CN107948964B - Method and device for transmitting radio resource control message - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method and a device for transmitting radio resource control messages, relates to the field of communication, and can improve the reliability of RRC message transmission in a dual-connection system. The method comprises the following steps: a first base station sends a first request message to a second base station, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to acquire RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station are used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the second base station for RRC messages; the first base station receives a first response message sent by the second base station; the first base station determines an RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and the RRC anchor base station of the UE is used for carrying out RRC message interaction with the UE; and if the RRC anchor point base station of the UE is the second base station, the first base station sends a first indication message to the second base station.

Description

Method and device for transmitting radio resource control message

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting a radio resource control message.

Background

In a fourth generation LTE (Long Term Evolution) system, in order to improve system throughput, a Dual Connectivity (DC) technology is introduced to support a User Equipment (UE) in an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connected state to simultaneously use Radio resources provided by two base stations.

As shown in fig. 1, in the dual connectivity system, the UE maintains connectivity with the main serving base station MeNB and the secondary serving base station SeNB at the same time. The MeNB is responsible for providing the S1-MME interface and for providing mobility anchor functionality to the core network device MME (mobility Management entity), and the SeNB is responsible for providing additional radio resources to the UE. Both the MeNB and the SeNB can independently manage radio resources in the UE and the respective cells. Resource coordination between MeNB and SeNB is achieved via messaging over the X2 interface. The dashed lines in fig. 1 represent signaling and the solid lines represent user plane data.

In the LTE system, the RRC functions mainly include broadcasting, paging, RRC connection management, Radio Bearer (RB) control, mobility management, UE measurement control, and the like. Through the transmission of the downlink RRC message, the UE can receive system broadcast and paging messages, establish an RB of a signaling plane and a user plane, complete the configuration of public radio resources, special radio resources and the like, and through the transmission of the uplink RRC message, the UE can report a measurement report, uplink NAS information, receiving response information of the downlink RRC message and the like to a base station, so as to establish a data transmission service. Therefore, reliable transmission of RRC messages is a prerequisite for establishing data services, which determines the data service performance of the system.

As shown in fig. 2, in the conventional dual connectivity system, all RRC signaling messages and functions required by the UE are managed by the MeNB, the MeNB has an RRC functional entity that is peer to the UE, and the SeNB does not have an RRC functional entity that is peer to the UE. The SeNB transmits the related radio resource configuration information to the MeNB through an X2 interface, and the MeNB is responsible for generating and transmitting a downlink RRC message to the UE. The UE sees only one RRC functional entity from the MeNB and sends uplink RRC messages only to the MeNB. If the quality of an air interface radio link between the MeNB and the UE is poor or the RRC processing resource of the MeNB is insufficient, it may cause RRC message transmission failure or transmission delay to increase, transmission performance to decrease, and data transmission service to be affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for transmitting radio resource control messages, which can improve the reliability of RRC message transmission in a dual-connection system.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, the present application provides a radio resource control message transmission method, which may include:

a first base station sends a first request message to a second base station, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to acquire RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station are used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the second base station for RRC messages; the first base station receives a first response message sent by the second base station, wherein the first response message carries RRC function entity parameters of the second base station; the first base station determines an RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, wherein the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station are used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the first base station on RRC messages, and the RRC anchor base station of the UE is used for carrying out RRC message interaction with the UE; if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the second base station, the first base station sends a first indication message to the second base station, and the first indication message is used for indicating that the second base station is determined to be the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a radio resource control message transmission method, which may include:

a second base station receives a first request message sent by a first base station, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to acquire RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station are used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the second base station for RRC messages; the second base station sends a first response message to the first base station, wherein the first response message carries RRC function entity parameters of the second base station; the second base station receives a first indication message sent by the first base station, wherein the first indication message is used for indicating that the second base station is determined to be an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a radio resource control message transmission method, which may include:

the UE receives a second indication message sent by a first base station, wherein the second indication message comprises an identification of an RRC anchor point base station of the UE; and the UE sends the uplink RRC message of the UE to an RRC anchor point base station of the UE.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a base station, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a first request message to the second base station, where the first request message is used to request to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the second base station for an RRC message; a receiving module, configured to receive a first response message sent by the second base station, where the first response message carries an RRC function entity parameter of the second base station; a determining module, configured to determine an RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station received by the receiving module, where the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the base station for an RRC message, and the RRC anchor base station of the UE is used to perform RRC message interaction with the UE; the sending module is further configured to send a first indication message to the second base station if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the second base station, where the first indication message is used to indicate that the second base station is determined to be the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a base station, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first request message sent by the first base station, where the first request message is used to request to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the base station for an RRC message; a sending module, configured to send a first response message to the first base station, where the first response message carries an RRC functional entity parameter of the base station; the receiving module is further configured to receive a first indication message sent by the first base station, where the first indication message is used to indicate that the base station is determined to be an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a UE, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive a second indication message sent by the first base station, where the second indication message includes an identifier of an RRC anchor base station of the UE; a sending module, configured to send an uplink RRC message of the UE to an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which includes the base station according to any of the fourth aspect and its various optional implementations, the base station according to any of the fifth aspect and its various optional implementations, and the user equipment according to any of the sixth aspect and its various optional implementations.

According to the method, the device and the system for transmitting the radio resource control message, the first base station and the second base station are both provided with the RRC functional entity and can be used for carrying out RRC message interaction with the UE. The first base station acquires the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and determines the RRC anchor point base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the second base station. Subsequent UEs may have RRC message interaction with the RRC anchor base station. Different from the method that the UE can only perform RRC message interaction with the first base station in the prior art, the method for transmitting the radio resource control message provided by the application has the advantage that the UE performs RRC message interaction with the RRC anchor point base station of the UE in the dual-connection system in the RRC connection state. Because the RRC anchor point base station of the UE is determined by the first base station according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the second base station, the transmission reliability of the RRC anchor point base station of the UE and the UE for carrying out RRC message interaction is higher compared with a non-anchor point base station. Therefore, the method for transmitting the radio resource control message provided by the embodiment of the invention improves the reliability of RRC message transmission in the dual-connection system.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a prior art dual connectivity system framework;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a dual connectivity system framework in the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a dual connectivity system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a first schematic diagram illustrating a method for transmitting a rrc message according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4-1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a radio resource control message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for rrc message transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a first schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a first schematic structural diagram of another base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following describes a method, an apparatus, and a system for transmitting a radio resource control message according to an embodiment of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The terms "101", "102", "103", "104", etc. herein are used merely to distinguish between different steps and are not used to describe a particular order of steps.

The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

The terms "first" and "second" and the like in the description of the present invention and the drawings are used for distinguishing different objects or for distinguishing different processes for the same object, and are not used for describing a specific order of the objects.

Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof as referred to in the description of the invention are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements but may alternatively include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present invention, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "e.g.," an embodiment of the present invention is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.

The method for transmitting rrc message provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be applied to a dual connectivity system shown in fig. 3, where the dual connectivity system may be a fourth generation (4th generation, 4G) (e.g., an Evolved Packet System (EPS) mobile communication network, a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) mobile communication network, or another actual mobile communication network, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a dual connection system, which may comprise: UE, a first base station, a second base station and an MME. The UE in fig. 3 may be configured to connect to an access network device deployed by an operator through a wireless air interface, for example, the UE may access to the first base station and the second base station in fig. 3, and in an RRC connection state, the UE simultaneously maintains connection with the first base station and the second base station; the first base station and the second base station are mainly used for realizing functions of a wireless physical layer, resource scheduling, wireless resource management, wireless access control, mobility management and the like, the first base station is responsible for providing an S1-MME interface and providing a mobility anchor point function of core network equipment MME, the second base station is responsible for providing additional wireless resources for UE, the first base station and the second base station can independently manage the UE and the wireless resources in respective cells, and the resource coordination work between the first base station and the second base station is realized by message transmission on an X2 interface; the MME is used as a logic network element of a core network in the LTE network, is a key control node of the LTE access network and is responsible for a signaling processing part. The dashed lines in fig. 3 represent signaling and the solid lines represent user plane data. It should be noted that fig. 3 is only an exemplary architecture diagram, and the network architecture may include other functional units besides the functional units shown in fig. 3, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

The UE may be a User Equipment (UE), such as: cell phones, computers, and may also be cellular phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, smart phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite radios, wireless modem cards, Set Top Boxes (STBs), Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), and/or other devices used to communicate over a wireless system.

The first base station and the second base station may be an eNB or an enodeb (evolved nodeb) in LTE, may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, and may also be network equipment in a 5G network or network equipment in a future evolution network; but also wearable devices or vehicle-mounted devices, etc.

The problem that in the prior art, all RRC signaling messages and functions required by UE are managed by a main service base station, and if the quality of an air interface radio link between the main service base station and the UE is poor or the RRC processing resources of the main service base station are insufficient, the transmission performance of the RRC messages may be reduced is solved. The embodiment of the invention provides a method for transmitting radio resource control messages, which is applied to a dual-connection system shown in figure 3, wherein UE (user equipment) interacts RRC messages with an RRC anchor point base station in the dual-connection system in an RRC connection state. Compared with a non-anchor base station, the transmission reliability of the RRC message interaction between the RRC anchor base station of the UE and the UE is higher, and the reliability of the RRC message transmission in a dual-connection system can be improved. As shown in fig. 4, the method may include S401-S407:

s401, the UE accesses a double-connection system.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 3, the dual connectivity system includes a first base station and a second base station. The RRC connection of the UE is accessed to a first base station, the UE is in an RRC connection state, the first base station is a main service base station of the dual-connection system, and the second base station is an auxiliary service base station. The UE is connected with both the first base station and the second base station, and user plane data of the UE can be transmitted by the first base station, the second base station or both the first base station and the second base station. The first base station and the second base station are both configured with RRC functional entities which are equivalent to the UE, namely, the first base station and the second base station are both provided with the capability of carrying out RRC message interaction with the UE. The RRC functional entity is configured to implement a base station RRC layer protocol function, for example, in an LTE system, the RRC layer protocol function mainly includes broadcast, paging, RRC connection management, radio bearer control, mobility management, UE measurement control, and the like.

S402, the first base station and the second base station respectively count RRC functional entity parameters.

Specifically, the RRC functional entity parameter of a base station is used to characterize the processing capability and transmission performance of the base station for RRC messages. Illustratively, the RRC functional entity parameters may include RRC processing resource occupancy, radio transmission resource occupancy, and transmission link quality.

The RRC processing resource refers to a processing resource allocated by the base station for the RRC functional entity, such as a control chip, a baseband protocol processing chip, a memory chip, and other hardware resources of the base station. For example, the RRC processing resource occupancy rate is a ratio of hardware resources occupied by an established RRC connection in the base station to hardware resources allocated by the base station for the RRC functional entity; when the number of RRC connections established by the base station is large, the RRC processing resource occupancy rate is high, and problems such as RRC message congestion and RRC message processing delay increase may occur.

The radio transmission resource refers to an air interface resource used for RRC message interaction in the base station, such as a Physical Resource Block (PRB). Exemplarily, the radio transmission resource occupancy rate is a PRB resource occupancy rate, that is, a ratio of a PRB resource occupied by an established RRC connection in the base station to a PRB resource allocated by the base station for an RRC functional entity; if the radio transmission resource occupancy rate is too high, the radio transmission resource of the base station is insufficient, which may cause the transmission failure of the RRC message.

The transmission link quality refers to the quality of an air interface radio link between the base station and the UE. For example, the transmission link Quality may be characterized by parameters such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and/or Block Error Rate (BLER). The larger the RSRP and/or RSRQ value, the smaller the BLER value, the higher the transmission link quality, and the higher the reliability of RRC message transmission.

For example, the first base station and the second base station may respectively count the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station every other first preset period according to the first preset period. The way of the first base station and the second base station to count the RRC function entity parameters and the duration of the first preset period do not affect the implementation effect of the embodiment of the present invention, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

S403, the first base station determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station.

Optionally, the first base station determines, according to a second preset period, the RRC anchor base station of the UE at intervals of the second preset period. And the RRC anchor point base station of the UE is used for the base station to carry out RRC message interaction with the UE, and when downlink RRC messages need to be sent to the UE, the downlink RRC messages are sent to the UE by the RRC anchor point base station of the UE. And when the uplink RRC message needs to be sent to the base station, the UE sends the uplink RRC message to the RRC anchor point base station of the UE.

As shown in fig. 4-1, the method for determining, by the first base station, the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station may include S4031-S4034:

s4031, the first base station sends a first request message to the second base station.

Specifically, the first request message is used for requesting to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station; the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station are used for characterizing the processing capability and transmission performance of the second base station for RRC messages.

Optionally, the first request message may carry information elements such as the first base station identifier, the second base station identifier, and the RRC function entity parameter type requested to be obtained. The first REQUEST message may reuse an existing X2 interface message, such as a RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, and may also define a new X2 interface message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

S4032, the second base station sends a first response message to the first base station.

Wherein, the first response message carries the RRC function entity parameter of the second base station.

Optionally, the first response message may carry information elements such as the second base station identifier, the first base station identifier, and an RRC function entity parameter value of the second base station. The first response message may reuse an existing X2 interface message, such as a RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE message, and may also define a new X2 interface message, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

S4033, the first base station determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC function entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC function entity parameters of the second base station.

Specifically, the first base station counts the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station, acquires the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station from the first response message, and determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station.

Optionally, the RRC function entity parameter includes an RRC processing resource occupancy rate, a wireless transmission resource occupancy rate, and a transmission link quality; the method for determining the RRC anchor point base station of the UE specifically comprises the following steps:

respectively calculating RRC performance factors P of the first base station and the second base station according to P ═ α × H + β × R + γ × Q, wherein α, β, γ are weight coefficients, α + β + γ ═ 1, H is the occupancy rate of RRC processing resources, R is the occupancy rate of wireless transmission resources, and Q is the quality of transmission links;

and comparing the RRC performance factors P of the first base station and the second base station, and determining the base station with the larger value of the RRC performance factor P as the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

Further, if the RRC anchor base station of the UE determined by the first base station is the second base station, the embodiment of the present invention may further include S4034:

s4034, the first base station sends a first indication message to the second base station.

The first indication message is used for indicating that the second base station is determined to be the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

The first indication message may be an existing RRC message, a field is added to the existing RRC message, or an additional RRC message; the embodiments of the present invention are not limited.

S404, the first base station sends a second indication message to the UE.

Specifically, after determining the RRC anchor base station of the UE, the first base station sends a second indication message to the UE, where the second indication message includes an identifier of the RRC anchor base station of the UE. After receiving the second indication message, the UE may determine to perform RRC message interaction with the first base station or the second base station according to the identifier of the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

For example, the second indication message may be an existing RRC message, where a field is added in the existing RRC message to carry an identifier of an RRC anchor base station; or a newly added RRC message, which is used for indicating the RRC anchor point base station of the UE and carries the identification of the RRC anchor point base station; the embodiments of the present invention are not limited.

It should be noted that, the sequence of sending the first indication message to the second base station by the first base station and sending the second indication message to the UE by the first base station has no influence on the implementation effect of the embodiment of the present invention, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

S405, the RRC anchor point base station of the UE acquires RRC configuration information of the non-RRC anchor point base station.

Specifically, if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the first base station, the first base station sends a second request message to the second base station, where the second request message is used to request to acquire RRC configuration information of the second base station. And after receiving the second request message, the second base station sends a second response message to the first base station, wherein the second response message carries the RRC configuration information of the second base station.

And if the RRC anchor point base station of the UE is the second base station, the second base station sends a third request message to the first base station for requesting to acquire the RRC configuration information of the first base station. And after receiving the third request message, the first base station sends a third response message to the second base station, wherein the third response message carries the RRC configuration information of the first base station. The third request message and the second request message may be the same message, but the sending directions are different, the second request message is sent to the second base station by the first base station, and the third request message is sent to the first base station by the second base station. The third response message and the second response message may be the same message, but the sending directions are different, the second response message is sent to the first base station by the second base station, and the third response message is sent to the second base station by the first base station.

For example, the second request message and the third request message may be existing RRC messages, and fields such as the first base station identifier, the second base station identifier, the type of RRC configuration information requested, and the like are added to the existing RRC messages; an RRC message can be added for requesting to acquire the RRC configuration information of the message receiver; the embodiments of the present invention are not limited. The second response message and the third response message may be existing RRC messages, and fields such as a second base station identifier, a first base station identifier, RRC configuration information, and the like are added to the existing RRC messages; an RRC message can be added newly and is used for carrying RRC configuration information; the embodiments of the present invention are not limited.

The RRC configuration information of the base station refers to common control information and dedicated control information allocated to the UE by the base station, for example, MIB/SIB information, paging information, common radio resource configuration information, dedicated radio resource configuration information, and the like.

It should be noted that the RRC configuration information of the base station is used for being carried when the RRC anchor base station of the UE sends the downlink RRC message to the UE, and optionally, the RRC anchor base station of the UE may obtain the RRC configuration information of the non-RRC anchor base station before the downlink RRC message needs to be sent. The implementation effect of the embodiment of the present invention is not affected by the timing when the RRC anchor base station of the UE acquires the RRC configuration information of the non-RRC anchor base station, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

S406, the RRC anchor point base station of the UE sends a downlink RRC message to the UE, and the downlink RRC message carries RRC configuration information of the first base station and the second base station.

Optionally, when sending the downlink RRC message to the UE, the RRC anchor base station of the UE carries the RRC configuration information of the base station and the acquired RRC configuration information of the non-RRC anchor base station together in the downlink RRC message, and sends the downlink RRC message to the UE through an air interface (Uu interface).

S407, when the UE sends an uplink RRC message to the RRC anchor point base station of the UE, the RRC configuration information of the UE is carried in the uplink RRC message.

Optionally, when the UE needs to send the uplink RRC message to the base station, the UE determines to send the uplink RRC message to the first base station or the second base station according to the identifier of the RRC anchor base station of the UE, which is carried in the second indication message sent by the first base station. The RRC configuration information of the UE carried in the uplink RRC message may be a measurement report reported by the UE to the base station, uplink NAS information, or reception response information of the downlink RRC message.

It should be noted that the uplink RRC message sent by the UE may be a response message of a downlink RRC message sent by an RRC anchor base station corresponding to the UE, or may be an uplink RRC message initiated by the UE. The embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for transmitting a radio resource control message. In the dual connectivity system, the first base station and the second base station both configure RRC functional entities, which can be used for performing RRC message interaction with the UE. The first base station acquires the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and determines the RRC anchor point base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the second base station. Subsequent UEs may have RRC message interaction with the RRC anchor base station. Different from the method in the prior art in which the UE can only perform RRC message interaction with the first base station, the method for transmitting a radio resource control message provided in the embodiment of the present invention performs RRC message interaction with the RRC anchor base station of the UE in the dual connectivity system when the UE is in an RRC connected state. Because the RRC anchor point base station of the UE is determined by the first base station according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the second base station, the transmission reliability of the RRC anchor point base station of the UE and the UE for carrying out RRC message interaction is higher compared with a non-anchor point base station. Therefore, the method for transmitting the radio resource control message provided by the embodiment of the invention improves the reliability of RRC message transmission in the dual-connection system.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for transmitting a radio resource control message, which takes the second base station determined as an anchor base station as an example, and gives an example to the message interaction process of different devices in a dual-connection system. As shown in fig. 5, the method may include S501-S511:

s501, the UE accesses a double-connection system.

Illustratively, the present embodiment is applied to the dual connection system shown in fig. 3. The UE maintains a connection with both the first base station and the second base station. The first base station is a main service base station, the second base station is an auxiliary service base station, and the first base station and the second base station are both configured with RRC functional entities which are equivalent to the UE.

S502, the first base station and the second base station respectively count RRC functional entity parameters.

Specifically, the first base station and the second base station respectively count the RRC function entity parameters of the base station every other first preset period duration according to a first preset period, where the RRC function entity parameters include RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate, and transmission link quality.

S503, the first base station sends a first request message to the second base station.

Optionally, the first base station sends the first request message to the second base station every second preset period according to the second preset period, so as to determine the RRC anchor base station of the UE. Exemplarily, a process of the first base station determining the RRC anchor base station of the UE is taken as an example in fig. 5.

Specifically, the first base station sends a first request message to the second base station to request to acquire an RRC function entity parameter of the second base station.

S504, the second base station sends a first response message to the first base station.

Specifically, the second base station sends a first response message to the first base station, where the first response message carries an RRC function entity parameter value of the second base station.

S505, the first base station determines the RRC anchor point base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station.

Optionally, in the embodiment of the present invention, the first base station determines the second base station as an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

S506, the first base station sends a first indication message to the second base station.

Specifically, the first base station sends a first indication message to the second base station, indicating that the second base station is determined as the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

S507, the first base station sends a second indication message to the UE.

Specifically, the second indication message includes an identifier of the RRC anchor base station of the UE, that is, an identifier of the second base station.

And S508, the second base station sends a third request message to the first base station.

Specifically, the second base station sends a third request message to the first base station to request to acquire the RRC configuration information of the first base station. Illustratively, the second base station sends the third request message to the first base station after receiving the first indication information.

S509, the first base station sends a third response message to the second base station.

Specifically, the first base station sends a third response message to the second base station, where the third response message carries the RRC configuration information of the first base station.

S510, the second base station sends a downlink RRC message to the UE.

Specifically, the downlink RRC message sent by the second base station to the UE carries RRC configuration information of the first base station and the second base station.

S511, the UE sends an uplink RRC message to the second base station.

For example, after receiving a downlink RRC message sent by the second base station, the UE sends an uplink RRC message to the second base station, where the uplink RRC message is a response message of the downlink RRC message. Specifically, the UE determines that the second base station is the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the identifier of the RRC anchor base station of the UE included in the second indication message received in S507, and sends the uplink RRC message to the second base station.

It should be noted that step numbers, such as S506 and S507, in the embodiment of the present invention are only used for distinguishing a certain step, and do not indicate a specific order of the steps. The flow chart of this embodiment is only used for showing the message sending direction, and the sequence of sending each message is not limited.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for transmitting a radio resource control message. In the dual connectivity system, the first base station and the second base station both configure RRC functional entities, which can be used for performing RRC message interaction with the UE. The first base station acquires the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and determines the RRC anchor point base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the second base station. Subsequent UEs may have RRC message interaction with the RRC anchor base station. Different from the method in the prior art in which the UE can only perform RRC message interaction with the first base station, the method for transmitting a radio resource control message provided in the embodiment of the present invention can perform RRC message interaction with the second base station when the UE is in an RRC connected state. When the RRC resource of the first base station is insufficient or the quality of an air interface wireless link between the first base station and the UE is poor, the second base station and the UE perform RRC message interaction, so that the probability of RRC message transmission failure is reduced, and the reliability of RRC message transmission in the dual-connection system is improved.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the base station and the UE include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software for the exemplary base station and user equipment and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the base station and the user equipment may be divided into functional modules or functional units according to the above method examples, for example, each functional module or functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional module or a functional unit. The division of the modules or units in the embodiments of the present invention is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic possible structure diagram of a base station according to the above embodiment, in a case that each functional module is divided according to each function. The base station comprises a sending module 601, a receiving module 602 and a determining module 603.

The sending module 601 is configured to send a first request message to the second base station, where the first request message is used to request to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the second base station for an RRC message; and further configured to send a first indication message to the second base station if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the second base station, where the first indication message is used to indicate that the second base station is determined to be the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

The receiving module 602 is configured to receive a first response message sent by the second base station, where the first response message carries an RRC function entity parameter of the second base station.

The determining module 603 is configured to determine an RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station received by the receiving module 602, where the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station is used to represent a processing capability and a transmission performance of the base station for an RRC message, and the RRC anchor base station of the UE is used to perform RRC message interaction with the UE.

The RRC functional entity parameters of the base station comprise: RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate and transmission link quality.

Optionally, the determining module 603 is specifically configured to calculate RRC performance factors P of the base station and the second base station according to P ═ α × H + β × R + γ × Q, where α, β, and γ are weight coefficients, α + β + γ ═ 1, H is an RRC processing resource occupancy rate, R is a wireless transmission resource occupancy rate, and Q is transmission link quality; and determining the base station with the larger RRC performance factor P value as the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 7, the base station further includes a counting module 604, configured to count an RRC function entity parameter of the base station every other time of a first preset period according to the first preset period.

Optionally, the sending module 601 is further configured to send a second indication message to the UE after the determining module determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station received by the receiving module, where the second indication message includes an identifier of the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

Optionally, the sending module 601 is further configured to send a second request message to the second base station if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the base station, where the second request message is used to request to acquire RRC configuration information of the second base station;

the receiving module 602 is further configured to receive a second response message sent by the second base station, where the second response message carries RRC configuration information of the second base station.

Optionally, the sending module 601 is further configured to send the first request message to the second base station every second preset period according to a second preset period.

Optionally, the sending module 601 is further configured to, if the determining module 603 determines that the base station is an RRC anchor base station of the UE, send a downlink RRC message to the UE, where the downlink RRC message includes RRC configuration information of the base station and the second base station.

In the base station provided in the embodiments of the present invention, in a case that each function module is divided according to each function, fig. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the base station related in the above embodiments. The base station comprises a receiving module 801 and a sending module 802.

The receiving module 801 is configured to receive a first request message sent by the first base station, where the first request message is used to request to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the base station for an RRC message.

The sending module 802 is configured to send a first response message to the first base station, where the first response message carries an RRC function entity parameter of the base station.

The receiving module 801 is further configured to receive a first indication message sent by the first base station, where the first indication message is used to indicate that the base station is determined to be an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

Optionally, with reference to fig. 8, as shown in fig. 9, the base station further includes a statistics module 803, configured to perform statistics on RRC function entity parameters of the base station every other time duration of a first preset period according to the first preset period.

Optionally, the sending module 802 is further configured to send a third request message to the first base station after the receiving module 801 receives the first indication message sent by the first base station, where the third request message is used to request to acquire RRC configuration information of the first base station;

the receiving module 801 is further configured to receive a third response message sent by the first base station, where the third response message carries RRC configuration information of the first base station.

Optionally, the sending module 802 is further configured to, if the receiving module 801 receives the first indication message sent by the first base station, send a downlink RRC message to the UE, where the downlink RRC message includes the first base station and RRC configuration information of the base station.

Optionally, the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station includes: RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate and transmission link quality.

In the case of integrated units, fig. 10 shows a possible structural diagram of the base station involved in the above-described embodiment. The base station includes: a processing unit 1002 and a communication unit 1003. The processing unit 1002 is configured to control and manage actions of the base station, for example, perform the steps performed by the determining module 603, the counting module 604, or the counting module 803, and/or perform other processes for performing the techniques described herein. The communication unit 1003 is configured to support communication between the base station and other network entities, for example, perform the steps performed by the sending module 601 and the receiving module 602, or perform the steps performed by the receiving module 801 and the sending module 802. The base station may further comprise a memory unit 1001 and a bus 1004, the memory unit 1001 being used for storing program codes and data of the base station.

The processing unit 1002 may be a processor or a controller in a base station, which may implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure. The processor or controller may be a central processing unit, general purpose processor, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others.

The communication unit 1003 may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface in a base station, etc.

The storage unit 1001 may be a memory in a base station or the like, which may include a volatile memory, such as a random access memory; the memory may also include non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory, flash memory, a hard disk, or a solid state disk; the memory may also comprise a combination of memories of the kind described above.

The bus 1004 may be an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus or the like. The bus 1004 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 10, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where one or more programs are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, where the one or more programs include instructions, and when the processor of the base station executes the instructions, the base station executes each step executed by the base station in the method flow shown in the foregoing method embodiment.

Fig. 11 shows a possible structural schematic diagram of the user equipment in the foregoing embodiment, in a case that each functional module is divided according to each function. The user equipment comprises a receiving module 1101 and a sending module 1102.

The receiving module 1101 is configured to receive a second indication message sent by the first base station, where the second indication message includes an identifier of an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

The sending module 1102 is configured to send an uplink RRC message of the UE to an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication system, which can comprise a first base station, a second base station and user equipment to execute the method for transmitting the radio resource control message provided by the embodiment of the invention. For the description of the first base station, the second base station, and the user equipment, reference may be specifically made to the related description in the foregoing method embodiment and apparatus embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied in hardware or in software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may consist of corresponding software modules that may be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable hard disk, a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the unit described above, reference may be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described here again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules or units is only one logical division, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: flash memory, removable hard drive, read only memory, random access memory, magnetic or optical disk, and the like.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (24)

1. A method for transmitting a radio resource control message, wherein a User Equipment (UE) is simultaneously connected with a first base station and a second base station, the method comprising:

101. the first base station sends a first request message to the second base station, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to acquire RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station are used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the second base station for RRC messages;

102. the first base station receives a first response message sent by the second base station, wherein the first response message carries RRC function entity parameters of the second base station;

103. the first base station determines an RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, wherein the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station are used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the first base station on RRC messages, and the RRC anchor base station of the UE is used for carrying out RRC message interaction with the UE;

104. if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the second base station, the first base station sends a first indication message to the second base station, wherein the first indication message is used for indicating that the second base station is determined to be the RRC anchor base station of the UE;

the RRC functional entity parameters comprise: RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate and transmission link quality;

the determining, by the first base station, the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station specifically includes:

respectively calculating RRC performance factors P of the first base station and the second base station according to P ═ α × H + β × R + γ × Q, wherein α, β, and γ are weight coefficients, H is an RRC processing resource occupancy rate, R is a wireless transmission resource occupancy rate, and Q is transmission link quality;

and determining the base station with the larger RRC performance factor P value as the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and the first base station counts RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station every other first preset period according to a first preset period.

3. The method of any one of claims 1-2, wherein after the first base station determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the first base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station, the method further comprises:

and the first base station sends a second indication message to the UE, wherein the second indication message comprises the identification of the RRC anchor point base station of the UE.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-2, further comprising:

if the RRC anchor point base station of the UE is the first base station, the first base station sends a second request message to the second base station, and the second request message is used for requesting to acquire RRC configuration information of the second base station;

and the first base station receives a second response message sent by the second base station, wherein the second response message carries the RRC configuration information of the second base station.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-2, further comprising:

and the first base station executes the 101-104 operation at intervals of a second preset period according to a second preset period.

6. The method of any one of claims 1-2, wherein if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the first base station, the method further comprises:

and the downlink RRC message of the UE is sent to the UE by the first base station, and the downlink RRC message of the UE comprises RRC configuration information of the first base station and the second base station.

7. A method for transmitting a radio resource control message, wherein a User Equipment (UE) is simultaneously connected with a first base station and a second base station, the method comprising:

the second base station receives a first request message sent by the first base station, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station is used for representing the processing capability and the transmission performance of the second base station for the RRC message;

the second base station sends a first response message to the first base station, wherein the first response message carries RRC function entity parameters of the second base station;

the second base station receives a first indication message sent by the first base station, wherein the first indication message is used for indicating that the second base station is determined to be an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and the second base station counts the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station at intervals of a first preset period according to the first preset period.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein after the second base station receives the first indication message sent by the first base station, the method further comprises:

the second base station sends a third request message to the first base station, wherein the third request message is used for requesting to acquire RRC configuration information of the first base station;

and the second base station receives a third response message sent by the first base station, wherein the third response message carries the RRC configuration information of the first base station.

10. The method according to any of claims 7-9, wherein if the second base station receives the first indication message sent by the first base station, the method further comprises:

and the downlink RRC message of the UE is sent to the UE by the second base station, and the downlink RRC message of the UE comprises RRC configuration information of the first base station and the second base station.

11. The method according to any of claims 7-9, wherein the RRC-functional entity parameters comprise: RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate and transmission link quality.

12. The method of claim 1 or 7, wherein the UE maintains a connection with the first base station and the second base station simultaneously, and wherein the method comprises:

the UE receives a second indication message sent by the first base station, wherein the second indication message comprises an identifier of an RRC anchor point base station of the UE;

and the UE sends the uplink RRC message of the UE to an RRC anchor point base station of the UE.

13. A base station with which a user equipment UE is simultaneously connected to a second base station, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a first request message to the second base station, where the first request message is used to request to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the second base station for an RRC message;

a receiving module, configured to receive a first response message sent by the second base station, where the first response message carries an RRC function entity parameter of the second base station;

a determining module, configured to determine an RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station received by the receiving module, where the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the base station for an RRC message, and the RRC anchor base station of the UE is used to perform RRC message interaction with the UE;

the sending module is further configured to send a first indication message to the second base station if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the second base station, where the first indication message is used to indicate that the second base station is determined to be the RRC anchor base station of the UE;

the RRC functional entity parameters of the base station comprise: RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate and transmission link quality;

the determining module determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station and the RRC functional entity parameter of the second base station received by the receiving module, and specifically includes:

respectively calculating RRC performance factors P of the base station and the second base station according to P ═ α × H + β × R + γ × Q, wherein α, β, and γ are weight coefficients, H is an RRC processing resource occupancy rate, R is a wireless transmission resource occupancy rate, and Q is transmission link quality;

and determining the base station with the larger RRC performance factor P value as the RRC anchor base station of the UE.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the base station further comprises a counting module, configured to count the RRC function entity parameter of the base station every other first preset period according to a first preset period.

15. The base station of any of claims 13-14, wherein the sending module is further configured to:

after the determining module determines the RRC anchor base station of the UE according to the RRC functional entity parameters of the base station and the RRC functional entity parameters of the second base station received by the receiving module,

and sending a second indication message to the UE, wherein the second indication message comprises the identification of the RRC anchor point base station of the UE.

16. The base station according to any of claims 13-14, characterized by:

the sending module is further configured to send a second request message to the second base station if the RRC anchor base station of the UE is the base station, where the second request message is used to request to acquire RRC configuration information of the second base station;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a second response message sent by the second base station, where the second response message carries RRC configuration information of the second base station.

17. The base station according to any of claims 13-14, characterized by:

the sending module is further configured to send the first request message to the second base station every second preset period according to a second preset period.

18. The base station according to any of claims 13-14, characterized by:

the sending module is further configured to send, to the UE, a downlink RRC message including RRC configuration information of the base station and the second base station if the determining module determines that the base station is an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

19. A base station, wherein a user equipment UE maintains a connection with a first base station and the base station simultaneously, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first request message sent by the first base station, where the first request message is used to request to acquire an RRC functional entity parameter of the base station, and the RRC functional entity parameter of the base station is used to characterize a processing capability and a transmission performance of the base station for an RRC message;

a sending module, configured to send a first response message to the first base station, where the first response message carries an RRC functional entity parameter of the base station;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a first indication message sent by the first base station, where the first indication message is used to indicate that the base station is determined to be an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

20. The base station of claim 19, further comprising:

and the counting module is used for counting the RRC function entity parameters of the base station at intervals of a first preset period according to the first preset period.

21. The base station of claim 19, wherein:

the sending module is further configured to send a third request message to the first base station after the receiving module receives the first indication message sent by the first base station, where the third request message is used to request to acquire RRC configuration information of the first base station;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a third response message sent by the first base station, where the third response message carries RRC configuration information of the first base station.

22. The base station according to any of claims 19-21, characterized by:

the sending module is further configured to, if the receiving module receives the first indication message sent by the first base station, send a downlink RRC message to the UE, where the downlink RRC message includes the first base station and RRC configuration information of the base station.

23. The base station according to any of claims 19-21, wherein the RRC functional entity parameters of the base station comprise: RRC processing resource occupancy rate, wireless transmission resource occupancy rate and transmission link quality.

24. The base station of claim 13 or 19, wherein the UE maintains a connection with both the first base station and the second base station, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a second indication message sent by the first base station, where the second indication message includes an identifier of an RRC anchor base station of the UE;

a sending module, configured to send an uplink RRC message of the UE to an RRC anchor base station of the UE.

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