CN115941142A

CN115941142A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115941142A
Application number: CN202111161386.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高飞; 焦淑蓉; 花梦
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-09-30
Filing date: 2021-09-30
Publication date: 2023-04-07
Also published as: WO2023051420A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and can provide data scheduling flexibility and guarantee data transmission. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives the configuration information. The configuration information indicates three search space SS sets, a first SS set and a second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH and a third candidate PDCCH meet the condition of one-time blind detection, and the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode. And under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is earlier than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of wireless communication, in particular to a communication method and device.

Background

In a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) repetition (retransmission) transmission mechanism, a correlated (linked) search space set (SS set) is defined to reduce the complexity of soft combining (soft combining) processing of a terminal device. In a pair of associated SS sets (SS sets), when a single (count one) Blind Detection (BD) condition is satisfied between one PDCCH candidate in one SS set and one independently transmitted PDCCH candidate, the two PDCCH candidates are counted as a single blind detection (1 BD). Wherein, the reference PDCCH candidate selection rule is different between PDCCH repeat transmission and PDCCH independent transmission. The reference candidate PDCCH is used to determine a time point related to data scheduling.

However, when the terminal device does not perform independent decoding (decode) on one PDCCH candidate, it is impossible to distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is repeatedly transmitted by the PDCCH or independently transmitted by the PDCCH, which may cause the reference PDCCH candidate selected by the terminal device to be mismatched with the monitored PDCCH, resulting in data transmission failure.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which can improve data scheduling flexibility and guarantee data transmission.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, an execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, or a chip applied to the terminal device. The following description will be given taking as an example that the execution main body is a terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives the configuration information. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode. And under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is earlier than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors a fourth candidate PDCCH, wherein the fourth candidate PDCCH is the candidate PDCCH after the soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. And under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is later than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration.

That is, taking TDM configuration as an example, in the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device, the PDCCH candidates decoded independently are the earlier PDCCH candidates. In a scenario of dynamic switching between PDCCH repeated transmission and PDCCH independent transmission, the independently transmitted PDCCH is transmitted on a candidate PDCCH configured for independent transmission, that is, the candidate PDCCH configured by the network device for PDCCH independent transmission and the candidate PDCCH with an earlier time domain starting unit in the two candidate PDCCHs for PDCCH repeated transmission satisfy a condition of one blind detection. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment to the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved. On the contrary, under the condition that the independently transmitted PDCCH is not transmitted on the candidate PDCCH configured for independent transmission, the terminal device determines that the PDCCH is configured incorrectly, so that the phenomenon that the reference candidate PDCCH selected by the terminal device is not matched with the monitored PDCCH does not exist, and data transmission failure is avoided.

In one possible design, the time domain starting unit includes a starting orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol.

In one possible design, the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application further includes: the terminal device transmits the first information. Wherein the first information indicates a coding hypothesis.

That is, the terminal device reports the decoding assumption adopted by itself to the network device, so that the terminal device can flexibly configure the decoding assumption.

In one possible design, the first information is carried in capability information.

In one possible design, the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is two.

In a second aspect, an execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, or a chip applied to the terminal device. The following description will be made taking as an example that the execution subject is a terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives the configuration information. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors a fourth candidate PDCCH, wherein the fourth candidate PDCCH is the candidate PDCCH after the soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is larger than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration.

That is, taking the FDM configuration as an example, the PDCCH candidates that are independently decoded are PDCCH candidates with lower frequencies in the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device. In the scenario of PDCCH repeat transmission and PDCCH independent transmission dynamic switching, the independently transmitted PDCCH is transmitted on the PDCCH candidates configured for independent transmission, i.e. the independently transmitted PDCCH candidates belong to the set of SSs configured for PDCCH independent transmission. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment to the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved. On the contrary, under the condition that the independently transmitted PDCCH is not transmitted on the independently decoded candidate PDCCH, the terminal device determines that the PDCCH is configured incorrectly, so that the phenomenon that the reference candidate PDCCH selected by the terminal device is not matched with the monitored PDCCH does not exist, and data transmission failure is avoided.

In one possible design, the frequency-domain starting unit includes a starting physical resource block, PRB. Alternatively, the frequency domain starting element comprises a starting control channel element CCE.

In a third aspect, an execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, or a chip applied to the terminal device. The following description will be given taking as an example that the execution main body is a terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal device receives the configuration information. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH in the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode; the first PDCCH candidate is determined based on the first PDCCH candidate. And the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

That is, taking the FDM configuration as an example, in the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device, the PDCCH candidate decoded independently is one of two PDCCH candidates, and it is not clear whether the PDCCH candidate is a PDCCH candidate with a lower frequency or a PDCCH candidate with a higher frequency. In the scenario of PDCCH repeat transmission and PDCCH independent transmission dynamic switching, the independently transmitted PDCCH is transmitted on the PDCCH candidates configured for independent transmission, i.e. the independently transmitted PDCCH candidates belong to the set of SSs configured for PDCCH independent transmission. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment to the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved. On the contrary, under the condition that the independently transmitted PDCCH is not transmitted on the independently decoded candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines the configuration as wrong, so that the phenomenon that the reference candidate PDCCH selected by the terminal equipment is not matched with the monitored PDCCH does not exist, and the data transmission failure is avoided.

In one possible design, the first PDCCH candidate is predefined for the first PDCCH candidate. That is, the terminal device and the network device default that the first PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate.

In one possible design, the coding assumption is predefined. That is, the terminal device and the network device use the above decoding assumption by default.

In one possible design, the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application further includes: the terminal device transmits the first information. The first information indicates that the first candidate PDCCH is a first candidate PDCCH, and the first information is used for determining configuration information so that the terminal equipment can flexibly determine which candidate PDCCH is supported by the terminal equipment to independently decode on in the two candidate PDCCHs.

In one possible design, a frequency domain starting cell index of the first PDCCH candidate is larger than a frequency domain starting cell index of the second PDCCH candidate. Or the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH.

In one possible design, the frequency domain starting unit includes a starting physical resource block PRB. Alternatively, the frequency domain starting element comprises a starting control channel element CCE.

In a fourth aspect, an execution subject of the method may be a network device, or may be a chip applied to the network device. The following description will be given taking as an example that the execution subject is a network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network device sends the configuration information to the terminal device. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode, or the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode. And the network equipment transmits the PDCCH to the terminal equipment on the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the network equipment transmits the PDCCH to the terminal equipment on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

In one possible design, the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application further includes: the network device receives first information from the terminal device. Wherein the first information indicates a coding hypothesis.

In a fifth aspect, an execution subject of the method may be a network device, or a chip applied to the network device. The following description will be given taking as an example that the execution subject is a network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network device sends the configuration information to the terminal device. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH in the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode; the first PDCCH candidate is determined based on the first PDCCH candidate. And the network equipment transmits PDCCH to the terminal equipment on the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the network equipment transmits PDCCH to the terminal equipment on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

In one possible design, the first PDCCH candidate is predefined for the first PDCCH candidate.

In one possible design, the coding assumption is predefined.

In one possible design, the communication method according to the embodiment of the present application further includes: the network device receives first information from the terminal device. The first information indicates that the first candidate PDCCH is a first candidate PDCCH, and the first information is used for determining configuration information.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the first aspect, or a chip that implements a function of the terminal device; the communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means (means) for implementing the above methods, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

The communication device includes a receiving unit, a processing unit, and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit is used for receiving the configuration information. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the communication device comprises independently decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and merging and decoding the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode. And under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is earlier than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the receiving unit is used for monitoring the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the receiving unit is used for monitoring a fourth candidate PDCCH, wherein the fourth candidate PDCCH is the candidate PDCCH after the soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. The processing unit is configured to determine that the configuration information is a wrong configuration in case that a time domain starting unit of the first PDCCH candidate is later than a time domain starting unit of the second PDCCH candidate.

In one possible embodiment, the transmitting unit is further configured to transmit the first information. Wherein the first information indicates a coding hypothesis.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal device in any possible design of the second aspect or the second aspect, or a chip that implements a function of the terminal device; the communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means (means) for implementing the above methods, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

The communication device includes a receiving unit, a processing unit, and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit is used for receiving the configuration information. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the communication device comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the receiving unit is used for monitoring the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the receiving unit is used for monitoring a fourth candidate PDCCH, wherein the fourth candidate PDCCH is the candidate PDCCH after the soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. The processing unit is configured to determine that the configuration information is a wrong configuration in case that a frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate is larger than a frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the third aspect or the third aspect, or a chip that implements a function of the terminal device; the communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means (means) for implementing the above methods, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

The communication device includes a receiving unit, a processing unit, and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit is used for receiving the configuration information. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the communication device comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH in the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode; the first PDCCH candidate is determined based on the first PDCCH candidate. The receiving unit is configured to monitor the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the receiving unit is configured to monitor the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

In one possible design, the coding assumption is predefined.

In one possible embodiment, the transmitting unit is further configured to transmit the first information. The first information indicates that the first candidate PDCCH is a first candidate PDCCH, and the first information is used for determining configuration information.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a network device in any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the network device; the communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means (means) for implementing the above methods, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

The communication device includes a receiving unit, a processing unit, and a transmitting unit. The sending unit is used for sending the configuration information to the terminal equipment. The configuration information is determined by the processing unit, the configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode, or the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode. The sending unit is further configured to send the PDCCH to the terminal device on the first PDCCH candidate and/or the third PDCCH candidate, or the sending unit is further configured to send the PDCCH to the terminal device on the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate.

In one possible embodiment, the receiving unit is used to receive the first information from the terminal. Wherein the first information indicates a coding hypothesis.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network device in any one of the possible designs of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the network device; the communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means (means) for implementing the above methods, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

The communication device includes a receiving unit, a processing unit, and a transmitting unit. The sending unit is used for sending the configuration information to the terminal equipment. The configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of Physical Downlink Control Channels (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the scrambling code sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, the control resource sets CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, the load size corresponding to the downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set, and the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal equipment comprises independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH in the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode; the first PDCCH candidate is determined based on the first PDCCH candidate. The sending unit is further configured to send the PDCCH to the terminal device on the first PDCCH candidate and/or the third PDCCH candidate, or the sending unit is further configured to send the PDCCH to the terminal device on the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate.

In one possible embodiment, the receiving unit is used to receive the first information from the terminal device. Wherein the first information indicates a coding hypothesis.

In one possible design, the coding assumption is predefined.

In one possible embodiment, the receiving unit is used to receive the first information from the terminal. The first information indicates that the first candidate PDCCH is a first candidate PDCCH, and the first information is used for determining configuration information.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method performed by the terminal device in any of the above aspects or any of the possible designs in any of the aspects. The communication apparatus may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the first aspect, or may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect or the second aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the terminal device, or may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the third aspect or the third aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the terminal device.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor; the processor is coupled to the memory for reading the instructions in the memory and executing the instructions to cause the communication device to perform the method performed by the terminal device according to any of the aspects or any possible design of any of the aspects. The communication apparatus may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the first aspect or the first aspect, or may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect or the second aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the terminal device, or may be a terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the third aspect or the third aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the terminal device.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip including a processing circuit and an input/output interface. The input/output interface is used for communicating with a module other than a chip, for example, the chip may be a chip that implements the functions of the terminal device in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect. The processing circuitry is arranged to execute a computer program or instructions to implement the method of the first aspect above or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect. For another example, the chip may be a chip that implements the functions of the terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the second aspect or the second aspect. The processing circuitry is arranged to execute a computer program or instructions to implement the method of the second aspect above or any one of the possible designs of the second aspect. For another example, the chip may be a chip that implements the functions of the terminal device in any one of the possible designs of the third aspect or the third aspect. The processing circuitry is arranged to execute a computer program or instructions to implement the method of any one of the possible designs of the third aspect or the third aspect above.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform a method performed by the network device of any of the above aspects or any of the possible designs of any of the above aspects. The communication device may be a network device in any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect, or may be a network device in any one of the possible designs of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect, or a chip that implements the function of the network device.

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor; the processor is coupled to the memory for reading instructions in the memory and executing the instructions to cause the communications apparatus to perform a method as performed by the network device in any one of the aspects or any one of the possible designs as described above. The communication device may be a network device in any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect, or may be a network device in any one of the possible designs of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect, or a chip that implements the functions of the network device.

In a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip including a processing circuit and an input/output interface. Wherein the input/output interface is used for communicating with a module other than the chip, for example, the chip may be a chip that implements the functions of the network device in any one of the possible designs of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect. Processing circuitry is used to execute computer programs or instructions to implement the methods in any of the above fourth or fourth possible designs. For another example, the chip may be a chip that implements the functions of the network device in any one of the possible designs of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect. The processing circuitry is arranged to execute a computer program or instructions to implement the method of any one of the above possible designs of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect.

In a seventeenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method of any one of the above aspects.

In an eighteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

In a nineteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide circuitry comprising processing circuitry configured to perform the method of any one of the above aspects.

In a twentieth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the terminal device and the network device in any one of the above aspects.

The technical effects brought by any design of the sixth aspect to the twentieth aspect can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods provided above, and are not repeated herein.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a mobile communication system to which the embodiment of the present application is applied;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario applied in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of candidate PDCCH distribution according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of a blind detection scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6a is a schematic view of a scenario of referring to a candidate PDCCH according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6b is a schematic view of a scenario of another reference candidate PDCCH according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6c is a schematic view of a scenario of another reference candidate PDCCH according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6d is a schematic view of a scenario of another reference candidate PDCCH according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7a is a scene schematic diagram of a one-time blind test according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7b is a schematic view of a scene of another one-time blind test according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9a is a schematic diagram of a PDCCH candidate distribution according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9b is a schematic diagram of a candidate PDCCH distribution according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9c is a schematic diagram of a candidate PDCCH distribution according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11a is a schematic diagram of a candidate PDCCH distribution according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11b is a schematic diagram of a candidate PDCCH distribution according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11c is a schematic diagram of a candidate PDCCH distribution according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The terms "first" and "second" and the like in the specification and drawings of the present application are used for distinguishing different objects or for distinguishing different processes for the same object, and are not used for describing a specific order of the objects. Furthermore, the terms "including" and "having," and any variations thereof, as referred to in the description of the present application, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements but may alternatively include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "such as" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system 1000 applied in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 1000 includes at least one network device 110 (e.g., 110a and 110b in fig. 1) and at least one terminal device 120 (e.g., 120a-120j in fig. 1). The terminal equipment is connected with the network equipment in a wireless mode. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram, and other network devices, such as a wireless relay device and a wireless backhaul device, may also be included in the communication system, which are not shown in fig. 1.

The network device may be a base station (base station), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5th generation, 5g) mobile communication system, a next generation NodeB in a sixth generation (6th generation, 6g) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc.; the present invention may also be a module or a unit that performs part of the functions of the base station, for example, a Centralized Unit (CU) or a Distributed Unit (DU). The CU here completes the functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence layer protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and may also complete the functions of a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP); the DU performs functions of a radio link control (rlc) layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of the base station, and may also perform functions of a part of or all of a physical layer, and for detailed descriptions of the above protocol layers, reference may be made to related technical specifications of the third generation partnership project (3 rd generation partnership project,3 gpp). The network device may be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in fig. 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in fig. 1), a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and the specific device forms used by the network devices. For convenience of description, the following description will be made by taking a network device as an example.

A terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, user Equipment (UE), a mobile station, a mobile terminal, etc. The terminal device can be widely applied to various scenes, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-electrical (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearing, smart transportation, smart city, and the like. The terminal equipment can be a mobile phone, a tablet personal computer, a computer with a wireless transceiving function, wearable equipment, a vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a helicopter, an airplane, a steamship, a robot, a mechanical arm, intelligent household equipment and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

The network devices and the terminal devices may be fixed or mobile. The network equipment and the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; it may also be deployed on airborne airplanes, balloons, and satellite vehicles. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scenarios of the network device and the terminal device.

The roles of network devices and terminal devices may be relative, e.g., helicopter or drone 120i in fig. 1 may be configured as a mobile base station, for those terminal devices 120j that access the radio access network through 120i, terminal device 120i is a network device; however, for the

network device

110a, 120i is a terminal device, that is, the network device 110a and the network device 120i communicate with each other through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i may communicate with each other through an interface protocol between base stations, and in this case, 120i is also a network device with respect to 110 a. Thus, both the network device and the terminal device may be collectively referred to as a communicator, 110a and 110b in fig. 1 may be referred to as a communicator having a network device function, and 120a-120j in fig. 1 may be referred to as a communicator having a terminal device function.

The communication between the network equipment and the terminal equipment, between the network equipment and the network equipment, and between the terminal equipment and the terminal equipment can be carried out through the authorized spectrum, or can be carried out through the unlicensed spectrum, or can be carried out through the authorized spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum at the same time; communication may be performed in a frequency spectrum of 6 gigahertz (GHz) or less, in a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more, or in a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or less and in a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (e.g., a chip) in the network device, or may also be performed by a control subsystem including the functions of the network device. The control subsystem including the network device function can be a control center in the application scenarios such as a smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, smart city, and the like. The functions of the terminal device may be performed by a module (e.g., a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or may be performed by a device including the functions of the terminal device.

In the communication system, a process of sending data from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 may be referred to as uplink transmission, and a process of sending data from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 may be referred to as downlink transmission. In the application, the network equipment sends a downlink signal or downlink information to the terminal equipment, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel; the terminal equipment sends uplink signals or uplink information to the network equipment, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. In order for a terminal device to communicate with a network device, it needs to establish a radio connection with a cell controlled by the network device. The cell in which a wireless connection is established with a terminal device is called a serving cell of the terminal device. When the terminal device communicates with the serving cell, it is also interfered by signals from neighboring cells.

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following description is briefly made of terms related to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that these descriptions are only for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the embodiments of the present application, and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way.

1. PDCCH repetition transmission (PDCCH repetition)

PDCCH retransmission refers to that coding and rate matching are based on 1 PDCCH, and other PDCCHs retransmit the same coded bits (coded bits), and each retransmission uses the same Aggregation Level (AL) or the same number (number) of Control Channel Elements (CCEs). Each time, the same Downlink Control Information (DCI) payload information is repeatedly transmitted. As shown in fig. 1, PDCCH #1 and PDCCH #2 are repeatedly transmitted PDCCHs. The bold box indicates that PDCCH #1 and PDCCH #2 undergo the same process. PDCCH #1 is transmitted on physical resource 1, and PDCCH #2 is transmitted on physical resource 2.

The PDCCH carries DCI. The PDCCH corresponds to a bearer, and the content carried by the PDCCH is DCI. Since PDCCH and DCI are in one-to-one correspondence, in the embodiment of the present application, the description of receiving (or "detecting", "monitoring") PDCCH and receiving DCI is equivalent.

To improve the reliability of DCI transmission, a multi-station (TRP) joint transmission mechanism may be utilized. Specifically, for the same DCI, after coded bits are formed through the above coding method, a plurality of TRPs are respectively transmitted on different time frequency resources. Correspondingly, the terminal device may receive multiple encoded bits on the different time-frequency resources, and perform joint analysis to obtain the DCI. Illustratively, the terminal device performs channel estimation on the different time-frequency resources, demodulates the received signals to obtain log-likelihood ratios (soft information), and then combines the log-likelihood ratios to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the transmission, thereby improving reliability of DCI transmission. Meanwhile, the transmission scheme can prevent such a situation from occurring in consideration that a transmission link from a terminal device to a certain TRP may be interrupted due to channel change.

Exemplarily, referring to fig. 2, TRP1 and TRP2 serve the same terminal device as a cooperative base station. DCI1 issued by TRP1 corresponds to a control resource set (CORESET) 1, and DCI2 issued by TRP2 corresponds to CORESET2. The configuration of the two CORESETs can be partially overlapped or completely overlapped so as to improve the DCI transmission flexibility and ensure the frequency selection scheduling gain. The DCI respectively issued on the two CORESET is carried on different PDCCH candidates (PDCCH candidates), and there is an association relationship between SS sets to which the two PDCCH candidates respectively belong, that is, the terminal device may perform the soft combining operation. Wherein DCI1 and DCI2 indicate the same Shared Channel (SCH) resource location. Illustratively, the shared channel includes at least one of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

The association relationship between the SS set and the candidate PDCCH is introduced as follows:

the configuration information of the SS set includes a plurality of aggregation levels and the number of PDCCH candidates corresponding to each aggregation level. In other words, the PDCCH candidates are elements in an SS set, which is a set of PDCCH candidates. Within one SS set, there are one or more PDCCH candidates.

The introduction of the association relationship is as follows:

if one SS set is configured for PDCCH repetition transmission, all candidate PDCCHs within this SS set are used for PDCCH repetition transmission, excluding candidate PDCCHs for PDCCH independent transmission. A Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameter is used to configure association relationship (linkage) between two SS sets for PDCCH repeated transmission, for example, SS set # i and SS set # j may be referred to as associated search space set (linked SS set). The candidate PDCCHs for PDCCH repeated transmission belong to two SS sets, respectively. As shown in fig. 4, SS set # i and SS set # j each include AL8 and AL16. The number of candidate PDCCHs corresponding to AL8 is 2, and the number of candidate PDCCHs corresponding to AL16 is 1. For AL8, PDCCH repetition transmission is performed on PDCCH candidate index 1 of SS set # i together with PDCCH candidate index 1 of SS set # j, and PDCCH repetition transmission is performed on PDCCH candidate index 2 of SS set # i together with PDCCH candidate index 2 of SS set # j, which are referred to as associated PDCCH candidates (linked PDCCH candidates). For AL16, PDCCH repetition transmission is performed with candidate PDCCH index 1 of SS set # i and candidate PDCCH index 1 of SS set # j. In addition, if the network device is to send the independently transmitted PDCCH, it may be implemented by configuring other SS sets, for example, configuring SS set # k, and sending the independently transmitted PDCCH on the PDCCH candidate in SS set # k.

It should be noted that, the correspondence between candidate PDCCH index and frequency is as follows: the frequencies corresponding to different candidate PDCCH indexes are different. For example, the PDCCH candidate index for PDCCH candidate 1 is smaller than the PDCCH candidate index for PDCCH candidate 2. The frequency corresponding to candidate PDCCH1 may be lower than the frequency corresponding to candidate PDCCH2, or the frequency corresponding to candidate PDCCH1 may be higher than the frequency corresponding to candidate PDCCH2. In the embodiment of the present application, only PDCCH candidates with smaller PDCCH candidate indexes and corresponding frequencies are taken as examples for description.

2. Rule of one-time blind test

In the related technical specification TS38.213 of 3GPP, a rule is specified whether two PDCCH candidates count as one blind test, which is also referred to as count one operation. One blind detection may also be referred to as "1 PDCCH candidate for monitoring". Of the two candidate PDCCHs, if one candidate PDCCH and the other candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four conditions:

first, the same time-frequency resources. That is, the AL of the two PDCCH candidates is the same, and the starting CCE locations of the two PDCCH candidates are the same, and it can be understood that the CCE sets of the two PDCCH candidates are the same.

Second, the same scrambling sequence. That is, the scrambling code sequences used by the two PDCCH candidates are the same. This scrambling sequence is scrambled over the DCI bit sequence. The initialization sequence of the scrambling code sequence is related to the type of the search space set, the CORESET and other configuration parameters.

Third, the same CORESET. That is to say, the CORESET associated with the SS sets to which the two PDCCH candidates belong is the same. For example, PDCCH candidate 1 belongs to SS set1, PDCCH candidate 2 belongs to SS set2, SS set1 is associated with CORESET1, and SS set2 is associated with CORESET1.SS set1 and SS set2 are associated with the same CORESET, CORESET1. Alternatively, PDCCH candidate 1 and PDCCH candidate 2 may be understood to have the same CORESET.

Fourth, the same DCI size. Exemplarily, taking the two PDCCH candidates as PDCCH candidate 1 and PDCCH candidate 2, respectively, PDCCH candidate 1 belongs to SS set1, and PDCCH candidate 2 belongs to SS set2. The payload size (size) corresponding to the DCI format (format) associated with the SS set1 is the same as the payload size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the SS set2. The DCI format associated with the SS set may be determined by RRC parameters configured by the network device, that is, the network device configures configuration information of one SS set by the RRC parameters. The configuration information of the SS set further includes a DCI format to be monitored.

Then, the two PDCCH candidates may be counted as one blind detection, or the two PDCCH candidates may be counted as 1 PDCCH candidate for monitoring, or one of the two PDCCH candidates may not be counted as a PDCCH candidate for monitoring.

On the contrary, if the two candidate PDCCHs do not satisfy one or more of the four conditions, the two candidate PDCCHs are not counted as a blind test, or the two candidate PDCCHs are not counted as a candidate PDCCH for monitoring, or one of the two candidate PDCCHs is counted as a candidate PDCCH for monitoring.

In the embodiment of the present application, monitoring the candidate PDCCH may be understood as that the terminal device decodes the candidate PDCCH according to configuration information of an SS set to which the candidate PDCCH belongs. The configuration information of the SS set includes DCI format information to be monitored. Exemplarily, the SS set1 includes the candidate PDCCH1, and the configuration information of the SS set1 includes that the DCI format to be monitored is DCI format 1_0. And the terminal equipment decodes the candidate PDCCH1 according to the DCI format to be monitored.

3. Decoding assumption (decoding assumption)

Illustratively, for an associated SS set, one PDCCH candidate in one SS set is used for PDCCH repetition transmission with one PDCCH candidate in another SS set, and the two PDCCH candidates are determined as a pair of PDCCH candidates for PDCCH repetition transmission according to a mapping relationship or a predefined relationship. The decoding assumptions of the terminal device on the two PDCCH candidates include the following four:

decoding assumes 1, the number of blind detections is two, or the number of blind detections is a value X between 1 and 2. Under such an assumption, the terminal device does not decode the two PDCCH candidates independently, but performs a combining decoding on the two PDCCH candidates once, which may also be understood as a soft combining process.

Decoding hypothesis 2, the number of blind checks is two. Under this assumption, the terminal device independently decodes the two PDCCH candidates.

Decoding assumption 3, the number of blind tests is two, or the number of blind tests is other value Y. Under the assumption, the terminal device independently decodes the first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates, and then performs a combining decoding on the two PDCCH candidates.

Decoding hypothesis 4, the number of blind tests is three, or the number of blind tests is other value Z. Under this assumption, the terminal device performs independent decoding on the two PDCCH candidates, and then performs combined decoding on the two PDCCH candidates once, as shown in fig. 5.

4. Reference candidate PDCCH

The reference candidate PDCCH is used to determine a time point related to data scheduling.

For example, for the case of PDCCH independent transmission, the reference PDCCH candidate is a PDCCH candidate for which a PDCCH is monitored.

For another example, for the PDCCH repeat transmission case, since the same PDCCH is transmitted on two PDCCH candidates, the terminal device may monitor the PDCCH on the first PDCCH candidate, may monitor the PDCCH on the second PDCCH candidate, and may monitor the PDCCH on both PDCCH candidates. In this case, the reference PDCCH candidate may be a first PDCCH candidate or a second PDCCH candidate. The current protocol is specified as follows:

as one way, in the time domain, a PDCCH candidate with a later end time is used as a reference PDCCH candidate:

for example, taking the two PDCCH candidates as PDCCH candidate 1 and PDCCH candidate 2 as an example, the monitored DCI on PDCCH candidate 1 and/or PDCCH candidate 2 indicates time slot K0. The time slot K0 indicates the number of time slots between a time slot for transmitting a PDSCH or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) and a reference PDCCH candidate. As shown in fig. 6a, there is an association relationship between SS sets to which PDCCH candidate 1 and PDCCH candidate 2 belong, respectively. PDCCH candidate 1 is earlier than PDCCH candidate 2. The candidate PDCCH2 is a reference candidate PDCCH, the time slot index of the time slot in which the candidate PDCCH2 is positioned is recorded as n, and the time slot index of the time slot in which the PDSCH or CSI-RS is positioned is n + K0. In other words, the terminal device receives the PDSCH or CSI-RS on the n + K0 th slot after the PDCCH candidate 2.

For another example, the parameter N2 is determined based on subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a bandwidth part (BWP) in which the terminal device operates and/or capability information reported by the terminal device. The parameter N2 is used to determine a time point when the terminal device performs PUSCH preparation, that is, within N2 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols after referring to the PDCCH candidate, to execute procedures such as PDCCH processing, uplink data preparation, and radio frequency front end parameter reloading. Wherein, the DCI is used to schedule the PUSCH, as shown in fig. 6 b. If the number of OFDM symbols between the DCI and the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI is less than N2, the terminal equipment determines that the DCI is scheduled in error and can not process (ignore) the DCI. It should be noted that the time for the terminal device to prepare uplink data may be the time for determining the parameter N2, or may be the time for determining the parameter N2 in combination with other parameters. For example, the time for the terminal device to perform uplink data preparation may be N2+ d _2,1 Or d is _2,2 . Wherein the parameter d _2,1 And a parameter d _2,2 Are parameters predefined in section 6.4 of the protocol TS 38.214.

As another example, the parameter Z is determined based on SCS and/or RRC parameters of the BWP in which the terminal device is operating. The parameter Z indicates that the terminal device transmits, after referring to Z symbols of the candidate PDCCH, a PUSCH for reporting Channel State Information (CSI) according to the scheduling information of the DCI, as shown in fig. 6 c. And in the Z symbols after the candidate PDCCH is referred, the terminal equipment receives the CSI-RS and performs correlation calculation based on the CSI-RS to obtain the CSI carried on the PUSCH.

As another way, in the time domain, a PDCCH candidate with an early end time is taken as a reference PDCCH candidate:

for example, taking fig. 6d as an example, DCI1A and DCI1B are two DCIs repeatedly transmitted by PDCCH, and are both used to schedule PDSCH1, then the position of HARQ-ACK corresponding to PDSCH1 in the codebook is determined by DCI1A with the earlier time domain position in two DCIs 1A and DCI1B, that is, the values of count downlink assignment indicator (c-DAI) and total downlink assignment indicator (t-DAI) in DCI1A and DCI1B are determined by the time domain position of DCI 1A. In the first PDCCH monitoring occasion (PDCCH MO), the network device schedules 2 DCIs in total, i.e., DCI1A and DCI2, then t-DAI =2, and DCI1A is a DCI with a smaller carrier unit (CC) index, then c-DAI =1, i.e., PDSCH1 corresponds to (c-DAI, t-DAI) = (1,2). DCI2 schedules PDSCH2, (c-DAI, t-DAI) = (2,2) corresponding to PDSCH 2. DCI4 schedules PDSCH3, (c-DAI, t-DAI) = (3,3) corresponding to PDSCH 3. The HARQ-ACK includes: an Acknowledgement (ACK) or Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), may be denoted as a/N. The positions of the HARQ-ACKs corresponding to the three PDSCHs in the codebook are as follows: the position of the HARQ-ACK corresponding to PDSCH1 in the codebook is (1,2), the position of the HARQ-ACK corresponding to PDSCH2 in the codebook is (2,2), and the position of the HARQ-ACK corresponding to PDSCH3 in the codebook is (3,3).

In the embodiment of the present application, two PDCCH candidates associated with the SS set are respectively denoted as a first PDCCH candidate and a second PDCCH candidate. The first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are used for PDCCH repetition transmission. The third PDCCH candidate is used for PDCCH-independent transmission.

5. Reference point fuzzy scenarios

Taking fig. 7a as an example, the second PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition of one blind detection. That is, the second PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate are counted as one PDCCH candidate for monitoring the PDCCH. The terminal device performs primary decoding on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the second candidate PDCCH or the third candidate PDCCH, and then performs Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) according to a Radio Network Temporary Identity (RNTI) configured according to the DCI formats corresponding to the second candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH. The decoding performed by the terminal device on the second PDCCH candidate (and/or the third PDCCH candidate) may be independent decoding or combined decoding. In case the decoding on the second PDCCH candidate (and/or the third PDCCH candidate) is an independent decoding, the terminal device can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is independently transmitted or repeatedly transmitted. However, in the case where the decoding on the second PDCCH candidate is the combining decoding, the terminal apparatus cannot distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is independently transmitted or repeatedly transmitted. If the actual network device determines that the transmitted PDCCH is repeatedly transmitted and the first candidate PDCCH is used as the reference candidate PDCCH, but the terminal device determines that the monitored PDCCH is independently transmitted, the reference candidate PDCCH determined by the terminal device is the second candidate PDCCH, but the actual reference candidate PDCCH is the first candidate PDCCH. Therefore, the reference K0, N2, Z, the c-DAI and the t-DAI have wrong initial points corresponding to the values respectively, the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment is inconsistent, the fuzzy condition occurs, and the data transmission failure is caused. Since the network device may send the PDCCH for independent transmission on the overlapped time-frequency resource, and may also send the PDCCH for repeated transmission, the above reference point fuzzy scenario may also be understood as a scenario in which the PDCCH repeated transmission and the PDCCH independently transmit dynamic switching.

Similarly, taking fig. 7b as an example, the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition of one blind detection. That is, the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate are counted as one PDCCH candidate for monitoring the PDCCH. And the terminal equipment performs primary decoding on the time-frequency resource corresponding to the first candidate PDCCH or the third candidate PDCCH, and configures corresponding RNTIs for CRC according to the DCI formats corresponding to the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH respectively. The decoding performed by the terminal device on the first PDCCH candidate may be independent decoding or combined decoding. In case the decoding on the first PDCCH candidate (and/or the third PDCCH candidate) is an independent decoding, the terminal device can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is independently transmitted or repeatedly transmitted. However, in the case where the decoding performed on the first PDCCH candidate (and/or the third PDCCH candidate) is combined decoding, the terminal apparatus cannot distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is independently transmitted or repeatedly transmitted. If the actual network device determines that the sent PDCCH is transmitted repeatedly and the second candidate PDCCH is used as the reference candidate PDCCH, but the terminal device determines that the monitored PDCCH is transmitted independently, the reference candidate PDCCH determined by the terminal device is the first candidate PDCCH, but the actual reference candidate PDCCH is the second candidate PDCCH. Therefore, the reference K0, N2, Z, the c-DAI and the t-DAI have wrong initial points corresponding to the values respectively, the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment is inconsistent, the fuzzy condition occurs, and the data transmission failure is also caused.

In addition, the terminal device transmits the capability information to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the capability information from the terminal device. Specifically, when two candidate PDCCHs satisfy a condition of one-time blind detection, the terminal device may monitor a candidate PDCCH used for independent transmission in the two candidate PDCCHs. If the terminal device does not support monitoring the independent transmission of the PDCCH, the network device does not send the DCI format configured by the high-level parameters of the SS set to which the PDCCH which is independently transmitted belongs in the scene. If the terminal device supports monitoring PDCCH independent transmission, the network device may send DCI formats configured by higher-layer parameters of the SS set to which the PDCCH that is independently transmitted belongs in the above scenario.

If the decoding assumption adopted by the terminal device is the decoding assumption 1, the terminal device performs soft combining once after receiving the second PDCCH candidate. Meaning that the terminal device by default hears a PDCCH repeated transmission rather than a PDCCH independent transmission. Whether the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meet the condition of one-time blind test or the second candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meet the condition of one-time blind test, the terminal device cannot monitor the independently transmitted PDCCHs, which causes data transmission failure. Thus, if the terminal device employs decoding assumption 1, it is possible to send capability information to the network device. Wherein the capability information indicates that monitoring of candidate PDCCHs for independent transmission in the two candidate PDCCHs is not supported when the two candidate PDCCHs satisfy a condition of one-time blind detection.

If the decoding assumption adopted by the terminal device is the decoding assumption 2, the terminal device performs independent decoding on both the two candidate PDCCHs, and can distinguish whether PDCCH repeat transmission or PDCCH independent transmission is monitored. Whether the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meet the condition of one-time blind detection or the second candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meet the condition of one-time blind detection, the terminal equipment can monitor the independently transmitted PDCCHs. Thus, if the terminal device employs decoding assumption 2, it is possible to send capability information to the network device. Wherein the capability information indicates that monitoring of candidate PDCCHs for independent transmission in the two candidate PDCCHs is supported when the two candidate PDCCHs satisfy a condition of one-time blind detection.

If the decoding assumption adopted by the terminal device is the above decoding assumption 3, the terminal device performs independent decoding on the first PDCCH candidate and performs soft combining once after receiving the second PDCCH candidate. That means, the terminal device can distinguish whether PDCCH repeat transmission or PDCCH independent transmission is monitored on the first PDCCH candidate, but cannot distinguish whether PDCCH repeat transmission or PDCCH independent transmission is monitored on the second PDCCH candidate. In a scenario where the number of blind detections is two (2 BD), if the network device performs scheduling dynamic switching between PDCCH retransmission and PDCCH independent transmission, the terminal device cannot distinguish whether the PDCCH monitored on the second PDCCH candidate is PDCCH retransmission or PDCCH independent transmission, which results in data transmission failure.

In view of this, the present embodiment provides four communication methods, which are applied to the communication system of fig. 1. In the four communication methods provided in the embodiment of the present application, the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device is decoding assumption 3 described above. I.e., the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device includes independent decoding on the first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates and joint decoding of the two PDCCH candidates. The two candidate PDCCHs belong to different SS sets respectively, and an association relationship exists between the two SS sets. The two PDCCH candidates may be configured in a time-division multiplexing (TDM) configuration, which is described in detail in the first communication method. Alternatively, the two PDCCH candidates may be configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) configuration manner, which is described in detail in the second communication method, the third communication method, and the fourth communication method.

In the first communication method, the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device is introduced as follows: independently decoding the first candidate PDCCH of the two candidate PDCCHs, and jointly decoding the two candidate PDCCHs. Wherein, the two candidate PDCCHs respectively belong to different SS sets, and an association relationship exists between the two SS sets. The network device configures the association relationship through higher layer parameters (e.g., RRC parameters), and the RRC parameters of the two SS sets may include parameters of the association relationship. The two candidate PDCCHs are configured in a TDM configuration mode, and time domain starting units of the two candidate PDCCHs are different. Wherein, the time domain start unit may be a start OFDM symbol. It should be understood that as the communication technology evolves, the time domain starting unit may also be other time domain units, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates may be understood as a PDCCH candidate with an earlier time-domain starting unit of the two PDCCH candidates.

In the first communication method, the processing procedure of the terminal device includes: the terminal device receives the configuration information. Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs, and a third set of SSs. The first set of SSs and the second set of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and an association relationship exists between the first set of SSs and the second set of SSs. The third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first candidate PDCCH belongs to a first SS set, the second candidate PDCCH belongs to a second SS set, and the third candidate PDCCH belongs to a third SS set. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition of one blind detection, which may be specifically referred to in the introduction of S802. And under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is earlier than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. And under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is later than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration. In this way, in a scenario where PDCCH retransmission and PDCCH independent transmission are dynamically switched, the PDCCH for independent transmission is transmitted on the candidate PDCCH configured for independent transmission, that is, the candidate PDCCH configured by the network device for PDCCH independent transmission and the candidate PDCCH with the earlier time domain starting unit of the two candidate PDCCHs for PDCCH retransmission satisfy the condition of one blind test, but the candidate PDCCH for PDCCH independent transmission and the candidate PDCCH with the later time domain starting unit of the two candidate PDCCHs for PDCCH retransmission do not satisfy the condition of one blind test. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment on the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved.

Next, referring to fig. 8, a first communication method 800 proposed in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail.

S801, the terminal device sends information 1 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 1 from the terminal device.

Wherein, the information 1 indicates that monitoring of the PDCCH for independent transmission is supported. It can be understood that the information 1 indicates that when two candidate PDCCHs satisfy the condition of one blind detection, the terminal device supports monitoring the candidate PDCCH for independent transmission in the two candidate PDCCHs. That is to say, the first communication method 800 according to the embodiment of the present application is applicable to a scenario in which PDCCH repetition transmission and PDCCH independent transmission are dynamically switched.

For example, the information 1 may be carried in the capability information to report the capability of the terminal device to the network device, and the description of the capability information may refer to related technologies, which are not described herein again.

S802, the network equipment sends configuration information to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device.

Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs and a third set of SSs. The first set of SSs and the second set of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and an association relationship exists between the first set of SSs and the second set of SSs. The third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first candidate PDCCH belongs to a first SS set, the second candidate PDCCH belongs to a second SS set, and the third candidate PDCCH belongs to a third SS set. For the description of the association relationship between the candidate PDCCH and the SS set, reference may be made to the description of the noun explanation part, which is not described herein again. The first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the condition of one-time blind detection. That is, the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the following four items:

the first item, the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH have the same time-frequency resource. In other words, the aggregation levels of the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate are the same, and the starting CCE locations of the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate are the same, i.e., the CCE set of the first PDCCH candidate and the CCE set of the third PDCCH candidate are the same.

The scrambling code sequences used by the second item, the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same. The description of the scrambling code sequence can refer to the description of the noun explanation part, and is not repeated here.

The third item, the first set of SSs, and the third set of SSs are associated with the same CORESET. Illustratively, the first set of SSs is associated with CORESET1 and the third set of SSs is associated with CORESET1. That is, the first set of SSs and the third set of SSs are associated with the same CORESET, i.e., CORESET1. Alternatively, it may be understood that the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate have the same CORESET.

And the fourth item, the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the first SS set and the load size corresponding to the DCI format associated with the third SS set are the same. For example, there may be one DCI format associated with one SS set, that is, one DCI format associated with a third SS set, for example, DCI format 2_0, and DCI payload sizes in the same DCI format are the same. Alternatively, there may be multiple DCI formats associated with one SS set, such as DCI format 0_0 and DCI format 1_0, and the payload sizes of listening DCI format 0_0 and DCI format 1_0 are the same according to the rules predefined by the protocol.

The first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a TDM configuration mode. The time domain starting unit of the first PDCCH candidate may be earlier than the time domain starting unit of the second PDCCH candidate, as shown in fig. 9 a. In the time domain, the first candidate PDCCH occupies OFDM symbols with indices of 0 to 2, and the second candidate PDCCH occupies OFDM symbols with indices of 5 to 7. In this case, the terminal device executes S803a as indicated by the first solid-line block in fig. 8, or the terminal device executes S803b as indicated by the second solid-line block in fig. 8. The time domain starting unit of the first PDCCH candidate may also be later than the time domain starting unit of the second PDCCH candidate, as shown in fig. 9b or fig. 9 c. In the time domain, the second candidate PDCCH occupies OFDM symbols with indexes of 0 to 2, and the first candidate PDCCH occupies OFDM symbols with indexes of 5 to 7. In this case, the terminal device executes S804 as shown by the third solid-line block in fig. 8. That is, in the case where the time domain starting unit of the first PDCCH candidate is later than the time domain starting unit of the second PDCCH candidate, the terminal apparatus performs S804. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate may satisfy the condition of one blind test, as shown in fig. 9c, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate may also not satisfy the condition of one blind test, as shown in fig. 9 b. Wherein, fig. 9b does not show the third PDCCH candidate.

Among them, the descriptions of S803a, S803b, and S804 are as follows:

s803a, the network device transmits a PDCCH on the first PDCCH candidate. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the first candidate PDCCH.

Illustratively, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a first set of SSs. The configuration information of the first set of SSs includes DCI format information to be listened to, such as DCI format 1_0 and/or a payload size (payload size) of DCI format 1_0. And the terminal equipment decodes the first candidate PDCCH according to the DCI format to be monitored.

It is understood that S803a may also be replaced by one of the following two descriptions:

in a first description, the network device sends PDCCH on the third PDCCH candidate. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the third candidate PDCCH.

Illustratively, the third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third set of SSs. The configuration information of the third set of SSs includes DCI format information to be listened to, such as DCI format 0_0 and/or the payload size of DCI format 0_0. And the terminal equipment decodes the third candidate PDCCH according to the DCI format to be monitored.

In a second description, the network device sends the PDCCH on the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate. Since the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are overlapped on the time-frequency resource, and cannot be distinguished from each other on the time-frequency resource, it can be understood that the time-frequency resource is both the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH.

Illustratively, the first PDCCH candidate belongs to a first set of SSs. The configuration information of the first set of SSs includes DCI format information to be listened to, such as DCI format 1_0 and/or a payload size of DCI format 1_0. The third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third set of SSs. The configuration information of the third SS set includes DCI format information to be listened to, such as DCI format 0_0 and/or a payload size of DCI format 0_0. And the terminal equipment decodes the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH according to the DCI format to be monitored.

That is, the network device performs PDCCH-independent transmission. Correspondingly, the PDCCH monitored by the terminal device is an independently transmitted PDCCH. The terminal equipment can determine the candidate PDCCH which monitors the PDCCH as a reference candidate PDCCH, the meaning of the value of the parameters K0, N2, Z or c-DAI and t-DAI is determined by the reference candidate PDCCH, the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment to the PDCCH transmission is consistent, and the accuracy of data transmission is guaranteed.

S803b, the network equipment transmits the PDCCH on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH.

And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

For example, the soft combining process may be understood as that the terminal device performs channel estimation and demodulation on data carried on the first PDCCH candidate to obtain Log Likelihood Ratio (LLR) information of each bit (bit) on the first PDCCH candidate, performs channel estimation and demodulation on data carried on the second PDCCH candidate to obtain LLR information of each bit on the second PDCCH candidate, and then combines the two LLR information together. The combination may be a summation process, a weighted summation process, or other possible processing manners. Correspondingly, the fourth PDCCH candidate is merged information. Monitoring the fourth candidate PDCCH, which may be understood as that the terminal device decodes the merged information according to the configuration information of the first SS set to which the first candidate PDCCH belongs and/or the configuration information of the second SS set to which the second candidate PDCCH belongs. Compared with the independent transmission of the PDCCH, the terminal equipment decodes the merged information, so that the receiving performance of the PDCCH can be improved, and the transmission reliability is improved.

That is, the network device performs PDCCH repetition transmission. Accordingly, the PDCCH monitored by the terminal device is a repeatedly transmitted PDCCH. The terminal equipment can determine the reference candidate PDCCH according to a reference candidate PDCCH selection rule in PDCCH repeated transmission, and the terminal equipment and the network equipment have consistent understanding on PDCCH transmission and ensure the accuracy of data transmission based on the meanings of the values of the parameters K0, N2, Z, c-DAI and t-DAI determined by the reference candidate PDCCH.

S804, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is the error configuration.

That is, the terminal device does not expect to receive the configuration information transmitted by the network device. The configuration information that is not expected by the terminal device includes that the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy a condition of one-time blind detection, and a time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is later than a time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH. Alternatively, the terminal device does not expect to process the configuration information, and the terminal device determines that the configuration is wrong. In the case of the erroneous configuration, the terminal device does not decode the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate, or the terminal device does not decode the third PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate. For example, in the case of a misconfiguration, the processing behavior of the terminal device may be described as follows:

example 1, the terminal device skips a decoding process of the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate, or the terminal device skips a decoding process of the third PDCCH candidate and/or the second PDCCH candidate.

Example 2, the terminal device does not process the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate, or the terminal device does not process the third PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate.

Example 3, the terminal device discards the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, or the terminal device discards the third candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

It is easily understood that in case of a wrong configuration, the network device may still perform S803a, i.e. perform PDCCH-independent transmission. Alternatively, the network device may also perform S803b, i.e. perform PDCCH repeated transmission. Of course, the network device may not perform S803a and S803b, that is, the network device does not transmit the PDCCH, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the communication method 800 in the embodiment of the present application further includes S805:

and S805, the terminal equipment sends the information 2 to the network equipment. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 2 from the terminal device.

Wherein, the information 2 indicates the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal device. Illustratively, information 2 indicates a decoding hypothesis sequence number. The sequence number of the decoding hypothesis 3 is denoted by "3", and the information 2 indicates that the decoding hypothesis sequence number is 3. The information 2 may be carried in the capability information or may be transmitted independently of the capability information. Of course, the information 1 and the information 2 may be carried in the same message or different messages, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, the terminal device may determine the decoding hypothesis serial number carried by the information 2 from a plurality of decoding hypotheses, for example, the terminal device determines that the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal device from the decoding hypothesis 1, the decoding hypothesis 2, and the decoding hypothesis 3 is the decoding hypothesis 3, so that the terminal device may flexibly select the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal device.

It should be understood that S805 is an optional step. For example, in a case where the communication system predefines which decoding assumption the terminal device adopts, the terminal device may not perform S805 to reduce signaling overhead. The decoding assumption adopted by the terminal device predefined by the communication system is the decoding assumption 3, the network device determines the configuration information according to the predefined decoding assumption, and the terminal device performs decoding according to the predefined decoding assumption. As another example, in the case where the network device configures the decoding assumption employed by the terminal device, the terminal device may not perform S805. The network equipment sends the indication information A to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the indication information a from the network device. The indication information a indicates the decoding hypothesis 3 to indicate which decoding hypothesis the terminal device adopts. Of course, in the case where the terminal device determines which decoding hypothesis is adopted by itself, the terminal device performs S805 to report which decoding hypothesis is supported by itself.

It should be understood that, in the first communication method in the embodiment of the present application, only the time domain starting unit is taken as an example for description, the time domain starting unit may also be replaced by another reference point, such as a time domain ending unit, and the steps performed in the first communication method are also applicable. The time domain end unit may also be an OFDM symbol, or may also be another time domain unit, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the second communication method, the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device is introduced as follows: independently decoding the first PDCCH candidate in the two PDCCH candidates, and jointly decoding the two PDCCH candidates. The two candidate PDCCHs belong to different SS sets respectively, and an association relationship exists between the two SS sets. The configuration of the association relationship may refer to the description of the first communication method, and is not described herein again. The two candidate PDCCHs are configured in an FDM configuration mode, and frequency domain starting units of the two candidate PDCCHs are different. The frequency domain starting unit may be a starting Physical Resource Block (PRB). Alternatively, the frequency domain starting unit includes a starting CCE. It should be understood that as the communication technology evolves, the frequency domain starting unit may also be other frequency domain units, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. Of course, it can also be understood that the PDCCH candidates have different PDCCH candidate numbers (indices), for example, a PDCCH candidate number with a lower frequency is smaller than a PDCCH candidate number with a higher frequency. Taking the frequency domain starting unit as an example, the first candidate PDCCH of the two candidate PDCCHs may be understood as the candidate PDCCH with the smaller frequency domain starting unit index in the two candidate PDCCHs. Alternatively, taking the PDCCH candidate number as an example, the first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates may be understood as the PDCCH candidate with the smaller PDCCH candidate number. As can be seen from the above description, for the decoding assumptions supported by the terminal device, in the second communication method, compared to the first communication method, the "two PDCCH candidates" are configured differently, and the meaning of the "first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates" is different.

In a second communication method, a processing procedure of a terminal device includes: the terminal device receives the configuration information. Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs and a third set of SSs. The first set of SSs and the second set of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and an association relationship exists between the first set of SSs and the second set of SSs. The third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first candidate PDCCH belongs to a first SS set, the second candidate PDCCH belongs to a second SS set, and the third candidate PDCCH belongs to a third SS set. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition of one blind detection, which may be specifically referred to in the introduction of S1002. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is larger than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration. In this way, in a scenario where PDCCH repetition transmission and PDCCH-independent transmission are dynamically switched, the independently transmitted PDCCH is transmitted on PDCCH candidates configured for independent transmission, i.e. the independently transmitted PDCCH candidates belong to the set of SSs configured for PDCCH-independent transmission. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment on the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved.

Next, referring to fig. 10, a second communication method 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application will be described in detail.

S1001, the terminal device sends information 1 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 1 from the terminal device.

The implementation process of S1001 may refer to the introduction of S801, and is not described herein again.

S1002, the network equipment sends configuration information to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device.

Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs, and a third set of SSs. The first set of SSs and the second set of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and an association relationship exists between the first set of SSs and the second set of SSs. The third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first candidate PDCCH belongs to a first SS set, the second candidate PDCCH belongs to a second SS set, and the third candidate PDCCH belongs to a third SS set. For the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meeting the condition of the first blind detection, reference may be specifically made to the description of S802, and details are not described here again.

The first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in an FDM configuration mode.

Exemplarily, taking the frequency domain starting unit index as an example, the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate may be smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate, as shown in fig. 11 a. In the frequency domain, the first candidate PDCCH occupies CCEs with indices of 0 to 5, and the second candidate PDCCH occupies CCEs with indices of 9 to 14. In this case, the terminal device executes S1003a or S1003b. Alternatively, the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate may be larger than that of the second PDCCH candidate, as shown in fig. 11b or fig. 11 c. In the frequency domain, the second candidate PDCCH occupies CCEs with indices of 0 to 5, and the first candidate PDCCH occupies CCEs with indices of 9 to 14. In this case, the terminal apparatus executes S1004. That is, in the case where the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate is greater than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate, the terminal apparatus performs S1004. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate may satisfy the condition of one-time blind detection, as shown in fig. 11c, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate may also not satisfy the condition of one-time blind detection, as shown in fig. 11 b. Wherein fig. 11b does not show the third PDCCH candidate.

For example, taking the PDCCH candidate number as an example, the PDCCH candidate number of the first PDCCH candidate may be smaller than the PDCCH candidate number of the second PDCCH candidate. In this case, the terminal device executes S1003a or S1003b. Alternatively, the PDCCH candidate number of the first PDCCH candidate may be greater than the PDCCH candidate number of the second PDCCH candidate. In this case, the terminal apparatus executes S1004.

S1003a is shown as the first solid-line box in fig. 10, S1003b is shown as the second solid-line box in fig. 10, and S1004 is shown as the third solid-line box in fig. 10. The descriptions of S1003a, S1003b, and S1004 are as follows:

s1003a, the network equipment transmits the PDCCH on the first candidate PDCCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the first candidate PDCCH.

The implementation process of S1003a may refer to the description of S803a, and is not described herein again.

S1003b, the network equipment transmits the PDCCH on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH.

The implementation process of S1003b may refer to the description of S803b, and is not described herein again.

S1004, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is the wrong configuration.

The implementation process of S1004 may refer to the introduction of S804, and is not described herein again.

It is easily understood that in case of a wrong configuration, the network device may still perform S1003a, i.e. perform PDCCH independent transmission. Alternatively, the network device may also perform S1003b, i.e. perform PDCCH repeated transmission. Of course, the network device may not perform S1003a and S1003b, that is, the network device does not transmit the PDCCH, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In some embodiments, the second communication method 1000 according to this embodiment of the present application further includes S1005:

s1005, the terminal device sends information 2 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 2 from the terminal device.

Wherein, the information 2 indicates the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal device. The implementation process of S1005 may refer to the introduction of S805, and is not described herein again.

In the third communication method, the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device is introduced as follows: independently decoding the first PDCCH candidate in the two PDCCH candidates, and jointly decoding the two PDCCH candidates. Wherein, the two candidate PDCCHs respectively belong to different SS sets, and an association relationship exists between the two SS sets. The configuration of the association relationship may refer to the description of the first communication method, and is not described herein again. The two candidate PDCCHs are configured in an FDM configuration mode, and the frequency domain starting units of the two candidate PDCCHs are different. For the introduction of the frequency domain starting unit, reference may be made to the second communication method, which is not described herein again. Of course, it can also be understood that the PDCCH candidates have different PDCCH numbers, for example, the PDCCH candidate with the lower frequency is smaller than the PDCCH candidate with the higher frequency. Taking the frequency domain starting unit as an example, the first candidate PDCCH of the two candidate PDCCHs may be understood as the candidate PDCCH with the larger index in the frequency domain starting unit of the two candidate PDCCHs. Alternatively, taking the PDCCH candidate number as an example, the first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates may be understood as the PDCCH candidate with the larger PDCCH candidate number. As can be seen from the above description, for the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device, in the third communication method, compared to the first communication method, the "two PDCCH candidates" are configured differently, and the meaning of the "first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates" is different. In the third communication method, the "two PDCCH candidates" are arranged in the same manner as in the second communication method, but the meaning of the "first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates" is different.

In the third communication method, the processing procedure of the terminal device includes: the terminal device receives the configuration information. Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs and a third set of SSs. The first and second sets of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and the third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first PDCCH candidate belongs to a first SS set, the second PDCCH candidate belongs to a second SS set, and an association relationship exists between the first SS set and the second SS set. The third PDCCH candidate belongs to a third set of SSs. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition of one blind detection, which may be specifically referred to in S1202. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is larger than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. And under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration. In this way, in a scenario where PDCCH repetition transmission and PDCCH-independent transmission dynamic switch, the PDCCH for independent transmission is transmitted on the PDCCH candidates configured for independent transmission, i.e., the PDCCH candidates for independent transmission belong to the set of SSs configured for PDCCH independent transmission. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment on the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved.

Next, with reference to fig. 12, a third communication method 1200 according to an embodiment of the present application is described in detail.

S1201, the terminal device sends information 1 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 1 from the terminal device.

The implementation process of S1201 may refer to the introduction of S801, and is not described herein again.

S1202, the network equipment sends configuration information to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device.

The implementation process of S1202 may refer to the introduction of S801, and is not described herein again.

For example, the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate may be larger than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate. In this case, the terminal device executes S1203a or S1203b. Alternatively, the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate may be smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate. In this case, the terminal device executes S1204.

For example, taking the PDCCH candidate number as an example, the PDCCH candidate number of the first PDCCH candidate may be greater than the PDCCH candidate number of the second PDCCH candidate. In this case, the terminal device executes S1203a or S1203b. Alternatively, the candidate PDCCH number of the first candidate PDCCH may be smaller than the candidate PDCCH number of the second candidate PDCCH. In this case, the terminal device executes S1204.

S1203a is shown as a first solid-line box in fig. 12, S1203b is shown as a second solid-line box in fig. 12, and S1204 is shown as a third solid-line box in fig. 12. The descriptions of S1203a, S1203b, and S1204 are as follows:

s1203a, the network device sends a PDCCH on the first PDCCH candidate. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH.

The implementation process of S1203a may refer to the description of S803a, and is not described herein again.

S1203b, the network equipment sends the PDCCH on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the fourth PDCCH candidate.

The fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after the soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

The implementation process of S1203b may refer to the description of S803b, and is not described herein again.

S1204, the terminal device determines that the configuration information is the error configuration.

The implementation process of S1204 may refer to the introduction of S804, and is not described herein again.

In the first communication method 800, the second communication method 1000, and the third communication method 1200 of the embodiment of the present application, the number of blind detections of the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is two. Illustratively, the terminal device may report the information 3 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 3 from the terminal device. Wherein the information 3 indicates the number of blind tests. The number of blind tests indicated by the information 3 may be 2, 3, 2, and 3. When the terminal device reports the information 3 indicating that the number of blind tests is 3, or when the terminal device reports the information 3 indicating that the number of blind tests is 2 or 3, the network device may configure the number of blind tests of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH to be 2. It should be understood that the information 2 and the information 3 may be carried in the same message or different messages, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application. Of course, the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate may also be predefined, that is, the communication system predefines the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate as two. Under the condition, the terminal equipment does not need to report the blind test times so as to save signaling overhead. Or, the network device configures the blind detection times of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, that is, the network device determines that the blind detection times of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are twice. In this case, the terminal device does not need to report the blind test times. And the network equipment sends the indication information B to the terminal equipment. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the indication information B from the network device. The indication information B indicates the blind detection times of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH so as to inform the terminal equipment of the blind detection times.

In a fourth communication method, the decoding assumptions supported by the terminal device are introduced as follows: independently decoding the first candidate PDCCH of the two candidate PDCCHs, and jointly decoding the two candidate PDCCHs. The two candidate PDCCHs belong to different SS sets respectively, and an association relationship exists between the two SS sets. The configuration of the association relationship may refer to the description of the first communication method, and is not described herein again. The two candidate PDCCHs are configured in an FDM configuration mode, and frequency domain starting units of the two candidate PDCCHs are different. For the introduction of the frequency domain starting unit, reference may be made to the second communication method, which is not described herein again. Of course, it can also be understood that the PDCCH candidates have different PDCCH numbers, for example, the PDCCH candidate with the lower frequency is smaller than the PDCCH candidate with the higher frequency. Taking the frequency domain starting unit index as an example, the first candidate PDCCH of the two candidate PDCCHs may be understood as a candidate PDCCH with a smaller frequency domain starting unit index in the two candidate PDCCHs or a candidate PDCCH with a larger frequency domain starting unit index in the two candidate PDCCHs. Taking the candidate PDCCH number as an example, the first candidate PDCCH of the two candidate PDCCHs may be understood as the candidate PDCCH with the smaller candidate PDCCH number of the two candidate PDCCHs or the candidate PDCCH with the larger candidate PDCCH number of the two candidate PDCCHs. As can be seen from the above description, for the decoding assumptions supported by the terminal device, in the fourth communication method, compared to the first communication method, the "two PDCCH candidates" are configured differently, and the meaning of the "first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates" is different. In the fourth communication method, the "two PDCCH candidates" are arranged in the same manner, but the meaning of the "first PDCCH candidate of the two PDCCH candidates" is different, as compared with the second communication method and the third communication method. It is to be noted that, in the decoding assumption of the fourth communication method, the first PDCCH candidate is one of the two PDCCH candidates of the terminal device, but it is not specified which of the two PDCCH candidates the first PDCCH candidate is, whereas in the second communication method and the third communication method, it is specified in the decoding assumption that the first PDCCH candidate is which of the two PDCCH candidates.

In a fourth communication method, the processing procedure of the terminal device includes: the terminal device receives the configuration information. Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs and a third set of SSs. The first set of SSs and the second set of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and an association relationship exists between the first set of SSs and the second set of SSs. The third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first candidate PDCCH belongs to a first SS set, the second candidate PDCCH belongs to a second SS set, and the third candidate PDCCH belongs to a third SS set. The first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the condition of one blind detection, which may be specifically referred to in the introduction of S1302. And the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors the fourth candidate PDCCH. And the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combining processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. In this way, in a scenario where PDCCH repetition transmission and PDCCH-independent transmission are dynamically switched, the independently transmitted PDCCH is transmitted on PDCCH candidates configured for independent transmission, i.e. the independently transmitted PDCCH candidates belong to the set of SSs configured for PDCCH-independent transmission. The terminal equipment can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is PDCCH repeated transmission or PDCCH independent transmission through independent decoding, so that the understanding of the terminal equipment and the network equipment on the PDCCH transmission is consistent, the reference candidate PDCCH is accurately determined, the data transmission failure is avoided, and the data scheduling flexibility is improved.

Next, referring to fig. 13, a fourth communication method 1300 proposed in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail.

And S1301, the terminal equipment sends information 1 to the network equipment. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 1 from the terminal device.

The implementation process of S1301 may refer to the introduction of S801, and is not described herein again.

S1302, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device.

Wherein the configuration information indicates a first set of SSs, a second set of SSs and a third set of SSs. The first set of SSs and the second set of SSs are used for repeated transmission of PDCCH, and an association relationship exists between the first set of SSs and the second set of SSs. The third set of SSs is used for independent transmission of PDCCH. The first candidate PDCCH belongs to a first SS set, the second candidate PDCCH belongs to a second SS set, and the third candidate PDCCH belongs to a third SS set.

For example, the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate may be smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate. Alternatively, the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate may be larger than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate. In the fourth communication method 1300 according to the embodiment of the present application, only the frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate.

For example, taking the PDCCH candidate number as an example, the PDCCH candidate number of the first PDCCH candidate may be smaller than the PDCCH candidate number of the second PDCCH candidate. Alternatively, the candidate PDCCH number of the first candidate PDCCH may be greater than the candidate PDCCH number of the second candidate PDCCH. In the fourth communication method 1300 according to the embodiment of the present application, only the candidate PDCCH number of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the candidate PDCCH number of the second candidate PDCCH is taken as an example for description.

It should be understood that, in the decoding assumption, the first PDCCH candidate may refer to the first PDCCH candidate or the second PDCCH candidate. In the fourth communication method 1300 according to the embodiment of the present invention, only the first PDCCH candidate is taken as the first PDCCH candidate for example. That is, the first PDCCH candidate with the smaller frequency-domain starting unit index is the first PDCCH candidate, that is, the PDCCH candidate that the terminal device supports independent decoding is the first PDCCH candidate with the smaller frequency-domain starting unit index. Or, the first PDCCH candidate with the smaller PDCCH candidate number is the first PDCCH candidate, that is, the PDCCH candidate which the terminal device supports independent decoding is the first PDCCH candidate with the smaller PDCCH candidate number. For understanding the first PDCCH candidate, reference may be made to the introduction of the decoding assumption in the fourth communication method 1300, and details are not repeated here.

For the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meeting the condition of the first blind detection, reference may be specifically made to the description of S802, and details are not described here again. The first PDCCH candidate is determined based on the first PDCCH candidate, i.e. the first PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate.

As a possible implementation manner, the protocol pre-defines that the first PDCCH candidate has a smaller index of the starting unit in the frequency domain in the two candidate PDCCHs, or that the first PDCCH candidate has a smaller number of the candidate PDCCHs in the two candidate PDCCHs. In this way, among the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate, the first PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate. That is, the terminal device and the network device determine the first PDCCH candidate as the first PDCCH candidate according to the protocol predefined, that is, the first PDCCH candidate is a PDCCH candidate that the terminal device supports independent decoding. In this case, the terminal device does not need to report which candidate PDCCH it supports to the network device, and the network device can determine the configuration information by combining the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device and the definition of the first candidate PDCCH, so as to save signaling overhead.

As another possible implementation manner, the fourth communication method 1300 in the embodiment of the present application further includes step 1:

step 1, the terminal equipment sends information 3 to the network equipment. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 3 from the terminal device.

Wherein, the information 3 indicates that the first candidate PDCCH is the first candidate PDCCH. The first information is used to determine configuration information.

Illustratively, the information 3 indicates that the first PDCCH candidate is the PDCCH candidate with the smaller index of the starting element in the frequency domain in the two PDCCH candidates, or the information 3 indicates that the first PDCCH candidate is the PDCCH candidate with the smaller number in the two PDCCH candidates, so that the network device can determine the configuration information by combining the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device and the indication content of the information 3. As a possible implementation, the information 3 may carry an identification. For example, the information 3 is indicated by a bit, and if the value of the bit is "0", it indicates that the first PDCCH candidate is the PDCCH candidate with the smaller index of the frequency domain starting unit in the two PDCCH candidates, or the first PDCCH candidate is the PDCCH candidate with the smaller number in the two PDCCH candidates. For another example, the information 3 is indicated by one bit, and if the value of the bit is "1", it indicates that the first PDCCH candidate is the PDCCH with the smaller frequency domain starting unit index in the two PDCCH candidates, or the first PDCCH candidate is the PDCCH with the smaller number in the two PDCCH candidates, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific form of the information 3.

That is to say, the terminal device reports which candidate PDCCH that supports independent decoding is, so that the terminal device can flexibly configure the independently decoded candidate PDCCH.

As another possible implementation manner, the network device configures which candidate PDCCH is the first PDCCH candidate of the two candidate PDCCHs. For example, the network device determines that the first PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate with the smaller index of the frequency domain starting unit in the two PDCCH candidates, or the network device determines that the first PDCCH candidate is the second PDCCH candidate with the smaller number, so that the network device may determine the configuration information by combining the decoding assumption supported by the terminal device and the definition of the first PDCCH candidate. Further, the network device sends the indication information C to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the indication information C from the network device. Wherein the indication information C indicates which of the two candidate PDCCHs the first candidate PDCCH is. Illustratively, the indication information C indicates that the first PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate with the smaller index of the frequency domain starting unit in the two PDCCH candidates, and the indication information C indicates that the first PDCCH candidate is the second PDCCH candidate with the smaller number, so as to inform the terminal device which PDCCH candidate is the first PDCCH candidate in the two PDCCH candidates, so as to facilitate the terminal device to decode.

For the network device, after performing S1302, the network device performs S1303a or S1303b. Wherein, S1303a and S1303b are explained as follows:

s1303a, the network device sends the PDCCH on the first PDCCH candidate. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the first candidate PDCCH.

The implementation process of S1303a may refer to the introduction of S803a, which is not described herein again.

S1303b, the network device sends the PDCCH on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH. Correspondingly, the terminal device monitors the fourth PDCCH candidate.

The implementation process of S1303b may refer to the introduction of S803b, and is not described herein again.

In some embodiments, the fourth communication method 1300 in the embodiment of the present application further includes S1304:

and S1304, the terminal equipment sends information 2 to the network equipment. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 2 from the terminal device.

Wherein, the information 2 indicates the decoding hypothesis supported by the terminal device. The implementation process of S1304 may refer to the description of S805, and is not described herein again.

It should be understood that, in the case that the first PDCCH candidate is the second PDCCH candidate described above, the first PDCCH candidates in S1303a and S1303b are replaced by the second PDCCH candidates, and other processing procedures are the same and are not described herein again.

In the fourth communication method 1300 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is two. Illustratively, the terminal device may report the information 4 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 4 from the terminal device. Wherein the information 4 indicates the number of blind tests. The number of blind tests indicated by the information 4 may be 2, 3, 2, and 3. When the terminal device reports the information 3 indicating that the number of blind tests is 3, or when the terminal device reports the information 3 indicating that the number of blind tests is 2 or 3, the network device may configure the number of blind tests of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH to be 2. It should be understood that the information 2 and the information 4 may be carried in the same message or different messages, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application. Of course, the blind detection times of the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate may also be predefined, that is, the communication system predefines the blind detection times of the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate as two times. Under the condition, the terminal equipment does not need to report the blind test times so as to save the signaling overhead. Alternatively, in the fourth communication method 1300 of the embodiment of the present application, the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is three. In this case, the terminal device has one third PDCCH candidate monitored by default. Or, the network device configures the blind detection times of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, that is, the network device determines that the blind detection times of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are twice. In this case, the terminal device does not need to report the number of blind tests, and reference may be made to the content related to the indication information B in the third communication method, which is not described herein again.

It should be understood that, in the second communication method, the third communication method, and the fourth communication method in the embodiments of the present application, only the frequency domain starting unit is described as an example, the frequency domain starting unit may be replaced by another reference point, such as a frequency domain ending unit, and the implementation steps of the second communication method, the third communication method, and the fourth communication method are also applicable. The frequency domain ending unit may also be PRB, CCE, or other frequency domain units, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It should be understood that in the four communication methods (the first communication method 800, the second communication method 1000, the third communication method 1200, and the fourth communication method 1300 described above) in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also report the information 5 to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives the information 5 from the terminal device. Wherein, the information 5 indicates the number of the candidate PDCCHs for independent transmission supported by the terminal equipment, and the candidate PDCCHs for independent transmission and one of the two candidate PDCCHs for PDCCH repeated transmission satisfy four conditions counted as one blind detection. Illustratively, the number indicated by the information 5 may be 1 or 2. For example, the terminal device reports information 5 to the network device. The number indicated by the information 5 is 2, which indicates that the network device may configure 2 PDCCH candidates for independent transmission to satisfy four conditions counted as a blind test with two PDCCH candidates for PDCCH repeated transmission. The network equipment configures a first candidate PDCCH, a second candidate PDCCH, a third candidate PDCCH, and a fifth candidate PDCCH. The SS sets to which the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH belong have an association relationship, and the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are used for PDCCH repeated transmission. The third PDCCH candidate is used for PDCCH independent transmission, the fifth PDCCH candidate is used for PDCCH independent transmission, and the third PDCCH candidate and the fifth PDCCH candidate may belong to the same SS set or may belong to different SS sets, respectively. When the number indicated by the information 5 is 2, the network device may configure, according to the information 5, that the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy four conditions counted as one blind test, and/or that the second candidate PDCCH and the fifth candidate PDCCH satisfy four conditions counted as one blind test. For the four conditions of the one-time blind detection, reference may be made to the introduction of the noun explanation section, which is not described herein again. The terminal device reports information 5 indicating that whether the monitored PDCCH is transmitted independently or repeatedly in the configuration scenario may be decoded according to configuration information of an SS set to which the third candidate PDCCH belongs, or may be decoded according to configuration information of an SS set to which the fifth candidate PDCCH belongs, where the configuration information includes a DCI format to be monitored and/or a load size of the DCI format. When the number of PDCCH candidates for independent transmission supported by the terminal device is 2, the network device determines that the decoding assumption adopted by the terminal device is the decoding assumption 2, that is, the terminal device can distinguish whether the monitored PDCCH is independent transmission or repeated transmission. In case that the number of PDCCH candidates for independent transmission supported by the terminal device is 1, the network device determines the configuration information in combination with a predefined decoding assumption. For example, when the number indicated by the information 5 is 1, the network device may configure, according to the information 5, that the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy four conditions counted as a primary blind test, or configure that the second PDCCH candidate and the fifth PDCCH candidate satisfy four conditions counted as a primary blind test, and cannot configure the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate to satisfy four conditions counted as a primary blind test at the same time, and configure that the second PDCCH candidate and the fifth PDCCH candidate satisfy four conditions counted as a primary blind test. If the network device configures that the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy four conditions counted as one blind test and the second candidate PDCCH and the fifth candidate PDCCH satisfy four conditions counted as one blind test under the condition that the number indicated by the report information 5 of the terminal device is 1, the terminal device determines that the configuration information is unexpected configuration or wrong configuration. When the network device configures the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH to satisfy the four conditions counted as the first blind test, or configures the second candidate PDCCH and the fifth candidate PDCCH to satisfy the four conditions counted as the first blind test, the terminal device may determine, according to the configuration information, whether the first candidate PDCCH or the second candidate PDCCH satisfies the four conditions counted as the first blind test, and perform corresponding decoding processing.

Of course, the number of PDCCH candidates for independent transmission supported by the terminal device may also be predefined. Illustratively, the predefined number of communication systems may be 1 or 2. In this case, the terminal device does not need to send the information 5, so as to save signaling overhead. For an introduction of the PDCCH candidates for independent transmission, reference may be made to the description of information 5, which is not described herein again. Or the network equipment configures the number of candidate PDCCHs for independent transmission supported by the terminal equipment. Illustratively, the number determined by the network device may be 1 or 2. In this case, the terminal device does not need to transmit the information 5. Further, the network device sends the indication information D to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the indication information D from the network equipment. Wherein the indication information D indicates the number of PDCCH candidates for independent transmission supported by the terminal equipment. Illustratively, in the case that the number of PDCCH candidates for independent transmission supported by the terminal device, which is determined by the network device, is 1, the number indicated by the indication information D is 1. When the number of the candidate PDCCHs for independent transmission supported by the terminal device is 2, which is determined by the network device, the number of the indications indicated by the indication information D is 2, so that the terminal device can decode the information conveniently.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, where the communication device may be a network element in the foregoing method embodiment, or a device including the foregoing network element, or a component that can be used for the network element. It is understood that the communication device comprises hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions in order to realize the functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. 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.

As an example, fig. 14 shows a schematic structure of a communication device 1400. The communication apparatus 1400 includes a processing unit 1401, a transmitting unit 1402, and a receiving unit 1403.

In a possible example, taking the communication apparatus 1400 as a terminal device as an example, the processing unit 1401 is configured to support the terminal device to perform S804 in fig. 8, S1004 in fig. 10, S1204 in fig. 12, and/or other processing operations that the terminal device needs to perform in this embodiment of the present application. The receiving unit 1403 is used for supporting the terminal device to perform S802, S803a, and S803b in fig. 8, S1002, S1003a, and S1003b in fig. 10, S1202, S1203a, and S1203b in fig. 12, S1302, S1303a, and S1303b in fig. 13, and/or other receiving operations that the terminal device needs to perform in this embodiment of the present application. The sending unit 1402 is configured to support the terminal device to perform S801 and S805 in fig. 8, S1001 and S1005 in fig. 10, S1201 in fig. 12, S1301 and S1304 in fig. 13, and/or other sending operations that the terminal device needs to perform in this embodiment of the present application.

In another possible example, taking the communication apparatus 1400 as a network device as an example, the sending unit 1402 is configured to support the network device to perform S802, S803a, and S803b in fig. 8, S1002, S1003a, and S1003b in fig. 10, S1202, S1203a, and S1203b in fig. 12, S1302, S1303a, and S1303b in fig. 13, and/or other receiving operations that the network device needs to perform in this embodiment. The receiving unit 1403 is configured to support the network device to perform S801 and S805 in fig. 8, S1001 and S1005 in fig. 10, S1201 in fig. 12, S1301 and S1304 in fig. 13, and/or other sending operations that the network device needs to perform in this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage unit 1404 for storing program codes and data of the communication device, which may include, but is not limited to, raw data or intermediate data, etc.

The processing unit 1401 may be a processor or a controller, such as a CPU, a general-purpose processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like.

The sending unit 1402 may be a communication interface, a sender, a sending circuit, or the like, wherein the communication interface is referred to as a generic term, and in a specific implementation, the communication interface may include a plurality of interfaces, for example, an interface between a terminal device and a network device, and/or other interfaces.

The receiving unit 1403 may be a communication interface, a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., where the communication interface is a generic term, and in a specific implementation, the communication interface may include a plurality of interfaces, for example, an interface between a terminal device and a network device, and/or other interfaces.

The sending unit 1402 and the receiving unit 1403 may be physically or logically implemented as one and the same unit.

The storage unit 1404 may be a memory.

When the processing unit 1401 is a processor, the transmitting unit 1402 and the receiving unit 1403 are communication interfaces, and the storage unit 1404 is a memory, the communication apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application may be as shown in fig. 15.

Referring to fig. 15, the communication apparatus includes: a processor 1501, a communication interface 1502, a memory 1503. Optionally, the communication device may also include a bus 1504. The communication interface 1502, the processor 1501 and the memory 1503 may be connected to each other by a bus 1504; the bus 1504 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus 1504 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 15, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product carrying computer instructions, where the computer instructions, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method described in the foregoing embodiment.

Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method described in the foregoing embodiment.

Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, including: processing circuitry and transceiver circuitry for implementing the methods described in the above embodiments. Wherein the processing circuit is configured to perform processing actions in a corresponding method, and the transceiver circuit is configured to perform receiving/transmitting actions in a corresponding method.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application are all or partially generated when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device including one or more available media integrated servers, data centers, and the like. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Drive (SSD)), among others.

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 manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules is only one logical functional division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of modules 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 of devices or modules through some interfaces, and may be in an electrical 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 devices. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

Through the description of the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the present application can be implemented by software plus necessary general hardware, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases, the former is a better embodiment. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be substantially embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, or an optical disk of a computer, and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present application.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and all changes and substitutions within the technical scope of the present application should 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 of communication, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives configuration information, wherein the configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, scrambling sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, a control resource set CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, a load size corresponding to a downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as a load size corresponding to a DCI format associated with the third SS set, and a decoding assumption supported by the terminal device includes independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode;

under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is earlier than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors a fourth candidate PDCCH, wherein the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after the soft combination processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH;

and under the condition that the time domain starting unit of the first candidate PDCCH is later than the time domain starting unit of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time-domain starting unit comprises a starting Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the terminal device sends first information, wherein the first information indicates the decoding hypothesis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first information is carried in capability information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is two.

6. A method of communication, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives configuration information, wherein the configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first PDCCH candidate belongs to the first SS set, a second PDCCH candidate belongs to the second SS set, and a third PDCCH candidate belongs to the third SS set, and the first PDCCH candidate and the third PDCCH candidate satisfy the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, scrambling sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, a control resource set CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, a load size corresponding to a downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as a load size corresponding to a DCI format associated with the third SS set, and a decoding assumption supported by the terminal device includes independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode;

under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment monitors the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the terminal equipment monitors a fourth candidate PDCCH, wherein the fourth candidate PDCCH is a candidate PDCCH after soft combination processing of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH;

and under the condition that the frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is larger than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH, the terminal equipment determines that the configuration information is in error configuration.

7. The method of claim 6,

the frequency domain starting unit comprises a starting Physical Resource Block (PRB); or,

the frequency domain starting element comprises a starting control channel element, CCE.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first information is carried with capability information.

10. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is two.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends configuration information to terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meet the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, scrambling sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, a control resource set CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, a load size corresponding to a downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as a load size corresponding to a DCI format associated with the third SS set, and a decoding assumption supported by the terminal device includes independent decoding on the first candidate PDCCH and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) mode, or the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode;

and the network equipment sends the PDCCH to the terminal equipment on the first candidate PDCCH and/or the third candidate PDCCH, or the network equipment sends the PDCCH to the terminal equipment on the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the time domain starting unit comprises a starting Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

13. The method of claim 11,

14. The method of any one of claims 11 to 13, further comprising:

the network device receives first information from the terminal device, the first information indicating the decoding hypothesis.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first information is carried with capability information.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the number of blind detections for the first PDCCH candidate and the second PDCCH candidate is two.

17. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends configuration information to terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information indicates a first Search Space (SS) set, a second SS set and a third SS set, the first SS set and the second SS set are used for repeated transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the third SS set is used for independent transmission of the PDCCH, a first candidate PDCCH belongs to the first SS set, a second candidate PDCCH belongs to the second SS set, a third candidate PDCCH belongs to the third SS set, and the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH meet the following four items: the time-frequency resources of the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, scrambling sequences used by the first candidate PDCCH and the third candidate PDCCH are the same, a control resource set CORESET associated with the first SS set and the third SS set are the same, a load size corresponding to a downlink control information DCI format associated with the first SS set is the same as a load size corresponding to a DCI format associated with the third SS set, and a decoding assumption supported by the terminal device includes independent decoding on a first candidate PDCCH of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH, and combined decoding of the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH; the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH are configured in a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) mode; the first candidate PDCCH is determined based on the first candidate PDCCH;

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first PDCCH candidate is predefined for the first PDCCH candidate.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the coding hypothesis is predefined.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

the network device receives first information from the terminal device, wherein the first information indicates that the first candidate PDCCH is the first candidate PDCCH, and the first information is used for determining the configuration information.

22. The method of claim 19 or 21, wherein the first information is carried in capability information.

23. The method of any one of claims 17 to 22,

the number of blind detections for the first candidate PDCCH and the second candidate PDCCH is two.

24. The method according to any of claims 17-23, wherein a frequency domain starting unit index of the first PDCCH candidate is larger than a frequency domain starting unit index of the second PDCCH candidate; or alternatively

The frequency domain starting unit index of the first candidate PDCCH is smaller than the frequency domain starting unit index of the second candidate PDCCH.

25. The method of claim 24,

26. A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 5, or claims 6 to 10, or claims 11 to 16, or claims 17 to 25.

27. A chip comprising processing circuitry and an input-output interface for communicating with a module external to the chip, the processing circuitry being configured to execute a computer program or instructions to cause a communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 5, or 6 to 10, or 11 to 16, or 17 to 25.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a program which, when invoked by a processor, carries out the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or claims 6 to 10, or claims 11 to 16, or claims 17 to 25.

29. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 5, or claims 6 to 10, or claims 11 to 16, or claims 17 to 25.