Optionally, if the network device codes the N pieces of DCI by using a codeword structure shown in
Correspondingly, when performing sequential polar code decoding on the to-be-decoded information, the user equipment at the receive end first obtains k-bit DCI length information, calculates, based on the k-bit DCI length information, a DCI length indicated by the DCI length information, and denotes the DCI length as a.
After learning that the DCI length is a through calculation, the user equipment continues to decode a bits, and descrambles the CRC of the DCI by using the preset identifier corresponding to the user equipment. Then, the user equipment checks the information part of the DCI by using the descrambled CRC. If the check succeeds, it indicates that the user equipment has found DCI of the user equipment, and the user equipment exits decoding, and performs a next operation according to an instruction in the DCI, and does not need to decode entire to-be-decoded information. In this way, an average processing latency of the user equipment can be reduced.
If the check performed by the user equipment on the CRC of the DCI fails, it indicates that the DCI does not belong to the user equipment, and the user equipment continues to decode following k-bit DCI length information, to obtain length information of a next piece of DCI, and denotes the length information as b. The user equipment continues to decode b bits, and repeats a CRC descrambling and CRC check process until DCI of the user equipment is found, or until decoding ends.