, such as a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

Before the network side device sends the DCI to the terminal, the terminal may be configured in advance through a high-level signaling to monitor the PDCCH candidate corresponding to each DCI, that is, a time-frequency resource location where the PDCCH may occur. However, the network side device does not notify the terminal, and the network side device may transmit DCI on which PDCCH candidate or candidates. Since a PDCCH candidate may or may not transmit DCI of a certain terminal, the terminal needs to monitor the PDCCH candidate corresponding to the DCI to be received in order to determine whether there is DCI belonging to the terminal. The PDCCH candidate corresponding to the DCI to be received monitored by the terminal may also be considered as monitoring the DCI.

For example, the terminal may monitor DCI in a Common Search Space (CSS), where DCI may include DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, and DCI format 2_ x, it should be understood that different values of x represent different DCI formats. For example, the value of x may be a positive integer within the range of [1, 6], that is, the DCI format 2_ x may be DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, DCI format 2_4, DCI format 2_5, or DCI format 2_ 6.

Each DCI format may include a plurality of information blocks (may be referred to as "blocks" for short in the text), and the base station may configure the maximum number of blocks or bits included in each DCI format 2-x. The number of bits occupied by each DCI format 2-x may be configured by the base station or predefined. For example, as shown in fig. 2, the DCI format 2_0 includes a maximum number of bits not exceeding 9, the DCI format 2_1 includes a predefined number of bits, and the DCI format 2_1 includes a number of bits of 14. For another example, the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_3 is related to the number of subcarriers (CC), and the base station may configure the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_3 according to the subcarriers, for example, the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_3 is equal to CC × 2+0/2, or the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_3 is equal to CC × 2/4. For another example, the DCI format 2_4 includes a plurality of candidate values of bit numbers, and the candidate values are located in { [1], 2, 4, [5], 7, 8, [10], 14, 16, [20], [25], 28, 32, [35], 56, 112 }. It should be noted that "2, 4, 7, 8, 14, 16, 28, 32, 56, 112" in the candidate values is a candidate value of the number of bits included in DCI format 2_ 4. And x in [ x ] is only an example, and represents a possible candidate value of the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_4, and a candidate value which does not represent the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_4 necessarily includes [ x ]. For example, the DCI format 2_4 may include a number of bits other than 5, i.e., the candidate value does not include [5 ]. For another example, the DCI format 2_6 includes a number of bits equal to 1+ 0/2/3/4/5. It should be noted that the number of bits included in the DCI format 2_5 is not listed here, and therefore the corresponding lattice content is empty.

The maximum block included in each DCI format 2-x may be configured by the base station or may be predefined. For example, DCI format 2_0 includes a block number not more than 16 at maximum; DCI format 2_1 comprises block number not more than 32 at most; the DCI format 2_2 comprises that the number of bits occupied by the last block in the block numbers is not more than 15, and each block corresponds to one UE; the DCI format 2_3 comprises that the number of bits occupied by the first block in the block numbers does not exceed 31, and each block corresponds to one UE; the DCI format 2_6 includes a block number corresponding to one UE. It should be noted that the DCI format 2_4 including the maximum number of blocks is not yet defined, and may be the same as the DCI format 2_1 including the number of blocks, which is not listed here, and therefore the corresponding lattice content is empty. The DCI format 2_5 includes the maximum number of blocks, which is not relevant to the present application, and is not listed here, so that the corresponding lattice content is empty.

Of course, the maximum size (payload size) of each DCI may also be limited. For example, the payload size of DCI format 2_0 is less than or equal to 128, the payload size of DCI format 2_1 is less than or equal to 126, and so on.

In addition, the number of bits occupied by the block included in each DCI format 2-x may be configured by the base station or may be predefined. The number of bits included in different blocks may be the same or different. Since the number of bits included in each block is configurable, the number of bits included in each block varies widely, resulting in a large variation in the size of each DCI, i.e. there are a plurality of DCI of different sizes. It should be understood that the size of each DCI is the sum of the number of bits included in each block included in the DCI.

Besides configuring the DCI format, the base station may also configure whether to monitor the DCI format in the CSS. If the base station configures the monitoring DCI format, the base station also configures a period for monitoring the DCI format. The period for monitoring the DCI format may be in the range of candidate periods {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560} slots. For example, the period for monitoring the DCI format 2_0 may be {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20} slots, the period for monitoring the DCI format 2_1 may be {1/2/4} slots, and so on.

And after the base station configures the DCI format, the DCI is sent according to information such as service requirements or relevant configuration of the DCI format. One DCI transmitted by the base station may include information of a plurality of terminals. In order for the terminal to determine whether DCI belonging to itself exists, the DCI needs to be monitored in the CSS. As can be seen from the foregoing description, since the number of bits included in each block is configurable, there are multiple DCIs of different sizes, and thus the terminal needs to perform blind detection on the PDCCH according to multiple sizes to determine whether there is a DCI belonging to the terminal, and obviously, an increase in the number of sizes will result in more monitoring.

In order to reduce the complexity of the terminal, the number of blind detections (blind detection number) of the terminal on the PDCCH may be reduced, and especially, the redtap UE needs to reduce the complexity of implementation by reducing the number of blind detections. In some embodiments, the search space, such as the number of DCI sizes in CSS, may be reduced, e.g., the size of each DCI format 2_ x is set to be the same. However, for some DCI formats, this method may increase redundant bits, and obviously increase the resource overhead of the base station for transmitting DCI.

In addition, the number of DCI sizes in the search space is reduced, which greatly restricts base station scheduling. For example, the base station transmits M types of DCI, and the terminal detects only N types of DCI among the M types of DCI in order to reduce the number of blind detections of the terminal. That is, the base station sends multiple DCI, and the terminal monitors only some DCI in the multiple DCI, which may lose some information configured for the terminal by the base station, thereby limiting the scheduling flexibility of the base station.

In view of this, the present embodiment provides a method for transmitting control information, where multiple DCI formats are sent through a DCI, that is, information of different DCI formats is transmitted through a single DCI. Therefore, the number of different DCI sizes in the CSS can be reduced, the blind detection times of the terminal are reduced, and the signaling overhead is saved. Meanwhile, the terminal can detect all DCI sent by the base station, so that the loss of information can be avoided as much as possible, and the scheduling flexibility of the base station is improved. The number of different DCI sizes refers to the total number of different sizes corresponding to a plurality of types of DCI that may exist in the CSS.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be used for a wireless communication system, such as an LTE system or an NR system, a further evolution system based on LTE or NR, a future wireless communication system or other similar communication systems and the like. The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following description, the method is applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1 as an example. In addition, the method may be performed by two communication devices, e.g. a first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus. The first communication device may be a network device or a communication device (e.g., a system on chip) capable of supporting the network device to implement the functions required by the method, and the first communication device may be a terminal or a communication device (e.g., a system on chip) capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions required by the method. The same is true for the second communication apparatus, which may be a network device or a communication apparatus (e.g. a system-on-chip) capable of supporting the network device to implement the functions required by the method, or the second communication apparatus may be a terminal or a communication apparatus (e.g. a system-on-chip) capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions required by the method. And the implementation manners of the first communication device and the second communication device are not limited, for example, the first communication device and the second communication device are both terminals, or the first communication device is a terminal, and the second communication device is a communication device capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions required by the method, and so on. The network device is, for example, a base station.

Referring to fig. 3, a flow of a downlink control information transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown, and in the following description, the method is implemented by a network device and a terminal, that is, the first communication device is a terminal, the second communication device is a network device, and the network device is a base station. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application are only implemented by a network device and a terminal, and are not limited to these two communication apparatuses.

S301, the base station determines a first message, wherein the first message comprises a plurality of information blocks, the information blocks comprise a first type information block and a second type information block, the first type information block and the second type information block comprise at least one same characteristic parameter, and the characteristic parameter is used for indicating the transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the information blocks.

S302, the base station sends the first message to the terminal, and the terminal receives the first message.

S303, the terminal determines the information block of the first type and the information block of the second type.

The embodiment of the application aims to reduce the blind detection times of the terminal monitoring DCI, so that the number of different DCI sizes can be reduced. As an example, the base station may transmit blocks respectively included in the defined multiple DCI formats through one DCI, for example, put DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 in one DCI for transmission. Multiple defined DCI formats are merged together and may be considered as a new DCI format. Since a plurality of DCI formats are merged together, the kinds of DCI formats are reduced. Namely, the types of the DCI formats which need to be monitored by the terminal in the same search space are reduced, so that the blind detection times of the terminal are reduced. For convenience of description, in this document, the defined DCI format is referred to as DCI format 2_ x, that is, the defined DCI format includes DCI format 2_0 to DCI format 2_ 6.

The base station may determine which DCI formats to combine together for transmission before sending the DCI to the terminal. Herein, the merged DCI format may be referred to as a DCI format combination. It is to be understood that a DCI format combination may include one DCI format, for example, a DCI format combination includes DCI format 2_ 0. The DCI format combination may also include at least two DCI formats, for example, the DCI format combination includes DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_ 4; for another example, the DCI format combination includes DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_3, and DCI format 2_6, and so on.

It should be noted that each DCI format to be transmitted by the base station includes at least one information block. Different DCI formats include different information blocks indicating different contents (information), and each DCI format may be considered to include the same type of information block, and different DCI formats may include different types of information blocks. It can be considered that the DCI format combination may include different types of information blocks, for example, the DCI format combination includes a first DCI format and a second DCI format, that is, the DCI format combination includes a first type of information block and a second type of information block. The first DCI format comprises information blocks of a first type, and the second DCI format comprises information blocks of a second type. Alternatively, the DCI format combination may include a first type information block and a second type information block, and may also be referred to as a DCI format combination including a first type DCI format and a second type DCI format.

In this embodiment, the type may be used to indicate a function (role) that the DCI format has, and may also be used to indicate a type of a transmission service corresponding to information block transmission included in the DCI format. For convenience of description, a type for indicating a function that the DCI format has is referred to as a function type, and a type for indicating a transmission service corresponding to information block transmission included in the DCI format is referred to as a service type. The following describes the function type and the service type, respectively, by taking DCI format 2_ x as an example.

The function types corresponding to different DCI formats 2_ x may be different. It should be noted that the function type corresponding to the DCI format 2_ x may be function information corresponding to an information block included in the DCI format 2_ x or a function (role) indicated by the DCI format 2-x.

For example, please refer to fig. 2, which is an illustration of DCI format 2_0 to DCI format 2_ 6. As can be seen from fig. 2, the function type of the DCI format 2_0 is a frame format function, in other words, the DCI format 2_0 has a function of indicating a frame format. For example, the DCI format 2_0 includes a Slot Format Indicator (SFI) field, which may be used to indicate a frame structure configuration of an implementation period. That is, starting from a certain indication or a specified time, for example, the terminal receives DCI format 2_0, the PDCCH monitoring period continues for slots, which are configured according to the indication of the SFI.

Similarly, the function type of the DCI format 2_1 is a preemption function, that is, the DCI format 2_1 has a function of indicating that downlink resources are preempted (may be referred to as a downlink preemption indication for short). For example, the DCI format 2_1 includes a downlink Preemption Indication (PI) field, which may be used to inform, for example, a terminal of resources (physical resource blocks and symbols) occupied in an ultra-reliable and low latency communication (urlllc) scenario, that is, the resources are preempted by the terminal in the urlllc scenario. If the terminal detects DCI format 2_1 of the serving cell from the configured serving cell set, the terminal may consider that there is no transmission sent to the terminal in the resource indicated by DCI format 2_ 1. That is, since these resources are preempted by the terminal in the uRLLC scenario, the DCI format 2_1 is from a physical resource block and a coincidence set within one monitoring period, and the indicated resources of the DCI format 2_1 are already not suitable for reception of, for example, a synchronization signal and PBCH block (SSB).

The function type of the DCI format 2_2 is a data power control function, for example, the DCI format 2_2 has a function of controlling transmission power of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). For example, DCI format 2_2 includes a Transmit Power Control (TPC) field for adjusting transmit power of a terminal transmitting a PUCCH or a PUSCH. The terminal receiving the DCI format 2_2 may determine the transmit power for transmitting the PUCCH or PUSCH according to the TPC field in the DCI format 2_ 2.

The functional type of the DCI format 2_3 includes a reference signal power control function, for example, the DCI format 2_3 has a function of controlling transmission power of a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). For example, DCI format 2_3 includes an SRS TPC field for adjusting the transmit power of the uplink to the SRS. The terminal receiving the DCI format 2_3 may determine the transmission power for the SRS according to the SRS TPC field in the DCI format 2_ 3.

The functional type of the DCI format 2_4 includes a cancellation function, for example, the DCI format 2_4 has a function of indicating that uplink resources are preempted (may be referred to as an uplink preemption indication or a cancellation indication). For example, the DCI format 2_4 includes a Cancellation Indication (CI) field, which may be used to notify the terminal in the eMBB scenario to stop transmitting on the resource indicated by the DCI format 2_ 4. If the terminal detects the DCI format 2_4 of the serving cell from the configured serving cell set, the terminal may consider that the resource indicated by the DCI format 2_4 is preempted by the terminal in the urrllc scenario, so the terminal in the eMBB scenario stops transmitting on the resource indicated by the DCI format 2_ 4.

The functional type of the DCI format 2_5 includes a wireless backhaul function, for example, the DCI format 2_5 has a function of indicating a wireless backhaul. For example, it may indicate whether the network device has Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) functionality.

The functional type of the DCI format 2_6 includes a power saving function, for example, the DCI format 2_6 has a function of controlling saving of transmission power. The DCI format 2_6 may be used to indicate whether to turn on a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timer and indicate whether the terminal is dormant. The terminal receives the DCI format 2_6, and may determine whether to start a DRX timer or whether to sleep according to the indication of the DCI format 2_ 6.

Similarly, the traffic types corresponding to different DCI formats 2_ x may be different. It should be noted that the service type corresponding to the DCI format 2_ x refers to a type of a transmission service corresponding to an information block included in the DCI format 2_ x. It should be understood that the transmission service refers to a service performed by a corresponding terminal. Illustratively, the traffic type may include one or more of the following: video monitoring service, wearable equipment service, sensor service, remote control service, AR service, VR service, and vehicle networking service. Accordingly, the video monitoring service terminal, that is, the terminal transmitting the video monitoring service, may be, for example, a camera on a highway. Similarly, the wearable business terminal may be, for example, a smart watch, a smart bracelet, or the like. The sensor service terminal may be, for example, a temperature monitoring alarm device, a humidity monitoring alarm device, or the like provided in a factory. The remote control service terminal may be, for example, a remote operation robot arm installed in a factory. The AR service terminal may be, for example, an intelligent doodle wall. The VR service terminal may be, for example, a virtual display game helmet device, a virtual exhibition hall, or the like. The vehicle networking service terminal can be, for example, a vehicle-mounted intelligent brake system and the like.

Before sending the DCI format 2_ x, the base station may configure the DCI format 2_ x through higher layer signaling. For example, the base station may configure a characteristic parameter of an information block included in the DCI format 2_ x, where the characteristic parameter may indicate a transmission characteristic corresponding to the information block. Illustratively, the characteristic parameters may include the attribute content indicated by the information block, the transmission period, the number of occupied bits, and the like. The attribute content may include serving cell information, partial bandwidth information, terminal information, carrier information, bandwidth supported by the terminal, delay requirement, reliability requirement, coverage, terminal group characteristics, antenna configuration information, co-site information, beamforming information, Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI), transmission frequency resource, Synchronization Signal (SS) type, SS period, resource offset coreset configuration, and the like. It should be understood that the transmission period is a transmission period of DCI format 2_ x, and may be located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560} slots, etc. The bit number is the number of bits occupied by each information block.

The base station may configure one or more characteristic parameters of the information block included in the DCI format 2_ x. The multiple characteristic parameters corresponding to different DCI formats may all be the same or may be partially the same.

Illustratively, the attribute contents of the information blocks included in different DCI formats are all different. For example, the attribute content indicated by block in the DCI format 2_0 includes serving cell information; the attribute indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_1 includes carrier information or partial Bandwidth (BWP) information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 comprises terminal information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_4 is the same as the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_1, that is, the attribute content includes carrier information or BWP information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_6 is the same as the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_2, that is, the attribute content includes terminal information. For the terminal, if the DCI format 2_0 is received, the terminal may read the corresponding attribute content, i.e., the information of the carrier or BWP, according to the format configuration information of the DCI format 2_0, and then transmit and receive the information according to the slot format.

For example, the monitoring period of the base station configurable monitoring DCI format 2_0 is located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20} slots; the monitoring period for monitoring the DCI format 2_1 is in the range of {1/2/4} slots, and so on. The terminal can determine the monitoring period for monitoring the DCI format according to the indication of the base station. For example, the monitoring period of the monitoring DCI format 2_0 configured by the base station is located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20} slots, the terminal may monitor the DCI format 2_0 every {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20} slots.

Illustratively, the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_0 is 9, the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1 is 14, the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 does not exceed the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1 at most, and so on. The base station may configure the length of the DCI format according to the maximum number of bits occupied by the DCI format. For the terminal, the terminal may receive the corresponding DCI format according to the start position of the DCI format configured by the base station and the length of the configured DCI format. For example, the base station may configure the DCI format 2_1 to occupy 10 bits, that is, the length of the configured DCI format 2_1 is 10 bits. The terminal may receive the DCI format 2_1 according to a length of 10 bits according to a starting position of the configured DCI format 2_ 1.

As can be seen from the above, the base station may configure one or more parameters of the information block included in the DCI format 2_ x. The multiple characteristic parameters corresponding to different DCI formats may all be the same or may be partially the same. Generally, some characteristic parameters corresponding to the same type of service are the same, for example, the period of transmitting service data or the cell serving the service is the same. And generally, the function type of the DCI format is related to the traffic, for example, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, DCI format 2_6, etc. all have a power control function, and generally relate to the uplink transmission traffic. For another example, the DCI format 2_1 and the DCI format 2_4 have a resource preemption indication function, and are generally related to the urrllc service. Therefore, the embodiments of the present application may determine which types of DCI formats to combine and transmit together according to the characteristic parameters corresponding to the information blocks included in the DCI formats. For example, DCI formats associated with the same service may be combined and transmitted together. Specifically, embodiments of the present application may combine DCI formats having at least one same characteristic parameter for transmission together. For example, the DCI format combination includes a first type DCI format and a second type DCI format, and an information block of the first type DCI format and an information block of the second type DCI format include at least one same characteristic parameter.

In the following, taking DCI format 2_0-DCI format 2_6 as an example, some possible ways of merging DCI format 2_0-DCI format 2_6 into multiple combinations are listed. It should be noted that, only the divided DCI format 2_0-DCI format 2_6 are taken as an example in the following, and the merging method in the following is also applicable to merging of other types of DCI formats.

In the first merging method, the characteristic parameters include attribute contents, and the base station may merge DCI formats 2_0 to DCI formats 2_6, that is, 7 types of DCI formats into a plurality of groups according to the attribute contents of the block.

As can be seen from the foregoing, the attribute content of the block indication in the DCI format 2_0 includes serving cell information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_1 comprises carrier wave information or BWP information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_2 comprises terminal information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_3 comprises terminal information; the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_4 comprises carrier wave information or BWP information; the attribute content indicated by block in the DCI format 2_6 includes terminal information. The embodiment of the application can combine DCI formats with the same attribute content into a group. It should be understood that the blocks within the group are all configured based on the same attribute content.

Since the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_4 includes BWP information or carrier information, the attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_1 includes BWP information or carrier information. I.e., both the block in the DCI format 2_4 and the block in the DCI format 2_1 include BWP information or carrier information, the DCI format 2_1 and the DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group. That is, the DCI format 2_1 having the PI function and the DCI format 2_4 having the CI function are merged into one group.

Similarly, if the attribute contents of the block indication in the DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3 and DCI format 2_6 all include terminal information, the DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3 and DCI format 2_6 may be combined into one group. That is, DCI format 2_2 with TPC function, DCI format 2_3 with SRS TPC function, and DCI format 2_6 with PS function are combined into one set.

Since the attribute contents indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_0 are different from the attribute contents indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_1 to DCI format 2_6, the DCI format 2_0 may be regarded as a group. Similarly, DCI format 2_5 may be regarded as a group.

And if the attribute contents are bandwidths supported by the terminal, the attribute contents related to the energy consumption characteristics may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, and DCI format 2_6 may be combined into one group. Or attribute contents related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into a group. Or the attribute contents related to the energy consumption characteristics and the resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group.

Similarly, if the attribute content information is a latency requirement, the attribute content related to URLLC may be taken as a group, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 are combined into a group; if the attribute content is a reliability requirement, the attribute content related to URLLC may be taken as a group, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 are combined into a group; if the attribute content is a coverage, the attribute content related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group; if the attribute contents are terminal group characteristics, the attribute contents related to the energy consumption characteristics may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, and DCI format 2_6 may be combined into one group; if the attribute content is antenna configuration information, the attribute content related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group; if the attribute content is co-site information, the attribute content related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group; if the attribute content is beamforming information, the attribute content related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group; if the attribute content is TCI, the attribute content related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group; if the attribute contents are transmission frequency resources, the attribute contents related to resource allocation may be grouped, for example, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group.

Further, the DCI formats are combined according to the attribute content, for example, the DCI formats (DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4) for the same cell are combined together for transmission, so that the base station sends information about the cell to the terminal, and only needs to send the DCI once in the same serving cell at the same time, instead of sending the DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 separately, which can save signaling overhead.

In the second merging mode, the characteristic parameter includes a monitoring period of the DCI format, and the base station may merge the DCI format 2_0 to the DCI format 2_6 into a plurality of combinations according to the monitoring period of the DCI format.

For example, the monitoring period of the DCI may be located at {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560} slots. The base station may be configured to monitor the DCI format 2_0 for each monitoring period of the DCI format, for example, the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20} slots; for example, the base station configuration needs to monitor DCI format 2_1, and the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4} slots; for example, the base station configuration needs to monitor DCI format 2_2, and the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560} slots; for example, the base station configuration needs to monitor DCI format 2_3, and the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560} slots; for example, the base station configuration needs to monitor DCI format 2_4, and the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4} slots; for example, the base station configuration needs to monitor DCI format 2_5, and the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560} slots; for example, the base station configuration needs to monitor DCI format 2_6, and the configured monitoring period may be located in {1/2/4/5/8/10/16/20/40} slots. It should be noted that, the cycle ranges of the DCI format 2_0 to the DCI format 2_6 are all examples, and a specific base station may configure a monitoring cycle of the DCI format according to a service requirement.

As an example, the base station may combine DCI formats with relatively smaller configured monitoring periods into one group, and conversely, combine DCI formats with relatively larger configured monitoring periods into one group. For example, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group; the DCI format 2_2, the DCI format 2_3, and the DCI format 2_6 are combined into one group. It will be appreciated that the monitoring periods for the different groups are different.

Of course, as described above, the DCI format 2_0 to DCI format 2_6 are combined into 2 groups according to the monitoring period only for illustration, and the granularity of dividing the monitoring period is not limited in the embodiment of the present application, so in other embodiments, the DCI format 2_0 to DCI format 2_6 may also be combined into at least 3 groups according to the monitoring period.

It should be understood that DCI formats with relatively small configured monitoring periods are combined into one group, and DCI formats with relatively large configured monitoring periods are combined into one group. In the same monitoring period range, the number of configured different monitoring periods is reduced, and correspondingly, the DCI is monitored according to the monitoring periods, so that the blind detection times can be reduced.

In the third merging mode, the characteristic parameter includes the number of bits occupied by the DCI format, and the base station may merge the DCI format 2_0 to the DCI format 2_6 into a plurality of combinations according to the number of bits occupied by the DCI format.

As can be seen from fig. 2, the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_0 is 9. The number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1 is 14. The maximum number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 does not exceed the maximum number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1, that is, the maximum number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 is 14. The DCI format 2_4 includes a number of bits having a plurality of candidates, which are located in { [1], 2, 4, [5], 7, 8, [10], 14, 16, [20], [25], 28, 32, [35], 56, 112 }. Currently, the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_5 and the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_6 are not specified.

It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application aim to reduce the number of blind detections for monitoring DCI, and may reduce the number of DCI sizes. For example, multiple types of DCI formats may be combined into one group, thus obtaining multiple groups. If the number of bits occupied by the multiple groups is configured to be the same, only one DCI with the size length needs to be monitored, and the number of blind detections of the terminal can be obviously reduced. However, since the number of bits occupied by the information blocks included in different groups is different, if a plurality of groups are configured to occupy the same number of bits, the number of redundant bits of some groups is large, and the number of redundant bits of some groups is small. In order to ensure as few redundant bits as possible, the embodiment of the present application may ensure that the bit numbers occupied by the information blocks included in the merged multiple groups are different by a small amount.

As an example, consider that the number of bits occupied by DCI format 1-0 is 41. The sum of the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_0 and the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1 is 23, and if the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_4 is configured to be 16, the sum of the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_0, the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1, and the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_4, that is, 9+14+16 is 39, and only 2bits need to be extended, which is the same as the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 1-0. So, in some embodiments, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group.

Since the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 does not exceed the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_1 at maximum, the DCI format 2_2 may be regarded as one group. When the base station transmits the DCI format 2_2, the redundant bits can be expanded, so that the transmitted DCI occupies 41 bits. Similarly, the DCI format 2_3 may be regarded as one group. When the base station transmits the DCI format 2_3, the redundant bits are extended, so that the transmitted DCI occupies 41 bits. Or, the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 may be combined into one group, and when the base station transmits the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3, the redundancy bits may be extended, so that the transmitted DCI occupies 41 bits. Therefore, the terminal can carry out blind detection according to a length, namely 41bits, and the blind detection times are reduced. For example, there are DCI format 2_1, DCI format 2_2, and DCI format 2_ 3. The DCI format 2_1 occupies 41bits, and it is assumed that the DCI format 2_2 occupies M bits and the DCI format 2_3 occupies N bits. If the DCI format 2_1, DCI format 2_2, and DCI format 2_3 are transmitted independently, the terminal needs to perform blind detection according to 3 sizes of 41, M, and N, and needs to perform the detection at least 3 times. In the embodiment of the present application, when the base station transmits the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3, the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 are extended to 41 bits. The terminal only needs to perform blind detection according to 1 size of 41, namely, the terminal can perform blind detection for at least 1 time, thereby greatly reducing the blind detection times of the terminal equipment and reducing the consumption of the terminal equipment.

As another example, the base station may configure a maximum value of the number of bits occupied by each DCI format. For example, the DCI format 2_0 occupies 128bits at most, and the DCI format 2_1 and the DCI format 2_4 occupy 126bits at most, respectively. The maximum bit number occupied by the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_3 does not exceed the bit number occupied by the DCI format 2_1, and the bit number occupied by the DCI format 2_6 is configured by the base station through high-level signaling. If the DCI format 2_2, the DCI format 2_3, and the DCI format 2_6 are combined into one group, the maximum bit number occupied is 126 bits. In this case, DCI format 2_0 may be a group, DCI format 2_1 may be a group, and DCI format 2_4 may be a group, that is, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4 are transmitted independently. The DCI format 2_2, the DCI format 2_3, and the DCI format 2_6 may be combined together for transmission. When the base station transmits the DCI, the bit occupied by the DCI format 2_1 may be extended by 2bits, and the bit occupied by the DCI format 2_4 may be extended by 2bits, that is, the DCI format 2_1 and the DCI format 2_4 are configured to be 128 bits. The base station may also expand 2bits after merging the DCI format 2_2, the DCI format 2_3, and the DCI format 2_6 into one group. Therefore, the length of each DCI format group is 128bits, and the terminal only needs to monitor the DCI according to the length of the 128bits, so that the blind detection times of the terminal can be reduced.

As described above, the way in which the base station merges the DCI format according to any one of the characteristic parameters of the attribute content, the transmission period, and the occupied bit number of the information block included in the DCI format is introduced. It should be noted that the base station may also merge the DCI format according to various characteristic parameters in the attribute content, the transmission period, and the occupied bit number. For example, the base station may combine DCI formats according to the transmission period and the attribute content. For example, the transmission periods configured in the DCI format 2_1 and the DCI format 2_4 are the same, for example, 4 slots. The attribute content indicated by the block in the DCI format 2_0 comprises serving cell information; the attribute contents indicated by block in the DCI format 2_1 and the DCI format 2_4 include carrier information or BWP information, the DCI format 2_0, the DCI format 2_1, and the DCI format 2_4 may be combined into a group, and so on. For another example, in the single carrier scenario, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4 all correspond to only one serving cell/carrier/BWP, and thus, from this viewpoint, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one group.

After the base station determines which types of DCI formats to combine together for transmission, a first message may be generated. The first message may include DCI format to be transmitted. For example, the base station determines to combine the first DCI format and the second DCI format for transmission, the first message may include a plurality of information blocks including information blocks of the first type and information blocks of the second type. The first type information block is an information block included in the first DCI format, and the second type information block is an information block included in the second DCI format.

The base station may configure a first type of information block and a second type of information block of the plurality of information blocks. For example, the base station may send configuration information to the terminal, where the configuration information may be used to indicate that the first type of information block and the second type of information block include the same characteristic parameter. The base station respectively indicates the characteristic parameters of the two types of information blocks through one piece of configuration information, and compared with the characteristic parameters of the first type of information blocks and the characteristic parameters of the second type of information blocks which are respectively indicated through the configuration information, the base station can save signaling overhead. Since the base station determines to combine the first type information block and the second type information block for transmission according to the characteristic parameter of the information block, the configuration information indicates the same characteristic parameter included in the first type information block and the second type information block, and may implicitly indicate the basis for combining the first type information block and the second type information block. The terminal may determine which types of information blocks the plurality of information blocks include based on the configuration information. For example, the characteristic parameter indicated by the configuration information is BWP information or carrier information, the terminal may determine that the plurality of information blocks include DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_ 4.

As an example, the configuration information may be carried in one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, medium access control element (MAC CE) signaling, DCI signaling, or the like. The one or more fields may be a field defined by RRC signaling, a field defined by MAC CE signaling, or a field defined by DCI signaling, or may be a newly defined RRC field, MAC CE field, or DCI field, which is not limited in this embodiment. Of course, the configuration information may also be carried in newly defined signaling.

It will be appreciated that the base station sends the first message to the terminal and that for the terminal it is necessary to determine the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type from a plurality of information blocks comprised in the first message. Although the terminal can determine the basis for the merging of the plurality of information blocks according to the configuration information, the terminal cannot determine which information blocks are information blocks of the first type and which information blocks are information blocks of the second type from the plurality of information blocks. For this, the base station further needs to transmit indication information to the terminal, the indication information being usable to indicate the first type information block and the second type information block of the plurality of information blocks. The terminal may determine the first type information block and the second type information block from the plurality of information blocks according to the indication information. In other words, the terminal may receive the first type information block and the second type information block of the plurality of information blocks according to the indication information.

In some embodiments, the indication information may be carried on one or more fields of existing signaling, facilitating compatibility with existing signaling. For example, the indication information may be carried in one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, medium access control element (MAC CE) signaling, DCI signaling, or the like. The one or more fields may be a field defined by RRC signaling, a field defined by MAC CE signaling, or a field defined by DCI signaling, or may be a newly defined RRC field, MAC CE field, or DCI field. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. Of course, the indication information may also be carried in newly defined signaling.

In the embodiment of the present application, the indication information may include, but is not limited to, three forms in which the indication information may be referred to by different names in order to facilitate distinction. For example, in the first form, the indication information may be referred to as first indication information, in the second form, the indication information may be referred to as second indication information, and in the third form, the indication information may be referred to as third indication information.

In a first form, the first indication information includes a location identifier, and the location identifier is used to indicate a starting location of each type of information block in a plurality of information blocks included in the first message. Alternatively, the position information may be used to indicate the start position of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks. It should be understood that there are multiple DCI format combinations, and the number of bits occupied by different DCI format combinations may be different or the same. For example, in order to reduce the number of DCI sizes, the base station may configure the same number of bits occupied by a plurality of DCI format combinations. The first message sent by the base station may include redundant bits, in other words, there are redundant bits between the multiple types of information blocks included in the first message. In this case, the location identifier may be considered to indicate a starting location of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks included in the first message. For example, the base station configures the number of bits occupied by the DCI format combination to be the sum of the number of bits actually occupied by the DCI formats respectively included in the DCI format combination, that is, the DCI format combination includes a plurality of information blocks, does not include redundant bits, and is continuous. In this case, the location identifier may be considered to indicate a starting location of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks included in the first message.

As an example, the first indication information may be carried in RRC signaling, and a first field may be newly added in the RRC signaling, and the first field may carry a location identifier. The terminal receives the first indication information, and can determine the starting positions of the information blocks of the various types included in the first message according to the position identification in the first indication information. Since the first indication information is carried in the RRC signaling, no dynamic signaling is needed, and overhead of the dynamic signaling can be saved.

The location identification may be, for example, a bit index (bit position) that may be used to indicate the starting location of each type of information block in the first message. The first indication information may carry a plurality of location identities, e.g. the first message comprises information blocks of M types of combinations, M being an integer greater than or equal to 1. The first indication information can carry M position identifications and can also carry M-1 position identifications. If the first indication information carries M position identifications, one position identification corresponds to the starting position of the information block of one type of combination in the first message. If the first indication information carries M-1 location identifiers, the information blocks of two adjacent types of combinations may correspond to one location identifier, and the first bit position in the default first message is the location bit position of the information block of the first type of combination.

See, for example, fig. 4, which is an illustration of a plurality of information blocks comprised by the first message. Taking M as an example, that is, the first message includes an information block of a first type combination and an information block of a second type combination, where the information block of the first type combination includes an information block of a first type, the information block of the first type is an information block included in DCI format 2_0, the information block of the second type combination includes an information block of a second type and an information block of a third type, the information block of the second type is an information block included in DCI format 2_2, and the information block of the third type is an information block included in DCI format 2_ 6. Since the DCI format 2_0 has an SFI function, the information block of the first type combination may also be illustrated by an SFI in fig. 4. Similarly, "TPC + PS" may be used to signal the information blocks of the second type combination.

The base station may configure DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_2, and DCI format 2_6 through higher layer signaling, respectively. For example, the base station may configure the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_0 to be m1, the base station may configure the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_2 to be m2, and the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_6 to be m 3. The starting position of the DCI format 2_6 may be indicated by an offset between the starting position of the DCI format 2_6 and the starting position of the DCI format 2_ 2. The base station may configure the number of bits occupied by the first message to be m, where m is greater than or equal to (m1+ m2+ m 3). It should be understood that, when m is equal to (m1+ m2+ m3), the first message only includes information blocks respectively included in the DCI format 2_0, the DCI format 2_2, and the DCI format 2_ 6. If m is greater than (m1+ m2+ m3), the first message may include other information in addition to information blocks included in the DCI format 2_0, the DCI format 2_2, and the DCI format 2_6, respectively. The first indication information may include 1 location identification (bit index), e.g., n 1. The information block of the second type combination may be received starting at the start position of the information block of the first type combination (DCI format 2_0) by default, with an interval of n1 bits. Since the base station configures the offset between the starting position of the DCI format 2_6 and the starting position of the DCI format 2_2 and the bit numbers occupied by the DCI format 2_2 and the DCI format 2_6, the terminal receives the information blocks of the second type combination, and can determine the starting position of the DCI format 2_6 according to the offset and the bit numbers occupied by the DCI format 2_2, that is, determine which information blocks belong to the DCI format 2_2 and which information blocks belong to the DCI format 2_ 6.

In a second form, the second indication information carries identification information, and the identification information is used for indicating the type combination. The type combination here refers to a combination formed by the merged DCI format. In this case, the correspondence between the identification set and the type combination set may be preset, and the correspondence may be as shown in table 1. At least one of the set of identifications corresponds to at least one of the set of type combinations. Illustratively, the second indication information includes a first identifier, and it is understood that the at least one identifier includes the first identifier and the at least one type combination includes a first type combination corresponding to the first identifier. The terminal receiving the second indication information may determine the first type combination according to the first identifier and the corresponding relationship as in table 1. It should be noted that the correspondence shown in table 1 may be predefined, or may be sent by the base station to the terminal.

TABLE 1

Identification	Type combination
		000	DCI format 2_0
001	DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4
		010	DCI format 2_2 and DCI format 2_3
011	DCI format 2_0 and DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4
		100	DCI format 2_4
101	DCI format 2_0 and DCI format 2_6
		110	reserved
111	reserved

As an example, the second indication information may be carried in DCI signaling, and a first field may be newly added in the DCI signaling, where the first field may carry the first identifier. The first field may occupy a plurality of bits, and a value of the plurality of bits may indicate a type combination. Along table 1, the first field may occupy 3bits, and if 3bits are 011, the indicated type combination includes DCI format 2_0 and DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_ 4.

It should be understood that the base station may pre-configure the starting positions of the various DCI formats included in each type combination, for example, the type combination composed of DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4, and the base station may configure the offset of the starting position of DCI format 2_4 relative to the starting position of DCI format 2_ 1. So the terminal can determine various DCI formats included in the type combination after determining the type combination according to the second indication information. Any one of the preset multiple types of combinations can be indicated through the second indication information, and the method is flexible.

In a third form, the third indication information carries a plurality of type identifiers, and one type identifier corresponds to one type of information block. In this case, the correspondence between the type identifier set and the type set may be preset, and the correspondence may be as shown in table 2. At least one type identifier in the type identifier set is in one-to-one correspondence with at least one type in the type set. The correspondence shown in table 2 may be predefined, or may be sent by the base station to the terminal.

TABLE 2

Type identification	Type (B)
		000	DCI format 2_0
001	DCI format 2_1
		010	DCI format 2_2
011	DCI format 2_3
		100	DCI format 2_4
101	DCI format 2_5
		110	DCI format 2_6
111	reserved

The first message sent by the base station to the terminal comprises multiple types of information blocks, and each type of information block in the first message can be received by the terminal after the terminal receives the third indication information according to the type identifier included by the third indication information.

As an example, the first message is carried in DCI signaling, and the third indication information is also carried in the DCI. For example, DCI may add a plurality of fields by which various types of information blocks included in the first message are indicated. It should be understood that the plurality of newly added fields may carry a plurality of type identifiers and one newly added field may be used to carry one type identifier. Illustratively, please refer to table 3, which is a form of the first message. Wherein, the schematic type of "Header" in table 3 is identified.

TABLE 3

Header0

Type

0

Header1

Type

1

…

HeaderN

Type N

As another example, the first message may be added with a field indicating various types of information blocks included in the first message by the added field (added field). It should be understood that the added field may carry multiple type identifications. Illustratively, please refer to table 4, which is a form of the first message. Wherein, the schematic type of "Header" in table 4 indicates the type.

TABLE 4

Header0

Header1

…

HeaderN

…

Type 0

Type 1

Type N

In the foregoing scheme, the base station may combine the DCI formats as a new DCI format through the first message, that is, send information blocks included in multiple DCI formats to the terminal. However, before the base station sends the first message, the DCI format included in each DCI format combination may be separately configured through higher layer signaling. For example, the DCI format combination includes DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4, and may separately configure transmission parameters such as monitoring periods, control resources, aggregation levels, and the like of DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4, and specifically may use a configuration method of an existing protocol, which is not described herein again.

The embodiment of the application can dynamically configure a plurality of DCI format combinations, and is more flexible compared with a mode of pre-configuring a plurality of types of combinations.

It should be understood that before the base station transmits the DCI format or the DCI format combination, the indication information to be transmitted to the terminal, for example, the content of the DCI, may be determined according to the indication content of the DCI format to be transmitted. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the indication manner of the specific indication content of the DCI format. In the embodiment of the present application, the specific indication manner of the DCI format included in the DCI format combination also follows the current manner, and the manner provided in the embodiment of the present application may also be adopted.

As can be seen from the foregoing, the service types corresponding to different types of information blocks may be different, and multiple DCI formats related to the same service may be combined together. For example, the information blocks are divided according to an uplink transmission service, a downlink transmission service, or an uplink and downlink transmission service, and at least two types of information blocks exist (for example, information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type are included). Assuming that the first type information block corresponds to uplink transmission as a main service, such as a time-frequency monitoring service, an industrial sensing service, and the like; the second type of information block corresponds to a more balanced uplink and downlink transmission service, such as a wearable device service.

For different types of information blocks, the base station may determine the indication mode of the indication information according to the type of the information block before transmitting the information blocks. For example, for a first type of information block, the base station may determine what the DCI includes in a first manner. For a second type of information block, the base station may determine the content included in the DCI in a second manner. Correspondingly, for the information block of the first type, the terminal can determine the content included in the DCI in the first mode; for the second type of information block, the terminal may determine the content included in the DCI in the second manner.

It should be noted that, the first manner and the second manner are only used for distinguishing different indication manners for different types of information blocks, and do not have a specific reference function. The first manner or the second manner may be a manner of determining contents included in the transmission DCI along with the currently transmitted DCI format.

For ease of understanding, the following describes how the base station determines the content included in the DCI to be transmitted, by taking the base station transmitting DCI format 2_0 as an example.

Illustratively, the base station is to send DCI format 2_0, where the DCI format 2_0 may be used to indicate slot format combination. Currently, when sending the DCI format 2_0, the base station first configures a plurality of slot format combinations through a high-layer signaling semi-statically, for example, the slot formats specified by the existing standard include 256, and then determines which of the plurality of combinations the DCI to be sent indicates to select.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the base station transmits the first type information block, the information content of the DCI may be determined in a first manner. For example, the first way is to pre-define the selectable slot format to include only a limited number of the existing plurality of slots, or to pre-configure the selectable slot format to the limited number of the existing plurality of slots through a higher layer. It should be appreciated that the selected limited number of slot formats can better match the uplink transmission service. And then, the base station indicates which slot format is selected through the DCI. Because the first mode is adopted, namely a limited number of time slot formats are selected, the number of time slot format combinations can be reduced, and the signaling overhead of DCI is further saved. Meanwhile, the base station does not need to configure a plurality of time slot combinations in advance through high-level signaling or only needs to configure a small number of time slot combinations, and the high-level signaling overhead is also saved. If the base station transmits the second type information block, the content included in the DCI to be transmitted can be determined along with the content included in the DCI currently determined to be transmitted. That is, the second mode is a mode in which the content included in the DCI to be transmitted is currently determined.

It should be understood that, for each DCI format combination, the base station may configure the size of the DCI format combination, i.e., the number of bits occupied by the DCI format combination.

In some embodiments, the sizes of different DCI format combinations may be the same, which may reduce the number of DCI sizes to be monitored by the terminal, reduce the number of blind tests of the terminal, and thus reduce the complexity of the terminal.

In other embodiments, sizes of different DCI format combinations may be different, so that when the DCI format combination is transmitted, the base station does not need to expand the number of bits occupied by the first message, which may reduce redundant bits and save resource overhead. Since the sizes of different DCI format combinations are different, the number of DCI sizes to be monitored by the terminal may not be reduced. In this case, in order to ensure that the number of the size of the DCI monitored by the terminal is as small as possible, the embodiments of the present application may further configure DCI formats of different sizes in different monitoring machines in a combined manner.

In the following, taking the example of combining the DCI format to be transmitted according to the transmission period of the information block, the base station is described to configure the transmission parameters of the DCI format to be transmitted, and how the terminal monitors the DCI.

The DCI format 2_0, the DCI format 2_1, and the DCI format 2_4 may be combined into one DCI format group (hereinafter, may be referred to as a first group) according to a transmission period of an information block, and the DCI format 2_2, the DCI format 2_3, and the DCI format 2_6 may be combined into one DCI format group (hereinafter, may be referred to as a second group). The base station may separately configure the transmission parameters of the individual DCI formats included in the first group, and separately configure the transmission parameters of the individual DCI formats included in the second group. The base station can also configure a plurality of transmission parameters such as transmission periods, monitoring opportunities, control resource sets, maximum bit numbers occupied and the like of the first group and the second group. The plurality of transmission parameters configured by the base station for the first group and the second group may be the same or different.

As an example, the base station may configure that the maximum number of bits occupied by the first group is different from the maximum number of bits occupied by the second group, which may reduce redundant bits and save resources. In this case, in order to ensure that the number of the DCI formats monitored by the terminal is as small as possible, in the embodiments of the present application, DCI formats of different sizes may be combined and configured in different monitoring devices. That is, the monitoring time of the first group and the monitoring time of the second group are configured differently by the base station.

For example, the base station may configure the transmission period of the first group to be 1slot and the transmission period of the second group to be 10 slots. The monitoring timing for the terminal to monitor the DCI is shown in fig. 5. Since the transmission period of the first group is 1slot and the transmission period of the second group is 10slots, the DCI format included in the first group needs to be monitored at each slot, and the DCI format included in the second group needs to be monitored at slot 10.

As another example, considering that to reduce the number of DCI sizes monitored by the terminal, the base station may configure the maximum number of bits occupied by the first group to be the same as the maximum number of bits occupied by the second group, so that only 1 format size is ensured in the USS.

Illustratively, the first set may be configured to occupy a number of bits of 41, and the first set transmits 41 bits. These 41bits include DCI format 2_0 occupying 9bits, DCI format 2_1 occupying 14bits, and DCI format 2_4 and padding (padding) 3bits occupying 16 bits. It should be understood that 3bits is the redundant bits that are filled in order to ensure that the first group occupies a number of bits of 41. The second group can guarantee that the number of bits occupied by the second group is 41 by limiting the number of transmitted terminals. For example, DCI format 2_2 for transmitting 1 terminal occupies 3bits, DCI format 2_3 for transmitting 1 terminal occupies 2bits, and DCI format 2_6 for transmitting 1 terminal occupies 2 bits. The base station may configure a second group of DCI formats 2_2 for transmitting 6 terminals, DCI formats 2_3 for 6 terminals, and DCI formats 2_6 for transmitting 5 terminals, and refill one redundant bit, so that the number of bits occupied by the second group is 41.

For another example, the base station may configure DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, and DCI format 2_4 to be transmitted independently as one group. The base station may configure the number of bits occupied by the DCI format 2_0, the DCI format 2_1, and the DCI format 2_4 to be the maximum value of the number of bits that can be occupied, i.e., 126bits or 128bits, respectively. The base station may combine the DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3, and DCI format 2_6 into one DCI format group (which may be referred to as a second group), and the base station may configure the second group to occupy 126bits or 128 bits. It should be understood that the sum of the maximum values of the bit numbers occupied by the DCI format 2_0, the DCI format 2_1, and the DCI format 2_4 is 126bits, and if the base station configures the second group to occupy the bit number of 128, only 2 redundant bits need to be filled. Therefore, under the condition that the size of the transmitted DCI is one, the redundant bits can be reduced as much as possible, and resources are saved.

Further, to reduce the complexity of blind detection of the terminal. The base station can make the number of bits occupied by the first group and the second group the same, i.e., make the sizes of the first group and the second group the same, by configuring the contents of the same information block included in different groups to be different. As shown in fig. 6, the base station may configure the transmission period of the first group to be 1slot and the transmission period of the second group to be 10 slots. The difference from fig. 5 is that the base station may configure the configuration of the first group transmitted in slot10/20, etc. including only single carrier (CC) of DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4, that is, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 only transmit single carrier, and DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3 and DCI format 2_6, and the base station may configure the configuration of multiple CCs transmitting DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1 and DCI format 2_4 in other slots. Or the base station may configure slot10/20 and the like to transmit only DCI format 2_2, DCI format 2_3 and DCI format 2_6 without transmitting the first group. It should be understood that the first and second sets in fig. 6 are illustrated as different in what is sent in different monitoring occasions.

It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application may reduce the number of blind detections of the terminal, thereby reducing the complexity of the terminal, and thus the embodiments of the present application may be applicable to the REDCAP UE. The embodiment of the application is also suitable for legacy UE. For REDCAP UE and legacy UE, if in the same monitoring time, the DCI size configured by the base station is the same. The REDCAP UE may misinterpret the DCI sent by the base station to the legacy UE as being sent to itself. Similarly, legacy UEs may misinterpret DCI sent by a base station to a REDCAP UE as being sent to itself.

In order to avoid the dcap UE and legacy UE from falsely detecting DCI not belonging to the base station, in the embodiment of the present application, the base station may configure a new radio network temporary identifier RNTI (hereinafter referred to as a first RNTI) for the dcap UE, and the RNTI configured for the legacy UE follows the specification in the existing standard. For example, the RNTI configured by the base station for the legacy UE is an RNTI corresponding to a DCI format transmitted by the base station to the legacy UE. The first RNTI configured by the base station for the REDCAP UE is determined according to RNTIs respectively corresponding to each DCI format in the DCI format group sent by the base station to the REDCAP UE.

For example, the DCI format group transmitted by the base station to the REDCAP UE includes a first type information block (first DCI format) and a second type information block (second DCI format). The base station configures transmission parameters of the DCI format group, and may send configuration parameters to the REDCAP UE, where the configuration parameters are used to configure the first RNTI. The first RNTI may include a first partial RNTI determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first DCI format and a second partial RNTI determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second DCI format. For example, the first partial RNTI is a partial RNTI in the RNTI corresponding to the first DCI format, and the second partial RNTI is a partial RNTI in the RNTI corresponding to the second DCI format. In other words, a partial RNTI in the RNTI corresponding to the first DCI format and a partial RNTI in the RNTI corresponding to the second DCI format are combined to form the first RNTI. The order of the partial RNTIs corresponding to the respective DCI formats included in the first RNTI may correspond to the order of the respective DCI formats in the DCI format group in a one-to-one manner.

Illustratively, the DCI format group includes DCI format 2_0 and DCI format 2_ 2. The RNTI which can be configured for legacy UE by the base station is a plurality of RNTIs such as SFI-RNTI, TPC-RNTI and PI-RNTI. The base station can configure a plurality of first RNTIs for the REDCAP UE, such as SFI-TPC-RNTI, SFI-PI-RNTI, TPC-PI-RNTI and the like.

It should be appreciated that the base station may configure multiple first RNTIs for the redtap UE, and the redtap UE may poll for DCI blind detection using different first RNTIs. If the REDCAP UE monitors DCI of a certain size, whether the monitored DCI belongs to the UE can be judged through the first RNTI. For example, the first RNTI is the SFI-TPC-RNTI, and the REDCAP UE can determine that the received DCI includes DCI format 2_0 and DCI format 2_2 through the first RNTI, that is, the received DCI belongs to itself. Similarly, legacy UE monitors DCI of a certain size, and can determine whether the monitored DCI belongs to its own UE through RNTI.

Further, when the base station schedules, in order to avoid collision between legacy UE and REDCAP UE, legacy UE and REDCAP UE may be instructed to adopt different RNTIs at different times, respectively. That is, the base station may indicate the validity time of the configured RNTI for legacy UEs and REDCAP UEs. For example, the base station may send fourth indication information to the redtap UE, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate an effective time of the first RNTI. The REDCAP UE receives the fourth indication information, and may determine which RNTI is used according to the effective time indicated by the fourth indication information.

According to the embodiment of the application, a plurality of DCI formats are sent through a certain DCI, namely, information of different DCI formats is transmitted through one DCI. Therefore, the number of different DCI sizes can be reduced, the blind detection times of the terminal are reduced, and the signaling overhead is saved. Meanwhile, the terminal can monitor all DCI sent by the base station, so that the loss of information can be avoided as much as possible, and the scheduling flexibility of the base station is improved.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is introduced from the perspective of interaction between the terminal and the network device. In order to implement the functions in the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the terminal and the network device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and the functions are implemented in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure and a software module. Whether any of the above-described functions is implemented as a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the technical solution.

The following describes a communication device for implementing the above method in the embodiment of the present application with reference to the drawings. Therefore, the above contents can be used in the subsequent embodiments, and the repeated contents are not repeated.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 700 may correspondingly implement the functions or steps implemented by the terminal or the network device in the above-described method embodiments. The communication device may include a processing module 710 and a transceiver module 720. Optionally, a storage unit may be included, which may be used to store instructions (code or programs) and/or data. The processing module 710 and the transceiver module 720 may be coupled with the storage unit, for example, the processing unit 710 may read instructions (codes or programs) and/or data in the storage unit to implement the corresponding method. The above units may be provided independently, or may be partially or wholly integrated.

In some possible embodiments, the communication device 700 can implement the behavior and functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. For example, the communication device 700 may be a terminal, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) applied to a terminal. The transceiver module 720 may be used to perform all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the terminal in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, such as S302 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. Wherein the processing module 710 is configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 except for transceiving operations, such as S303 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 720 is configured to receive a first message from a network device, where the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks includes a first type information block and a second type information block, the first type information block and the second type information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, and the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission period, and a bit number; the processing module 710 is configured to determine a first type of information block and a second type of information block.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: configuration information is received from the network device indicating the same characteristic parameter comprised by the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: first indication information is received from the network equipment, and the first indication information comprises a position identifier which is used for indicating the starting position of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks in the first message.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and receiving third indication information from the network equipment, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: receiving configuration parameters from network equipment, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part RNTI and a second part RNTI, the first part RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and receiving fourth indication information from the network equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

In some possible implementations, the communication apparatus 700 can correspondingly implement the behaviors and functions of the network devices in the above method embodiments. For example, the communication apparatus 700 may be a network device, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) applied to a network device. Transceiver module 720 may be used to perform all receiving or transmitting operations performed by a base station in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, such as S302 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. Wherein the processing module 710 is configured to perform all operations performed by the base station in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 except transceiving operations, such as S301 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In some embodiments, the processing module 710 is configured to determine a first message, where the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, where the plurality of information blocks includes a first type information block and a second type information block, where the first type information block and the second type information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, where the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission period, and a bit number; the transceiver module 720 is configured to send a first message to the terminal.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating the same characteristic parameter included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and sending first indication information to the terminal, wherein the first indication information comprises a position identifier, and the position identifier is used for indicating the starting position of the different types of information blocks in the first message.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and sending second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises information blocks of a first type and information blocks of a second type.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and sending third indication information to the terminal, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and sending configuration parameters to the terminal, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first RNTI for the terminal, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of RNTI and a second part of RNTI, the first part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 720 is further configured to: and sending fourth indication information to the terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

It should be understood that the processing module 710 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, and the transceiver module 720 may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component or a communication interface.

Fig. 8 shows a communication apparatus 800 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication apparatus 800 may be a terminal and may implement a function of the terminal in the method according to the embodiment of the present application, or the communication apparatus 800 may be a network device and may implement a function of a base station in the method according to the embodiment of the present application; the communication apparatus 800 may also be an apparatus capable of supporting a terminal to implement the corresponding functions in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, or an apparatus capable of supporting a network device to implement the corresponding functions in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 may be a chip system. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In hardware implementation, the transceiver module 720 may be a transceiver, and the transceiver is integrated in the communication device 800 to form the communication interface 810.

The communication apparatus 800 includes at least one processor 820 for implementing or supporting the communication apparatus 800 to implement the functions of a network device (base station) or a terminal in the method provided by the embodiments of the present application. For details, reference is made to the detailed description in the method example, which is not repeated herein.

The communications apparatus 800 can also include at least one memory 830 for storing program instructions and/or data. The memory 830 is coupled with the processor 820. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be an electrical, mechanical or other form for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. The processor 820 may operate in conjunction with the memory 830. Processor 820 may execute program instructions and/or data stored in memory 830 to cause communication device 800 to implement a corresponding method. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor. It should be noted that the memory 830 is not essential, and is illustrated by a dotted line in fig. 8.

The communications apparatus 800 can also include a communication interface 810 for communicating with other devices over a transmission medium such that the apparatus used in the communications apparatus 800 can communicate with other devices. Illustratively, when the communication device is a terminal, the other device is a network device; or, when the communication device is a network device, the other device is a terminal. Processor 820 may transceive data using communication interface 810. The communication interface 810 may specifically be a transceiver.

The specific connection medium among the communication interface 810, the processor 820 and the memory 830 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In fig. 8, the memory 830, the processor 820 and the communication interface 810 are connected by a bus 840, the bus is represented by a thick line in fig. 8, and the connection manner among other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 8, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

In the embodiments of the present application, the processor 820 may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, and may implement or perform the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor.

In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 830 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), and may also be a volatile memory (RAM), for example, a random-access memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing a storage function for storing program instructions and/or data.

The communication device in the above embodiments may be a terminal or a circuit, or may be a chip applied to a terminal or other combined device or component having the above terminal function. When the communication device is a terminal, the transceiver module may be a transceiver, and may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like, and the processing module may be a processor, for example: a Central Processing Unit (CPU). When the communication device is a component having the above terminal function, the transceiver module may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module may be a processor. When the communication device is a chip system, the transceiver module may be an input/output interface of the chip system, and the processing module may be a processor of the chip system.

Fig. 9 shows a simplified schematic of a communication device. For ease of understanding and illustration, fig. 9 illustrates a base station as an example of the communication device. The base station can be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and can be the network device in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments.

The communication device 900 may include a transceiver 910, a memory 921, and a processor 922. The transceiver 910 may be used for communication by a communication device, such as for sending or receiving the first message, the first indication information, and the like. The memory 921 is coupled to the processor 922 and can be used to store programs and data necessary for the communication device 900 to implement various functions. The processor 922 is configured to support the communication apparatus 900 to perform the corresponding functions in the above-described methods, which can be implemented by calling a program stored in the memory 921.

In particular, the transceiver 910 may be a wireless transceiver, and may be configured to support the communication apparatus 900 to receive and transmit signaling and/or data over a wireless air interface. The transceiver 910 may also be referred to as a transceiving unit or a communication unit, and the transceiver 910 may include one or more radio frequency units 912, such as Remote Radio Units (RRUs) or Active Antenna Units (AAUs), which may be used for transmission of radio frequency signals and conversion of radio frequency signals to baseband signals, and one or more antennas 911, which may be used for radiation and reception of radio frequency signals. Alternatively, the transceiver 910 may only include the above radio frequency units, and then the communication device 900 may include the transceiver 910, the memory 921, the processor 922, and the antenna 911.

The memory 921 and the processor 922 may be integrated or independent of each other. As shown in fig. 9, the memory 921 and the processor 922 may be integrated in the control unit 920 of the communication apparatus 900. Illustratively, the control unit 920 may include a baseband unit (BBU) of an LTE base station, which may also be referred to as a Digital Unit (DU), or the control unit 910 may include a Distributed Unit (DU) and/or a Centralized Unit (CU) in a base station under 5G and future radio access technologies. The control unit 920 may be formed by one or more antenna panels, where a plurality of antenna panels may support a radio access network (e.g., an LTE network) of a single access system, and a plurality of antenna panels may also support radio access networks (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks) of different access systems. The memory 921 and processor 922 may serve one or more antenna panels. That is, the memory 921 and the processor 922 may be provided separately on each antenna panel. The same memory 921 and processor 922 may be shared by multiple antenna panels. In addition, necessary circuitry may be provided on each antenna panel, for example, to enable coupling of the memory 921 and the processor 922. The above transceivers 910, processors 922, and memory 21 may be connected by a bus (bus) structure and/or other connection medium.

Based on the structure shown in fig. 9, when the communication device 900 needs to transmit data, the processor 922 may perform baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and output a baseband signal to the rf unit, and the rf unit performs rf processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the rf signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication device 900, the rf unit receives an rf signal through the antenna, converts the rf signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 922, and the processor 922 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

Based on the structure shown in fig. 9, the transceiver 910 can be used to perform the above steps performed by the transceiver module 720. And/or processor 922 may be used to call instructions in memory 921 to perform the steps performed by processing module 710 above.

Fig. 10 shows a simplified structural diagram of a terminal. For ease of understanding and illustration, in fig. 10, the terminal is exemplified by a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 10, the terminal includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the vehicle-mounted unit, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of apparatuses may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the device, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 10. In an actual device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the rf circuit with transceiving function may be regarded as a transceiving unit of the apparatus, and the processor with processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the apparatus. As shown in fig. 10, the apparatus includes a transceiver unit 1010 and a processing unit 1020. The transceiver unit 1010 may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. The processing unit 1020 may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, or the like. Optionally, a device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiving unit 1010 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiving unit 1010 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiving unit 1010 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. Transceiver unit 1010 may also sometimes be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or the like. A receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, or the like. A transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver unit 1010 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the terminal side in the above-described method embodiments, and the processing unit 1020 is configured to perform other operations on the terminal in addition to the transceiving operation in the above-described method embodiments.

For example, in one implementation, the transceiver unit 1010 may be used to perform S302 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

When the communication device is a chip-like device or circuit, the device may comprise a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit may be an input/output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

In this embodiment, reference may be made to the apparatus shown in fig. 11. As an example, the apparatus may perform functions similar to processing module 710 of FIG. 7. In fig. 11, the apparatus includes a processor 1110, a transmit data processor 1120, and a receive data processor 1130. The processing module 710 in the above embodiments may be the processor 1110 in fig. 11, and performs the corresponding functions. The processing module 710 in the above embodiments may be the transmit data processor 1120, and/or the receive data processor 1130 in fig. 11. Although fig. 11 shows a channel encoder and a channel decoder, it is understood that these blocks are not limitative and only illustrative to the present embodiment.

Fig. 12 shows another form of the present embodiment. The communication device 1200 includes modules such as a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, and peripheral subsystems. The communication device in this embodiment may serve as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 1203, an interface 1204. The processor 1203 completes the functions of the processing module 710, and the interface 1204 completes the functions of the transceiver module 720. As another variation, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 1206, a processor 1203, and a program stored in the memory 1206 and executable on the processor, and the processor 1203 executes the program to implement the method of the terminal in the above method embodiment. It should be noted that the memory 1206 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located within the modulation subsystem or within the processing device 1200, as long as the memory 1206 can be connected to the processor 1203.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, and specifically, the communication system includes a network device and a terminal, or may further include more network devices and a plurality of terminals. Illustratively, the communication system includes network devices and terminals for implementing the related functions of fig. 3 described above.

The network devices are respectively used for realizing the functions of the related network part of the figure 3. The terminal is used for realizing the functions of the terminal related to the figure 3. Please refer to the related description in the above method embodiments, which is not repeated herein.

Also provided in an embodiment of the present application is a computer-readable storage medium, which includes instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method performed by the network device in fig. 3; or when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the terminal of figure 3.

Also provided in an embodiment of the present application is a computer program product including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method performed by the network device in fig. 3; or when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the terminal of figure 3.

The embodiment of the application provides a chip system, which comprises a processor and a memory, and is used for realizing the functions of network equipment or a terminal in the method; or for implementing the functions of the network device and the terminal in the foregoing methods. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

And, unless stated to the contrary, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and do not limit the sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first indication information and the second indication information are not different in priority, importance, or the like of the two kinds of indication information, but are merely different in order to distinguish the two kinds of indication information.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting control information, comprising:

receiving a first message from a network device, wherein the first message comprises a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks comprise a first type information block and a second type information block, the first type information block and the second type information block comprise at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used for indicating the transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter comprises attribute content, transmission period and bit number;

determining the first type of information block and the second type of information block.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the type comprises a function type of an information block and/or a traffic type of an information block, wherein,

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the attribute content comprises one or more of:

4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, further comprising:

receiving configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating the same characteristic parameters included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

5. The method of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

receiving first indication information from the network device, wherein the first indication information comprises a location identifier for indicating a starting location of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks in the first message.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

receiving second indication information from the network device, wherein the second indication information includes a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination includes the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

receiving third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information includes multiple type identifiers, and one type identifier corresponds to one type of information block.

8. The method of any one of claims 1-7, further comprising:

receiving configuration parameters from the network equipment, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI), the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of RNTI and a second part of RNTI, the first part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the first type of information block, and the second part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the second type of information block.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-7, further comprising:

receiving fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate an effective time of the first RNTI.

10. A method for transmitting control information, comprising:

determining a first message, wherein the first message comprises a plurality of information blocks, the plurality of information blocks comprise a first type of information block and a second type of information block, the first type of information block and the second type of information block comprise at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used for indicating the transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the plurality of information blocks, and the characteristic parameter comprises attribute content, transmission period and bit number;

and sending the first message to a terminal.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the type comprises a function type of an information block and/or a traffic type of an information block, wherein,

12. A method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the attribute content is one or more of:

13. The method of any one of claims 10-12, further comprising:

and sending configuration information to the terminal, wherein the configuration information is used for indicating the same characteristic parameters included in the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

14. The method of any one of claims 10-13, further comprising:

and sending first indication information to the terminal, wherein the first indication information comprises a position identifier, and the position identifier is used for indicating different types of information blocks at the starting position of the first message.

15. The method of any one of claims 10-13, further comprising:

and sending second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information comprises a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating a first type combination, and the first type combination comprises the information blocks of the first type and the information blocks of the second type.

16. The method of any one of claims 10-13, further comprising:

and sending third indication information to the terminal, wherein the third indication information comprises a plurality of type identifications, and one type identification corresponds to one type of information block.

17. The method of any one of claims 10-16, further comprising:

and sending configuration parameters to the terminal, wherein the configuration parameters are used for configuring a first Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) for the terminal, the first RNTI is determined according to a first part of RNTI and a second part of RNTI, the first part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the information block of the first type, and the second part of RNTI is determined according to the RNTI corresponding to the information block of the second type.

18. The method of any one of claims 10-17, further comprising:

and sending fourth indication information to the terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the RNTI.

19. A communication device, comprising a transceiver module and a processing module, wherein,

the transceiver module is configured to receive a first message from a network device, where the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, where the information blocks include a first type of information block and a second type of information block, the first type of information block and the second type of information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission cycle, and a bit number;

the processing module is configured to determine the information block of the first type and the information block of the second type.

20. The communication apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the type comprises a function type of an information block and/or a traffic type of an information block, wherein,

21. A communications apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the attribute content comprises one or more of:

22. The communications apparatus of any of claims 19-21, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

23. The communications apparatus of any of claims 19-23, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

24. The communications apparatus of any of claims 19-23, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

25. The communications apparatus of any of claims 19-23, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

26. The communications apparatus of any of claims 19-25, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

27. The method of any of claims 19-26, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

28. A communication device, comprising a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein,

the processing module is configured to determine a first message, where the first message includes a plurality of information blocks, where the information blocks include a first type of information block and a second type of information block, where the first type of information block and the second type of information block include at least one same characteristic parameter, where the characteristic parameter is used to indicate a transmission characteristic of each type of information block in the information blocks, and the characteristic parameter includes an attribute content, a transmission period, and a bit number;

the transceiver module is configured to send the first message to a terminal.

29. The communication apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the type comprises a function type of an information block and/or a traffic type of an information block, wherein,

30. A communications device as claimed in claim 28 or 29, wherein the attribute content is one or more of:

31. The communications device of any of claims 28-30, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

32. The communications device of any of claims 28-31, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

33. The communications device of any of claims 28-31, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

34. The method of any of claims 28-31, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

35. The method of any of claims 28-34, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

36. The method of any of claims 28-35, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to:

and sending fourth indication information to the terminal, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the effective time of the first RNTI.

37. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or 10 to 18.