Therefore, in this embodiment, the following steps may be further performed.

S202: The communication device determines a target sub-frame in the downlink sub-frame, where both the second carrier and the second carrier allow shutting down a target radio frequency channel of the communication device in a time period corresponding to the target sub-frame.

In this embodiment, the communication device may intermittently shut down some radio frequency channels of the communication device, to achieve an objective of saving energy of the radio frequency channels. During specific implementation, the communication device may shut down the target radio frequency channel of the communication device in time periods corresponding to some or all sub-frames of the downlink sub-frames.

The target radio frequency channel to be shut down may be preset by the communication device.

In a possible implementation, as shown in FIG. 4, the communication device may include a processing module 401, a processing module 402, and an arbitration module 403. The processing module 401 may determine, for the first carrier, a first radio frequency channel that can be shut down. The processing module 402 may determine, for the first carrier, a second radio frequency channel that can be shut down. Because the first radio frequency channel may be different from the second radio frequency channel, an energy-saving effect of the radio frequency channel may be affected. Therefore, in this embodiment, the processing module 401 may send first radio frequency channel information corresponding to the first carrier to the arbitration module 403. In addition, the processing module 402 may also send second radio frequency channel information corresponding to the second carrier to the arbitration module 403. In this way, the arbitration module 403 may perform arbitration based on the first radio frequency channel and the second radio frequency channel, to determine the target radio frequency channel to be shut down. For example, when the communication device has 64 radio frequency channels (which are respectively numbered 1 to 64), the first radio frequency channel may include the first 48 radio frequency channels, that is, numbered 1 to 48, and the second radio frequency channel may include the last 48 radio frequency channels, that is, numbered 17 to 64. In this case, the arbitration module 403 may determine that target radio frequency channels to be shut down are the radio frequency channels numbered 17 to 48. Then, the arbitration module 403 separately notifies the processing module 401 and the processing module 402 of information about the determined target radio frequency channels. Correspondingly, when subsequently sending a carrier signal through a radio frequency module 404, the processing module 401 and the processing module 402 may schedule the radio frequency module 404 to send the carrier signal on the radio frequency channel that is not shut down. Certainly, in an actual application, the arbitration module may also determine, in another manner, the target radio frequency channel to be shut down. This is not limited in this embodiment.

In the foregoing implementation, the target radio frequency channel is determined through the third-party arbitration module 403. In another possible implementation, the target radio frequency channel may alternatively be determined through negotiation between two processing modules.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, a processing module 501 may determine, for the first carrier, a first radio frequency channel that can be shut down, and send first radio frequency channel information to a processing module 502. The processing module 502 may also determine, for the second carrier, a second radio frequency channel that can be shut down, determine a target radio frequency channel based on the second radio frequency channel and the received first radio frequency channel, and notify the processing module 501 of information about the target radio frequency channel. Correspondingly, when subsequently sending a carrier signal through a radio frequency module 503, the processing module 501 and the processing module 502 may schedule the radio frequency module 503 to send the carrier signal on the radio frequency channel that is not shut down. For a specific implementation of determining, by the processing module 502, the target radio frequency channel based on the first radio frequency channel information and the second radio frequency channel information, refer to the related description of determining, by the arbitration module 403, the target radio frequency channel in the foregoing implementation. Details are not described herein again.

After information arbitration of the third-party arbitration module 403 on the communication device or negotiation between the processing modules corresponding to the two carriers is performed, it may be determined that specific radio frequency channels of the communication device are shut down each time. In this way, a case that radio frequency channels cannot be shut down because there is no intersection set between the radio frequency channels determined by the communication device for different carriers can be avoided. In an actual application, the communication device may periodically (for example, every 10 seconds) perform the process of determining the target radio frequency channel. Alternatively, after determining the target radio frequency channel, the communication device subsequently shuts down the target radio frequency channel to save energy. Alternatively, in another possible implementation, the target radio frequency channel may be preset by a skilled person.

The communication device may determine, for example, based on traffic load corresponding to each carrier, the target sub-frame in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down. Specifically, the communication device may predetermine, for each carrier, a correspondence between traffic load corresponding to the carrier and a number of a downlink sub-frame in which shutdown is performed. In this way, the communication device may determine, for the first carrier based on current traffic load or traffic load that is predicted in a future time period of the first carrier, a first downlink sub-frame in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down. For example, for the uplink and downlink transmission frame shown in FIG. 3, when the traffic load corresponding to the first carrier is less than 30%, the communication device may determine that the first carrier allows shutting down the target radio frequency channel in the downlink sub-frames 3, 4, 8, and 9, that is, first downlink sub-frames are the sub-frames 3, 4, 8, and 9. However, when the traffic load corresponding to the first carrier is less than 50%, the communication device may determine that the first carrier allows shutting down the target radio frequency channel in the downlink sub-frames 3, 4, and 9, that is, the first downlink sub-frames are the sub-frames 3, 4, 9, and the like. Certainly, when the traffic load corresponding to the first carrier is greater than 50%, the target radio frequency channel is not shut down. The correspondence between the traffic load corresponding to the first carrier and the number of the downlink sub-frame in which the radio frequency channel is to be shut down may be set by a skilled person or certainly may be determined in another manner.

Similarly, the communication device may further determine, for the second carrier based on current traffic load or traffic load that is predicted in a future time period of the second carrier, a second downlink sub-frame in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down, so that the target sub-frame in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down may be further determined based on the first downlink sub-frame and the second downlink sub-frame.

For example, a specific implementation process of determining the target sub-frame by the communication device may be implemented by the arbitration module 403 shown in FIG. 4. Specifically, after determining the first downlink sub-frame based on the traffic load corresponding to the first carrier, the processing module 401 may send the first downlink sub-frame to the arbitration module 403. In addition, the processing module 402 may also send the second downlink sub-frame determined based on the traffic load corresponding to the second carrier to the arbitration module 403. In this way, the arbitration module 403 may determine a same sub-frame in the first downlink sub-frame and the second downlink sub-frame, and notifies the processing module 401 and the processing module 402 of the same sub-frame as the target sub-frame. In an actual application, the processing module 401 and the processing module 402 may determine, according to a same rule, a downlink sub-frame in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down. In this way, the first downlink sub-frame and the second downlink sub-frame may be the same. For example, both the first downlink sub-frame and the second downlink sub-frame are the downlink sub-frames 3, 4, 8, and 9. Alternatively, when the first downlink sub-frame and the second downlink sub-frame include different quantities of sub-frames, the first downlink sub-frame is a subset of the second downlink sub-frame, or the second downlink sub-frame is a subset of the first downlink sub-frame. Alternatively, the arbitration module 403 may determine a smaller value of quantities of sub-frames that are respectively included in the first downlink sub-frame and the second downlink sub-frame, and select any downlink sub-frame of the quantity (the smaller value) from the uplink and downlink transmission frames as the target sub-frame.

For another example, a specific implementation process of determining the target sub-frame by the communication device may be determined by the processing module 501 and the processing module 502 shown in FIG. 5 through negotiation. Specifically, after determining the first downlink sub-frame based on the traffic load corresponding to the first carrier, the processing module 501 may send the first downlink sub-frame to the processing module 502. The processing module 502 determines, based on the traffic load corresponding to the second carrier, whether to use the first downlink sub-frame as the target sub-frame. It is assumed that the load of the first carrier is less than 30%, the first downlink sub-frame determined by the processing module 501 includes the downlink sub-frames 3, 4, 8, and 9. In this case, if the load of the second carrier is also less than 30%, the processing module 502 may use the received first downlink sub-frame as the target sub-frame, and if the load of the second carrier is greater than 30% but less than 50%, the processing module 502 determines that the target radio frequency channel is allowed to be shut down only in time periods corresponding to three downlink sub-frames. In this case, the processing module 502 may select some sub-frames from the first downlink sub-frame and determine the sub-frames as the target sub-frames, for example, determine the downlink sub-frames 3, 4, and 9 in the first downlink sub-frame as the target sub-frames. Then, the processing module 502 may feed back the determined target sub-frame to the processing module 501, or when determining to use the first downlink sub-frame as the target sub-frame, the processing module 502 may feed back confirmation information to the processing module 501. In this way, target sub-frame negotiation between the processing module 501 and the processing module 502 can be implemented. Certainly, in the architecture of the communication device shown in FIG. 4, the processing module 401 and the processing module 402 may alternatively negotiate the target sub-frame.

After determining the target radio frequency channel and the target sub-frame in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down, the communication device may continue to perform the following steps, to achieve energy-saving of the communication device (that is, the radio frequency channel).

S203: The communication device shuts down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame.

In an example implementation, when shutting down the target radio frequency channel, the communication device may specifically set a weight of transmit power of the target radio frequency channel to zero. In this way, in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame, the target radio frequency channel may not generate power consumption because the transmit power is zero, thereby achieving an expected energy-saving effect. Certainly, the weight of the transmit power of the target radio frequency channel may alternatively be reduced to a preset non-zero value. This is not limited in this embodiment.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the communication device shuts down the target radio frequency channel at a sub-frame granularity (a millisecond level), instead of shutting down some radio frequency channels of the communication device for a long time (for example, a minute level or an hour level). Therefore, a pilot signal/a common signal of the communication device may be sent through all radio frequency channels in a time period corresponding to a non-target sub-frame. In this way, a signal gain of the pilot signal/the common signal may not be reduced, and signal coverage of the communication device can be prevented from being reduced.

In an actual application, the communication device may further determine, with reference to another factor, whether to shut down the target radio frequency channel.

For example, in an example, the communication device may further determine whether traffic corresponding to data signals carried by the first carrier and the second carrier in a preset time period (for example, within a recent 1 second) is small-packet traffic or large-packet traffic. When it is determined that both the traffic is the small-packet traffic, and when the communication device communicates with another device, a low transmission rate of communication data is required. In this case, the communication device can achieve the objective of energy-saving by shutting down the target radio frequency channel. However, when it is determined that the current traffic on the first carrier or the second carrier is the large-packet traffic, and when the communication device communicates with the another device, a high transmission rate of the communication data is required. To avoid affecting efficiency of data communication between the communication device and the another device by shutting down the target radio frequency channel, the communication device may not shut down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame, so that the efficiency of data communication between the communication device and the another device is high.

In some actual application scenarios, when the traffic corresponding to the second carrier is the small-packet traffic, the communication device may also directly shut down the target radio frequency channel based on the second downlink sub-frame that is allowed by the second carrier and in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down, and may not consider the first downlink sub-frame and that is allowed by the first carrier and in which the target radio frequency channel is to be shut down. In this case, when a quantity of sub-frames included in the second downlink sub-frame is greater than a quantity of sub-frames included in the first downlink sub-frame, the energy-saving effect can be further achieved.

In another example, the communication device may determine, based on a communication distance between the communication device and user equipment, whether to shut down the target radio frequency channel. For example, when the communication distance between the communication device and the user equipment is short, even if the communication device shuts down the target radio frequency channel and communicates with the user equipment through remaining radio frequency channels, quality of communication between the communication device and the user equipment can still maintain at a high level. In this case, the communication device may shut down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame. However, when the communication distance between the communication device and the user equipment is long, if the communication device shuts down the target radio frequency channel and communicates with the user equipment through the remaining radio frequency channels, and because a quantity of radio frequency channels for sending a carrier signal is reduced, a signal gain is reduced. In this case, the carrier signal sent by the communication device to the user equipment cannot be fully received or successfully parsed by the user equipment, which severely reduces the quality of communication between the communication device and the user equipment, or even causes a failure of normal communication. Therefore, when the communication distance between the communication device and the user equipment exceeds a preset distance, the communication device may also not shut down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame.

Certainly, in an actual application, energy-saving may also be preferentially considered for the communication device. In this way, even if the communication distance between the communication device and the user equipment is long, the communication device may also shut down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame. In an actual application, whether to shut down the target radio frequency channel may be determined with reference to an actual application requirement. This is not limited in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the first carrier and the second carrier may be different carriers of a same type. For example, the first carrier and the second carrier both may be long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) technology-based carriers, or may be new radio (New Radio, NR) technology-based carriers. In this case, frequencies of the first carrier and the second carrier are different. Alternatively, the first carrier and the second carrier may be different types of carriers.

For example, the first carrier is an LTE technology-based carrier, and the second carrier is an NR technology-based carrier.

In addition, an embodiment of this application further provides a radio frequency channel management apparatus. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a radio frequency channel management apparatus according to an embodiment of this application. The apparatus 600 may be used in the foregoing communication device. The communication device includes at least a first carrier and a second carrier, and may perform the method steps performed by the communication device in the foregoing method embodiments. Specifically, the apparatus 600 may include:

- a first obtaining unit 601, configured to obtain a downlink sub-frame of the communication device;
- a first determining unit 602, configured to determine a target sub-frame in the downlink sub-frame, where both the first carrier and the second carrier allow shutting down a target radio frequency channel of the communication device in a time period corresponding to the target sub-frame; and
- a shutdown unit 603, configured to shut down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame.

In a possible implementation, the apparatus 600 further includes:

- a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain a first radio frequency channel that can be shut down and that corresponds to the first carrier; and
- a second determining unit, configured to determine the target radio frequency channel in the first radio frequency channel.

In a possible implementation, the first determining unit 601 is specifically configured to determine the target sub-frame based on traffic load corresponding to the first carrier and traffic load corresponding to the second carrier.

In a possible implementation, the shutdown unit 603 is specifically configured to set a weight of transmit power of the target radio frequency channel to zero in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame.

In a possible implementation, the first carrier and the second carrier are carriers of a same type; or

- the first carrier and the second carrier are carriers of different types.

In a possible implementation, the apparatus 600 further includes:

- a first non-shutdown unit, configured to skip shutting down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame when traffic corresponding to a data signal carried by the second carrier in a preset time period is large-packet traffic.

In a possible implementation, the communication device communicates with user equipment based on the second carrier, and the apparatus 600 further includes:

- a second non-shutdown unit, configured to skip shutting down the target radio frequency channel in the time period corresponding to the target sub-frame when a communication distance between the communication device and the user equipment exceeds a preset distance.

Because content such as information exchange and an execution process between units of the foregoing apparatus is based on a same concept as the method embodiments in embodiments of this application, technical effects brought by the apparatus are the same as those brought by the method embodiments in embodiments of this application. For ease and brevity of description, a specific working process of the foregoing apparatus and units may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments. Details are not described herein again.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the first obtaining unit 601, the first determining unit 602, the shutdown unit 603, and the like may be units that are physically separated from each other, or may be integrated into one or more physical units. This is not limited herein.

In addition, an embodiment of this application further provides a radio frequency channel management device. The radio frequency channel management device may be used in the communication device mentioned in the foregoing method embodiments. The radio frequency channel management device may include a processor and a memory, where the processor is coupled to the memory;