CN106998573A

CN106998573A - Load equalization method and device in a kind of carrier aggregation system

Info

Publication number: CN106998573A
Application number: CN201610049277.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 齐丙花; 刘蓉; 张超; 徐明宇
Original assignee: China Academy of Telecommunications Technology CATT
Current assignee: China Academy of Telecommunications Technology CATT; Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-01-25
Filing date: 2016-01-25
Publication date: 2017-08-01
Anticipated expiration: 2036-01-25
Also published as: CN106998573B

Abstract

The invention discloses the load equalization method in a kind of carrier aggregation system and device, for solving to carry out the problem of load balancing can cause the interruption of customer service using fast transfer mode in the prior art.Method includes：Within each load balancing cycle, the balanced cell in source for needing to carry out load balancing and load balancing direction are determined, and from the corresponding member carrier cell of the balanced cell in source, determines the balanced cell of at least one target that the load balancing of the balanced cell in source is arrived；The balanced cell in source is determined on load balancing direction, it is necessary to the first load shifted to the balanced cell of each target；According to corresponding first load of the balanced cell of each target, from support load balancing direction carrier aggregation and using the balanced cell in source as in PCell user equipment, at least one user equipment is selected, and load of the selected user equipment in the balanced cell in source is transferred on the SCell of selected user equipment.

Description

Load balancing method and device in carrier aggregation system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a load balancing method and apparatus in a carrier aggregation system.

Background

In order to improve the transmission rate of the system and meet the peak rate requirement of a user, a Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology is introduced into an enhanced long term Evolution (LTE-a) system, that is, a mode of aggregating a plurality of small-bandwidth Component Carriers (CC) is adopted to expand the system bandwidth into a larger system bandwidth.

In an LTE-A CA system, a base station necessarily configures a plurality of member carriers with different frequency bands to form networking scenes such as complete same coverage, concentric circle large-circle coverage or non-concentric circle partial overlapping coverage. In these CA coverage scenarios, there are multiple component carriers, and there may be terminals on each component carrier that Rel-8/9 release does not support carrier aggregation, or there may be terminals that Rel-10 and above Rel-10 release support carrier aggregation.

In order to realize load balancing, in an LTE Rel-8/9 common-frequency single-layer network or an LTE dual-carrier hierarchical network, different balancing operations need to be performed on users in an idle state and a connected state. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: for an idle terminal, load balancing can be realized by means of adjusting cell selection/reselection parameters, frequency priority and the like; for the connected terminal, when the load between the adjacent cells or the overlapped cells in the network is not balanced, the switching means is mainly adopted to transfer part of the terminals in the cell with the heavier load to the cell with the smaller load for service, thereby realizing the load balance between the cells.

In the prior art, for a connected user in an LTE Rel-8/9 common-frequency single-layer network, Load Balancing may be implemented through a Mobility Load Balancing (MLB) policy. For a connected user in an LTE double-carrier hierarchical network, load balancing can be realized through a balancing strategy of quick switching. And carrying out load adjustment on the terminals in the connection state in the cells with the same coverage or the cells with part of the same coverage in a fast switching (without measurement and reporting) mode. However, the load balancing by using the fast handover method may cause interruption of user services, and may even cause call drop and handover failure, which has a large impact on network performance index and user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a load balancing method and a load balancing device in a carrier aggregation system, which are used for solving the problems that in the prior art, the interruption of user services, even possible call drop and switching failure are caused by adopting a quick switching mode to carry out load balancing.

In a first aspect, a method for load balancing in a carrier aggregation system includes:

determining a source balancing cell needing load balancing and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell in each load balancing period, and determining at least one target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced from member carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell;

determining a first load amount of the source equalizing cell to be transferred to each target equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction;

according to the first load amount corresponding to each target balance cell, selecting at least one user equipment from the user equipments supporting the load balance direction carrier aggregation and taking the source balance cell as a primary cell PCell, and transferring the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source balance cell to an auxiliary cell SCell of the selected user equipment, so that the cumulative received load amount of each target balance cell reaches the first load amount corresponding to the target balance cell, wherein the SCell configured and activated for the selected user equipment is at least one of the determined target balance cells.

In a possible implementation manner, determining a source balancing cell that needs to perform load balancing and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell in each load balancing cycle includes:

determining a cell with an uplink load amount larger than a set absolute threshold as the source balance cell, and determining the load balance direction as an uplink; or determining the cell with the downlink load amount larger than the absolute threshold as the source balance cell, and determining the load balance direction as downlink;

or

Determining a cell with an uplink load amount larger than a set absolute threshold, determining a cell with the highest uplink load amount as the source balance cell, and determining the load balance direction as an uplink; or determining a cell with the downlink load amount larger than a set absolute threshold, determining a cell with the highest downlink load amount as the source balance cell, and determining the load balance direction as downlink.

In a possible implementation manner, if both the uplink load amount and the downlink load amount of any cell are greater than the absolute threshold, determining the load balancing direction of the source balancing cell includes:

and determining the load balancing direction corresponding to the maximum value in the uplink load quantity and the downlink load quantity of any cell as the load balancing direction of the source balancing cell.

In a possible implementation manner, determining a target balanced cell to which the load of the source balanced cell is balanced from the component carrier cells corresponding to the source balanced cell includes:

selecting the first N member carrier cells with the load quantity arranged in the order from small to large in the load balancing direction from the member carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell as candidate target balancing cells, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

and selecting the candidate target equalizing cells with the load quantity lower than the minimum value of the load quantity of the source equalizing cell and a set high load threshold from the N candidate target equalizing cells, wherein the difference value between the load quantity and the load quantity of the source equalizing cell is larger than a set relative threshold, and taking the candidate target equalizing cells as the target equalizing cells.

In a possible implementation manner, determining a first load amount that the source balancing cell needs to transfer to each target balancing cell in the load balancing direction includes:

determining a second load quantity which can be balanced to each target balance cell by the source balance cell in the load balancing direction according to the principle that the load quantities of the source balance cell and the target balance cell in the load balancing direction are equal after load balancing; determining a third load amount of each target balance cell, which allows the source balance cell to transfer to the target balance cell in the load balance direction, according to the principle that the load amount of the target balance cell in the load balance direction after load balance is less than or equal to a set high load threshold;

and for each target balance cell, selecting the load quantity with the smallest value from the second load quantity and the third load quantity, and determining the first load quantity which needs to be transferred to the target balance cell in the load balance direction of the source balance cell.

In a possible implementation manner, selecting at least one user equipment from the user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and using the source balancing cell as the PCell includes:

selecting at least one user equipment from the first set, so that the load amount received by each target equalizing cell after the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source equalizing cell is transferred reaches a first load amount corresponding to the target equalizing cell;

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, the first set includes a user equipment which supports carrier aggregation in the uplink direction and a downlink direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, has configured at least one target balancing cell as an SCell in the uplink direction and the downlink direction of the user equipment, but has not activated the SCell, and a user equipment which supports carrier aggregation in the uplink direction and the downlink direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, and has configured at least one target balancing cell as an SCell in the downlink direction of the user equipment;

if the load balancing direction is a downlink direction, the first set includes user equipment which at least supports carrier aggregation in the downlink direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, and has configured at least one target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment but has not activated the SCell.

In a possible implementation manner, after selecting at least one user equipment, before transferring the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source balancing cell to the SCell of the selected user equipment, the method further includes:

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, activating an SCell of the selected user equipment for the user equipment which is selected from the first set and is configured with at least one SCell in the uplink direction and the downlink direction of the user equipment but not activated with the SCell; or for the user equipment which is selected from the first set and has configured at least one target balance cell as the SCell in the downlink direction of the user equipment, reconfiguring the selected SCell in the uplink direction and the downlink direction through RRC reconfiguration, and activating the reconfigured SCell of the user equipment;

and if the load balancing direction is a downlink direction, activating the SCell of the selected user equipment for the user equipment selected from the first set.

In a possible implementation manner, selecting at least one user equipment from the user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and using the source balancing cell as the PCell further includes:

if the load quantity of all the user equipment in the first set on the source equalizing cell is transferred, at least one target equalizing cell still exists, and the accumulated received load quantity of the target equalizing cell does not reach the first load quantity corresponding to the target equalizing cell, at least one user equipment is selected from the second set, so that the sum of the load quantities of the selected user equipment on the source equalizing cell is larger than or equal to the residual equalizing load quantity of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction, wherein the residual equalizing load quantity of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is the load quantity obtained by subtracting the received load quantity of each target equalizing cell from the sum of the first load quantity corresponding to each target equalizing cell;

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, the second set includes a user equipment which supports carrier aggregation in the uplink direction and the downlink direction, uses the source balancing cell as a PCell, does not configure any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and does not report an a2 measurement report, and a user equipment which supports carrier aggregation in the uplink direction and the downlink direction, uses the source balancing cell as a PCell, does not configure any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and reports an a2 measurement report;

if the load balancing direction is a downlink direction, the second set includes at least a user equipment which supports carrier aggregation in the downlink direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, has not configured any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and has not reported an a2 measurement report, and a user equipment which supports carrier aggregation in the downlink direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, has not configured any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and has reported an a2 measurement report.

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, configuring the selected user equipment to perform SCell measurement for the user equipment selected from the second set and not reporting an a2 measurement report, selecting a target balancing cell with the lowest current load amount from target balancing cells meeting SCell configuration conditions according to the measurement report reported by the selected user equipment as the SCell of the selected user equipment, performing uplink direction and downlink direction reconfiguration for the SCell of the selected user equipment, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment; for the user equipment selected from the second set and reporting the A2 measurement report, according to the measurement report reported by the selected user equipment, selecting a target balance cell with the lowest current load quantity from target balance cells meeting the SCell configuration condition as the SCell of the selected user equipment, reconfiguring the selected SCell of the user equipment in the uplink direction and the downlink direction, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment;

if the load balancing direction is a downlink direction, configuring the selected user equipment to perform SCell measurement for the user equipment selected from the second set and not reporting an a2 measurement report, selecting a target balancing cell with the lowest current load amount from target balancing cells meeting SCell configuration conditions according to the measurement report reported by the selected user equipment as the SCell of the selected user equipment, performing downlink direction reconfiguration on the SCell of the selected user equipment, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment; and for the user equipment selected from the second set and reporting the A2 measurement report, according to the measurement report reported by the selected user equipment, selecting a target balance cell with the lowest current load quantity from target balance cells meeting the SCell configuration condition as the SCell of the selected user equipment, reconfiguring the SCell of the selected user equipment in the downlink direction, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment.

In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

after shifting the load amount of all user equipments in the second set on the source equalizing cell, the difference between the residual load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction and the set absolute threshold is smaller than the set offset, and from the third set, selecting at least one user equipment until the residual load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is less than or equal to a set absolute threshold, or the residual equalizing load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is 0, or all the user equipments in the third set are selected, the remaining load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is obtained by subtracting the load amount of the selected user equipment in the source equalizing cell from the initial load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction;

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, the third set includes user equipment which does not support carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction but supports reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, and has configured at least one target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment in a reverse direction of the load balancing direction but has not been activated; the user equipment which does not support the carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction but supports the reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction or does not support the carrier aggregation, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, does not configure any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and does not report an A2 measurement report; the user equipment which does not support the carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction but supports the reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction or does not support the carrier aggregation, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, does not configure any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and reports an A2 measurement report; the method comprises the steps that carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction is not supported, reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction is supported, the source balancing cell is taken as a PCell, at least one target balancing cell is configured as an SCell of the user equipment in the reverse direction of the load balancing direction, and the user equipment is activated;

if the load balancing direction is a downlink direction, the third set comprises user equipment which does not support carrier aggregation, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell and does not report an A2 measurement report; and the user equipment does not support carrier aggregation, takes the source balance cell as a PCell, and reports an A2 measurement report.

for the user equipment selected from the third set and configured with at least one target balance cell as the SCell of the user equipment in the opposite direction of the load balancing direction, determining that the received load amount of the configured target balance cell of the selected user equipment in the opposite direction of the load balancing direction is smaller than a fourth load amount allowed to be received by the target balance cell in the opposite direction of the load balancing direction, and performing inter-frequency handover processing on the selected user equipment to handover the selected user equipment to the SCell thereof;

configuring pilot frequency measurement for the selected user equipment for the user equipment which is selected from the third set and is not configured with any target equalizing cell as the SCell of the user equipment, judging that the selected user equipment meets the pilot frequency switching condition according to the received measurement report, and switching the selected user equipment to any target equalizing cell when the load quantity received by any target equalizing cell in the reverse direction of the load equalizing direction is smaller than a fourth load quantity allowed to be received by any target equalizing cell in the reverse direction of the load equalizing direction.

In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

determining a fourth amount of load each target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction.

In a possible implementation manner, determining a fourth load amount that each target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction includes:

for each target equalizing cell, determining a fifth load amount allowed by the target equalizing cell to be transferred to the target equalizing cell by the source equalizing cell according to the principle that the load amount of the equalized target equalizing cell in the direction opposite to the load equalizing direction is less than or equal to a set high load threshold; determining a sixth load amount allowed to be received by the target balancing cell according to the principle that the load amount of the target balancing cell in the direction opposite to the load balancing direction is less than or equal to a set absolute threshold; determining a seventh load amount allowed to be received by the target equalizing cell according to the principle that the difference value between the load amount of the target equalizing cell in the reverse direction of the load equalizing direction and the load amount of the source equalizing cell in the reverse direction of the load equalizing direction is less than or equal to a set relative threshold;

and determining a fourth load amount allowed to be received by the target balancing cell in the direction opposite to the load balancing direction according to the fifth load amount, the sixth load amount and the seventh load amount.

In a possible implementation manner, according to the fifth load amount, the sixth load amount, and the seventh load amount, a fourth load amount that the target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction is determined according to the following formula:

wherein, △_{1_i}Indicating a fourth load amount corresponding to the ith target equalization cell, △_{1,1_i}Indicates a fifth load amount corresponding to the ith target balance cell, △_{2,1_i}Indicating a sixth load amount corresponding to the ith target equalization cell, △_{3,1_i}Represents the seventh load quantity, Eff, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_CC1Indicating a cell spectral efficiency, Eff, of the source balance cell in a direction opposite to the load balance direction_CCiIndicating the cell spectral efficiency, N, of the ith target balance cell in the direction opposite to the load balance direction_{PRB_CC1}The number of PRBs available for the source balance cell in the reverse direction of the load balance direction is represented as N_{PRB_CCi}And the number of available PRBs of the ith target balance cell in the reverse direction of the load balance direction is represented, i is 2, …, and L +1, where L represents the total number of target balance cells.

In a possible implementation, the use if selected from said second setNumber of user equipments M₂>0, and the number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃If 0, the total number M of the selected user equipments is: m is M₁+MIN(M₂*α,M_{2_final}) Wherein M is₁For the number of user devices selected from the first set, α is a set amplification factor, α ≧ 1, M_{2_final}Is the total number of user equipments comprised in the second set;

if the number M of user equipments selected from the second set₂>0, and the number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃>0, then the total number M of selected user equipments is: m is M₁+M₂+MIN(M₂*(α-1)+M₃*α,M_{3_final}) Wherein M is_{3_final}Is the total number of user equipments comprised in the third set.

In a second aspect, an apparatus for load balancing in a carrier aggregation system, the apparatus includes:

the first processing module is used for determining a source balancing cell which needs to be subjected to load balancing and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell in each load balancing period, and determining at least one target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced from member carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell;

the second processing module is used for determining a first load amount which needs to be transferred to each target balance cell by the source balance cell in the load balance direction;

and a third processing module, configured to select at least one user equipment from the user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and having the source balancing cell as a primary cell PCell according to the first load amount corresponding to each target balancing cell, and transfer the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source balancing cell to an auxiliary cell SCell of the selected user equipment, so that the cumulative received load amount of each target balancing cell reaches the first load amount corresponding to the target balancing cell, where the SCell configured and activated for the selected user equipment is at least one of the determined target balancing cells.

In a possible implementation manner, the first processing module is specifically configured to:

or

In a possible implementation manner, the second processing module is specifically configured to:

In a possible implementation manner, the third processing module is specifically configured to:

In a possible implementation manner, the third processing module is further configured to:

In a possible implementation, the second processing module is further configured to

In a possible implementation manner, the second processing module determines a fourth load amount that the target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction according to the following formula:

In a possible implementation, the number of user equipments M if selected from the second set₂>0, and the number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃If 0, the total number M of the selected user equipments is: m is M₁+MIN(M₂*α,M_{2_final}) Wherein M is₁For the number of user devices selected from the first set, α is a set amplification factor, α ≧ 1, M_{2_final}Is the total number of user equipments comprised in the second set;

In a third aspect, a base station includes a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein:

a processor for reading the program in the memory, performing the following operations:

determining a source balancing cell needing load balancing and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell in each load balancing period, and determining at least one target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced from member carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell; determining a first load amount of the source equalizing cell to be transferred to each target equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction; according to a first load amount corresponding to each target balance cell, selecting at least one user equipment from user equipment which supports the load balance direction carrier aggregation and takes the source balance cell as a primary cell PCell, and transferring the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source balance cell to an auxiliary cell SCell of the selected user equipment so as to enable the load amount received by each target balance cell in an accumulated mode to reach the first load amount corresponding to the target balance cell, wherein the SCell configured and activated for the selected user equipment is at least one of the determined target balance cells;

a transceiver for receiving and transmitting data under the control of the processor.

In a possible implementation, the processor specifically performs:

or

In a possible implementation, the processor specifically performs:

In a possible implementation, the processor further performs:

In a possible implementation, the processor specifically performs:

In a possible implementation manner, the processor determines a fourth load amount that the target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction according to the following formula:

if the number M of user equipments selected from the second set₂>0, and the number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃>0, then the total number M of selected user equipments is: m is M₁+M₂+MIN(M₂*(α-1)+M₃*α,M_{3_final}) Wherein M is_{3_final}Is the third setThe total number of user devices included.

In the method and apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present invention, when it is determined that a source balancing cell needs to perform load balancing, load balancing is preferentially performed by a non-handover means by using a characteristic that a user equipment supporting carrier aggregation may have a plurality of serving cells, that is: and preferentially configuring and activating the SCell of the user equipment, and then transferring the load of the selected user equipment on the source balancing cell to the SCell of the selected user equipment, thereby realizing the load transfer from the source balancing cell to the target balancing cell. Because the load balancing is carried out by adopting a non-switching means, the call drop probability of the user is reduced in the load balancing process, the service interruption is avoided, the service experience of the user is improved, and the influence of the load balancing on the network KPI is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a load balancing method in a carrier aggregation system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a load balancing method in another carrier aggregation system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of an application scenario of a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of an application scenario of a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a load balancing apparatus in a carrier aggregation system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a base station according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings attached hereto. It is to be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and explanatory of the invention and are not restrictive thereof.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a load balancing method in a carrier aggregation system is provided, as shown in fig. 1, the method includes the following processes:

s11, in each load balancing cycle, determining a source balancing cell that needs to perform load balancing and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell, and determining at least one target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced from the component carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell.

In this step, the execution sequence of the two steps of determining the source balancing cell and the load balancing direction of the source balancing cell that need to be load balanced and determining at least one target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced is not limited.

In the embodiment of the invention, in each load balancing period, the load balancing in one direction is only executed.

And S12, determining a first load amount of the source equalizing cell to be transferred to each target equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction.

S13, according to the first load amount corresponding to each target balancing Cell, selecting at least one user equipment from the user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and having the source balancing Cell as a Primary Cell (PCell), and transferring the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source balancing Cell to a Secondary Cell (SCell) of the selected user equipment, so that the cumulative received load amount of each target balancing Cell reaches the first load amount corresponding to the target balancing Cell, where the SCell configured and activated for the selected user equipment is at least one of the determined target balancing cells.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that a source balancing cell needs to perform load balancing, load balancing is preferentially performed by a non-handover means by using the characteristic that a user equipment supporting carrier aggregation may have a plurality of serving cells, that is: and preferentially configuring and activating the SCell of the user equipment, and then transferring the load of the selected user equipment on the source balancing cell to the SCell of the selected user equipment, thereby realizing the load transfer from the source balancing cell to the target balancing cell. Because the load balancing is carried out by adopting a non-switching means, the call drop probability of the user is reduced in the load balancing process, the service interruption is avoided, the service experience of the user is improved, and the influence of the load balancing on the network KPI is reduced.

In an implementation, in S11, in each load balancing cycle, determining a source balancing cell that needs to be load balanced and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell, includes the following two optional manners:

the method 1 is determined by adopting a distributed method, and specifically comprises the following steps:

determining a cell with an uplink load amount larger than a set absolute threshold as the source balance cell, and determining the load balance direction as an uplink; or determining the cell with the downlink load amount larger than the absolute threshold as the source balance cell, and determining the load balance direction as downlink.

In this method, the load of each cell is determined, and if the uplink load or downlink load of the cell is greater than a set absolute threshold (denoted as P _ th)_absolute) Then, the cell is considered to need to perform load balancing in the load balancing cycle, that is, the cell is considered to be the source balancing cell. And taking the direction with the highest load of the cell as the load balancing direction. In this way, there may be a plurality of determined source balance cells simultaneously.

Optionally, for any cell, if both the uplink load amount and the downlink load amount of the cell are greater than the absolute threshold, the load balancing direction corresponding to the maximum value of the uplink load amount and the downlink load amount of the cell is determined as the load balancing direction of the source balancing cell.

Further, if the uplink load capacity of each cell is less than or equal to the cell with the set absolute threshold and the downlink load capacity is less than or equal to the absolute threshold, it is determined that no source balancing cell exists, and then no load balancing is performed in the load balancing period.

Mode 2, determining by using a centralized method, specifically:

In this way, in order to avoid frequent adjustment of the load amount between cells, only one cell is selected as a source balancing cell in one load balancing period, that is, the uplink load amount is selected to be the highest and is higher than a set absolute threshold (denoted as P _ th)_absolute) The cell or downlink load of the cell is the highest and the downlink load is higher than P _ th_absoluteServing as a source equalizing cell.

In an implementation, in S11, when at least one target balancing cell with balanced load of the source balancing cell is determined from the component carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell in each load balancing cycle, taking multiple component carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell as candidate target balancing cells, and considering load of the multiple component carrier cells in a load balancing direction in a unified manner to determine the target balancing cell, specifically:

selecting a load quantity lower than that of the source equalizing cell and a set high load threshold (marked as P _ th) from N candidate target equalizing cells_high) And the difference between the load amount and the load amount of the source equalizing cell is greater than a set relative threshold (denoted as P _ th)_relative) The candidate target balance cell of (4) as a target balance cell.

Further, if the target balancing cell does not exist, the load balancing is not performed in the load balancing period.

In an implementation, the determining, in S12, a first amount of load that the source balancing cell needs to transfer to each target balancing cell in the load balancing direction includes:

determining a second load quantity which can be balanced to each target balance cell by the source balance cell in the load balancing direction according to the principle that the load quantities of the source balance cell and the target balance cell in the load balancing direction are equal after load balancing; determining a third load amount of each target balance cell in the load balance direction, which allows the source balance cell to transfer to the target balance cell, according to the principle that the load amount of the target balance cell in the load balance direction after load balance is less than or equal to a set high load threshold;

and for each target balance cell, selecting the load quantity with the minimum value from the second load quantity and the third load quantity, and determining the load quantity as the first load quantity which needs to be transferred to the target balance cell in the load balance direction of the source balance cell.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the execution order of determining the second load amount and determining the third load amount is not limited.

For example, the source equalization cell is denoted as CC₁The target equilibrium cell is denoted as CC_iI-2, …, L +1, and for the load balancing direction being the upstream direction, the first load amount is determined as follows:

firstly, according to the principle that the load quantities of the source equalizing cell and the target equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction are equal after load equalization, determining △ that the source equalizing cell can equalize the uplink load quantity (namely, the second load quantity) to each target equalizing cell in the uplink direction_{1,1_i,ul}. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps:

wherein, P_{UL_CCi}Equalizing the uplink load, Eff, of the cell CCi for the target_{UL_CCi}Equalizing the uplink cell spectral efficiency, N, of a cell CCi for a target_{UL_PRB_CCi}Total number of PRBs available for the uplink bandwidth of the target equalizing cell CCi, i ═ 2.

L formulas are combined, and the source balance cell CC can be obtained through derivation₁Balancing cell CC towards target_i(i-2, …, L +1) △ enabling equalization to each target equalization cell in the uplink direction_{1,1_i,ul}I.e. byWherein,

then, considerTarget equalizing cell CC₂,…,CC_L+1According to the principle that the load capacity of the target balance cell in the uplink direction after load balancing is less than or equal to the set high load threshold, the load bearing capacity of the target balance cell CC can be obtained through calculation_i(i-2, …, L +1) in the uplink direction allows the source balanced cell CC₁The upstream balancing load amount (i.e., the third load amount) △ transferred thereto_{2,1_i,ul}Comprises the following steps:

finally △ based on the above_{1,1_i,ul}And △_{2,1_i,ul}Can obtain the source balance cell CC in the uplink direction₁Cell CC can be equalized to a target_i(i-2, …, L +1) equalized load quantity (i.e. first load quantity) △_{ul，1_i}△ is_{ul，1_i}＝min(△_{1,1_i,ul},△_{2,1_i,ul})。

For the load balancing direction being a downlink direction, the determination process of the first load amount is as follows:

firstly, according to the principle that the load quantity of the source balance cell and the load quantity of the target balance cell in the load balance direction are equal after load balance, the CC of the source balance cell can be obtained through calculation₁Balancing cell CC towards target_i(i-2, …, L +1) downstream load amounts (i.e., second load amounts) △ to be balanced, respectively_{1,1_i,dl}. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps:

wherein, P_{DL_CCi}Equalizing the downlink load, Eff, of the cell CCi for the target_{DL_CCi}Equalizing the downlink cell spectral efficiency, N, of a cell CCi for a target_{DL_PRB_CCi}Total number of available PRBs for the downlink bandwidth of the target equalization cell CCi, i-2.

L formulas are combined, and the source balance cell CC can be obtained through derivation₁Balancing cell CC towards target_i(i 2, …, L +1) △ requiring equalization in the downstream direction_{1,1_i,dl}Comprises the following steps:wherein,

then, consider CC₂,…,CC_L+1According to the principle that the load capacity of the target balance cell in the load balance direction after load balance is less than or equal to the set high load threshold, the load bearing capacity of the target balance cell CC can be obtained through calculation_i(i-2, …, L +1) allows the source to balance the cell CC₁Downstream balance load amount (i.e., third load amount) △ transferred thereto_{2,1_i,dl}Comprises the following steps:

finally △ based on the above_{1,1_i,dl}And △_{2,1_i,dl}Can obtain the source balance cell CC in the downlink direction₁Cell CC can be equalized to a target_i(i-2, …, L +1) equalized load quantity △_{dl，1_i}△ is_{dl，1_i}＝min(△_{1,1_i,dl},△_{2,1_i,dl})。

Based on any of the above embodiments, in the embodiments of the present invention, the candidate user equipments for load balancing are divided into the following sets, and the specific division method is as follows:

firstly, according to the capability of supporting carrier aggregation of the user equipment, generating the following priority set:

1) if uplink load balancing is triggered, the first set of priorities H1 is: { all support for uplink and downlink directions (i.e. dual)To) carrier aggregation to source balance cell CCs₁Is a PCell and has configured at least one target balance cell CC_i(i-2, …, L +1) is its bidirectional SCell but not yet activated user equipment };

the second set of priorities H2 is: { all support for bidirectional carrier aggregation with source equalization cell CC₁Is a PCell and has configured at least one target balance cell CC_i(i ═ 2, …, L +1) for its SCell, but only the user equipment in the downlink direction is configured };

the third set of priorities H3 is: { all support for bidirectional carrier aggregation with source equalization cell CC₁For the PCell, no target equalizing cell CC has been configured yet_i(i ═ 2, …, L +1) is the user equipment whose SCell has not reported an a2 measurement report, where the user equipment that has executed SCell deletion operation last time or has SCell configuration failure operation less than the threshold T from the current load balancing time interval) needs to be removed };

the fourth set of priorities H4 is: { all support for bidirectional carrier aggregation with source equalization cell CC₁For the PCell, no target equalizing cell CC has been configured yet_i(i-2, …, L +1) reporting a user equipment (ue) of an a2 measurement report for its SCell }, where the ue that has executed the SCell deletion operation last time or failed the SCell configuration and whose time interval from the current load balancing operation is less than a threshold T needs to be removed from the set;

the fifth set of priorities H5 is: { all do not support uplink carrier aggregation but support downlink carrier aggregation to source balance cell CC₁Is a PCell and has configured at least one target balance cell CC_i(i ═ 2, …, L +1) is its downlink direction SCell, but not yet activated user equipment };

the sixth set of priorities H6 is: { all cells do not support uplink carrier aggregation but support downlink carrier aggregation or do not support carrier aggregation, and cell CC is source balanced₁For the PCell, no target equalizing cell CC has been configured yet_i(i-2, …, L +1) is its SCell, and users that have not reported an a2 measurement reportDevice }, wherein, the set needs to eliminate the pilot frequency measurement report received within the latest period of time T, and the target balance cell CC obtained from the measurement report_i(i 2, …, L +1) user equipments whose Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) is less than the inter-frequency measurement a4 threshold;

the seventh set of priorities H7 is: { all cells do not support uplink carrier aggregation but support downlink carrier aggregation or do not support carrier aggregation, and cell CC is source balanced₁For the PCell, no target equalizing cell CC has been configured yet_i(i-2, …, L +1) is its SCell, and reports a2 measurement report }, wherein the set needs to exclude the measurement report of the past inter-frequency received within the latest period of time T, and the target balance cell CC obtained from the measurement report_i(i-2, …, L +1) user equipments whose RSRPs are all less than the inter-frequency measurement a4 threshold;

the eighth set of priorities H8 is: { all do not support uplink carrier aggregation but support downlink carrier aggregation to source balance cell CC₁Is a PCell and has configured at least one target balance cell CC_i(i-2, …, L +1) is its downlink direction SCell and activated user equipment }.

2) If the downlink load balancing is triggered, the first set of priorities H1 is: { all support for bidirectional or downlink carrier aggregation with source-balanced cell CC₁Is a PCell and has configured at least one target balance cell CC_i(i ═ 2, …, L +1) is its SCell but not yet activated user equipment };

the second set of priorities H2 is: { all support for bidirectional or downlink carrier aggregation with source-balanced cell CC₁For the PCell, no target equalizing cell CC has been configured yet_i(i-2, …, L +1) is its SCell, and no user equipment of an a2 measurement report has been reported yet }, where user equipment that has executed the SCell deletion operation last time or has an SCell configuration failure operation that is less than a threshold T from the current load balancing time interval needs to be removed from the set;

third stepThe set of priorities H3 is: { all support for bidirectional or downlink carrier aggregation with source-balanced cell CC₁For the PCell, no target equalizing cell CC has been configured yet_i(i-2, …, L +1) is its SCell, and reports the user equipment of a2 measurement report }, where the user equipment that has executed the SCell deletion operation last time or has an SCell configuration failure operation and a current load balancing time interval is less than a threshold T in the set needs to be removed;

the fourth set of priorities H4 is: { all do not support carrier aggregation, source balance cell CC₁User equipment serving its cell and not reporting a2 measurement report, wherein CCs from measurement reports obtained by rejecting pilot frequency measurement reports received within a recent time T from the set_i(i-2, …, L +1) user equipments whose RSRPs are all less than the inter-frequency measurement a4 threshold;

the fifth set of priorities H5 is: { all do not support carrier aggregation, source balance cell CC₁User equipment serving its cell and reporting a2 measurement report, wherein the CC obtained from the measurement report, from which the inter-frequency measurement report was received within the latest period of time T, is excluded from the set_i(i-2, …, L +1) user equipments whose cell RSRPs are all less than the inter-frequency measurement a4 threshold.

Then, the elements in each priority set are sorted according to a set rule, for example, sorted according to the size of the equivalent load of each user equipment in the load balancing direction of the source balancing cell, or sorted according to the quality of service Class Identifier (QCI) of the user equipment, and the like. After sorting, the following operations are carried out:

1) if the load balance in the uplink direction is triggered, sequentially combining the sequenced elements in H1 and H2 into a first set (marked as RRCLBCandidateCASSCellaActiveUserList); sequentially merging the elements in the H3 and the H4 after sorting into a second set (marked as RRCLBCandidateCASCCELEincongUserList); sequentially merging the sorted H5, H6, H7 and H8 into a third set (denoted as RRCLBCandidateHOUserList);

2) if the load balance in the downlink direction is triggered, taking the sequenced H1 as a first set (namely RRCLBCandidateCASCASCellActiveUserList); sequentially merging the sorted H2 and H3 into a second set (namely RRCLBCandidateCASCESCell ConfigUserList); the sorted H4, H5 are sequentially merged into a third set (i.e., rrclbcandidatehouserlst).

The following illustrates a process of the user equipment provided in the embodiment of the present invention based on the first set, the second set, and the third set divided as follows:

firstly, user equipment is selected from the first set in sequence preferentially, and a target balance cell to which the load of each user equipment is transferred is determined. If the user equipment only configures one target balance cell as the SCell of the user equipment, transferring the load of the user equipment to the target balance cell; and if the user configures a plurality of target balance cells as SCells of the user equipment, the load of the user equipment is preferentially transferred to the target balance cell SCell with the lowest load. Every time one user equipment is selected, the target balance cell CC also needs to be recorded_i(i 2, …, L +1), and determining whether to stop the load transfer according to the received load amount, wherein the specific determination method is as follows:

1) the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, if the load amount received by any target balancing cell reaches the first load amount of the target balancing cell, namely △_{ul,1_i}Then the load transfer to the target balance cell is stopped. If the Mth is selected from the first set₁When the user equipment is single, calculating to obtain the target balance cell CC₂,…,CC_L+1Respectively achieve △_{ul,1_2}、…、△_{ul,1_L+1}Then exit the user selection process and use M₁The user equipment is used as the user equipment which finally executes the uplink load balancing operation, and the step of processing the selected user equipment is skipped to execute, M₁Less than or equal to a total number of user devices included in the first set; otherwise, if the last ue in the first set is selected, the target balance cell CC is not still satisfied₂,…,CC_L+1Respectively reach △_{ul,1_2}、…、△_{ul,1_L+1}Then execution continues with selecting at least one user equipment from the second set.

2) If the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, △ if the received load of any target balancing cell reaches the first load amount of the target balancing cell is calculated_{dl,1_i}Then the load transfer to the target balance cell is stopped. If the Mth is selected from the first set₁Target balance cell CC for individual user equipment₂,…,CC_L+1Respectively achieve △_{dl,1_2}、…、△_{dl,1_L+1}Then quitting the user selection process and executing the M₁The user is used as the user equipment for finally executing the downlink load balancing operation, and the selected user equipment is processed by skipping execution; otherwise, if the last ue in the first set is selected, the balance target cell CC is still not satisfied₂,…,CC_L+1Respectively reach △_{dl,1_2}、…、△_{dl,1_L+1}Then the step of selecting at least one user equipment from the second set is continued.

And secondly, continuously selecting at least one user equipment from the second set, wherein the specific process is as follows:

first computing source balance cell CC₁The remaining balance load amount in the load balancing direction. When the load balancing direction is the uplink direction, the source balancing cell CC₁△ of the remaining balance load_ulComprises the following steps:wherein transferred 1_ulThe target equalizing cell CC is calculated after the load of all the user equipment in the first set on the source equalizing cell is transferred₂,…,CC_L+1The sum of the received uplink load amounts; when the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, the source balancing cell CC₁△ of the remaining balance load_dlComprises the following steps:among them, transferred 1_dlThe target equalizing cell CC is calculated after the load of all the user equipment in the first set on the source equalizing cell is transferred₂,…,CC_L+1Sum of the received downlink load amounts.

Then, sequentially selecting the user equipment from the second set, and judging whether to stop the user selection, wherein the specific judgment process is as follows:

1) if the Mth direction is selected when the load balancing direction is the uplink direction₂When the user equipment is used, the sum of the accumulated uplink load amounts of the selected user equipment meets the requirement that the sum is greater than or equal to the residual balance load amount △ of the source balance cell in the uplink direction for the first time_ulI.e. byThe user selection process is exited and all user equipment in the first set and the selected M in the second set are added₂If not, when the last user equipment in the second set is selected, if the sum of the uplink load amounts of the selected user equipment is still less than the remaining balance load amount △ of the source balance cell in the uplink direction_ulThen the step of selecting at least one user equipment from the third set is continued.

2) If the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, the Mth direction is selected₂When the number of the user equipment is one, the sum of the downlink load accumulations of the selected user equipment is greater than or equal to △ which is the residual balance load amount of the source balance cell in the downlink direction for the first time_dlI.e. byThe user selection process is exited and all user devices in the first set and the M are selected₂The user equipment is used as the user for finally executing the downlink load balancing operation, and the execution is jumped to the selected user equipmentOtherwise, when the last user equipment in the second set is selected, if the sum of the downlink load accumulation of the selected user equipment is still less than the remaining balance load △ of the source balance cell in the downlink direction_ulThen the step of selecting at least one user equipment from the third set is continued.

Before continuing to select at least one user equipment from the third set, first determining whether to continue to execute the balance user selection, specifically as follows:

when the load balancing direction is the uplink direction, if the loads of all the user equipments in the first set and the second set are transferred, the source balancing cell CC₁If the difference between the residual load amount in the uplink direction (namely the uplink residual load amount) and the set absolute threshold is greater than or equal to the set offset, ending the user selection process; otherwise, continuing to select at least one user equipment from the third set; wherein the source equalizing cell CC is present₁The remaining load amount in the uplink direction is obtained by subtracting the load amount of the user equipment selected from the first set in the uplink direction of the source equalizing cell and the load amount of the user equipment selected from the second set in the uplink direction of the source equalizing cell from the initial load amount of the source equalizing cell in the uplink direction;

when the load balancing direction is a downlink direction, if the loads of all the user equipments in the first set and the second set are transferred, the source balancing cell CC₁If the difference between the remaining load amount in the downlink direction (i.e. the downlink remaining load amount) and the set absolute threshold is greater than or equal to the set offset, the user selection process is ended, wherein the source equalizing cell CC₁Subtracting the load quantity of the selected user equipment in the downlink direction of the source equalizing cell from the downlink initial load quantity of the source equalizing cell in the residual load quantity in the downlink direction; otherwise, continuing to select at least one user equipment from the third set; wherein the source equalizing cell CC is present₁Residual load in the downstream directionThe quantity is obtained by subtracting the load quantity of the user equipment selected from the first set in the downlink direction of the source equalizing cell and the load quantity of the user equipment selected from the second set in the downlink direction of the source equalizing cell from the initial load quantity of the source equalizing cell in the downlink direction.

Wherein, continuing to select at least one user equipment from the third set, the specific process is as follows:

first, the source equalizing cell CC is updated₁The remaining balance load amount in the load balancing direction. The method comprises the following specific steps:

when the load balancing direction is the uplink direction, the source balancing cell CC₁The remaining equalization load △ in the upstream direction_ulComprises the following steps:among them, transferred 1_ulThe target equalizing cell CC is calculated after the load of all the user equipment in the first set on the source equalizing cell is transferred₂,…,CC_L+1The sum of the received upstream loads, transferred 2_ulThe target equalizing cell CC is calculated after the load of all the user equipment in the second set on the source equalizing cell is transferred₂,…,CC_L+1The sum of the received uplink load amounts;

when the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, the source balancing cell CC₁The remaining balance load △ in the downstream direction_dlComprises the following steps:wherein transferred 1_dlThe target equalizing cell CC is calculated after the load of all the user equipment in the first set on the source equalizing cell is transferred₂,…,CC_L+1The sum of the received downlink loads, transferred 2_dlCalculating after balancing the load amount on the cell for all the user equipments in the second set if transferredThe obtained target balance cell CC₂,…,CC_L+1Sum of the received downlink load amounts.

Then, continuing to sequentially select the user equipment from the third set, as follows:

for convenience of description, the user equipment in the first set is marked as UE_iA subscriber equipment in the second set is marked as UE_i-inScell Configlist, user equipment in the third set marked as UE_i_ InHOList. When the load balancing direction is the uplink direction, sequentially selecting the user equipment from the third set until the residual load amount of the source balancing cell in the uplink direction is less than or equal to a set absolute threshold, or the residual balancing load amount of the source balancing cell in the uplink direction is 0, or selecting the last user equipment in the third set, stopping the user selection process, namely selecting the Mth user equipment₃When the user equipment is single, satisfyOrOr M₃And when the user equipment is the last user equipment in the third set, exiting the user selection process.

And when the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, sequentially selecting the user equipment from the third set until the residual load amount of the source balancing cell in the downlink direction is less than or equal to a set absolute threshold, or the residual balancing load amount of the source balancing cell in the downlink direction is 0, or the last user equipment in the third set is selected, and stopping the user selection process. I.e. to the Mth₃Satisfy for individual user equipmentOrOr M₃Has been the last use in the third setAnd the user equipment exits the user selection process.

Based on any of the foregoing embodiments, in an embodiment of the present invention, when processing a user equipment selected from a first set:

if the load balancing direction is the uplink direction, activating the SCell of the selected user equipment for the user equipment which is selected from the first set and is configured with at least one SCell of which the target balancing cell is the uplink direction and the downlink direction of the user equipment but the SCell is not activated; or for the user equipment which is selected from the first set and has configured at least one target balancing cell as the SCell in the downlink direction of the user equipment, reconfiguring the SCell of the selected user equipment in the uplink direction and the downlink direction (namely, in both directions) through Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment;

and if the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, activating the SCell of the selected user equipment for the user equipment selected from the first set.

Based on any of the foregoing embodiments, in the embodiment of the present invention, when processing the user equipment selected from the second set:

Based on any of the foregoing embodiments, in the embodiment of the present invention, when processing the user equipment selected from the third set:

for the user equipment which is selected from the third set and is configured with at least one target balance cell as the SCell of the user equipment in the direction opposite to the load balance direction, determining that the load quantity received by the configured target balance cell of the selected user equipment in the direction opposite to the load balance direction is smaller than a fourth load quantity allowed to be received by the target balance cell in the direction opposite to the load balance direction, and performing pilot frequency switching processing on the selected user equipment to switch the selected user equipment to the SCell;

and configuring pilot frequency measurement for the selected user equipment for the user equipment which is selected from the third set and is not configured with any target equalizing cell as the SCell of the user equipment, judging that the selected user equipment meets the pilot frequency switching condition according to the received measurement report, and switching the selected user equipment to any target equalizing cell when the load quantity received by any target equalizing cell in the reverse direction of the load equalizing direction is smaller than a fourth load quantity allowed to be received by any target equalizing cell in the reverse direction of the load equalizing direction.

Specifically, it is considered that uplink and downlink services of a user are all transferred to a balance target cell during inter-frequency handover, and therefore, load balance in the downlink direction cannot be triggered during uplink direction load balance, and load balance in the uplink direction cannot be triggered during downlink direction load balance.

Initializing a target balance cell CC when the load balance direction is an uplink direction_i(i-2, …, L +1) received downlink payload △_{transfered_dl,1_i}Is 0.

1) Equalizing cell CC for configured targets_i(i 2, …, L +1) is the user equipment of its downlink SCell, if △ is satisfied_{transfered_dl,1_i}<△_{dl,1_i}Then it is configured with the target equalizing cell CC_i(i 2, …, L +1) performs inter-frequency handover processing for the user equipment in its downlink direction SCell. Suppose the downlink load of the UE is P_{DL_user}Updating the target equalizing cell CC_i(i-2, …, L +1) received downlink payload △_{transfered_dl,1_i}＝△_{transfered_dl,1_i}+P_{DL_user}(ii) a Otherwise, the user equipment is not processed.

2) Equalizing cell CC for unconfigured target_i(i-2, …, L +1) is the user equipment of its SCell, and performs inter-frequency measurement configuration for the user equipment, if the measurement report of the user equipment is received and the inter-frequency handover condition is satisfied, it is further determined whether △ is satisfied_{transfered_dl,1_i}<△_{dl,1_i}If the pilot frequency switching condition is met, switching the user equipment to the target balance cell CC_iAssuming that the downlink load of the UE is P_{DL_user}Updating the target equalizing cell CC_i(i-2, …, L +1) received nextLine load △_{transfered_dl,1_i}＝△_{transfered_dl,1_i}+P_{DL_user}(ii) a Otherwise, the user equipment is not processed.

Initializing a target balance cell CC when the load balance direction is a downlink direction_i(i-2, …, L +1) received upstream load amount △_{transfered_ul,1_i}Is 0. Equalizing cell CC for unconfigured target_i(i 2, …, L +1) is the user equipment of its SCell, and performs inter-frequency measurement configuration for the user equipment, if the measurement report of the user equipment is received and the inter-frequency handover condition is satisfied, it is further determined whether △ is satisfied_{transfered_ul,1_i}<△_{ul,1_i}If yes, switching the user equipment to the target balance cell CC_iAssuming that the uplink load of the UE is P_{UL_user}Updating the target equalizing cell CC_i(i-2, …, L +1) received upstream load amount △_{transfered_ul,1_i}＝△_{transfered_ul,1_i}+P_{UL_user}(ii) a Otherwise, the user equipment is not processed.

Based on the above embodiment, the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention further includes: determining a fourth amount of load each target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction.

This step may be performed when it is determined at S12 that the source balancing cell requires a first amount of load to transfer to each target balancing cell in the load balancing direction.

According to the embodiment of the invention, when the load quantity needing to be transferred is calculated, not only the load condition in the direction of triggering load balancing is considered, but also the load balancing in the reverse direction of the direction of triggering load balancing cannot be caused by the transferred load quantity, so that the condition that the load balancing in the reverse direction is triggered due to the load transfer in a certain direction due to the overlarge transferred load quantity is avoided.

In an implementation, as a possible implementation manner, determining a fourth load amount that each target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction includes:

The sequence of determining the fifth load amount, determining the sixth load amount and determining the seventh load amount is not limited in the embodiment of the invention.

For example, when the load balancing direction is the up direction, the fifth load amount determined is △_{1,1_i,dl}＝(P_th_high-P_{DL_CCi}) And the sixth load amount determined is △_{2,1_i,dl}＝(P_th_absolute-P_{DL_CCi}) And the seventh load amount is determined to be

When the load balancing direction is the down direction, the fifth load amount is △_{1,1_i,ul}＝(P_th_high-P_{UL_CCi}) And the sixth load amount determined is △_{2,1_i,ul}＝(P_th_absolute-P_{UL_CCi}) And the seventh load amount is determined to be

In an implementation, as a possible implementation manner, according to the fifth load amount, the sixth load amount, and the seventh load amount, a fourth load amount that the target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction is determined according to the following formula:

Specifically, when the load balancing direction is the uplink direction, the determined fourth load amount is

When the load balancing direction is the downlink direction, the fourth load amount is determined as

In the embodiment of the present invention, when some parts are balanced to a cell with the same coverage scene, for example, a concentric circle and a large circle, the coverage area of the large circle is larger than the coverage area of the small circle, the selected user equipment may not be in the coverage area of the small circle, the selected part of the user equipment cannot meet the SCell configuration condition or the handover condition, and cannot configure and activate the SCell or perform handover, so that the load cannot be transferred from the large circle to the small circle. Therefore, in the partially same coverage scenario, for the effect of load balancing, a certain amount of amplification may be performed on the selected ue, and some redundant ues are selected to perform the load balancing operation. The selection process is as follows:

note N_SCellActive(i.e., M)₁)、N_SCellConfig(i.e., M)₂)、N_HO(i.e., M)₃) The number of user equipment respectively selected from the first set, the second set and the third set, N_{SCellconfiglist_final}(i.e., M)_{2_final})、N_{HOlist_final}(i.e., M)_{3_final}) The total number of the user equipments in the second set and the third set. Assume that the number of user equipments finally selected is N_{total_select}(i.e., M), then:

if N is present_SCellConfig0 and N_HOWhen the value is 0, then N_{total_select}＝N_SCellActive；

If N is present_SCellConfig>0 and N_HOWhen the value is 0, then N_{total_select}＝N_SCellActive+MIN(N_SCellConfig×α,N_{SCellconfiglist_final})；

If N is present_SCellConfig>0 and N_HO>0, then N_{total_select}＝N_SCellActive+N_SCellConfig+MIN(N_SCellConfig×(α-1)+N_HO×α,N_{HOlist_final})；

Wherein alpha is a set amplification factor, and alpha is more than or equal to 1.

It should be noted that, after the number of the ue is enlarged, the number of the ue finally selected for performing the handover process should be less than or equal to the number of the ue initially selected for handover.

Through the load balancing process, if the load of the source balancing cell is still high and the load balancing to the pilot frequency component carrier cell cannot be performed, the load balancing from the source balancing cell to other co-sited or non-co-sited non-component carrier cells can be continuously triggered. Because the source balance cell and these non-component carrier cells have overlapping coverage areas only at the edges.

Based on the description of the foregoing technical solution, in the second embodiment of the present invention, another load balancing method in a carrier aggregation system is provided, as shown in fig. 2, specifically as follows:

s21, when the load balancing period is reached, carrying out load estimation on each cell of the station;

and S22, determining the cell and the load balancing direction which need to be balanced in the current load balancing cycle according to the load information. If the source balancing cell needing load balancing exists, executing S23;

s23, preferentially selecting the member carrier cell as a candidate balancing target cell, and determining a target balancing cell according to information such as source balancing cell load, candidate balancing target cell load, load balancing direction and the like;

s24, calculating the load quantity (namely the first load quantity) of the load balancing cycle needing to execute balancing according to the source balancing cell load and the candidate balancing target cell load;

s25, generating a priority set by combining the carrier aggregation supporting capability of the user and the configured SCell state of the user;

s26, balancing selection and processing of users, specifically:

preferentially selecting a user configured with the SCell but not activated as an equalization user, then selecting a user supporting carrier aggregation but not configured with the SCell as the equalization user, and finally selecting a user not supporting carrier aggregation as the equalization user.

Sequentially selecting the user equipment with the priority set according to the calculated balance to execute load balancing processing, specifically: the user equipment which is configured with the SCell but is not activated performs SCell activation, the user equipment which supports carrier aggregation but is not configured with the SCell performs SCell measurement configuration activation, and the user equipment which does not support carrier aggregation performs pilot frequency measurement and pilot frequency switching.

The method provided by the embodiment of the invention is explained in detail by two specific embodiments.

Third embodiment, the present embodiment is applied to a completely same coverage scenario, as shown in fig. 3, where a network with two carrier aggregations is formed by two frequency bands F1 and F2. F1 and F2 have the same bandwidth. Assuming that the uplink load of Cell1(F1) is 30% and the downlink load is 70%; cell2(F2) has an uplink load of 20% and a downlink load of 20%; cell1(F1) and Cell2(F2) are assumed to have equal Cell spectral efficiency. Only 40% of users in the network are terminals supporting carrier aggregation, and the rest are user equipment not supporting carrier aggregation. Assuming that the absolute load threshold required to be met by load balancing triggering is 50%; the relative load threshold which needs to be met by the load balance triggering is 20 percent; the high load threshold which needs to be met by the load balance trigger is 80%; the load balancing process in this scenario is described by taking Cell1(F1) as an example. The load balancing can be realized according to the following method and steps:

1. and when the load balancing period is reached, determining a source balancing cell according to the cell load.

Specifically, the uplink load of the cell with the highest load in the uplink direction is 30% and is lower than the load balancing triggering absolute threshold, so that the load balancing does not need to be triggered in the uplink direction; the downlink load of the Cell with the highest load in the downlink direction reaches 70%, which is greater than the load balance trigger absolute threshold by 50%, so that the downlink needs to trigger load balance, the source balance Cell is Cell1(F1), and the load balance direction is downlink.

2. And determining a target balance cell. The inter-frequency component carrier Cell2(F2) is preferentially selected as a candidate balancing target Cell.

Specifically, the load amount of the Cell2(F2) is acquired, and the trigger decision of load balancing is performed.

The downlink direction is as follows: 70% of Cell1(F1) downlink load, 50% of difference value between Cell1(F1) and Cell2(F2) downlink load, and 20% of Cell2(F2) downlink load meet the condition of being less than 80% of load balance trigger high load threshold, so that the downlink direction meets the load balance trigger condition.

3. And calculating the balance load quantity of the Cell1(F1) to the downlink direction of the Cell2 (F2). Specifically, the calculation of the allowable balancing load amount in the uplink direction and the calculation of the required balancing load amount in the downlink direction are performed. Wherein:

1) the uplink allowed balanced load amount is calculated as follows:

considering the load bearing capacity of the Cell2(F2), the uplink load of the Cell2(F2) cannot exceed the load balance trigger high load threshold after balancing, and accordingly the uplink allowable balanced load amount △ of the Cell2(F2) can be calculated_{1,1_2,ul}Is 60 percent;

considering that when the uplink load of the Cell2(F2) is not greater than the load balance triggering absolute threshold, the load balance of the cells 2(F2) to 1(F1) in the uplink direction is not triggered, and accordingly, the Cell1(F1) uplink allowable balance load amount △ can be calculated_{2,1_2,ul}The content was 20%.

When the uplink load difference between the Cell2(F2) and the Cell1(F1) is not greater than the relative threshold of load balance trigger, the uplink direction CC is not triggered₂To CC₁Load balancing according to which the CC can be calculated₂Upstream admission balance load △_{3,1_2,ul}15 percent;

the above results are combined to obtain the amount of load △ to which the Cell2(F2) allows the Cell1(F1) to equalize in the upstream direction_{ul，1_2}The content was 20%.

2) The downlink required balance load is calculated as follows:

the downlink balance load amount △ can be obtained by calculation based on the principle that the downlink loads of the Cell2(F2) and the Cell1(F1) after balance are equal_{1,1_2,dl}Is 25%;

considering the load bearing capacity of the Cell2(F2), the principle that the downlink load of the Cell2(F2) cannot exceed the load balance trigger high load threshold after balancing can be calculated to obtain the balanced load amount △ allowing the Cell1(F1) to transfer to the Cell2(F2) in the downlink direction_{2,1_2,dl}Is 60 percent;

the combination of the above results can obtain the load amount △ of the Cell1(F1) needing to be balanced to the Cell2(F2) in the downlink direction_{dl，1_2}The content was 25%.

4. And carrying out set division by combining the capability of supporting carrier aggregation by the user equipment and the SCell state configured by the user equipment. The method comprises the following specific steps:

first set of priorities H1: { all users supporting CA, Cell1(F1) being PCell, Cell2(F2) being SCell, configured with downlink SCell but not activated };

second set of priorities H2: { all users supporting CA, Cell1(F1) being PCell, Cell2(F2) being SCell, configured bi-directional SCell but not activated };

third priority set H3: { all users supporting CA, with Cell1(F1) being PCell, with SCell unconfigured, and without reporting A2 measurement report };

fourth set of priorities H4: { all users supporting CA, with Cell1(F1) being PCell, with SCell unconfigured, and reporting A2 measurement report };

fifth set of priorities H5: { users who do not support CA, Cell1(F1) is their serving Cell, and do not report a2 measurement report };

sixth set of priorities H6: { users who do not support CA, whose serving Cell is Cell1(F1) and report A2 measurement report };

sorting the elements in each priority set according to a set rule, and then combining the elements in the priority sets H1 and H2 into RRCLBCandindidateSCellActiveUserList according to the sequence of H1 and H2; merging the elements in the priority sets H3 and H4 into RRCLBCandidesatecSCell ConfigUserList according to the sequence of H3 and H4; (ii) a And combining the elements in the H5 and H6 sets after the sorting processing into RRCLBCandidateHOUserList according to the sequence of H5 and H6.

5. The selection of equalization users is preferably made from rrclbcandidatescelllactiveuserlist. The method comprises the following specific steps:

sequentially selecting user equipment, recording the load received by the target balance Cell2(F2), and if the M-th Cell is selected₁The load received by the target balance Cell2(F2) reaches △ at the time of each user equipment_{dl,1_2}Then quitting the user selection process and executing the M₁Otherwise, if the last user equipment is selected, the load received by the target balancing Cell2(F2) is still less than △_{dl,1_2}Then the following step 6 is continued.

6. The selection of equalization users continues from the rrclbcandidascescelllconfiguserls. The method comprises the following specific steps:

first, the remaining balance load amount of the source balance Cell1(F1) in the load balance direction is calculated. When the load in the downlink direction is balanced, the source balance cell CC₁The remaining balance load △ in the downstream direction_dl△ is_dl＝△_{dl,1_i}-Transfered1_dlWherein transferred 1_dlCell2(F2) balances the amount of downlink load received in step 5 above for the target Cell.

Then, the user equipments are sequentially selected, and it is judged whether or not the user selection is stopped. The method comprises the following specific steps:

load in the down directionWhen weighing, if the Mth is selected₂When the number of the user equipment is one, the sum of the downlink load accumulations of the user equipment is greater than or equal to the residual balance load amount △ of the source balance Cell1(F1) in the downlink direction for the first time_dlI.e. byThe user selection process is exited, and considering that the Cell1(F1) and the Cell2(F2) are basically covered in the same scene, the probability of success of SCell configuration is high, so the user magnification can be set to 1, and balanced users are not selected any more. The user equipment selected in the step 5) and the M₂If not, when the last user equipment is selected, the sum of downlink loads of the user equipment is still smaller than the residual balancing load amount △ of the source balancing Cell1(F1) in the downlink direction_dlThen execution continues with 7).

7. The selection of equalization users continues from the RRCLBCandidateHOUserList.

First, it is determined whether equalization user selection needs to be continuously performed. The method comprises the following specific steps:

in the case of load balancing in the downlink direction, if the residual load in the downlink of the source balancing Cell1(F1) after the load transfer in step 5) and step 6) is lower than the offset set below the set absolute threshold, the user selection process is ended. And taking the user equipment selected in the step 5)6) as the user equipment for finally executing the downlink load balancing operation; otherwise, updating the source equalizing cell CC₁The remaining balance load in the downstream direction. The updating method comprises the following steps:

when the load in the downlink direction is balanced, the source balance cell CC₁The remaining balance load △ in the downstream direction_dl△ is_dl＝△_{dl,1_i}-Transfered1_dl-Transfered2_dl(ii) a Wherein transferred 1_dlBalancing the amount of downlink load that the Cell2(F2) has received in step 5) above for all target cells. Transferred 2_dlCell2(F2) for target equalization in step 6)The downlink load sum of the selected user equipment.

Then, the sequential selection of users from the rrclbcandidatehouserlst is continued. The method comprises the following specific steps:

and when the load in the downlink direction is balanced, sequentially selecting the user equipment until the residual load of the source balance cell in the downlink direction is reduced to below 10 percent or the residual balance load of the source balance cell in the downlink direction is 0 or the last user equipment is selected, and stopping the user selection process. Considering that the Cell1(F1) and the Cell2(F2) are basically covered in the same way in this scenario, the SCell configuration and handover success probability is high, so the user equipment amplification factor (i.e., α) can be set to 1, and the balanced user equipment is not selected any more.

8. And processing the balanced user selected in the step 5) according to the carrier aggregation capability supported by the user and the SCell configuration state. The method comprises the following specific steps:

and during downlink direction load balancing, performing SCell activation operation on the user which supports bidirectional carrier aggregation or downlink direction carrier aggregation and is configured with the target balancing cell as the SCell but is not activated in the step 5).

9. Processing for the equalization user selected in step 6). The method comprises the following specific steps:

and when the load in the downlink direction is balanced, configuring the SCell measurement for the user not configured with the SCell. And after receiving the measurement report, selecting the target balance cell with the lowest load from the target balance cells meeting the SCell configuration conditions to perform downlink direction SCell configuration through RRC reconfiguration signaling. And then activating the SCell.

10. Processing for the equalization user selected in step 7). The method comprises the following specific steps:

in this embodiment, it is considered that both uplink and downlink services of the user equipment are transferred to the balance target cell during inter-frequency handover, and consideration that load balance in the downlink direction cannot trigger load balance in the uplink direction is increased. The method comprises the following specific steps:

when load balancing is performed in the downlink direction, the uplink load amount △ received by the target balancing Cell2(F2) is initialized_{transfered_ul,1_2}To 0, the number of user equipments that have been handed over is 0. For a user equipment not configured with the target balanced Cell2(F2) as its SCell, considering that the Cell1(F1) and the Cell2(F2) are basically covered in the application scenario of this embodiment, in order to simplify the flow, a handover request may be directly initiated instead of configuring a corresponding inter-frequency handover measurement configuration for the balanced user equipment.

Sequentially selecting user equipment, judging if the number of the switched user equipment is less than that of the switched user equipment before amplification and satisfying △_{transfered_ul,1_2}<△_{ul,1_2}Then a handover procedure to the target equilibrium Cell2(F2) is initiated. Setting the uplink load of the user equipment as P_{UL_user}Updating the received uplink load amount △ of the target balance Cell2(F2)_{transfered_ul,1_2}＝△_{transfered_ul,1_2}+P_{UL_user}Updating the number of the switched user equipment; otherwise, the user equipment is not processed.

Example four: the embodiment is applied to a concentric circle large-small circle coverage scene, and a two-carrier aggregation network composed of two frequency bands F1 and F2 is shown in fig. 4. F1 and F2 have the same bandwidth. Setting the uplink load of Cell1(F1) as 80% and the downlink load as 70%; cell2(F2) has an uplink load of 20% and a downlink load of 20%; cell1(F1) and Cell2(F2) are assumed to have equal Cell spectral efficiencies. The users in the network are all terminals supporting carrier aggregation. Assuming that the absolute load threshold required to be met by load balancing triggering is 50%; the relative load threshold which needs to be met by the load balance triggering is 20 percent; the high load threshold which needs to be met by the load balance trigger is 80%; the load balancing process in this scenario is described by taking Cell1(F1) as an example. The load balancing can be realized according to the following method and steps:

1. and when the load balancing period is reached, determining a source balancing cell according to the cell load. The method comprises the following specific steps:

the uplink load of the cell with the highest load in the uplink direction is 80 percent and is higher than the load balance trigger absolute threshold by 50 percent, and the load balance needs to be triggered in the uplink direction; the downlink load of the cell with the highest load in the downlink direction reaches 70 percent and is greater than the load balance triggering absolute threshold by 50 percent, so the load balance needs to be triggered.

And if the load in the uplink direction is higher than the load in the downlink direction, determining the load balancing direction as the uplink.

2. And determining a target balance cell. The inter-frequency component carrier Cell2(F2) is preferentially selected as a candidate balancing target Cell. And acquiring the load of the Cell2(F2), and performing trigger judgment of load balancing. The method comprises the following specific steps:

an uplink direction: 80% of Cell1(F1) uplink load, 60% of difference value of Cell1(F1) uplink load and Cell2(F2) uplink load, and 20% of Cell2(F2) uplink load meet the condition of being less than 80% of load balance trigger high load threshold, so that the uplink direction meets the load balance trigger condition.

3. The amount of load transfer in the upward direction of Cell2(F2) by Cell1(F1) is calculated. In the step, the load quantity required to be balanced in the uplink direction and the load quantity allowed to be balanced in the downlink direction are calculated respectively. The method comprises the following specific steps:

1) the uplink required balance load amount is calculated as follows:

the uplink balanced load amount △ can be obtained by calculation based on the principle that the uplink loads of the Cell2(F2) and the Cell1(F1) are equal after balance_{1,1_2,ul}Considering the load bearing capacity of the Cell2(F2), the balance load △ that the Cell1(F1) is allowed to transfer to the Cell2(F2) in the uplink direction can be calculated according to the principle that the uplink load of the Cell2(F2) after balance cannot exceed the load balance trigger high load threshold_{2,1_2,ul}60%, and the above results can be combined to obtain the load amount △ of the Cell1(F1) needing to be balanced to the Cell2(F2) in the upstream direction_{ul，1_2}The content was 25%.

2) The downlink allowable balance load amount is calculated as follows:

considering the load bearing capacity of the Cell2(F2), the downlink load of the Cell2(F2) after balancing cannot exceed the load balancing trigger high load threshold, and accordingly the downlink allowable balanced load amount △ of the Cell2(F2) can be calculated_{1,1_2,dl}60%, considering that when the downlink load of the Cell2(F2) is not greater than the load balance triggering absolute threshold, the load balance of the cells 2(F2) to 1(F1) in the downlink direction is not triggered, and accordingly, the allowable balance load quantity △ of the downlink of the Cell1(F1) can be calculated_{2,1_2,dl}Is 30 percent; when the downlink load difference between the Cell2(F2) and the Cell1(F1) is not greater than the relative threshold of load balance trigger, the downlink direction CC is not triggered₂To CC₁Load balancing according to which the CC can be calculated₂Downstream allowable equalization load △_{3,1_2,dl}35%, and the above results are combined to obtain the load △ that Cell2(F2) allows Cell1(F1) to equalize toward it in the downstream direction_{dl，1_2}The content was 35%.

4. And carrying out set division by combining the capability of supporting carrier aggregation by a user and the SCell state configured by the user.

The set of priorities is generated according to the following priority order and principle. In consideration of the application scenario of the embodiment, the user channel at the center of the cell has good quality, the signaling transmission reliability is high, and the success rate of the load balancing operations such as SCell configuration and handover is high, so that the selection can be preferentially performed. And considering that there is a possibility of failure in Cell1(F1) and Cell2(F2) partially co-covering SCell configuration or because the mobile SCell of the user equipment may be deleted. These user equipments need to be culled in the priority set.

First set of priorities H1: { all user equipments supporting bidirectional carrier aggregation, Cell1(F1) being PCell, Cell2(F2) being SCell, configured bidirectional SCell but not activated };

second set of priorities H2: { all user equipments supporting bidirectional carrier aggregation, Cell1(F1) being PCell, Cell2(F2) being SCell, configured with downlink SCell };

third priority set H3: { all support for bidirectional bearersWave aggregation, wherein the Cell1(F1) is PCell, the SCell is not configured, and the user equipment of the a2 measurement report is not reported }, wherein, the H3 needs to eliminate the latest executed SCell deletion operation or SCell configuration failure operation, and the time interval between the current load balancing time and the current load balancing time is less than the threshold GT_{scell_config}The user equipment of (1);

fourth set of priorities H4: { all user equipments supporting bidirectional carrier aggregation, with Cell1(F1) being PCell, SCell not configured, reporting a2 measurement report }, wherein, in H4, it is necessary to eliminate the latest SCell deletion operation or SCell configuration failure operation until the load balancing time interval is less than the threshold GT_{scell_config}The user equipment of (1);

fifth set of priorities H5: { all user equipments which do not support uplink carrier aggregation but support downlink carrier aggregation, have Cell1(F1) as their serving Cell, are not configured with SCell, and do not report a2 measurement report };

sixth set of priorities H6: { all user equipments which do not support uplink carrier aggregation but support downlink carrier aggregation, have Cell1(F1) as their serving Cell, configure SCell, and have not reported a2 measurement report };

sequencing elements in each priority set according to a set rule, and then combining the elements in the priority sets H1 and H2 into a user set RRCLBCandidate SCellActiveUserList according to the sequence of H1 and H2; combining the elements in the priority sets H3 and H4 into a user set RRCLBCandidacateSCellConfigUserList according to the sequence of H3 and H4; (ii) a And combining the elements in the H5 and H6 sets after the sorting processing into a user set RRCLBCandidateHOUserList according to the sequence of H5 and H6.

5. The selection of equalization users is preferably made from rrclbcandidatescelllactiveuserlist.

Specifically, users are sequentially selected, and the load received by the target balance Cell2(F2) is recorded, if the M-th Cell is selected₁The load received by the target balance Cell2(F2) reaches △ at the time of each user equipment_{ul,1_2}Then quit the user selection process and let itM₁Otherwise, if the last user equipment is selected, the load received by the target balancing Cell2(F2) is still less than △_{ul,1_2}Then execution continues with step 6).

6. The selection of equalization users continues from the rrclbcandidascescelllconfiguserls.

First, the remaining balance load amount of the source balance Cell1(F1) in the load balance direction is calculated. When the load in the uplink direction is balanced, the source balance cell CC₁The remaining equalization load △ in the upstream direction_ul△ is_ul＝△_{ul,1_i}-Transfered1_ulWherein transferred 1_ulEqualizing the amount of uplink load the Cell2(F2) has received in step 5) above for the target.

Then, the users are sequentially selected, and whether the user selection is stopped is judged. When the load in the uplink direction is balanced, if the Mth load is selected₂When the user equipment is selected, the sum of the uplink load accumulations of the selected user equipment is greater than or equal to the residual balanced load amount △ of the Cell1(F1) in the uplink direction for the first time_ulI.e. byThe user selection process exits.

Considering that the Cell1(F1) and the Cell2(F2) are only partially covered in the same way in this scenario, the coverage of the Cell2(F2) is smaller than the coverage of the Cell1(F1), and the SCell configuration will have a higher failure with a certain probability, so the amplification factor of the user equipment can be set to a value larger than 1, for example, 1.2. Continue to pick 0.2M in sequence in RRCLBCandidateSCellConfigUserList₂The user equipment is used as a target balance user, and the user equipment selected in the step 5) and the 1.2M₂The user equipment is used as the user equipment which finally executes the downlink load balancing operation.

If the last UE is selected, the sum of the uplink loads of the selected UEs is still less than Cell1(F1) and the uplink load is still less thanResidual equilibrium load △ in direction_ulThen execution continues with 7).

First, it is determined whether equalization user selection needs to be continuously performed. In the uplink direction load balancing, if the uplink residual load of the source balancing Cell1(F1) after the load transfer in step 5) and step 6) is lower than the set offset below the set absolute threshold, the user selection process is ended. And taking the user equipment selected in the step 5)6) as the user equipment for finally executing the uplink load balancing operation; otherwise, continuing to update the source equalizing cell CC₁The remaining balance load in the upstream direction. The updating method comprises the following steps:

when the load in the uplink direction is balanced, the source balance cell CC₁The remaining equalization load △ in the upstream direction_ul△ is_ul＝△_{ul,1_i}-Transfered1_ul-Transfered2_ulWherein transferred 1_ulEqualizing the amount of uplink load that the Cell2(F2) has received at the above step 5) for all the target cells. Transferred 2_ulThe sum of the uplink load amounts of the user equipments selected in step 6) for the target equalizing Cell2 (F2).

Then, sequential selection of user equipment is continued. And (3) balancing the load in the uplink direction: sequentially selects the Mth₃When the user equipment is used, the residual load of the source equalizing cell in the uplink direction is reduced to below 10 percent or the residual equalizing load of the source equalizing cell in the uplink direction is 0 or M₃And stopping the user selection process when the user equipment is the last user equipment. Considering that the Cell1(F1) and the Cell2(F2) are only partially covered in the same way in this scenario, the coverage of the Cell2(F2) is smaller than the coverage of the Cell1(F1), and the SCell configuration will have a higher failure with a certain probability, so the amplification factor of the user equipment can be set to a value larger than 1, for example, 1.2. Continuing to pick 0.2 (M) in sequence in RRCLBCandidateHOUserList₂+M₃) The individual user devices act as target equalization users. Comparing the user equipment selected in step 5)6) with the 0.2M₂+1.2*M₃And the user equipment is used as the user equipment which finally executes the uplink load balancing operation.

8. And the user equipment selected in the step 5) is processed according to the carrier aggregation capability supported by the user and the SCell configuration state. The method specifically comprises the following steps:

when the uplink direction load is balanced, carrying out SCell activation operation on the user equipment which supports bidirectional carrier aggregation and is configured with the target balancing cell as a bidirectional SCell but is not activated in the step 5); and C), the user equipment which supports the bidirectional carrier aggregation and is only configured with the target balancing cell as the downlink direction SCell in the step 5) is activated after the user equipment reconfigures the bidirectional SCell through RRC reconfiguration signaling.

9. Processing for the user equipment selected in step 6). The method specifically comprises the following steps:

and when the uplink direction load is balanced, configuring the SCell measurement for the user equipment which is not configured with the SCell. And after receiving the measurement report, selecting the target balance cell with the lowest load from the target balance cells meeting the SCell configuration conditions to perform the configuration of the bidirectional SCell through RRC reconfiguration signaling, and then activating the SCell.

10. Processing for the equalization user selected in step 7). The method specifically comprises the following steps:

in this embodiment, it is considered that both uplink and downlink services of the user are transferred to the balance target cell during inter-frequency handover, and consideration that load balance in the uplink direction cannot trigger load balance in the downlink direction is increased.

When the load in the uplink direction is balanced, the downlink load amount △ received by the target balance Cell2(F2) is initialized_{transfered_dl,1_2}The number of switched users is 0. For a user equipment not configured with the target equalization Cell2(F2) as its SCell, considering that the Cell1(F1) and the Cell2(F2) partially cover the same in this scenario, it is necessary to configure a corresponding inter-frequency handover measurement configuration for the user equipment. After receiving the measurement report, the user equipment is processed in sequence, and if the number of the switched user equipment is less than the number of the switched user equipment which is not amplified, the user equipment is judgedThe number of previously handed over user equipments and △_{transfered_dl,1_2}<△_{dl,1_2}Then a handover procedure to the target equilibrium Cell2(F2) is initiated. Let the downlink load of the UE be P_{DL_user}Updating the downlink load amount △ received by the target equilibrium Cell2(F2)_{transfered_dl,1_2}＝△_{transfered_dl,1_2}+P_{DL_user}Updating the number of the switched user equipment; otherwise, the user equipment is not processed.

The above method process flow may be implemented by a software program, which may be stored in a storage medium, and when the stored software program is called, the above method steps are performed.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a load balancing apparatus in a carrier aggregation system, and as the principle of the apparatus for solving the problem is similar to the load balancing method in the carrier aggregation system, the implementation of the apparatus may refer to the implementation of the method, and repeated details are not repeated.

In a fifth embodiment of the present invention, a load balancing apparatus in a carrier aggregation system is provided, as shown in fig. 5, the apparatus includes:

a first processing module 51, configured to determine, in each load balancing cycle, a source balancing cell that needs to perform load balancing and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell, and determine, from component carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell, at least one target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced;

a second processing module 52, configured to determine a first load amount that the source balancing cell needs to transfer to each target balancing cell in the load balancing direction;

a third processing module 53, configured to select at least one user equipment from the user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and using the source balancing cell as the PCell according to the first load amount corresponding to each target balancing cell, and transfer the load amount of the selected user equipment on the source balancing cell to an SCell of the selected user equipment, so that the cumulative received load amount of each target balancing cell reaches the first load amount corresponding to the target balancing cell, where an SCell configured and activated for the selected user equipment is at least one of the determined target balancing cells.

or

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, activating an SCell of the selected user equipment for the user equipment which is selected from the first set and is configured with at least one SCell in the uplink direction and the downlink direction of the user equipment but not activated with the SCell; or for the user equipment which is selected from the first set and has configured at least one target balancing cell as the SCell of the user equipment in the downlink direction, performing bidirectional reconfiguration on the SCell of the selected user equipment through RRC reconfiguration, and activating the reconfigured SCell of the user equipment;

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, configuring the selected user equipment to perform SCell measurement for the user equipment selected from the second set and not reported with an A2 measurement report, selecting a target balancing cell with the lowest current load amount from target balancing cells meeting SCell configuration conditions according to the measurement report reported by the selected user equipment as an SCell of the selected user equipment, performing bidirectional reconfiguration on the SCell of the selected user equipment, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment; for the user equipment selected from the second set and reporting the A2 measurement report, according to the measurement report reported by the selected user equipment, selecting a target balance cell with the lowest current load quantity from target balance cells meeting the SCell configuration condition as the SCell of the selected user equipment, performing bidirectional reconfiguration on the SCell of the selected user equipment, and activating the SCell of the reconfigured user equipment;

after shifting the load amount of all user equipments in the second set on the source equalizing cell, the difference between the residual load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction and the set absolute threshold is smaller than the set offset, and from the third set, selecting at least one user equipment until the residual load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is less than or equal to a set absolute threshold, or the residual equalizing load amount of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is 0, or all the user equipments in the third set are selected, the residual load capacity of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction is obtained by subtracting the load capacity of the selected user equipment in the source equalizing cell from the initial load capacity of the source equalizing cell in the load equalizing direction;

In a possible implementation manner, the second processing module is further configured to:

In a possible implementation, the number of user equipments M if selected from the second set₂>0, and the number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃If 0, the total number M of the selected user equipments is: m is M₁+MIN(M₂*α,M_{2_final}) Wherein M is₁α is set for the number of user equipments selected from the first setA fixed amplification factor of α ≥ 1, M_{2_final}Is the total number of user equipments comprised in the second set;

In a sixth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a base station, as shown in fig. 6, the base station includes a transceiver 61 and at least one processor 62 connected to the transceiver 61, where:

the processor 62 is configured to read a program in the memory 63, and execute each step in the load balancing method in the carrier aggregation system described in the first embodiment, for specific reference, the description of the first embodiment is omitted here for details;

a transceiver 61 for receiving and transmitting data under the control of a processor 62.

Wherein in fig. 6 the bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, in particular one or more processors represented by processor 62 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 63, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 61 may be a number of elements, including a transmitter and a transceiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The processor 62 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 63 may store data used by the processor 62 in performing operations.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including preferred embodiments and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for load balancing in a carrier aggregation system, the method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a source balancing cell to be load balanced and a load balancing direction of the source balancing cell in each load balancing cycle comprises:

or

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the load balancing direction of the source balancing cell if the uplink load amount and the downlink load amount of any cell are both greater than the absolute threshold comprises:

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a target balancing cell to which the load of the source balancing cell is balanced from the component carrier cells corresponding to the source balancing cell comprises:

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a first amount of load that the source balancing cell needs to transfer to each target balancing cell in the load balancing direction comprises:

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting at least one user equipment from among the user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and having the source balancing cell as a PCell comprises:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein after selecting at least one user equipment, prior to transferring the amount of load on the source balancing cell to the SCell of the selected user equipment, further comprising:

8. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one user equipment is selected from among user equipments supporting the load balancing direction carrier aggregation and having the source balancing cell as a PCell, further comprising:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein after selecting at least one user equipment, prior to transferring the amount of load on the source balancing cell to the SCell of the selected user equipment, further comprising:

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

if the load balancing direction is an uplink direction, the third set includes user equipment which does not support carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction but supports reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, and has configured at least one target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment in a reverse direction of the load balancing direction but has not been activated; the user equipment which does not support the carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction but supports the reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction or does not support the carrier aggregation, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, does not configure any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and does not report an A2 measurement report; the user equipment which does not support the carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction but supports the reverse direction of the carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction or does not support the carrier aggregation, takes the source balancing cell as a PCell, does not configure any target balancing cell as an SCell of the user equipment, and reports an A2 measurement report; the method comprises the steps that carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction is not supported, reverse direction carrier aggregation in the load balancing direction is supported, the source balancing cell is taken as a PCell, at least one target balancing cell is configured as an SCell of the user equipment in the reverse direction of the load balancing direction, and the user equipment is activated;

11. The method of claim 10, wherein after selecting at least one user equipment, prior to transferring the amount of load on the source balancing cell to the SCell of the selected user equipment, further comprising:

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining a fourth amount of load each target leveling cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite the load leveling direction comprises:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a fourth amount of load that the target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite to the load balancing direction is determined according to the following formula based on the fifth amount of load, the sixth amount of load, and the seventh amount of load:

Δ_{1_i} = \min (Δ_{1, 1_i}, \max (Δ_{2, 1_i}, \max (Δ_{3, 1_i}, 0))) / (\frac{{Eff}_{C C 1}}{{Eff}_{C C i}} \times \frac{N_{P R B_C C 1}}{N_{P R B_C C i}});

wherein, Delta_{1_i}Represents a fourth load quantity, Delta, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_{1,1_i}Represents a fifth load quantity, Delta, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_{2,1_i}Indicates the sixth load quantity, delta, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_{3,1_i}Represents the seventh load quantity, Eff, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_CC1Indicating a cell spectral efficiency, Eff, of the source balance cell in a direction opposite to the load balance direction_CCiIndicating the cell spectral efficiency, N, of the ith target balance cell in the direction opposite to the load balance direction_{PRB_CC1}The number of PRBs available for the source balance cell in the reverse direction of the load balance direction is represented as N_{PRB_CCi}And the number of available PRBs of the ith target balance cell in the reverse direction of the load balance direction is represented, i is 2, …, and L +1, where L represents the total number of target balance cells.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of user equipments M if selected from the second set₂>0, andthe number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃If 0, the total number M of the selected user equipments is: m is M₁+MIN(M₂*α,M_{2_final}) Wherein M is₁For the number of user devices selected from the first set, α is a set amplification factor, α ≧ 1, M_{2_final}Is the total number of user equipments comprised in the second set;

16. An apparatus for load balancing in a carrier aggregation system, the apparatus comprising:

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first processing module is specifically configured to:

or

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first processing module is specifically configured to:

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first processing module is specifically configured to:

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second processing module is specifically configured to:

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the third processing module is specifically configured to:

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the third processing module is further for:

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the third processing module is further for:

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the third processing module is further for:

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the third processing module is further for:

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the third processing module is further for:

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the second processing module is further for

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the second processing module is specifically configured to:

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the second processing module determines a fourth amount of load that the target balancing cell is allowed to receive in a direction opposite the load balancing direction according to the following formula:

Δ_{1_i} = \min (Δ_{1, 1_i}, \max (Δ_{2, 1_i}, \max (Δ_{3, 1_i}, 0))) / (\frac{{Eff}_{C C 1}}{{Eff}_{C C i}} \times \frac{N_{P R B_C C 1}}{N_{P R B_C C i}});

wherein, Delta_{1_i}Represents a fourth load quantity, Delta, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_{1,1_i}Represents a fifth load quantity, Delta, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_{2,1_i}Indicates the sixth load quantity, delta, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_{3,1_i}Represents the seventh load quantity, Eff, corresponding to the ith target balance cell_CC1Indicating a cell spectral efficiency, Eff, of the source balance cell in a direction opposite to the load balance direction_CCiIndicating the cell spectral efficiency, N, of the ith target balance cell in the direction opposite to the load balance direction_{PRB_CC1}The number of PRBs available for the source balance cell in the reverse direction of the load balance direction is represented as N_{PRB_CCi}Indicating that the bandwidth of the ith target balance cell in the reverse direction of the load balance direction is availableThe number of PRBs, i-2, …, L +1, where L represents the total number of target equalization cells.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the number of user equipments M if selected from the second set₂>0, and the number M of user equipments selected from the third set₃If 0, the total number M of the selected user equipments is: m is M₁+MIN(M₂*α,M_{2_final}) Wherein M is₁For the number of user devices selected from the first set, α is a set amplification factor, α ≧ 1, M_{2_final}Is the total number of user equipments comprised in the second set;