CN113853004A

CN113853004A - Information sending method, NR cell access method, access network equipment and mobile terminal

Info

Publication number: CN113853004A
Application number: CN202010597990.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘文吉
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2020-06-28
Filing date: 2020-06-28
Publication date: 2021-12-28
Also published as: WO2022001483A1

Abstract

The application discloses an information sending method, an NR cell access method, access network equipment and a mobile terminal, wherein a target PLMN which does not support network slicing in a current shared NR cell PLMN is determined by acquiring first configuration information of a plurality of first public land mobile network PLMNs sharing a new generation of radio access technology NR cell, and the target PLMNs only support NSA services and do not completely support SA services in the NR cell of an NSA/SA hybrid networking. And generating access restriction information corresponding to the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, and broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE so that the UE selects the PLMN used for accessing the NR cell according to the access restriction information.

Description

Information sending method, NR cell access method, access network equipment and mobile terminal

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to an information sending method, an NR cell access method, access network equipment and a mobile terminal.

Background

With the advancement of communication technology, a fifth Generation (5G) system, such as new radio access technology (NR), will be the mainstream communication technology for some time in the future. The 5G system includes a Non-independent network NSA (Non-Stand alone) and an independent network sa (Stand alone). With the popularization and development of 5G technology, a 5G system will gradually transit from NSA networking to SA networking, and in order to enable an already-networked NSA user to continue to experience 5G, an SA cell can be configured to support the NSA user.

Public Land Mobile network (plmn) (public Land Mobile network) can provide wireless network service for NSA and SA users, the NSA carries NR system messages through 4G cells, and the SA broadcasts system messages by itself through the NR cells. If two NR cells of NSA/SA are separately constructed, two sets of cell logic resources are occupied, and coverage is carried out towards the same sector direction at the same time, so that the resource utilization rate is low. Therefore, a 5G mixed-mode cell, that is, a cell of an NSA/SA mixed networking is currently present, and a 5G base station of the cell supports two protocol stacks of NSA and SA, and works in the same SA cell at the same time. In a NSA/SA hybrid networking, the NR cells of the NSA and the NR cells of the SA cover virtually the same logical cell and share a cell ID, which provides access services to both NSA and SA users, which share all the resources of the logical cell.

The PLMN of the SA cell requires configuration of network slices (slices) and requires 5G core network support, whereas the PLMN of the NSA cell requires no configuration of network slices and requires only 4G core network support. In the 5G mixed-mode cell, the PLMN of NSA is also broadcast to the user of SA, which may result in the user of SA accessing the PLMN of NSA, and since the NR cell of NSA does not provide the configuration of SA service, service failure or confusion may be caused, and communication quality of the system may be improved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides an information sending method, an NR cell access method, an access network device, a mobile terminal and a computer storage medium, which can avoid the user of an SA from accessing a PLMN which does not support network slicing, and improve the communication quality.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an information sending method, which is applied to a distributed unit DU, and the method includes:

acquiring first configuration information of a plurality of first Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) cells sharing a new generation radio access technology (NR), wherein the first configuration information is used for determining whether the first PLMN is a target PLMN which does not support network slicing;

generating access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, wherein the access restriction information is used for restricting User Equipment (UE) supporting independent networking SA service from accessing the target PLMN;

broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an information sending method, which is applied to a communication system, where the communication system includes a centralized unit CU and a distributed unit DU, and the method includes:

the DU acquires first configuration information of a plurality of first PLMNs sharing an NR cell, wherein the first configuration information is used for determining whether the first PLMN is a target PLMN which does not support network slicing;

the DU sends a first message to the CU according to the first configuration information, wherein the first message comprises network slice configuration information of a plurality of first PLMNs;

the CU determines a first PLMN list of the target PLMN and a second PLMN list of PLMNs supporting network slicing according to the first message;

the CU sends first connection information to a 5G core network, wherein the first connection information comprises the second PLMN list;

the CU acquires first connection feedback information from the 5G core network, wherein the first connection feedback information comprises a first available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the second PLMN list;

the CU sends a second message to the DU, the second message comprising the first available PLMN list;

the DU generates access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, wherein the access restriction information is used for restricting the user equipment UE supporting the independent networking SA service from accessing the target PLMN;

the DU sends cell broadcast information to the UE, wherein the cell broadcast information comprises the access restriction information and PLMN access information used for informing the UE that the current NR cell supports PLMN, and the PLMN access information comprises the first available PLMN list and the first PLMN list.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an NR cell access method, which is applied to a mobile terminal, and the method includes:

acquiring access restriction information sent by a Distributed Unit (DU), wherein the access restriction information is sent by the DU according to the information sending method of the first aspect of the embodiment of the invention;

and selecting the NR cell accessed to the DU by the PLMN according to the access restriction information.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access network device, which includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the processor executes the computer program to implement the information sending method according to the first aspect of the embodiment of the present invention.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a mobile terminal, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the processor executes the computer program to implement the NR cell access method according to the third aspect of the embodiment of the present invention.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, which includes a centralized unit CU and a distributed unit DU,

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer-executable instructions, where the computer-executable instructions are used to execute the information sending method according to the first aspect of the embodiment of the present invention or the NR cell access method according to the third aspect of the embodiment of the present invention.

According to the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the target PLMN which does not support network slicing in the current shared NR cell PLMN is determined by acquiring the first configuration information of a plurality of first public land mobile network PLMNs sharing the new generation of radio access technology NR cell, and the target PLMNs only support NSA services and do not completely support SA services in the NR cell of the NSA/SA hybrid networking. And generating access restriction information corresponding to the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, and broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE so that the UE selects the PLMN used for accessing the NR cell according to the access restriction information.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system architecture provided herein;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an NSA/SA hybrid networking provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for sending information according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a specific method of step 320 of FIG. 3;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for sending information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method for sending information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a method for sending information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a method for sending information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method for NR cell access according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating initial cell activation establishment according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic flow chart of a modified PLMN provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a system block diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a system block diagram of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

It should be noted that although functional blocks are partitioned in a schematic diagram of an apparatus and a logical order is shown in a flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in a different order than the partitioning of blocks in the apparatus or the order in the flowchart. The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, and the drawings described above, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order.

The 5G system comprises a Non-independent network NSA (Non-Stand alone) and an independent network SA (Stand alone). Referring to fig. 1, an architecture diagram of an NSA/SA hybrid networking according to an exemplary embodiment includes a 4G base station and a 5G dual-mode base station, where the 5G dual-mode base station is connected to a 5G core network through a next generation ng (next generation) interface to implement SA networking, the 5G dual-mode base station is connected to the 4G base station through an X2 interface (interface between the base station and the base station in the LTE system), the 4G core network is connected to the 5G dual-mode base station through an S1-U interface (communication interface for establishing a user plane connection between the base station and the 4G core network in the LTE system through an S1-U interface), the 4G base station is connected to the 4G core network through an S1-C/U interface (communication interface for establishing a user plane and control panel connection between the base station and the 4G core network in the LTE system through an S1-C/U interface), and thus the 5G base station and the 4G base station form an NSA networking, public Land Mobile network (plmn) (public Land Mobile network) can provide wireless network service for NSA and SA users, the NSA carries NR system messages through 4G cells, and the SA broadcasts system messages by itself through the NR cells. If two NR cells of NSA/SA are separately constructed, two sets of cell logic resources are occupied, and coverage is carried out towards the same sector direction at the same time, so that the resource utilization rate is low.

In the architecture of the NSA/SA hybrid networking shown in fig. 1, the 5G dual-mode base station of the cell supports two protocol stacks of NSA and SA, and works in the same SA cell at the same time. The NR cell of the NSA and the NR cell of the SA cover virtually the same logical cell and share a cell ID, which provides access services to both NSA and SA users, which share all the resources of the logical cell. For example, the oval area indicated by the dotted line in fig. 1 is an LTE cell, the oval area indicated by the solid line is an NR cell, and the SA user (or user terminal UE supporting SA service) accesses the communication network by accessing the NR cell in the SA mode. For NSA users (or UE supporting NSA services), signaling communication with a 4G base station is realized through an LTE cell, data communication with a 5G dual-mode base station is realized through an NR cell, and NSA model access communication network is realized.

The 5G dual-mode base station supports a plurality of PLMNs to share one NR cell, so that the problem of low resource utilization rate can be solved, and the cost of network equipment is reduced. For the PLMN of the SA, a network slice (slice) needs to be configured and 5G core network support is required, whereas the PLMN of the NSA cell does not need to configure a network slice and only needs 4G core network support. That is, the PLMN for NSA service does not support all functions of SA networking, but in the same NR cell, the PLMN for NSA is also broadcast to the user of SA, which may result in the user of SA accessing the PLMN for NSA.

Therefore, embodiments of the present application provide an information sending method, an NR cell access method, an access network device, a mobile terminal, and a computer storage medium, which can prevent an SA user from accessing a PLMN of an NSA and improve communication quality.

Fig. 2 shows a networking structure to which the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied, and fig. 12 shows 5G networking. Under a Cloud radio access network (Cloud RAN) architecture, a RAN base station is separated into two components, namely a centralized unit CU (centralized unit) and a distributed unit DU (distributed unit), and an interface between the CU and the DU may be referred to as an F1 interface. Under the Cloud RAN architecture, data packets sent by UE arrive at DUs of a 5G dual-mode base station through NR air interfaces in a disordered mode, the DUs of the 5G dual-mode base station forward the disordered data packets to CUs of the 5G dual-mode base station through an F1 interface, and the CUs reorder the received data packets.

Referring to fig. 3, an information sending method provided in an exemplary embodiment of the present application is applied to a DU shown in fig. 2, and the method includes the following steps:

step 310, obtaining first configuration information of a plurality of first PLMNs sharing an NR cell, where the first configuration information is used to determine whether the first PLMN is a target PLMN that does not support network slicing.

In this step, the NR cell is a cell of an NSA/SA hybrid networking, and multiple PLMNs share the NR cell, because different UEs in an actual environment may be covered by different NR cells of different base stations, in this embodiment, multiple PLMNs sharing the NR cell of one DU as shown in fig. 2 are all referred to as a first PLMN, for example, if there are three PLMNs sharing the NR cell, there are three first PLMNs. The DU sends cell broadcast information in a broadcast mode, the UE starts up in a cell coverage range or is switched from a standby state to an active state, the PLMN is selected for access according to the cell broadcast information, usually the UE determines the frequency point of each PLMN for measurement according to the cell broadcast signal information, and the PLMN with the strongest signal is selected for access according to the measurement result. Since the DM is responsible for establishing and maintaining the individual PLMNs in the NR cell. Therefore, the DM may obtain configuration information of each PLMN in the cell in advance, where the configuration information may be set by an engineer or a maintenance person, or may be set according to an instruction of a core network or an instruction of another base station or a server, or may preset a rule, and automatically generate or adjust the configuration information according to an operation condition of the base station, accordingly, the configuration information of a plurality of first PLMNs sharing the NR cell in this step is first configuration information, each first PLMN has corresponding configuration information, the configuration information may include a plurality of configurations of the corresponding PLMNs, such as a PLMN identifier, a cell identifier, an operating frequency band, or a configuration of a scheduling message of a system message block SIB, and the first configuration information in this embodiment is whether the PLMN supports a configuration of a network slice, where a core requirement of a network slice (slice) for a bearer network is that different network slices need to have their own bearer subnets, different dedicated sub-carrier networks can be strictly hard resource isolation or soft isolation which achieves the effect of approximate hard isolation. Since the packet network cannot support hard isolation, in order to support the requirement of 5G network slicing, the packet network needs to perform slicing division on the underlying network resources to meet the requirements of different upper layer services.

For PLMNs supporting SA services, there may be a configuration of network slices, and for PLMNs of NSA services, there is no configuration of network slices, or the configuration of network slices is empty. According to the first configuration information, it can be distinguished which PLMNs support the SA service and which PLMNs do not support the SA service, for the PLMNs supporting the SA service, the first configuration information supports network slices, for the PLMNs not supporting the NSA service, the first configuration information does not support network slices, and these PLMNs not supporting the SA service are target PLMNs. Through the first configuration information of the PLMN, which PLMNs are configured with the network slices can be known, and the PLMN which is not configured with the network slices is the target PLMN.

And 320, generating access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, wherein the access restriction information is used for restricting the user equipment UE supporting the independent networking SA service from accessing the target PLMN.

Because the UE can obtain the frequency point of each first PLMN according to the cell broadcast information and select the corresponding PLMN for access according to the policy of the distribution network, generally, the policy is to access the NR cell by using the PLMN with the strongest signal. Therefore, the PLMN selection of the UE can be controlled theoretically only by broadcasting the access restriction information of the target PLMN to the UE in combination with the policy. For example, the access restriction information can change the measurement threshold of the SA user, so that the SA user cannot access the PLMN of the NSA service. In addition, in the 5G communication system, the SIB1 message of the cell broadcast message includes a generic access control UAC field, and the UAC may control the UE to access the PLMN. UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, target PLMN can be written into UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, for example, the target PLMN constitutes a first PLMN List and is written into UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, so as to restrict SA users from accessing the target PLMN in the first PLMN List, and in addition, control identification corresponding to the first PLMN List is also provided, for example, in an embodiment, the UAC field further has a UAC forbidden access factor corresponding to each item in UAC-BarringperPLMN-List: uac-BarringFactor, represented by PX (PX1, px2.. PXn), where X is from 0 to 100, PX represents the access probability of the corresponding target PLMN, e.g., P10 represents the access probability of 10%, and in this embodiment, in order to avoid the SA user accessing the target PLMN, uac-barringfactors corresponding to each target PLMN in uac-BarringperPLMN-List are all set to P00, representing that the access probability is 0. Since the UAC field is configured for the 5G access environment, the above configuration does not affect the NSA user to access the target PLMN.

Step 330, broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE.

In this step, the DU broadcasts the access restriction information to the UE via the cell broadcast information, for example, via the SIB1 message mentioned above. And after receiving the cell broadcast information, the UE completes the selection of the PLMN according to the SIB1 message, and since the SIB1 message is provided with the access restriction information, the SA user cannot access the target PLMN cell according to the access restriction information.

According to the information sending method provided by the embodiment of the application, the target PLMN which does not support network slicing in the current shared NR cell PLMN is determined by obtaining the first configuration information of a plurality of first public land mobile network PLMNs sharing the new generation of NR cell, and the target PLMNs only support NSA services and do not completely support SA services in the NR cell of the NSA/SA hybrid networking. And generating access restriction information corresponding to the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, and broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE so that the UE selects the PLMN used for accessing the NR cell according to the access restriction information.

In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 4, the step 320 includes the steps of:

step 410, determining a first PLMN list of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information.

In this step, the DU learns whether each first PLMN supports network slicing according to the first configuration information of each first PLMN of the shared NR cell, so that a target PLMN can be screened from the set of each first PLMN to form a first PLMN list, where the first PLMN list may be an empty set, for example, all first PLMNs support network slicing, and the first PLMN list or other PLMN lists described below may be represented in different manners, for example, may be represented in the form of a number set, an arrangement order table, a matrix, and the like.

Step 420, adding the first PLMN list to the PLMN control list, and configuring the control identifier corresponding to the first PLMN list as an access restriction.

In this step, the cell broadcast information to be broadcast to the UE includes a PLMN control list and a control identifier corresponding to each element in the PLMN control list. For example, in an embodiment, the PLMN control List is a UAC field in SIB1, UAC-BarringperPLMN-List in the UAC field is a PLMN control List, and UACuac-BarringFactor corresponding to each entry in UAC-BarringperPLMN-List is a control identifier. By writing the first PLMN List in step 410 into UAC-BarringperPLMN-List and configuring the UACuac-BarringFactor corresponding to each target PLMN as restricted access, that is, setting UACuac-BarringFactor to P00, it indicates that the probability of accessing the PLMN is 0, and since the UAC field is configured in the 5G access environment, the above configuration does not affect the NSA user to access the target PLMN, but can avoid the SA user from accessing the target PLMN that does not support slicing.

Referring to the network architecture shown in fig. 2, the DU sends PLMN access information to the UE through cell broadcast information to inform the UE of a PLMN that can be selected, and the UE completes PLMN selection and NR cell access according to the PLMN access information. In the 5G communication standard, for PLMNs supporting SA services, it is required to confirm that they can be supported by the 5G core network before broadcasting them to UEs. In the prior art, when networking is established, NG connection is established between a CU and a 5G core network, the CU sends an NG establishment request to the 5G core network, and the 5G core network feeds back information of all PLMNs supported by the 5G core network. In addition, the DU sends a list of all PLMNs supported by the DU to the CU, the CU determines a PLMN list supported by the 5G core network by comparing the PLMN list sent by the DU with the support list fed back by the 5G core network, the CU feeds back the PLMN list to the DU through an F1 interface, and the DU broadcasts according to the PLMN list. It can be seen that the current communication mechanism is not suitable for the case of NSA/SA hybrid networking, and a CU sends the PLMN of NSA to the 5G core network according to the existing mechanism, even if the PLMN is obviously not supported by the 5G core network, the signal is transmitted uselessly, and resources are wasted.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 5, before step 330, the method further includes the following steps:

step 510, sending a first message to the CU, the first message including network slice configuration information for a plurality of first PLMNs.

In this step, the DU may send a first message to the CU through the interface of F1, where the first message may be a SETUP REQUEST in the interface of F1, where the SETUP REQUEST includes a network Slice configuration field TAI Slice Support List of each PLMN, the DU fills the TAI Slice Support List according to the first configuration information, fills the TAI Slice Support List correspondingly for a PLMN whose network Slice configuration exists in the first configuration information, and fills no TAI Slice Support List for a target PLMN whose network Slice configuration does not exist in the first configuration information, so that the target PLMN is blank and unfilled.

Step 520, a second message from the CU is obtained, where the second message includes a first available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the plurality of first PLMNs.

After acquiring the first message, the CU may determine a first PLMN List of the target PLMN and a second PLMN List of PLMNs supporting the network Slice from the TAI Slice Support List, and the CU only needs to send the second PLMN List to the 5G core network for confirmation, and does not need to send the List of the target PLMN to the 5G core network for confirmation, thereby saving network resources. In an embodiment, the second message may also be referred to as an activation message, and is used to activate the PLMN of the DU.

The step 330 includes the following steps:

the first list of available PLMNs and the list of target PLMNs are broadcast 530 to the UE to inform the NR cells of PLMNs that support access.

In this step, the DU updates the first available PLMN list and the target PLMN list to SIB1, and broadcasts the updated list to the UE. Wherein the SIB1 further includes the access restriction information described in the above embodiments, for example, the UAC field information in SIB 1.

After receiving a second message fed back by the CU, the DU activates a corresponding PLMN according to a first available PLMN list and a target PLMN in the second message, where a total PLMN of the first available PLMN list is supported by the 5G core network, in other words, the CU screens out a first available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the second PLMN list by means of confirming to the 5G core network, or understands that an unavailable PLMN not supported by the 5G core network is removed from the second PLMN list, so that the first available PLMN list and the first PLMN list form a PLMN set that the current DU needs to be activated. The DU broadcasts the PLMN set to the UE to inform the UE that the current NR cell supports the accessed PLMN. Since the configuration information of the PLMN may be updated, for example, manually updated or automatically updated according to the current network environment and the distribution network policy, the cell broadcast information needs to be updated according to the updated configuration information to adapt to the updated network environment.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, the method further includes the following steps:

step 610, updating the first configuration information of the first PLMN to obtain the second configuration information.

In this step, the DU updates the first configuration information of the first PLMN, which may be to perform update configuration according to an instruction of a worker or a maintenance person, or the DU automatically updates the configuration information according to the current network environment. The configuration information of one or more first PLMNs may be updated to obtain second configuration information, where a format of the second configuration information is consistent with the first configuration information, and the second configuration information is also used to determine whether the first PLMN is a target PLMN that does not support network slicing.

Step 620, determining an updated target PLMN according to the second configuration information;

in this step, referring to the description of step 310, the DU determines, according to the description of whether the second configuration information supports the network slice, whether each first PLMN cell is a PLMN supporting the SA service or a PLMN supporting the NSA service, because the DU is a network device of the NSA/SA hybrid networking, the PLMN supporting the SA service and the PLMN supporting the NSA service can be partitioned and branched by the second configuration supporting the network slice, wherein in each first PLMN, the first PLMN that does not support the network slice forms a third PLMN list, and the first PLMN supporting the network slice forms a fourth PLMN list, and therefore the DU can determine the target PLMN after being updated according to the second configuration information.

Step 630, generating updated access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the second configuration information.

In this step, after the target PLMN is determined, the access restriction information needs to be updated, and the updated access restriction information is still used to restrict the UE supporting the SA service of the independent network from accessing the target PLMN. The updating method may refer to step 320 above, and determine to modify the UAC field in the SIB1 message according to the second configuration information, so that the UE supporting the SA service ignores or prohibits accessing the target PLMN when selecting the PLMN. UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, the updated third PLMN List can be written into UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, and in addition, a control identifier corresponding to the third PLMN List is also included in the UAC field, for example, in an embodiment, the UAC field further includes a UAC barring access factor corresponding to each item in UAC-BarringperPLMN-List: uac-BarringFactor, represented by PX (PX1, px2.. PXn), where X is from 0 to 100, PX represents the access probability of the corresponding target PLMN, e.g., P10 represents the access probability of 10%, and in this embodiment, in order to avoid the SA user accessing the target PLMN, uac-barringfactors corresponding to the third PLMN List in uac-BarringperPLMN-List are all set to P00, representing that the access probability is 0. Since the UAC field is configured for the 5G access environment, the above configuration does not affect the NSA user to access the target PLMN.

Step 640, broadcasting the updated access restriction information of the target PLMN to the UE.

In this step, the updated access restriction information of the target PLMN is broadcasted to the UE, for example, the SIB1 in the cell broadcast information is broadcasted, and the SIB1 includes the UAC field.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 7, the method further includes the following steps:

step 710, sending a third message to the CU, the third message including the updated network slice configuration information of the plurality of first PLMNs.

Since the configuration information of the PLMN in the NR cell is updated to the second configuration information, it is necessary to reconfirm whether the updated PLMN is supported by the 5G core network. The DU may send a third message to the CU through the interface of F1, where the third message may be a SETUP REQUEST in the interface of F1, where the SETUP REQUEST includes a network Slice configuration field TAI Slice Support List of each PLMN, the DU fills the TAI Slice Support List according to the second configuration information, and fills the TAI Slice Support List correspondingly for a PLMN whose network Slice configuration exists in the second configuration information, and fills no TAI Slice Support List for a target PLMN whose network Slice configuration does not exist in the second configuration information, so that the target PLMN is blank and unfilled.

Step 720, a fourth message is obtained from the CU, where the fourth message includes the updated second available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the plurality of first PLMNs.

After the CU acquires the third message, the CU may determine a third PLMN List of the target PLMN and a fourth PLMN List of PLMNs supporting the network Slice from the TAI Slice Support List, and since the CU already knows all available PLMNs from the feedback information of the 5G core network when establishing the NG connection, the CU may screen out the second available PLMN List supported by the 5G core network from the fourth PLMN List. The CU feeds back to the DU that the fourth message includes the second available PLMN list and the third PLMN list supported by the 5G core network. In an embodiment, the fourth message may also be referred to as an activation message, and is used to activate the PLMN of the DU.

Step 730, broadcasting the second available PLMN list and the updated target PLMN list to the UE to inform the NR cell of the PLMNs that the access is supported.

In this step, the DU updates the second available PLMN list and the third PLMN list to the SIB1, and broadcasts the updated list to the UE. Wherein the SIB1 further includes the access restriction information described in the above embodiments, for example, the UAC field information in SIB 1.

Referring to fig. 8, an embodiment of the present application provides an information sending method, applied to the communication system shown in fig. 2, including a centralized unit CU and a distributed unit DU, where the method includes:

step 810, the DU obtains first configuration information of a plurality of first PLMNs sharing the NR cell, where the first configuration information is used to determine whether the first PLMN is a target PLMN that does not support network slicing.

In this step, for PLMNs supporting SA service, there may be a configuration of network slices, and for PLMNs supporting NSA service, there is no configuration of network slices, or the configuration of network slices is empty. According to the first configuration information, the DU can distinguish which PLMNs support the SA service and which PLMNs do not support the SA service, for the PLMNs supporting the SA service, the first configuration information supports network slicing, for the PLMNs that do not support the SA service, the first configuration information does not support network slicing, and these PLMNs that do not support the SA service are target PLMNs. Through the first configuration information of the PLMN, which PLMNs are configured with the network slices can be known, and the PLMN which is not configured with the network slices is the target PLMN.

In step 820, the DU sends a first message to the CU according to the first configuration information, where the first message includes network slice configuration information of the plurality of first PLMNs.

In step 830, the CU determines a first PLMN list of the target PLMN and a second PLMN list of PLMNs that support network slicing according to the first message.

In this step, after obtaining the first message, the CU may determine, from the TAI Slice Support List, a first PLMN List of the target PLMN and a second PLMN List of a PLMN supporting the network Slice.

In step 840, the CU sends first connection information to the 5G core network, the first connection information including the second PLMN list.

In this step, the CU sends first connection information to the 5G core network, where the first connection information is used to confirm, to the 5G core network, the PLMN supported by the 5G core network in the second PLMN list. The CU may send this first connection information to the 5G core network independently, also in the NG SETUP REQUEST information NG SETUP REQUEST. Since the CU only needs to send the second PLMN list to the 5G core network for confirmation, and does not need to send all PLMN lists to the 5G core network for confirmation, network resources can be saved.

Step 850, the CU obtains first connection feedback information from the 5G core network, where the first connection feedback information includes a first available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the list of the second PLMN;

in this step, the 5G core network sends, in response to the first connection information sent by the CU, first connection feedback information to the CU, where the first connection feedback information includes a first available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the second PLMN list, which is equivalent to the first available PLMN list formed by the 5G core network screening the supported PLMN list from the second PLMN list.

In step 860, the CU sends a second message to the DU, the second message including the first list of available PLMNs.

In this step, the CU sends a second message to the DU according to the first connection feedback information fed back by the 5G core network, where the second message includes a first available PLMN list.

Step 870, the DU generates access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, where the access restriction information is used to restrict the UE supporting the SA service of the independent networking from accessing the target PLMN;

in this step, the cell broadcast information to be broadcast to the UE includes a PLMN control list and a control identifier corresponding to each element in the PLMN control list. For example, in an embodiment, the PLMN control List is a UAC field in SIB1, and UAC-BarringperPLMN-List in the UAC field is a UACuac-BarringFactor in the PLMN control List corresponding to each entry in UAC-BarringperPLMN-List as a control identifier. By writing the first PLMN List into the UAC-BarringperPLMN-List and configuring the UACuac-BarringFactor corresponding to each target PLMN as restricted access, that is, setting the UACuac-BarringFactor to P00, it indicates that the probability of accessing the PLMN is 0, and since the UAC field is configured in a 5G access environment, the above configuration does not affect the NSA user to access the target PLMN, but can avoid the SA user from accessing the target PLMN that does not support slicing.

Step 880, the DU sends cell broadcast information to the UE, where the cell broadcast information includes access restriction information and PLMN access information for informing the UE that the current NR cell supports PLMN, and the PLMN access information includes a first available PLMN list and a first PLMN list.

In the information sending method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the DU determines, by obtaining first configuration information of a plurality of first public land mobile networks PLMN of an NR cell, a target PLMN that does not support a network slice in a current shared NR cell PLMN, where the target PLMNs only support an NSA service and do not completely support an SA service in an NR cell of an NSA/SA hybrid networking. And generating access restriction information corresponding to the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, and broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE so that the UE selects the PLMN used for accessing the NR cell according to the access restriction information. In addition, when the CU establishes communication with the 5G core network, only the PLMN supporting the SA service needs to be uploaded and checked, and compared with the prior art that all PLMNs are sent and transmitted, the system resources can be effectively saved.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 9, the step 880 is followed by the following steps:

step 910, updating the first configuration information of the first PLMN with the DU to obtain the second configuration information;

Step 920, the DU sends a third message to the CU according to the second configuration information, where the third message includes updated network slice configuration information of the plurality of first PLMNs.

In this step, the DU may send a third message to the CU through the interface of F1, where the third message may be an establishment REQUEST SETUP REQUEST in the interface of F1, where the SETUP REQUEST includes a network Slice configuration field TAI Slice Support List of each PLMN, the DU fills the TAI Slice Support List according to the second configuration information, fills the TAI Slice Support List correspondingly for a PLMN whose network Slice configuration exists in the second configuration information, and fills no TAI Slice Support List for a target PLMN whose network Slice configuration does not exist in the second configuration information, so that the target PLMN is blank and not filled.

Step 930, the CU determines, according to the third message, the updated third PLMN list of the target PLMN and the fourth PLMN list of the PLMN supporting the network slicing;

in this step, after obtaining the third message, the CU may determine a third PLMN List of the target PLMN and a fourth PLMN List of PLMNs supporting the network Slice from the TAI Slice Support List.

Step 940, the CU determines a second available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the fourth PLMN list according to the fourth PLMN list;

in this step, since the CU already knows all available PLMNs from the feedback information of the 5G core network when establishing the NG connection, the CU can screen out the second available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network from the fourth PLMN list.

In step 950, the CU sends a fourth message to the DU, the fourth message including the second available PLMN list.

In this step, the CU feeds back, to the DU, a fourth message including a second available PLMN list and a third PLMN list supported by the 5G core network. In an embodiment, the fourth message may also be referred to as an activation message, and is used to activate the PLMN of the DU.

Step 960, the DU generates updated access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the second configuration information;

in this step, after the target PLMN is determined, the access restriction information needs to be updated, and the updated access restriction information is still used to restrict the UE supporting the SA service of the independent network from accessing the target PLMN. And determining and modifying a UAC field in the SIB1 message according to the second configuration information, so that the UE supporting the SA service ignores or forbids accessing the target PLMN when selecting the PLMN.

UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, the updated third PLMN List can be written into UAC-BarringperPLMN-List, and in addition, a control identifier corresponding to the third PLMN List is also included, for example, in an embodiment, the UAC field further includes a UAC barring access factor corresponding to each item in UAC-BarringperPLMN-List: uac-BarringFactor, represented by PX (PX1, px2.. PXn), where X is from 0 to 100, PX represents the access probability of the corresponding target PLMN, e.g., P10 represents the access probability of 10%, and in this embodiment, in order to avoid the SA user accessing the target PLMN, uac-barringfactors corresponding to the third PLMN List in uac-BarringperPLMN-List are all set to P00, representing that the access probability is 0. Since the UAC field is configured for the 5G access environment, the above configuration does not affect the NSA user to access the target PLMN.

Step 970, the DU sends cell broadcast information to the UE, where the cell broadcast information includes access restriction information and updated PLMN access information, and the PLMN access information includes a second available PLMN list and a third PLMN list.

Referring to fig. 10, an embodiment of the present application provides an NR cell access method, which is applied to a mobile terminal, and the method includes the following steps:

step 1010, obtaining the access restriction information sent by the DU.

In this step, the access restriction information is sent by the communication system that includes the DU or the CU and the DU according to the information sending method according to any of the above embodiments of the present application. For example, the DU sends the access restriction information to the UE through the information sending method described in the above embodiments in steps 310 to 330, 410 to 420, 510 to 530, 610 to 640, and 710 to 730. For another example, in the communication system composed of the CU and the DU shown in fig. 2, the access restriction information is sent in steps 810 to 880, 910 to 960 in the above embodiment.

In one embodiment, the access restriction information is carried in a SIB1 message broadcasted by the DU to the UE, the SIB1 includes a generic access control, UAC, field, and the UAC field includes a UAC public restriction PLMN List of UAC-BarringperPLMN-List and its corresponding UAC barring access factor: uac-BarringFactor, the UE acquires the SIB1 message and reads a first PLMN List in uac-BarringperPLMN-Lis, where the first PLMN List records information of a PLMN that does not support network slicing (i.e., a target PLMN), and uac-BarringFactor records a control identifier corresponding to uac-BarringperPLMN-List, where the control identifier corresponding to the first PLMN List is set to limit access, for example, the access probability of the first PLMN List is configured to be 0, and the corresponding uac-BarringFactor sets a parameter to be P00.

Step 1020, selecting the NR cell where the PLMN accesses the DU according to the access restriction information.

After the UE acquires uac-barringperPLMN-List and uac-barringFactor corresponding to the same from the SIB1, the UE will not connect to the target PLMN which does not support the network slice in the first PLMN List.

Referring to fig. 2, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a centralized unit CU and a distributed unit DU,

the method comprises the steps that DU (data Unit) acquires first configuration information of a plurality of first PLMNs (public land Mobile networks) sharing NR cells, wherein the first configuration information is used for determining whether the first PLMN is a target PLMN which does not support network slicing;

the CU determines a first PLMN list of the target PLMN and a second PLMN list of the PLMN supporting the network slice according to the first message;

the CU sends first connection information to the 5G core network, wherein the first connection information comprises a second PLMN list;

the CU acquires first connection feedback information from the 5G core network, wherein the first connection feedback information comprises a first available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in a second PLMN list;

the CU sends a second message to the DU, wherein the second message comprises a first available PLMN list;

the DU generates access limiting information of a target PLMN according to the first configuration information, wherein the access limiting information is used for limiting the user equipment UE supporting the independent networking SA service to access the target PLMN;

and the DU sends cell broadcast information to the UE, wherein the cell broadcast information comprises access restriction information and PLMN access information used for informing the UE that the current NR cell supports the PLMN, and the PLMN access information comprises a first available PLMN list and a first PLMN list.

In an embodiment, the DU updates first configuration information of the first PLMN to obtain second configuration information;

the DU sends a third message to the CU according to the second configuration information, wherein the third message comprises updated network slice configuration information of the plurality of first PLMNs;

the CU determines a third PLMN list of the updated target PLMN and a fourth PLMN list of the PLMNs supporting the network slicing according to the third message;

the CU determines a second available PLMN list supported by the 5G core network in the fourth PLMN list according to the fourth PLMN list;

the CU sends a fourth message to the DU, wherein the fourth message comprises a second available PLMN list;

the DU generates updated access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the second configuration information;

and the DU sends cell broadcast information to the UE, wherein the cell broadcast information comprises access restriction information and updated PLMN access information, and the PLMN access information comprises a second available PLMN list and a third PLMN list.

Referring to fig. 11 and 12, an embodiment of an overall flow of the entire PLMN configuration, identification and information transmission method is described below with reference to the UE, DU, CU and 5G core networks.

Referring to fig. 11, in an embodiment of a procedure for initially establishing cell activation, a preset condition is that a DU configures an NR cell, and the NR cell is shared by PLMN _1, PLMN _2, and PLMN _3, where configuration information of PLMN _1 and PLMN _2 is configured with a network slice function, PLMN _3 is not configured with a network slice function, and a 5G core network supports PLMN _1 and its network slices, including the following steps:

step 1100: the DU sends the PLMN information of the NR cell to the CU via F1 SETUP REQUEST, where TAI Slice Support lists of PLMN _1 and PLMN _2 fill in the relevant Slice and TAI Slice Support List of PLMN _3 is empty.

Step 1101: and the CU initiates NG establishment information SETUP REQUEST to the 5G core network to obtain the information of the PLMN _1 supported by the 5G core network. The CU obtains a PLMN whose PLMN _3 is NSA according to PLMN information of the NR cell sent by the DU through F1, and then obtains a PLMN _1 as a PLMN supporting SA service and a PLMN _2 as an unavailable PLMN according to 5G core network information.

Step 1102: the CU replies to create connection feedback information SETUP RESPONSE through the F1 interface and fills PLMN _1 and PLMN _3 in the Available PLMN list in the cell activation information.

Step 1103: after receiving the DU, the PLMN _1 and the PLMN _3 are updated to the SIB1, and the DU knows that the PLMN _3 is not configured with slices according to the local configuration, that is, the PLMN of the NSA service, adds a PLMN _3 index and all service types to UAC-BarringPerPLMN-List in UAC-BarringInfo of the SIB1, and sets UAC-BarringFactor in the corresponding UAC-BarringInfo set to p00, indicating that the probability of the PLMN service attempt by the UE is 0, and finally, the DU broadcasts the SIB1 to the UE.

Referring to fig. 12, in order to modify the embodiment of the flow of PLMN configuration, a preset condition is that after the above embodiment of the flow of initially establishing cell activation is completed, PLMN _2 slice information of an NR cell is deleted, configured as an NSA service PLMN, and then activated to take effect.

The method comprises the following steps:

step 1200: and the DU sends the PLMN information of the NR cell to the CU through base station CONFIGURATION UPDATE information GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE, wherein the TAI Slice Support List of the PLMN _1 fills the relevant Slice, and the TAI Slice Support List of the PLMN _2 and the PLMN _3 is not filled in the blank.

Step 1201: and if the CU sends Cell information to the DU through the F1 interface, judging that the PLMN _2 and the PLMN _3 are the PLMNs of the NSA, and then obtaining the PLMN _1 which is the PLMN supporting the SA service according to the 5G core network information. And the CU replies base station CONFIGURATION UPDATE information GNB-DU CONFIGURATION UPDATE ACK and fills PLMN _1, PLMN _2 and PLMN _3 into an Available PLMN list in the Cell activation information.

Step 1202: after the DU is received, the PLMN _1, the PLMN _2, and the PLMN _3 are updated to the SIB1, and it is known that the PLMN _2 and the PLMN _3 are not configured with the slice according to the local configuration, a uac-barr function is added to the PLMN _2 and the PLMN _3 for the NSA service PLMN, as described in step 103, and then the SIB1 is broadcasted to the UE.

Referring to fig. 13, an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the processor executes the computer program to implement the information transmission method according to any one of the above embodiments.

Referring to fig. 14, the mobile terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the processor executes the computer program to implement the NR cell access method according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention.

A computer-readable storage medium provided in an embodiment of the present application stores computer-executable instructions, where the computer-executable instructions are configured to execute the information sending method described in any of the above embodiments, or execute the NR cell access method described in any of the above embodiments.

The above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, wherein the units illustrated as separate components may or may not be physically separate, i.e. may be located in one place, or may also be distributed over a plurality of network elements. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the present embodiment.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps, systems, and methods disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and suitable combinations thereof. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, digital signal processor, or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on computer readable media, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). The term computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by a computer. In addition, communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media as known to those skilled in the art.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and those skilled in the art can make various equivalent modifications or substitutions without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and such equivalent modifications or substitutions are included in the scope of the present invention defined by the claims.

Claims

1. An information sending method applied to a Distributed Unit (DU), the method comprising:

broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE.

2. The method of claim 1,

the broadcasting the access restriction information to the UE includes:

and sending cell broadcast information containing the access restriction information to the UE.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the cell broadcast information comprises a system information block, SIB1, wherein the SIB1 comprises a PLMN control list and its corresponding control identity for controlling the UE to access the NR cell;

the generating of the access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information specifically includes:

determining a first PLMN list of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information;

and adding the first PLMN list into the PLMN control list, and configuring a control identifier corresponding to the first PLMN list as access restriction so as to restrict the UE supporting the SA service from accessing the target PLMN.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a first message to a centralized unit CU, the first message comprising network slice configuration information for a plurality of the first PLMNs;

acquiring a second message from the CU, wherein the second message comprises a first available PLMN list supported by a 5G core network in a plurality of first PLMNs;

broadcasting the first list of available PLMNs and the list of target PLMNs to the UE to inform the NR cell of PLMNs supporting access.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

updating the first configuration information of the first PLMN to obtain second configuration information;

determining the updated target PLMN according to the second configuration information;

generating updated access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the second configuration information;

broadcasting the updated access restriction information of the target PLMN to the UE.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending a third message to the CU, the third message including updated network slice configuration information for the plurality of first PLMNs;

acquiring a fourth message from the CU, wherein the fourth message comprises an updated second available PLMN list supported by a 5G core network in the plurality of first PLMNs;

broadcasting the second available PLMN list and the updated list of target PLMNs to the UE to inform the NR cell of PLMNs supporting access.

7. An information sending method applied to a communication system, wherein the communication system comprises a centralized unit CU and a distributed unit DU, and the method comprises the following steps:

the CU sends a second message to the DU, the second message comprising the first available PLMN list; the DU generates access restriction information of the target PLMN according to the first configuration information, wherein the access restriction information is used for restricting the user equipment UE supporting the independent networking SA service from accessing the target PLMN;

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the DU updates the first configuration information of the first PLMN to obtain second configuration information;

the DU sends a third message to the CU according to the second configuration information, wherein the third message comprises updated network slice configuration information of the first PLMNs;

the CU determines a third PLMN list of the target PLMN after updating and a fourth PLMN list of the PLMN supporting the network slice according to the third message;

the CU sends a fourth message to the DU, the fourth message comprising the second available PLMN list;

and the DU sends cell broadcast information to the UE, wherein the cell broadcast information comprises the access restriction information and updated PLMN access information, and the PLMN access information comprises the second available PLMN list and the third PLMN list.

9. An NR cell access method applied to a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

acquiring access restriction information sent by a Distributed Unit (DU), wherein the access restriction information is sent by the DU according to the information sending method of any one of claims 1 to 6;

10. An access network device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the information transmitting method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 when executing the computer program.

11. A mobile terminal comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the NR cell access method of claim 9 when executing the computer program.

12. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the information transmitting method of any one of claims 1 to 6 or performing the NR cell access method of claim 9.