CN114557003A - State control of secondary cells - Google Patents

Abstract

A state control method of a secondary cell (SCell) is disclosed. The first apparatus receives control information from the second apparatus via the scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information including a cell indication (410). The first apparatus determines whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell (420). In accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, the first device performs a state handover of the at least one SCell between the regular state and the dormant state based on the control information (430). According to this solution, reuse of control information for scheduling cells such as PCell may enable efficient sleep control of SCell(s).

Description

State control of secondary cells

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to an apparatus, method, and computer-readable medium for state control of secondary cell(s).

Background

In the field of communications, there is a continuing evolution towards providing efficient and reliable solutions for exploiting wireless communication networks. Each new generation faces the technical challenges of dealing with the different scenarios and procedures required to connect to and serve devices connected to the wireless network. In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data services since the deployment of 4 th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5 th generation (5G) or first 5G communication systems. The new communication system may support various types of service applications for user equipment.

In some systems, a relatively wide frequency bandwidth may be used to establish the network connection. The network device may configure one or more serving cells to serve the user device, where each serving cell corresponds to at least a portion of the frequency bandwidth. The serving cells may include a primary cell (PCell) operating on a primary frequency portion and one or more secondary cells (scells) operating on one or more secondary frequency portions.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for state control of SCell(s).

In a first aspect, a first apparatus is provided. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receiving control information from the second apparatus via the scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information including a cell indication; determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell; and in accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of the at least one secondary cell between the normal state and the dormant state based on the control information.

In a second aspect, a second apparatus is provided. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: determining whether at least one secondary cell is to be switched between a normal state and a dormant state; in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring the control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of the cell indication not matching at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell in the normal state; and transmitting the control information to the first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: receiving, at a first apparatus, control information from a second apparatus via a scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information comprising a cell indication; determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell; and in accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of the at least one secondary cell between a normal state and a dormant state based on the control information.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: determining, at the second apparatus, whether the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state; in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring the control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of the cell indication not matching at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell in the normal state; and transmitting the control information to the first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

In a fifth aspect, a first apparatus is provided. The first apparatus comprises means for: receiving control information from the second apparatus via the scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information comprising a cell indication; determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell; and in accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of the at least one secondary cell between the normal state and the dormant state based on the control information.

In a sixth aspect, a second apparatus is provided. The second apparatus comprises means for: determining whether at least one secondary cell is to be switched between a normal state and a dormant state; in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring the control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of the cell indication not matching at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell in the normal state; and transmitting the control information to the first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

In a seventh aspect, a non-transitory computer readable medium is provided. The non-transitory computer readable medium comprises program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of the third and fourth aspects described above.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program is provided. The computer program comprises instructions for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method according to any of the third and fourth aspects described above.

In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium stores a program of instructions, execution of which by a processor configures an apparatus to perform at least a method according to any of the third and fourth aspects described above.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 illustrates a signaling flow of a process for state control of a secondary cell, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

3A-3D illustrate examples of control information for state control according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method implemented at a first device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of a method implemented at a second device, in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements.

Detailed Description

The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to a few exemplary embodiments. It is understood that these examples are described merely to illustrate and assist those of ordinary skill in the art in understanding and practicing the disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in a variety of other ways besides those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element may be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "having," "has," "having," "includes" and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) a purely hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) combinations of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(ii) hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processors), software and any portion of memory(s) that work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions, and

(c) hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but software may not be present when operation is not required.

The definition of circuitry is suitable for all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses implementations of hardware circuitry or processor(s) alone, or portions thereof, and their (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim element, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and so forth. Further, communication between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols currently known or developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there will of course also be future types of communication techniques and systems that may embody the present disclosure. And should not be taken as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. A network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), e.g., a NodeB (NodeB or NB), evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), NR NB (also known as gNB), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Radio Header (RH), Remote Radio Head (RRH), relay, low power node (such as femto, pico), etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, User Equipment (UE), Subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, Mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The end devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable end devices, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture end devices such as digital cameras, gaming end devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless end devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop installed devices (LMEs), USB dongle, smart devices, wireless client devices (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in industrial and/or automated processing chain environments), Consumer electronics devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

Fig. 1 illustrates anexample communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Thenetwork 100 includes afirst device 110 and asecond device 120 that can communicate with each other. In this example, thefirst device 110 is shown as a terminal device (user device) and thesecond device 120 is shown as a network device serving the terminal device.

It should be understood that the number of network devices, terminal devices and serving cells is for illustration purposes only and does not represent any limitation.Network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices, terminal devices, and serving cells suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Thefirst device 110 may sometimes be referred to hereinafter as afirst apparatus 110, and thesecond device 120 may sometimes be referred to hereinafter as asecond apparatus 120.

In thenetwork 100, thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 may communicate data and control information with each other. In the case where thefirst device 110 is a terminal device and thesecond device 120 is a network device, a link from thesecond device 120 to thefirst device 110 is referred to as a Downlink (DL), and a link from thefirst device 110 to thesecond device 120 is referred to as an Uplink (UL). In the DL, thesecond device 120 is a Transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter) and thefirst device 110 is a Receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the UL, thefirst device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and thesecond device 120 is an RX device (or receiver).

Depending on the communication technology,network 100 may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, or any other network. The communications discussed innetwork 100 may conform to any suitable standard including, but not limited to, new radio access (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE evolution, LTE-advanced (LTE-a), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), CDMA2000, and global system for mobile communications (GSM), among others. Further, the communication may be performed in accordance with any generation of communication protocols now known or later developed. Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, and fifth generation (5G) communication protocols. The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies described above, as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE, and LTE terminology is used in much of the description below.

With the development of communication technologies, new generation technologies such as fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) support new communication scenarios including Carrier Aggregation (CA), Dual Connectivity (DC), independent (SA) NR grant-less (NR-U), and independent NR.

Network device 120 may configure one or more servingcells 101, 102-1, 102-2, each corresponding to at least one Component Carrier (CC), to servefirst device 110. Each CC may have one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs). In some cases of supporting CA in thenetwork 100, two or more CCs are aggregated to support a wider frequency bandwidth. With CA technology, thefirst device 110 may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or more CCs depending on its capabilities. In this case, thesecond device 120 may provide thefirst device 110 with multiple serving cells, including a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (scells). In the example of fig. 1, serving cell101 is provided as PCell101, while serving cells 102-1, 102-2 are provided as scells 102-1, 102-2 (collectively or individually referred to as scells). PCell101 operates on a primary CC and scells operate on a secondary CC. From the perspective of thesecond device 120, the Pcell of onefirst device 110 may be the Scell of anotherfirst device 110, and vice versa.

Thefirst device 110 may perform an initial connection establishment procedure or initiate a connection re-establishment procedure with thesecond device 120 via thePCell 101. Once a connection is established between thesecond device 120 and thefirst device 110 via the SCell102, the SCell102 may provide additional radio resources for communication.

Generally, the PCell configured to the first device may not be deactivated to guarantee communication. However, the first device and/or the second device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of the SCell to improve/optimize the battery or power consumption of the first device. When the first device is configured with one or more scells, the first device may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more scells, e.g., through a medium access control element (MAC-CE) command. When the SCell is deactivated to be in an OFF state (or deactivated or inactive state), the first device may stop receiving signals and stop transmission on the SCell. An activation procedure using an activation command may be required to activate the SCell to be in an ON state (or activation state). The activation process may involve radio frequency adjustment, DL synchronization, etc., which may require a relatively long period of time (in some cases hundreds of milliseconds). Such delays may significantly impact communication performance when there is a large amount of data to be transferred between the first device and the second device.

Currently, it has been proposed to introduce a sleep state for an activated SCell. After being activated, the Scell may be set to a dormant state or a normal state. A first device, such as a UE, may not need to continuously monitor control information (e.g., information on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)) of an SCell in a dormant state and may not expect to receive a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) of the SCell in the dormant state. However, the UE should keep synchronization and automatic gain control running and may perform Channel State Information (CSI) measurements on the dormant SCell. Thus, the sleep state provides less power savings than the inactive state. On the other hand, the delay for the first device to switch the SCell from the dormant state to the regular state is much lower than the delay for switching from deactivating the SCell to the regular state. As described above, the PDCCH of the Scell in the dormant state is not monitored (or sparsely monitored). There is currently a lack of solution as to how to quickly activate the Scell from the dormant state to the regular state.

One possible solution is to introduce an explicit new Downlink Control Information (DCI) format for the network device to control the dormancy of the SCell at the UE. However, this may increase the number of blind decodes required for the UE to decode the DCI. Furthermore, a new DCI format needs to be defined, which requires a lot of standardization and implementation effort.

According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for state control of an SCell is provided. In this solution, control information transmitted via a scheduling cell in a normal state is reused for controlling state switching of at least one SCell between a dormant state and a normal state at a first device (such as a UE). The cell indication in the control information is configured by the second device (such as a network device) to be different from the indication of the scheduling cell. Upon receiving the control information via the scheduling cell, the first device determines whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell. If a mismatch is detected, the first device performs state switching of the at least one SCell based on the control information. According to this solution, reuse of control information for scheduling cells such as PCell may enable efficient sleep control of SCell(s). The control information may thus be transmitted in a conventional format that does not increase the blind decoding complexity of the first device, and communication standardization and implementation effort is minimal.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring now to fig. 2, fig. 2 illustrates a signaling flow of aprocess 200 for state control of an SCell, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, theprocess 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1.Process 200 may involvefirst device 110 andsecond device 120 as shown in fig. 1.

Inprocess 200, thesecond device 120 controls the dormancy or non-dormancy of the one or more scells 102 at thefirst device 110 via control information. Thesecond device 120 determines 205 whether the at least one SCell102 is to be switched between the regular state and the dormant state.

Thefirst device 110 may be configured with one or more scells 102. The Scell102 may be activated or deactivated via an activation/deactivation procedure (e.g., by MAC-CE command). If SCell102 is in deactivated (or inactive) state, CC(s) or BWP(s) of SCell102 are not used andfirst device 110 may stop receiving signals and stop transmission on SCell 102.

SCell102, if activated, may be in a normal state or a dormant state. In particular, if the SCell102 is in a normal state, thefirst device 110 may communicate normally with thesecond device 120 via the SCell102, including transmission and reception of control information (e.g., in the PDCCH) and user data (e.g., PDSCH). The normal state may also be referred to as a normal active state, an operational state, or the like. These terms are used interchangeably herein. If the SCell102 is in the dormant state, thefirst device 110 may stop monitoring control information and/or stop the PDSCH processing engine of the SCell, and thus may not perform actual communication. However, thefirst device 110 will remain synchronized and automatic gain control operating and may perform Channel State Information (CSI) measurements on the dormant SCell 102. Thus, activating Scell102 may switch from a dormant state to a regular state faster than switching from a deactivated state to an activated state with deactivating Scell. The dormant state may also be referred to as a sleep state, a less active state, an abnormal (or abnormal) active state, or the like. These terms are used interchangeably herein.

In summary, the state of SCell102 may transition between deactivated and activated states or between dormant and regular states. Thesecond device 120 may control one or more of the configured SCell(s) 102 of thefirst device 110 to switch between the dormant state and the normal state if traffic to be transmitted arrives at a lower periodicity, and to switch between the deactivated state and the normal state if traffic to be transmitted to thefirst device 110 arrives at a higher periodicity. Activating the dormant state of a cell may save less power than in the normal state.

Thesecond device 120 may determine to switch the one or more scells 102 of thefirst device 110 from a current dormant state to a regular state, and/or to switch the one or more scells 102 from a current regular state to a dormant state. If thesecond device 120 determines that at least one SCell should change, e.g., to switch from a regular state to a dormant state, and/or from a dormant state to a regular state, thesecond device 120 configures 210 the control information to include a cell indication such that the control information may be used for sleep control of the SCell 102. The control information will be transmitted to thefirst device 110 via the scheduling cell in the normal state. The scheduling cell may be any cell that is configured to thefirst device 110 and is currently in a normal state, such that thefirst device 110 will monitor the control information transmitted by thesecond device 120 for that cell. In some example embodiments, the scheduling cell is the PCell101 configured to thefirst device 110, as the PCell101 may always be activated and in a normal state. In some example embodiments, the scheduling cell may also be an active Scell102 in a normal state configured to thefirst device 110.

To distinguish the control information for sleep control of the at least one SCell102 from the normal control information for the scheduling cell, the cell indication in the control information may be configured by thesecond device 120 to be different from the indication of the scheduling cell. The cell indication may be included in a Cell Indication Field (CIF) of the control information. The size of the CIF may be several bits. In one example, the CIF comprises three bits. Thus, different combinations of bit values (e.g., 000, 0001, 0010, etc.) may be used to represent different cell indications. In general, the PCell101 and the one or more scells 102 configured to thefirst device 110 may be allocated respective different cell indications. In some example embodiments, the cell indication included in the control information for sleep control of SCell(s) 102 may not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell.

The control information may have any predefined format depending on the communication conditions between thesecond device 120 and thefirst device 110. In an example where thesecond device 120 is a network device and thefirst device 110 is a UE, the control information may also be referred to as Downlink Control Information (DCI). Some example formats of control information may include DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, or any other possible format. There may be a variety of ways for configuring control information for sleep control of an SCell, which will be discussed in detail below. In addition to the cell indication, the control information may also include one or more fields for conveying other information, which will also be discussed in detail below.

With the control information configured, thesecond device 120 transmits 215 the control information to thefirst device 110 via the scheduling cell. Thefirst device 110 thus receives 220 the control information via the scheduling cell. Specifically, thefirst device 110 may monitor control information on the CC or BWP(s) associated with the scheduling cell and then detect the control information. In some example embodiments, the control information may be transmitted to thefirst device 110 in a physical control channel, such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). In some example embodiments, the control information may be transmitted to thefirst device 110 in a unicast format via the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, the control information may be scrambled with a Radio Network Temporary Identity (RNTI) by thesecond device 120 when transmitting the control information. The RNTI may be a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), which may be allocated when thefirst device 110 establishes a network connection with thesecond device 120. The C-RNTI may be specific to thefirst device 110 for all serving cells (PCell101 and SCell(s) 102) of thefirst device 110. Alternatively, a new RNTI may be allocated for the scheduling cell, while the remaining serving cells use the UE-specific C-RNTI for unicast messages. This enables to distinguish between control information transmitted on the scheduling cell for data scheduling of the scheduling cell and control information transmitted on the scheduling cell for any cross scheduling cell. Thefirst device 110 may receive a signal on the PDCCH and descramble the received signal using the RNTI to acquire control information. Thefirst device 110 may be assigned multiple possible RNTIs and may attempt to correctly descramble the received signal multiple times using the same RNTI used by thesecond device 120.

In an example embodiment, instead of using a C-RNTI associated with a cell (PCell101 or SCell 102) configured to thefirst device 110, thesecond device 120 may specifically scramble control information using a new RNTI (referred to as a dormant RNTI) that is different from the C-RNTI allocated for the serving cell of thefirst device 110. With such a dormant RNTI, thefirst device 110 can identify control information for sleep control of the SCell(s) 102 if the control information can be successfully descrambled from the received signal using the dormant RNTI. Such example embodiments will be described in more detail below.

After receiving the control information via the scheduling cell, thefirst device 110 determines 225 whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell. In order to distinguish the control information for sleep control of SCell(s) 102 from the normal control information for scheduling cells, the cell indication included in the control information may be different from the indication of scheduling cells. As such, if thefirst device 110 determines that at least a portion of the cell indication does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, which means that the two indications are different, thefirst device 110 performs 230 a state handover of the at least one SCell102 between the regular state and the dormant state based on the control information. Depending on the configuration of the control information, the state switching may be performed in a number of different ways.

In some example embodiments, the cell indication in the control information may be configured by thesecond device 120 as a predetermined cell indication that is different from any indication of the cell (PCell101 or SCell 102) configured to thefirst device 110. Such a predetermined cell indication may be considered to correspond to a virtual cell, which is a cell other than the cell configured to thefirst device 110. For example, in CIF, one or more values in the CIF may be reserved to be used as a predetermined cell indication of the virtual cell, instead of the PCell101 or SCell(s) 102 allocated to thefirst device 110.

One or more predetermined cell indications corresponding to the one or more virtual cells may be configured by thesecond device 120 to thefirst device 110 to indicate different sleep control schemes for the SCell(s) 102. The predetermined cell indication(s) may be configured, for example, via the message crosscarrierscheduled config or any other message. If thefirst device 110 receives control information including one of the predetermined cell indication(s) corresponding to the virtual cell, thefirst device 110 may determine that the received control information may be used for sleep control of the one or more scells 102.

In an example embodiment, a specific predetermined indication (referred to as a "first predetermined indication") may be configured as a cell indication in the control information. The first predetermined indication may be used to indicate that a subsequent field or all remaining fields of control information include state information for configuring one or more states of one or more scells 102. That is, the control information may include cell indication and status information. Fig. 3A shows an example ofsuch control information 311, thecontrol information 311 including a value indicating a CIF of the first predetermined indication and state information indicating one or more configuration states of the one or more individual scells 102.

If thesecond device 120 configures the cell indication in thecontrol information 311 as the first predetermined indication, thesecond device 120 may specifically configure the state of the one or more scells 102 as a regular state or a dormant state in the state information. In some examples, the state information may include a bitmap, where each bit corresponds to one SCell102 configured to thefirst device 110. Different values of the bits may indicate a particular state. For example, a bit value of "1" may indicate that the corresponding SCell102 is configured in a regular state, while a bit value of "1" may indicate that the corresponding SCell102 is configured in a sleep state. The size of the state information may depend on the number of SCell(s) 102 configured to thefirst device 110. The status information may be included in a legacy field of thecontrol information 311, such as in a Resource Allocation (RA) Information Element (IE) field in thecontrol information 311. If thesecond device 120 decides to change the state of one or more scells 102, it may only need to change the value of the corresponding bit in the state information.

After receiving thecontrol information 311, thefirst device 110 may determine whether at least a portion of the cell indication in the control information 311 (e.g., the value of the CIF in the control information 311) matches at least a portion of the first predetermined indication. For example, if thefirst device 110 determines that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the first predetermined indication, i.e., both indications are detected to be the same (e.g., both are a bit sequence of "111"), thefirst device 110 may further obtain status information from thecontrol information 311, such as the status information in fig. 3A. Since the state information indicates the configured state of the one or more scells 102, thefirst device 110 may perform state switching of the one or more scells 102 based on the state information.

Specifically, if the state information indicates that SCell102 is set to a regular state and that SCell102 is currently in a dormant state,first device 110 may switch that SCell102 from the regular state to the dormant state. Likewise, if SCell102 is in a dormant state and the state information indicates that SCell102 is to be configured in a regular state,first device 110 may perform state switching accordingly. In some cases, the state information includes a configuration state for each SCell102 configured to thefirst device 110, even though the state of some scells 102 need not change. If the state information indicates that the SCell102 is set to a regular state and the SCell102 is currently in a regular state, thefirst device 110 may keep the state of the SCell102 unchanged.

The state of one or more individual scells 102 may be controlled in a fine-grained manner by means of state information in the special first indication and controlinformation 311. Since thecontrol information 311 does not include scheduling information for the scheduling cell, in some example embodiments, thesecond device 120 transmits additional control information intended for the scheduling information, such as thecontrol information 312 shown in fig. 3A, in addition to thecontrol information 311. Thecontrol information 312 may be normal control information for the scheduling cell, which may include, for example, an indication of the scheduling cell in the CIF, and scheduling information for transmissions between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell. The scheduling information may include, for example, Resource Allocations (RAs) for one or more BWPs of the scheduling information, and/or other information configured by thesecond device 120 for transmission from thefirst device 110 to thesecond device 120 or in the opposite direction. Thefirst device 110 may apply thecontrol information 312 for transmissions between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell.

In an example embodiment, another specific predetermined indication (referred to as "second predetermined indication") may be configured in the control information as a cell indication to indicate that the state of all scells 102 configured to thefirst device 110 is switched to the regular state. If thesecond device 120 determines that one or more of the configured scells 102 are to be switched to a regular state, the cell indication in the control information may be configured as a second predetermined indication. The second predetermined indication may be different from the first predetermined indication or may be different from an indication of a cell configured to thefirst device 110 for communication. For example, the second indication may be set to the bit sequence "000". Fig. 3B shows an example ofsuch control information 320, wherein the CIF comprises a value indicating a second predetermined indication.

Upon receiving thecontrol information 320, thefirst device 110 may determine whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the second predetermined indication. For example, if thefirst device 110 determines that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the second predetermined indication, i.e., both indications are detected to be the same (e.g., both are the bit sequence "000"), thefirst device 110 may directly deactivate the sleep state of a group of configured scells 102 and switch the group of scells 102 all to a regular state. That is, regardless of the number of scells 102 configured to thefirst device 110, and regardless of the state of the SCell102 alone, they may be set to a normal state.

In this way, a single cell indication in the control information may be used to control state switching (i.e., switching all configured scells 102 to the regular state). As such, other fields of thecontrol information 320 may be used to carry normal scheduling information for scheduling cells. Specifically, thesecond device 120 may configure the normal scheduling information of the scheduling cell into thecontrol information 320. In addition to switching the SCell102 into a normal state, thefirst device 110 may also obtain scheduling information from thecontrol information 320 and apply the scheduling information for transmission between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell.

Through the second predetermined indication, additional control information of the scheduling cell does not need to be transmitted, thereby reducing message overhead between the first device and the second device and improving resource utilization rate. Although the flexibility of activation from hibernation is threatened, it may be beneficial to bulk control the state of the SCell in cases where large bursts of data are to be transferred between two devices.

Alternatively, another predetermined indication (e.g., a third predetermined indication different from the first predetermined indication and the second predetermined indication) may be included in the control information to indicate that the states of all scells 102 configured to thefirst device 110 are switched to the sleep state. A third predetermined indication may be included in the control information if thesecond device 120 determines to control thefirst device 110 to switch all scells 102 to a regular state. In this example embodiment, the control information may also include scheduling information intended for scheduling the cell. Upon detecting that the cell indication in the control information matches the third predetermined indication, thefirst device 110 may switch all configured scells 102 to a dormant state and apply the scheduling information for transmission via the scheduling cell.

In another example embodiment, instead of inserting some new predetermined indication corresponding to a virtual cell into the control information, thesecond device 120 may configure the cell indication as an indication of the target SCell102 if thesecond device 120 decides to switch the state of the target SCell102 between a regular state and a dormant state. The target SCell102 may currently be in a regular state and thesecond device 120 decides to switch the state of the target SCell102 to a dormant state, or the target SCell102 is in a dormant state and thesecond device 120 decides to switch the state of the target SCell102 to a regular state. In either case, thesecond device 120 may configure the cell indication as an indication of the target SCell 102. Fig. 3C shows an example ofsuch control information 330, where the CIF includes a value indicating an indication of the target SCell 102.

After receiving thecontrol information 330, thefirst device 110 may determine whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the target SCell 102. If thefirst device 110 determines that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the target SCell102, e.g., both indications are detected to be the same, thefirst device 110 may perform a state handover of the target SCell 102. In some example embodiments, the target SCell102 may not be cross-carrier scheduled, or the control information may be scrambled with an RNTI (e.g., a dormant RNTI) that is different from the C-RNTI. In this way, thefirst device 110 may determine that thecontrol information 330 is for sleep control of the target SCell102 instead of carrier scheduling.

Thefirst device 110 may perform a state handover of the target SCell102 based on the current state of the target SCell 102. Specifically, if the current state of the target SCell102 is a dormant state, thefirst device 110 may switch the target SCell102 from the dormant state to a regular state. If the current state of the target SCell102 is a normal state, thefirst device 110 may switch the target SCell102 from a normal state to a dormant state. In this way, the state of a particular SCell may be changed individually using a single cell indication in the control information.

Other fields of thecontrol information 330 may be used to carry normal scheduling information. In an example embodiment, thesecond device 120 may configure the normal scheduling information of the scheduling cell into thecontrol information 330. Thefirst device 110 may also obtain scheduling information from thecontrol information 330 and apply the scheduling information to transmissions between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell. Alternatively, in the event that the target SCell102 switches to a regular state, thesecond device 120 may configure the scheduling information of the target SCell102 into thecontrol information 330. Thus, after switching the target SCell102 to a regular state, thefirst device 110 may apply scheduling information for transmission between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the target SCell 102. In this case, thesecond device 120 may transmit additional control information for scheduling the cell.

By incorporating an indication of the target SCell into the control information, the dormancy of the individual SCell may be flexibly controlled. In some cases, the scheduling information for the scheduling cell may not be transmitted with the indication of the target SCell. In some other cases, thesecond device 120 may directly schedule the activated target SCell102 with the same control information.

In the example embodiments described with reference to fig. 3A-3C, state switching of the SCell(s) may be performed based on a cell indication (and possibly based on state information in the example of fig. 3A). Since the cell indication may specifically indicate to thefirst device 110 that the control information is for sleep control of the SCell(s), the control information may be scrambled with the C-RNTI of the scheduling cell. A new RNTI may not be allocated except for RNTIs allocated for the PCell and SCell(s) configured to the first device. In this way, the first device may not need to extend the search space to descramble the control information. In some example embodiments, the format size of the control information may be the same as the format size of normal control information for the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, as described above, the control information may be scrambled using the special dormancy RNTI such that thefirst device 110 may identify the control information as being for controlling state switching of the one or more scells 102 after successfully descrambling the control information from a received signal from thesecond device 120. Fig. 3D shows an example ofsuch control information 340, thecontrol information 340 being scrambled using the dormancy RNTI. In this example, controlinformation 340 may be dedicated to sleep control of one or more scells 102. In some cases of cross-carrier scheduling, normal control information for data scheduling for one or more scells 102 may also be transmitted via the scheduling cell. The dormant RNTI may also be used to distinguish control information transmitted via the scheduling cell for dormant control of one or more scells 102 from control information transmitted via the scheduling cell for data scheduling of one or more scells 10.

Control information 340 may include state information for configuring one or more states of one or more scells 102. The CIF of thecontrol information 340 may include an indication of the target SCell102 to be handed over between the dormant state and the regular state. In some examples, controlinformation 340 may be configured to indicate one or more indications of one or more scells 102 and their configuration states. For one or more other scells 102 that may not need to change their state, their indication and configuration state may not be included incontrol information 340. In some other examples, the state information may be similar to the state information described with reference to fig. 3A, including a bitmap to indicate each configured state for all individual scells 102 configured to thefirst device 110. It should be appreciated that control information scrambled using the dormant RNTI may be configured in various other ways to control the state of one or more scells 102 as desired. In some example embodiments, thecontrol information 340 may not include a CIF used to specifically indicate a cell. The state information itself may be sufficient to enable sleep control of SCell 102.

Example embodiments of sleep control for one or more scells have been described above. Such dormant control is based on reusing control information of a scheduling cell in a regular state and may be applied to various communication scenarios, including a scenario in which a first device is configured with at least an initial BWP and one dormant BWP, and another scenario in which the first device is configured with a single BWP and the dormant BWP will be the same as a configured normal BWP, except that a PDCCH monitoring configuration and a CSI configuration or RRC configuration change occur within the single BWP.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of anexample method 400 implemented at a terminal device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, themethod 400 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of thefirst device 110.

Atblock 410, thefirst device 110 receives control information from thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell in the normal state. The control information includes a cell indication. Atblock 420, thefirst device 110 determines whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell. In accordance with a determination of a mismatch between at least a portion of the cell indication and at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, thefirst device 110 performs a state switch of the at least one SCell102 between a regular state and a dormant state based on the control information atblock 430.

In some example embodiments, thefirst device 110 may perform the transmission between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 based on the control information if the cell indication matches the indication of the scheduling cell, which indicates that the control information is intended for the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, to perform the state switch, thefirst device 110 may determine whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a first predetermined indication, the first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than the cell configured to thefirst device 110. In accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the first predetermined indication, thefirst device 110 may obtain state information from the control information indicating a configuration state of each SCell of the at least one SCell, and then switch each SCell of the at least one SCell to a regular state or a dormant state based on the state information.

In some example embodiments, the at least one SCell is from a group of scells configured to thefirst device 110. In some example embodiments, to perform the state switch, thefirst device 110 may determine whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than the cell configured to thefirst device 110. In accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the second predetermined indication, thefirst device 110 may switch the set of scells to a regular state.

In some example embodiments, to perform the state handover, thefirst device 110 may determine that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of an indication of a target SCell in the at least one SCell, and determine a current state of the target SCell. In the event that the current state of the target SCell is a dormant state, thefirst device 110 may switch the target SCell from the dormant state to a regular state. In the case where the current state of the target SCell is a normal state, thefirst device 110 may switch the target SCell from a normal state to a dormant state.

In some example embodiments, the control information may also include scheduling information. In some example embodiments, thefirst device 110 may apply the scheduling information to transmissions between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell. In some example embodiments, thefirst device 110 may apply scheduling information for transmission between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the target SCell, in accordance with the target SCell switching from dormant state to regular state.

In some example embodiments, the control information may be scrambled with a dormant radio network temporary identity, which is different from a cell radio network temporary identity associated with a cell configured to thefirst device 110. In some example embodiments, to perform the state handover, thefirst device 110 may acquire state information from the control information, the state information indicating a configuration state of each SCell of the at least one SCell. Thefirst device 110 may switch each SCell of the at least one SCell to a regular state or a sleep state based on the state information.

In some example embodiments, the control information may be received from thesecond device 120 in a unicast format.

In some example embodiments, the cell indication may be included in a carrier indicator field of the control information. In some example embodiments, the scheduling cell may include at least one of a PCell or an SCell configured to thefirst device 110. In some example embodiments, thefirst device 110 may comprise a user device and thesecond device 120 may comprise a network device.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of anexample method 500 implemented at a second device, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, themethod 500 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of thesecond device 120.

Atblock 510, thesecond device 120 determines whether the at least one SCell is to be switched between the regular state and the dormant state. In accordance with a determination that the at least one SCell is to be handed over between the normal state and the dormant state, thesecond device 120 configures the control information to include a cell indication, atblock 520, at least a portion of which does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell in the normal state. Atblock 530, thesecond device 120 transmits control information to thefirst device 110 via the scheduling cell. In some example embodiments, if it is determined that no SCell is switched between the normal state and the dormant state, thesecond device 120 may configure and transmit normal control information intended for scheduling cells.

In some example embodiments, to configure the control information, thesecond device 120 may determine state information indicating a configuration state of the at least one SCell; configuring a cell indication as a first predetermined indication, the first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to thefirst device 110; and configuring the control information to include a cell indication and status information.

In some example embodiments, the at least one SCell may be from a group of scells configured to thefirst device 110. In some example embodiments, to configure the control information, thesecond device 120 may configure the cell indication as a second predetermined indication such that the group of scells is switched to a regular state based on the second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than the cell configured to thefirst device 110.

In some example embodiments, to configure the control information, thesecond device 120 may configure the cell indication as an indication of the target SCell in accordance with a determination that the target SCell of the at least one SCell is to be switched from a regular state to a dormant state, or from a dormant state to a regular state.

In some example embodiments, thesecond device 120 may configure the control information to include scheduling information for transmissions between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, to configure the control information, in accordance with a determination that the target SCell is to be switched from the dormant state to the regular state, thesecond device 120 may configure the control information to include scheduling information for transmission between thefirst device 110 and thesecond device 120 via the target SCell.

In some example embodiments, thesecond device 120 may configure the control information to include state information to indicate a configuration state of each SCell of the at least one SCell; and scrambles the control information with a dormant radio network temporary identity, which is different from the cell radio network temporary identity associated with the cell configured to thefirst device 110.

In some example embodiments, thesecond device 120 may transmit the control information in a unicast format.

In some example embodiments, the cell indication may be included in a carrier indicator field of the control information. In some example embodiments, the scheduling cell may include at least one of a PCell or an SCell configured to thefirst device 110. In some example embodiments, thefirst device 110 may comprise a user device and thesecond device 120 may comprise a network device.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus (e.g., first device 110) capable of performing any ofmethod 400 may include means for performing the respective steps ofmethod 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for: receiving control information from the second apparatus via the scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information including a cell indication; determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell; and in accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication does not match at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of the at least one secondary cell between the normal state and the dormant state based on the control information.

In some example embodiments, the means for performing a state handover of at least one secondary cell comprises: means for determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a first predetermined indication, the first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus; means for obtaining status information indicating a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell from the control information in accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the first predetermined indication; and means for switching each of the at least one secondary cell to a normal state or a dormant state based on the state information.

In some example embodiments, the at least one secondary cell is from a set of secondary cells configured to the first apparatus. In some example embodiments, the means for performing a state handover of at least one secondary cell comprises: means for determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than the cell configured to the first apparatus; and means for switching a set of secondary cells to a normal state in accordance with a determination that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the second predetermined indication.

In some example embodiments, the means for performing a state handover of at least one secondary cell comprises: means for determining that at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of an indication of a target secondary cell of the at least one secondary cell; means for determining a current state of a target secondary cell; means for switching the target secondary cell from the dormant state to a normal state if the current state of the target secondary cell is the dormant state; and means for switching the target secondary cell from the normal state to the dormant state if the current state of the target secondary cell is the normal state.

In some example embodiments, the control information further comprises scheduling information. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus may further comprise means for applying the scheduling information to transmissions between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, the control information further comprises scheduling information. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus may further include means for applying the scheduling information for transmission between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the target secondary cell in accordance with the target secondary cell switching from the dormant state to the normal state.

In some example embodiments, the control information is scrambled with a dormant radio network temporary identity, the dormant radio network temporary identity being different from a cell radio network temporary identity, the cell radio network temporary identity being associated with a cell configured to the first apparatus. In some example embodiments, the means for performing a state handover of at least one secondary cell comprises: means for obtaining status information from the control information, the status information indicating a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell; and means for switching each of the at least one secondary cell to a normal state or a dormant state based on the state information.

In some example embodiments, the control information is received from the second apparatus in a unicast format. In some example embodiments, the cell indication is included in a carrier indicator field of the control information. In some example embodiments, the scheduling cell comprises at least one of a primary cell or a secondary cell configured to the first apparatus. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a user equipment and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of themethod 400. In some example embodiments, the component comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus (e.g., second device 120) capable of performing any ofmethod 500 may include means for performing the respective steps ofmethod 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for: determining whether at least one secondary cell is to be switched between a normal state and a dormant state; in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring the control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of the cell indication not matching at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell in the normal state; and transmitting the control information to the first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, the means for configuring the control information comprises: means for determining state information indicating a configuration state of at least one secondary cell; means for configuring a cell indication as a first predetermined indication, the first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus; and means for configuring the control information to include the cell indication and the status information.

In some example embodiments, the at least one secondary cell is from a set of secondary cells configured to the first apparatus. In some example embodiments, the means for configuring the control information comprises: means for configuring the cell indication as a second predetermined indication causing a set of secondary cells to switch to a normal state based on the second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than the cell configured to the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the means for configuring the control information comprises: means for configuring a cell indication as an indication of a target secondary cell in the at least one secondary cell in accordance with a determination that the target secondary cell is to be switched from a normal state to a dormant state or from a dormant state to a normal state.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for configuring the control information to comprise scheduling information for transmission between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the scheduling cell.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for configuring the control information to comprise scheduling information for transmission between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the target secondary cell in accordance with the determination that the target secondary cell is to be switched from the dormant state to the normal state.

In some example embodiments, the means for configuring the control information comprises means for configuring the control information to comprise status information to indicate a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell; and scrambling the control information with a dormant radio network temporary identity, the dormant radio network temporary identity being different from a cell radio network temporary identity, the cell radio network temporary identity being associated with a cell configured to the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the cell indication is included in a carrier indicator field of the control information. In some example embodiments, the scheduling cell comprises at least one of a primary cell or a secondary cell configured to the first apparatus. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a user equipment and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of themethod 500. In some example embodiments, the component comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the second apparatus.

Fig. 6 is a simplified block diagram of adevice 600 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. Thedevice 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as thefirst device 110 or thesecond device 120 shown in fig. 1. As shown, thedevice 600 includes one ormore processors 610, one ormore memories 620 coupled to theprocessors 610, and one ormore communication modules 640 coupled to theprocessors 610.

Thecommunication module 640 is for bidirectional communication. Thecommunication module 640 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. A communication interface may represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network elements.

Theprocessor 610 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network, and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture.Device 600 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time-dependent from a clock synchronized to the main processor.

Thememory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, Read Only Memory (ROM)624, Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a Compact Disk (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, Random Access Memory (RAM)622 and other volatile memory that does not persist during a power loss.

Thecomputer programs 630 include computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associatedprocessor 610. Theprogram 630 may be stored in a memory (e.g., ROM 624). Theprocessor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading theprograms 630 into theRAM 622.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by way ofprogram 630 such thatdevice 600 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to fig. 2-5. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments,program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in device 600 (such as stored in memory 620) or in other storage accessible todevice 600.Device 600 may loadprogram 630 from the computer-readable medium intoRAM 622 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, a hard disk, a CD, a DVD, etc. Fig. 7 shows an example of a computerreadable medium 700 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium hasprogram 630 stored thereon.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented using hardware, while other aspects may be implemented using firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions comprised in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform themethod 600 as described above with reference to fig. 2 to 5. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for performing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be performed. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of a carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are described in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims (34)

1. A first apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

receiving control information from a second apparatus via a scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information comprising a cell indication,

determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, and

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication does not match the at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of at least one secondary cell between a normal state and a dormant state based on the control information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

determining whether the at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a first predetermined indication, the first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus;

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication matches the at least a portion of the first predetermined indication, obtaining status information from the control information indicating a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell; and

switching each of the at least one secondary cell to the normal state or the dormant state based on the state information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary cell is from a set of secondary cells configured to the first apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

determining whether the at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus; and

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication matches the at least a portion of the second predetermined indication, switching the set of secondary cells to the normal state.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

determining that the at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of an indication of a target secondary cell of the at least one secondary cell;

determining a current state of the target secondary cell;

switching the target secondary cell from the dormant state to the normal state if the current state of the target secondary cell is the dormant state; and

switching the target secondary cell from the normal state to the dormant state if the current state of the target secondary cell is the normal state.

6. The apparatus according to any of claims 4 to 5, wherein the control information further comprises scheduling information, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first apparatus to:

applying the scheduling information for transmission between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the scheduling cell.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the control information further comprises scheduling information, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the first apparatus to:

applying the scheduling information for transmission between the first device and the second device via the target secondary cell in accordance with the target secondary cell switching from the dormant state to the normal state.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control information is scrambled with a dormant radio network temporary identity, the dormant radio network temporary identity being different from a cell radio network temporary identity, the cell radio network temporary identity being associated with a cell configured to the first apparatus, and

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

acquiring status information from the control information, the status information indicating a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell; and

switching each of the at least one secondary cell to the normal state or the dormant state based on the state information.

9. The apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the control information is received from the second apparatus in a unicast format.

10. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the cell indication is included in a carrier indicator field of the control information; and/or

Wherein the scheduling cell comprises at least one of a primary cell or a secondary cell configured to the first apparatus; and/or

Wherein the first apparatus comprises a user equipment and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

11. A second apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:

determining whether at least one secondary cell is to be switched between a normal state and a dormant state,

in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of which does not match at least a portion of an indication of a scheduling cell in a normal state, and

transmitting the control information to a first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:

determining state information indicating a configuration state of the at least one secondary cell;

configuring the cell indication as a first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus; and

configuring the control information to include the cell indication and the state information.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one secondary cell is from a set of secondary cells configured to the first apparatus, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:

configuring the cell indication as a second predetermined indication such that the set of secondary cells is switched to the normal state based on the second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than the cell configured to the first apparatus.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:

in accordance with a determination that a target secondary cell of the at least one secondary cell is to switch from the normal state to the dormant state or from the dormant state to the normal state,

configuring the cell indication as an indication of the target secondary cell.

15. The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 14, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the second apparatus to:

configuring the control information to include scheduling information for transmission between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the scheduling cell.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, further cause the second apparatus to:

in accordance with a determination that the target secondary cell is to be switched from the dormant state to the normal state, configuring the control information to include scheduling information for transmissions between the first apparatus and the second apparatus via the target secondary cell.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

configuring the control information to include state information to indicate a configuration state of each of the at least one secondary cell; and

scrambling the control information with a dormant radio network temporary identity, the dormant radio network temporary identity being different from a cell radio network temporary identity associated with a cell configured to the first device.

18. The apparatus of any of claims 11 to 17, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:

transmitting the control information in a unicast format.

19. The apparatus according to any of claims 11 to 18, wherein the cell indication is included in a carrier indicator field of the control information; and/or

Wherein the scheduling cell comprises at least one of a primary cell or a secondary cell configured to the first apparatus; and/or

Wherein the first apparatus comprises a user equipment and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a first apparatus, control information from a second apparatus via a scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information comprising a cell indication;

determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell; and

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication does not match the at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of at least one secondary cell between a normal state and a dormant state based on the control information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein performing the state switch of the at least one secondary cell comprises:

determining whether the at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a first predetermined indication, the first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus;

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication matches the at least a portion of the first predetermined indication, obtaining status information from the control information indicating a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell; and

switching each of the at least one secondary cell to the normal state or the dormant state based on the state information.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one secondary cell is from a group of secondary cells configured to the first apparatus, and wherein performing the state switch of the at least one secondary cell comprises:

determining whether the at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of a second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus; and

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication matches the at least a portion of the second predetermined indication, switching the set of secondary cells to the normal state.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein performing the state switch of the at least one secondary cell comprises:

determining that the at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of an indication of a target secondary cell of the at least one secondary cell;

determining a current state of the target secondary cell;

switching the target secondary cell from the dormant state to the normal state if the current state of the target secondary cell is the dormant state; and

switching the target secondary cell from the normal state to the dormant state if the current state of the target secondary cell is the normal state.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the control information is scrambled with a dormant radio network temporary identity, the dormant radio network temporary identity being different from a cell radio network temporary identity, the cell radio network temporary identity being associated with a cell configured to the first device, and

wherein performing the state switching of the at least one secondary cell comprises:

acquiring status information from the control information, the status information indicating a configuration status of each of the at least one secondary cell; and

switching each of the at least one secondary cell to the normal state or the dormant state based on the state information.

25. A method, comprising:

determining, at the second apparatus, whether the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state;

in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of which does not match at least a portion of an indication of a scheduling cell in a normal state; and

transmitting the control information to a first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein configuring the control information comprises:

determining state information indicating a configuration state of at least one secondary cell in a set of secondary cells;

configuring the cell indication as a first predetermined indication corresponding to a first virtual cell other than a cell configured to the first apparatus; and

configuring the control information to include the cell indication and the state information.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one secondary cell is from a set of secondary cells configured to the first apparatus, and wherein configuring the control information comprises:

configuring the cell indication as a second predetermined indication such that the set of secondary cells is switched to the normal state based on the second predetermined indication, the second predetermined indication corresponding to a second virtual cell other than the cell configured to the first apparatus.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein configuring the control information comprises:

in accordance with a determination that a target secondary cell of the at least one secondary cell is to switch from the normal state to the dormant state or from the dormant state to the normal state,

configuring the cell indication as an indication of the target secondary cell.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein configuring the control information comprises:

configuring the control information to include state information to indicate a configuration state of each of the at least one secondary cell; and

scrambling the control information with a dormant radio network temporary identity, the dormant radio network temporary identity being different from a cell radio network temporary identity, the cell radio network temporary identity being associated with a cell configured to the first apparatus.

30. A first apparatus comprising means for:

receiving control information from a second apparatus via a scheduling cell in a normal state, the control information comprising a cell indication;

determining whether at least a portion of the cell indication matches at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell; and

in accordance with a determination that the at least a portion of the cell indication does not match the at least a portion of the indication of the scheduling cell, performing a state switch of at least one secondary cell between a normal state and a dormant state based on the control information.

31. A second apparatus comprising means for:

determining whether at least one secondary cell is to be switched between a normal state and a dormant state;

in accordance with a determination that the at least one secondary cell is to be switched between the normal state and the dormant state, configuring control information to include a cell indication, at least a portion of which does not match at least a portion of an indication of a scheduling cell in a normal state; and

transmitting the control information to a first apparatus via the scheduling cell.

32. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 20-24 or the method of any of claims 25-29.

33. A computer program comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least a method according to any of claims 20 to 24 or a method according to any of claims 25 to 29.

34. A computer readable medium storing a program of instructions, execution of which by a processor configures an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 20 to 24 or the method of any of claims 25 to 29.

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