User equipment and base station
The present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE), comprising the following. A processor of the UE operates a monitoring function that involves monitoring of a downlink control channel for receiving a downlink control information message based on one of a plurality of groups of search space sets. A receiver of the UE receives a downlink control information message via the monitored downlink control channel, wherein the received downlink control information message allocates transmission or reception of data to the UE. The processor further determines one group of the plurality of groups of search space sets for performing the monitoring function of the downlink control channel The determining the one group of search space sets is based on the content or the format of the received downlink control information message.
1 . A communication apparatus, comprising:
a processor, which, in operation, operates a monitoring function that involves monitoring of a downlink control channel, and
a receiver, which, in operation, receives a downlink control information message via the monitored downlink control channel, wherein the received downlink control information message schedules transmission or reception of data to the communication apparatus,
wherein
the processor, in a first case, determines a search space set group (SSSG) out of more than two SSSGs for performing the monitoring function of the downlink control channel based on the received downlink control information message including a field having more than one bit to identify the determined SSSG,
the processor, when the determined SSSG is not SSSG 0, switches from the determined SSSG to SSSG 0 after a switching time period expires, and
the processor, in a second case, determines a time duration for which to skip the monitoring function based on the received downlink control information message.
2 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the switching time period is configured per single serving cell or per SSSG or per bandwidth part.
3 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein SSSG 0 is a default SSSG, and
wherein the processor operates a switching timer for the switching time period.
4 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least some of the more than two SSSGs are respectively used for monitoring the downlink control channel for receiving a downlink control information message indicating respectively different numbers of transmissions or receptions scheduled by a base station to the communication apparatus,
wherein:
one of the some of the more than two SSSGs is used only for monitoring the downlink control channel for receiving a downlink control information message that indicates one transmission or reception scheduled by the base station to the communication apparatus, and
another one of the some of the more than two SSSGs is used only for monitoring the downlink control channel for receiving a downlink control information message that indicates more than one transmissions or receptions scheduled by the base station to the communication apparatus.
5 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring function is performed on a time slot basis, or on a mini-time-slot basis, wherein a mini-slot spans one or a plurality of OFDM symbols but less than a time slot.
6 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring function is performed for only a single serving cell of the communication apparatus or for a plurality of serving cells of the communication apparatus, and
wherein the processor, when in operation, determines whether to perform the monitoring function for only the single serving cell or for the plurality of serving cells, based on a configuration received from a base station.
7 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the time duration, for which the communication apparatus skips the monitoring function, is out of two or more time durations.
8 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching time period is decremented in unit of slot of a reference SCS (subcarrier spacing).
9 . The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein one of the first case or the second case is configured by RRC signaling.
10 . A method comprising the following steps performed by a communication apparatus:
operating a monitoring function that involves monitoring of a downlink control channel,
receiving a downlink control information message via the monitored downlink control channel, wherein the received downlink control information message schedules transmission or reception of data to the communication apparatus,
determining a search space set group (SSSG) out of more than two SSSGs for performing the monitoring function of the downlink control channel based on the received downlink control information message including a field having more than one bit to identify the determined SSSG,
when the determined SSSG is not SSSG 0, switching from the determined SSSG to SSSG 0 after a switching time period expires, and
determining a time duration for which to skip the monitoring function based on the received downlink control information message.
11 . A base station comprising:
a processor, which, in operation, generates a downlink control information message, wherein the generated downlink control information message schedules transmission or reception of data to a communication apparatus, and wherein the generated downlink control information message includes a field having more than one bit to identify a search space set group (SSSG) out of more than two SSSGs used by the communication apparatus for performing a monitoring function that involves monitoring of a downlink control channel for receiving the downlink control information message, and
a transmitter, which, in operation, transmits the downlink control information message via the downlink control channel to the communication apparatus, based on the identified SSSG,
wherein, when the identified SSSG is not SSSG 0, the communication apparatus switches from the identified SSSG to SSSG 0 after a switching time period expires, and
wherein the downlink control information message is associated with a time duration, for which the communication apparatus skips the monitoring function.