A communication method performed by a network device, the method comprising: determining N configuration parameter sets configured for a terminal device, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets comprises a parameter for detecting a candidate downlink control channel, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; and sending information about the N configuration parameter sets to the terminal device, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets comprises at least one of the following parameters: a bandwidth part; a search space parameter; a candidate downlink control channel detection period; a control resource set parameter; and a time domain resource set corresponding to the candidate downlink control channel, wherein a candidate downlink control channel resource corresponding to an i th configuration parameter set in the N configuration parameter sets is a subset of a candidate downlink control channel resource corresponding to an (i-1) th configuration parameter set, and i is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets includes a candidate downlink control channel detection period, a candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the i th configuration parameter set is greater than a candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the (i-1) th configuration parameter set, and the candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the i th configuration parameter set is an integer multiple of the candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the (i-1) th configuration parameter set. determining N configuration parameter sets configured for a terminal device, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets comprises a parameter for detecting a candidate downlink control channel, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 2; and sending information about the N configuration parameter sets to the terminal device, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets comprises at least one of the following parameters: a bandwidth part; a search space parameter; a candidate downlink control channel detection period; a control resource set parameter; and a time domain resource set corresponding to the candidate downlink control channel, wherein a candidate downlink control channel resource corresponding to an i th configuration parameter set in the N configuration parameter sets is a subset of a candidate downlink control channel resource corresponding to an (i-1) th configuration parameter set, and i is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets includes a candidate downlink control channel detection period, a candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the i th configuration parameter set is greater than a candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the (i-1) th configuration parameter set, and the candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the i th configuration parameter set is an integer multiple of the candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the (i-1) th configuration parameter set. a bandwidth part; a search space parameter; a candidate downlink control channel detection period; a control resource set parameter; and a time domain resource set corresponding to the candidate downlink control channel, wherein a candidate downlink control channel resource corresponding to an i th configuration parameter set in the N configuration parameter sets is a subset of a candidate downlink control channel resource corresponding to an (i-1) th configuration parameter set, and i is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, wherein each of the N configuration parameter sets includes a candidate downlink control channel detection period, a candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the i th configuration parameter set is greater than a candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the (i-1) th configuration parameter set, and the candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the i th configuration parameter set is an integer multiple of the candidate downlink control channel detection period included in the (i-1) th configuration parameter set.