DOWNLINK CONTROL SIGNALING FOR MULTICAST AND UNICAST COMMUNICATIONS

Methods and apparatuses for downlink control signaling for multicast and unicast communications. A method includes receiving information for first search space sets and for second search space sets, and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) providing a downlink control information (DCI) format. The DCI format provides an indication for receptions of PDCCHs during an active time of a next DRX cycle according to one of: none of the first search space sets and the second search space sets, only the first search space sets, only the second search space sets, or the first search space sets and the second search space sets. The method further includes determining reception of zero or more PDCCHs for the first and second search space sets during the active time of the next DRX cycle based on the indication and receiving the PDCCHs during the active time of the next DRX cycle.