CN108282841B

CN108282841B - Method and device for sending and processing system information

Info

Publication number: CN108282841B
Application number: CN201710008471.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张银成
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2017-01-05
Filing date: 2017-01-05
Publication date: 2021-11-02
Anticipated expiration: 2037-01-05
Also published as: WO2018127056A1; CN108282841A

Abstract

The invention provides a method and a device for sending and processing system information, wherein the method comprises the following steps: determining a first system information block configuration effective range and version information; and transmitting the system information block in the effective range, wherein the first system information block comprises the information and the version information of the effective range, or the first system information block comprises the information of the effective range. The invention solves the problems of large energy consumption and resource waste of the base station equipment when the system information is broadcast and transmitted in the related technology, thereby achieving the effects of reducing the process that the base station at the network side transmits the system information according to the request of the user equipment and reducing the power consumption of the base station.

Description

Method and device for sending and processing system information

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting and processing system information.

Background

Cellular mobile communication technology has entered the 4G era through decades of short development, and research into future 5G technology has been undertaken in the industry to meet the demand for higher, faster, and more recent communications. The 5G will conduct further technical research in terms of higher throughput, more user connections, lower latency, higher reliability, and lower power consumption (including network side equipment and user terminals). Currently, the 5G technical goal is expected to achieve a 1000 times increase in mobile data traffic per area, a 10 to 100 times increase in throughput per User Equipment (UE), a 10 to 100 times increase in the number of connected devices, a 10 times increase in battery life of low power devices, and a 5 times decrease in end-to-end delay.

Currently, in order to reduce power consumption of system devices and provide radio resource utilization, research is performed on a system information propagation mechanism that is widely adopted in 3G (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA for short) and 4G (Time-Division-Synchronized Code Division Multiple Access, TD-SCDMA for short) and Long-Term Evolution (Long-Term Evolution, LTE for short). In 3G and 4G mobile communication systems, the transmission mechanisms of system information are generally similar, but somewhat different in detail; the common characteristics are as follows: each cell transmits complete system information in a broadcast (broadcast) mode; the System Information is divided into a plurality of System Information Blocks (SIB) by characteristics and functions; from the view point of the configuration mode of the information such as the resources and control parameters used by the broadcast, 3 modes of fixing (predefining), pre-configuring and dynamic allocation are generally adopted. Wherein, fixed (predefined) generally refers to that the system explicitly defines the configuration information of the related resources and control parameters through some form (such as standard specification); dynamic scheduling generally means that configuration information of relevant resources and control parameters is dynamically sent to a receiving party through a physical layer channel, and the relevant configuration information is only valid within a time range defined by dynamic scheduling; pre-configuration generally means that the relevant resources and control parameters are configurable and their configuration information is sent to the receiver in the form of layer 2 and layer 3 messages, as long as the sender is not updated, the relevant configuration information is valid. In 3G and 4G systems, resources and control parameters related to a Main Information Block (MIB) are configured in a fixed (predefined) configuration mode, resources and control parameters related to an SIB in 4G are configured in a fixed and dynamic allocation combined mode, resources and control parameters related to other SIBs in 3G and 4G are configured in a pre-configuration mode in whole or in part, and the configuration Information related to the SIB in the pre-configuration mode includes scheduling Information, wherein the scheduling Information of 3G is sent through the MIB or a dedicated SB (scheduling Block), and the scheduling Information of 4G is sent through SIB 1.

Wherein, the scheduling information includes resources and control information related to each SIB broadcast, such as in the time domain, including a time point (or window) of transmission and a transmission period, and each SIB will be broadcast and transmitted periodically according to the scheduling information continuously; from the perspective of UE usage, the effective range of almost all system information is limited to only the transmitted cell, i.e. when the UE moves from one cell to another and reselects to another cell, the system information transmitted by the new cell needs to be completely received again in the new cell.

Under the system information transmission mechanism, with the continuous introduction of new technologies, transmission blocks are increased, system information content is increased, and consumed resources are increased. Moreover, the opportunity that many transport blocks for a particular new technology are actually required is relatively limited, and the continuous broadcast transmission of the system information of a new cell results in resource waste and increases the power consumption of the network side device.

In order to solve the above problems, the related art proposes to divide the system information into two categories according to the importance degree of the information, wherein one category is necessary system information, which is referred to as Minimum system information (Minimum SI) herein, and still adopts a broadcast mechanism for transmission; another category includes all Other system information, referred to herein as Other SI, transmitted on-demand (on-demand) and using dedicated signaling (dedicated signaling) or broadcast or multicast mechanisms. For both types of system information, a similar structure is still used, which is subdivided by features and/or functions into a plurality of system information blocks SIB; the Minimum SI generally includes very critical system information related to cell selection and initial access (including acquisition of Other SI), and the information is transmitted in a periodic broadcast manner, so that information to be broadcast and transmitted is greatly compressed; the Other SI is transmitted according to the needs of User Equipment (UE) or a network side base station (such as an evolved node, BNode B), and may be transmitted in a dedicated signaling (dedicated signaling) or broadcast (broadcast) or multicast (multicast) manner instead of continuously and periodically, so as to improve the resource utilization efficiency; for the broadcast transmission mode of Other SI, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a broadcast transmission mechanism of Other SI in the related art, as shown in fig. 1, the basic concept includes:

the method comprises the steps of sending based on SI window, wherein the concept of the SI window is similar to Long Term Evolution (LTE); i.e. some periodic SI windows in which the SIB of the Other SI will be broadcast are predefined in the scheduling information in the time domain. The SI window comprises a sending window and a window period, and is a period of time defined by a time and/or radio frame, subframe or time slot isochronous domain concept; the setting of the sending window comprises a starting point and a window length, or the starting point and an end point, and the window period comprises a period length.

The scheduling information related to the Other SI is sent in Minimum SI, which may further include a mapping relationship between SIB of the Other SI and SI window; further, the Minimum SI may be further divided into two parts, for example, one part is similar to the MIB in the 3G and 4G systems and is sent using fixed resources and control parameters, while other SIBs may be sent using all or part of the preconfigured resources and control parameters, and related scheduling information may be sent in the MIB; in this case, Other SI related scheduling information will be sent in Other SIBs in the Minimum SI.

An important development direction of the 5G mobile communication system is to use a high frequency spectrum with a large bandwidth to carry a large amount of traffic. Considering that the path loss increases exponentially with the frequency of a radio signal, the coverage of the high-frequency mobile communication technology becomes a fatal problem, that is, if an omnidirectional transmission method as low frequency is adopted, a high-frequency system with a certain transmission power can only cover a small area. To overcome this problem, a directional transmission technique using a beam forming (beam forming) technique will be used for high-frequency wireless signal transmission. The beamforming technology can longitudinally expand the signal coverage in a radius, but the coverage in a transverse direction is greatly reduced, and the number of beams (beam) which can be simultaneously transmitted by a network side device base station is often limited, so that the beam scanning (beam scanning) technology is introduced to meet the requirement of transverse signal coverage for the transmission of broadcast or multicast signals. The beam scanning technique may be implemented using time and/or frequency domain based methods. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scanning array in the related art, and as shown in fig. 2, a concept of scanning blocks (scanning blocks) is introduced in a time domain, a beam transmitted in one scanning block can cover only a part of a cell, and a plurality of scanning blocks, which are called scanning arrays (scanning bursts), are used to cover the whole cell.

However, the beam scanning technique imposes a great limitation on the use of resources, for example, when the listening of the broadcast channel needs to transmit a beam to a certain direction, although the broadcast channel uses only a few frequency domain resources, other frequency domain resources are also limited to be used only in the certain direction, which will greatly affect the use efficiency of the frequency spectrum resources, so the beam scanning technique is used as little as possible, and the broadcast transmission of system information is reduced as much as possible. For system information broadcast-on-demand transmission, such as the above-mentioned Other SI, in order to reduce broadcast transmission of system information, it can be implemented by reducing the demand.

However, when the system information is broadcast, the resource for transmitting the system information and the energy consumption of the base station device are still relatively large.

In view of the above technical problems, no effective solution has been proposed in the related art.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a device for sending and processing system information, which are used for at least solving the problems of high energy consumption and resource waste of base station equipment during broadcast sending of the system information in the related technology.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for sending system information is provided, including: determining a valid range and version information of a first system information block; and sending the first system information block in the effective range, wherein the first system information block comprises the information of the effective range and the version information, or the first system information block comprises the information of the effective range.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and transmitting the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area and the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area by using one or more second system information blocks.

Optionally, the information of the valid range is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region.

Optionally, the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area comprises at least one of: public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID; paging area identification (Paging area ID); cell identification Cell ID; and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

Optionally, the valid range of the first system information block is identified by: and identifying in a bitmap mode, wherein the bitmap is set based on geographical area information or logic area information included in other system information blocks except the first system information block.

Optionally, the geographic area information or the logical area information included in the other system information block includes an adjacent area list composed of at least the following identification information: public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID; paging area identification (Paging area ID); cell identification Cell ID; and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is also provided a method for processing system information, including: receiving a second system information block from a first area, wherein the second system information block comprises an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area of the first area and version information of the first system information block used in the first area; according to the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area and the version information of the first system information block used in the first area, and the information and the version information of the effective range of the first system information block received and stored in the second area in advance, at least one of the following operations is performed: determining whether to use the stored first system information block, determining whether to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining whether to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

Optionally, the information of the valid range of the first system information block is determined by an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area.

Optionally, comprising: when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and the first version information of the first system information block used by the first area is the same as the version information of the stored first system information block, performing at least one of the following operations: determining to use the stored first system information block, determining not to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining not to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area; when it is determined that the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is not within the valid range of the stored first system information block and/or that the version information of the first system information block used by the first area is different from the version information of the stored first system information block, performing at least one of the following operations: determining not to use the stored first system information block, determining to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is also provided a system information transmitting apparatus including: a determining module, configured to determine a valid range and version information of the first system information block; a sending module, configured to send the first system information block in the valid range, where the first system information block includes the information of the valid range and the version information, or the first system information block includes the information of the valid range.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is also provided a system information processing apparatus including: a receiving module, configured to receive a second system information block from a first area, where the second system information block includes an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area of the first area and version information of the first system information block used in the first area; an execution module, configured to perform at least one of the following operations according to the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area, the version information of the first system information block used in the first area, and the information and the version information of the valid range of the first system information block received and stored in the second area in advance: determining whether to use the stored first system information block, determining whether to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining whether to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

Optionally, the execution module includes: a first execution unit, configured to, when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and the first version information of the first system information block used by the first area is the same as the version information of the stored first system information block, perform at least one of the following operations: determining to use the stored first system information block, determining not to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining not to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area; a second execution unit, configured to, when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is not within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and/or that the version information of the first system information block used by the first area is different from the version information of the stored first system information block, perform at least one of the following operations: determining not to use the stored first system information block, determining to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is also provided a storage medium. The storage medium is configured to store program code for performing the above steps.

According to the invention, the network side configures the effective range and the version information for the first system information block; the terminal side can subsequently determine whether to use the received first system information block according to the area identifier of the new access area and the version information of the system information block used by the new access area, and when the first system information block which is already received is determined to be used, the first system information block is continuously used for interacting with the new access area, and the system information block is not required to be sent to the terminal side by the new access area, so that the problems of large energy consumption and resource waste of base station equipment during system information broadcast sending can be solved, the process that the base station at the network side sends the system information according to the request of the user equipment is reduced, and the power consumption of the base station is reduced.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a broadcast transmission mechanism of Other SI in the related art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scan array in the related art;

fig. 3 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a mobile terminal of a system information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting system information according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a system information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a network deployment in this particular embodiment;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a broadcast channel in the present embodiment;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a macro cell and a base station in this embodiment;

fig. 9 is a diagram of broadcast transmission in the present embodiment;

fig. 10 is a block diagram of a configuration of a system information transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a block diagram of a configuration of a system information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a block diagram of the structure of the system information processing apparatus execution module 114 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present invention and in the drawings described above are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order.

The method provided by the first embodiment of the present application may be executed in a mobile terminal, a computer terminal, or a similar computing device. Taking the example of being operated on a mobile terminal, fig. 3 is a hardware structure block diagram of the mobile terminal of the method for processing system information according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the mobile terminal 30 may include one or more (only one shown in fig. 3) processors 302 (the processors 302 may include, but are not limited to, a processing device such as a microprocessor MCU or a programmable logic device FPGA), a memory 304 for storing data, and a transmitting device 306 for communication functions. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the structure shown in fig. 3 is only an illustration and is not intended to limit the structure of the electronic device. For example, the mobile terminal 30 may also include more or fewer components than shown in FIG. 3, or have a different configuration than shown in FIG. 3.

The memory 304 may be used to store software programs and modules of application software, such as program instructions/modules corresponding to the system information processing method in the embodiment of the present invention, and the processor 302 executes various functional applications and data processing by running the software programs and modules stored in the memory 304, so as to implement the above-mentioned method. The memory 304 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some examples, the memory 304 may further include memory located remotely from the processor 302, which may be connected to the mobile terminal 30 via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the internet, intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

The transmission device 306 is used for receiving or sending data via a network. Specific examples of the network described above may include a wireless network provided by a communication provider of the mobile terminal 30. In one example, the transmission device 306 includes a Network adapter (NIC), which can be connected to other Network devices through a base station so as to communicate with the internet. In one example, the transmission device 306 can be a Radio Frequency (RF) module, which is used to communicate with the internet in a wireless manner.

In this embodiment, a method for sending system information is provided, and fig. 4 is a flowchart of the method for sending system information according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S402, determining the effective range and version information of the first system information block configuration;

step S404, transmitting the first system information block in the valid range, wherein the first system information block includes the information of the valid range and the version information, or the first system information block includes the information of the valid range.

Through the steps, according to the invention, the network side configures the effective range and the version information for the first system information block; the terminal side can subsequently determine whether to use the received first system information block according to the area identifier of the new access area and the version information of the system information block used by the new access area, and when the first system information block which is already received is determined to be used, the first system information block is continuously used for interacting with the new access area, and the system information block is not required to be sent to the terminal side by the new access area, so that the problems of large energy consumption and resource waste of base station equipment during system information broadcast sending can be solved, the process that the base station at the network side sends the system information according to the request of the user equipment is reduced, and the power consumption of the base station is reduced.

Optionally, the main body of the above steps may be a base station, but is not limited thereto.

In the above embodiment, the system information block sent by the network side may be complete, or may be a system information block including partial information, for example: the system information block includes only the information of the valid range and the version information.

In an optional embodiment, the method further includes: and transmitting the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area and the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area by using one or more second system information blocks. In this embodiment, the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area and the version information of the first system information block may be transmitted in the same system information block, or may be transmitted in different system information blocks, and when the area identifier and the version information are transmitted in different system information blocks, a plurality of second system information blocks need to be used to transmit the area identifier and the version information. In the above embodiments, the "transmission" may be performed in various manners, and may be performed by dedicated signaling or may be performed by broadcasting.

In an alternative embodiment, the information of the valid range is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region. In the present embodiment, the valid range information is defined by an area Identification (ID) associated with a geographical or logical area. And transmitting the system information block with the same configuration in the valid range, wherein the system information block comprises the information of the valid range and the version information.

In an alternative embodiment, the information of the valid range may include at least one of: public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID; paging area identification (Paging area ID); cell identification Cell ID; and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

In an alternative embodiment, the valid range of the first system information block is identified by: and identifying in a bitmap mode, wherein the bitmap is set based on geographical area information or logic area information included in other system information blocks except the first system information block.

In an optional embodiment, the geographic area information or the logical area information included in the other system information block includes an adjacent area list formed by at least the following identification information: public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID; paging area identification (Paging area ID); cell identification Cell ID; and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

In an optional embodiment, the version information may include: the Value tag. In this embodiment, the version information may also be other tag information, which is used to represent information about the version.

In this embodiment, a method for processing system information is further provided, and fig. 5 is a flowchart of the method for processing system information according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S502, receiving a second system information block from a first area, wherein the second system information block includes an area identifier of a geographical area or a logical area of the first area and version information of the first system information block used in the first area;

step S504, according to the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area and the version information of the first system information block used in the first area, and the information and the version information of the valid range of the first system information block received and stored in the second area in advance, at least one of the following operations is performed: determining whether to use the stored first system information block, determining whether to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining whether to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

Through the above steps, the terminal side receives the second system information block from the first area, wherein the second system information block includes the area identifier of the geographical area or the logical area of the first area and the version information of the first system information block used in the first area. The terminal side can determine whether to use the stored first system information according to the received information and version information of the effective range of the second system information block and the information and version information of the effective range of the pre-stored first system information block, and when the stored first system information block is determined to be used, the stored first system information block is continuously used for interacting with a new access area, and the system information block is not required to be sent to the terminal side by the new access area, so that the problems of large energy consumption and resource waste of the terminal equipment during system information broadcast sending can be solved, the process of sending request information and receiving system information by the user equipment is reduced, meanwhile, the power consumption of the user equipment can be reduced, and the access speed of the user equipment in a new cell can be accelerated.

Optionally, the main body of the above steps may be the user equipment UE, but is not limited thereto.

In an optional embodiment, the information of the valid range of the first system information block is determined by an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area. In this embodiment, the second information block may be determined in the same manner as the first information block.

In an optional embodiment, the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area includes at least one of: public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID; paging area identification (Paging area ID); cell identification Cell ID; and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

In an optional embodiment, the geographic area information or the logical area information included in the other system information block includes an adjacent area list formed by at least the following identification information: public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID; paging area identification (Paging area ID); cell identification Cell ID; sending a receiving point identifier (TRP ID);

in an optional embodiment, the version information of the first system information block may include: the Value tag.

In an alternative embodiment, the method may include: when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and the first version information of the first system information block used by the first area is the same as the version information of the stored first system information block, performing at least one of the following operations: determining to use the stored first system information block, determining to not request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to not receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area; when determining that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is not within the valid range of the stored first system information block and/or that the version information of the first system information block used by the first area is different from the version information of the stored first system information block, performing at least one of the following operations: determining not to use the stored first system information block, determining to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area. In this embodiment, when it is determined that the valid range of the first system information block stored by the UE includes the area currently selected by the UE (i.e., the first area described above), and the version information of the first system information block is the same as the version information of the first system information block used by the currently selected area, the stored first system information block is continuously used; otherwise, not using the stored first system information block; and/or the UE determines whether to request and/or receive the first system information block sent by the currently selected area based on the stored information of the effective range of the first system information block and the version information; when the effective range of the stored first system information block comprises the area currently selected by the UE and the version information of the first system information block is the same as the version information of the first system information block used by the currently selected area, the first system information block sent by the currently selected area is not requested and/or received; otherwise, requesting and/or receiving the first system information block transmitted by the currently selected area.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples.

Specific example 1:

a logical or physical management entity, such as a base station or a network management entity, is provided at the network side to manage system information related to a plurality of cells or other logical or physical coverage areas, including maintenance operations such as generation, modification, deletion, and the like. One of the functions of this entity is to make the system information blocks transmitted by all cells within the validity range of one system information block identical, including the same validity range and version information.

The valid range information may be Public Land Mobile Network Identity (Identity) (PLMN ID for short), Cell Identity (Cell ID), Transmission Receive Point Identity (TRP ID for short), and other defined area Identity IDs related to geographical or logical areas. If an area a further includes several areas B, if the information of the valid range is the area a, all the areas B belonging to the area a belong to the valid range, for example, the information of the valid range of a certain SIB is a PLMN ID, and since a PLMN may include several cells, the SIB is valid in all the cells belonging to the PLMN ID.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of network deployment in this embodiment, and as shown in fig. 6, in a case of network deployment in which multiple cells are covered in tandem, each cell transmits all or part of system information to be applied to the cell. The cell1/2/3/4 configures the same SIBm and comprises an effective range and version information, wherein the information of the effective range is PLMN A, the cells 1/2/3/4 belong to the PLMN A, and a value tag value related to the version information is 5; the cell 5/6/7 uses another SIBm with the same configuration, and includes information of a valid range and version information, wherein the information of the valid range is PLMN B, and is further defined as a cell 5/6/7 in the form of a cell ID list (cell identification list), and a value tag value related to the version information is 8.

Preferably, the cell periodically broadcasts and transmits the value tag value related to the system information block identifier currently used by the cell and/or the version information of the system information block through a second broadcast channel; periodically broadcasting and sending identification information related to the cell through a first broadcast channel or a second broadcast channel, such as a PLMN ID, a cell ID and the like to which the cell belongs; and periodically or according to the requirement, broadcasting and transmitting a corresponding system information block through a second broadcast channel or a third broadcast channel, wherein the system information block comprises information of a valid range, and optionally comprises a value tag value related to version information.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a broadcast channel in the present embodiment, and as shown in fig. 7, when the network side transmits, the value tag value related to the SIBm version information is broadcast and transmitted in the SIB1 through the second broadcast channel; meanwhile, the SIBm including the information of the valid range is broadcast through the third broadcast channel as a part of Other SI on demand, wherein a value tag value related to version information of the SIBm may be further optionally included.

Correspondingly, at the UE side: when the UE selects a cell and successfully receives system information from the cell, the received system information is used and stored. As shown in fig. 6, the UE1 selects to reside in cell 3, and receives and stores a plurality of system information blocks from cell 3, and valid range and version information of the system information blocks, wherein the valid range includes SIBm information block, the valid range is configured as PLMN a, and the value tag is 5. The UE2 selects to reside in the cell 6, and receives and stores a plurality of system information blocks from the cell 6, and information and version information of valid ranges of the system information blocks, wherein the system information blocks include SIBm information blocks, and the valid ranges of the SIBm information blocks are configured as a cell ID list in the PLMN B, including the cell 5/6/7, and the value tag value is 8.

When the UE moves and reselects to another cell, the UE will first receive a part of the system information, and obtain identification information related to the cell, such as PLMN ID, cell ID, etc., and a value tag related to the system information block identifier currently used by the cell and its version information. As shown in fig. 3, when the UE1 and the UE2 move from the cell 3 and the cell 6, respectively, and reselect to the cell 4, first, the identification information of the cell is obtained through the first broadcast channel and/or the second broadcast channel: the method comprises the steps that PLMN A and cell 4 simultaneously obtain a value tag value related to system information block identification and version information which are used by a cell through SIB1 on a second broadcast channel, wherein the value tag value comprises SIBm, and the value tag is 5; the UE compares the identification information of the new cell (corresponding to the predetermined cell) with the information of the valid range of the stored system information block, determines whether the system information block is valid in the new cell, and at the same time or further determines whether the version information of the system information block of the new cell is the same as the version information of the stored system information block. When the new cell identification belongs to the effective range of the system information and the version information of the system information block of the new cell is the same as the version information of the stored system information block, the UE continues to use the stored system information block in the new cell; otherwise the saved system information block is not used. Further, when the new cell identifier belongs to the effective range of the system information and the version information of the system information block of the new cell is the same as the version information of the stored system information block, the system information block sent by the new cell is not requested and/or received; otherwise, the system information block sent by the cell is requested and/or received at the new cell. As shown in fig. 6, when UE1 and UE2 move from cell 3 and cell 6 to cell 4 and reselect to cell 4, respectively, UE1 determines that cell 4 belongs to PLMN a, that cell 4 is within the valid range of its stored SIBm, and that both the value tag of the SIBm currently used by the cell and the value tag of its stored SIBm are 5, so it is determined that its stored SIBm can be used continuously without requesting and receiving the SIBm in cell 4; the UE2 determines that the cell 4 belongs to PLMN a, and is different from PLMN B in the effective range of the SIBm stored in the cell, so that it is determined that the stored SIBm cannot be currently used; concurrently or further, the UE2 determines that a new SIBm needs to be requested and received at cell 4.

In this embodiment, the geographical area or logical area information included in other system information blocks in the system information may be reused or utilized in providing the effective range information. For example, a system information block related to cell reselection is configured with a same-frequency or different-frequency neighbor cell list of the cell, where the system information block includes cell identifier list information of one or more same-frequency or different-frequency neighbor cells. Since the number of bits needed for cell identification is larger, in this case, in order to avoid repeatedly providing the same information, the system information block effective area information may reuse the cell list configuration information as much as possible.

For example, for a plurality of neighboring cells, whether a certain system information block of the cell is valid in the neighboring cell is configured in the form of bitmap. If the bitmap bit corresponding to a certain neighboring cell is configured to be 1, a certain SIB identifying the cell is still valid in the neighboring cell. On the UE side, the cell identification information may also be copied and stored as valid range information based on bitmap information in the neighbor list information and the valid range information of the system information block.

Specific example 2:

corresponding to the foregoing embodiment 1, there is a logical or physical management entity, such as a base station or a network management entity, on the network side to manage a plurality of cells or other logical or physical coverage area-related system information, including maintenance operations such as generation, modification, deletion, and the like. One of the functions of this entity is to make the system information blocks transmitted by all cells within the validity range of one system information block identical, including the same validity range and version information. The information of the valid range may be Public Land Mobile Network Identity (PLMN ID), Cell Identity (Cell ID), Transmission Receive Point Identity (TRP ID), and other defined area Identity IDs related to geographical or logical areas. If an area a further includes several areas B, if the information of the valid range is the area a, all the areas B belonging to the area a belong to the valid range, for example, the information of the valid range of a certain SIB is a PLMN ID, and since a PLMN may include several cells, the SIB is valid in all the cells belonging to the PLMN ID.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a macro cell and a base station in this specific embodiment, and as shown in fig. 8, in a network deployment situation where the macro cell overlaps with multiple small cells, where the macro cell and its related base station may serve as the management entity, each small cell transmits all or part of system information to be applied to this cell. The macro cell1 and the small cell 2 are configured with the same SIBm and comprise an effective range and version information, wherein the effective range information is PLMN a, the cells 1/2 belong to PLMN a, and a value tag value related to the version information is 5; the small cell uses the SIBm of another configuration, which includes a valid range and version information, wherein the information of the valid range is also PLMN a, but its version information has a value tag value of 8.

Preferably, the cell periodically broadcasts and transmits a value tag value related to the system information block identifier currently used by the cell and/or the version information of the system information block through a first broadcast channel; periodically broadcasting and sending identification information related to the cell through a first broadcast channel or a second broadcast channel, such as a PLMN ID, a cell ID and the like to which the cell belongs; and periodically or according to the requirement, broadcasting and transmitting a corresponding system information block through a second broadcast channel or a third broadcast channel, wherein the system information block comprises information of a valid range, and optionally comprises a value tag value related to version information.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of broadcast transmission in the present embodiment, and as shown in fig. 9, when the network side transmits, the value tag value related to the SIBm version information is broadcast and transmitted in the MIB by the first broadcast information; meanwhile, the SIBm including the information of the valid range is broadcast through the third broadcast channel as a part of Other SI on demand, wherein a value tag value related to version information of the SIBm may be further optionally included.

Correspondingly, at the UE side: when the UE selects a cell and successfully receives system information from the cell, the received system information is used and stored. As shown in fig. 8, both UE1 and UE2 choose to reside in cell1, and receive and store a plurality of system information blocks from cell1, and valid range and version information of the system information blocks, including SIBm information block, whose valid range is configured as PLMN a, and value tag value is 5.

When the UE moves and reselects to another cell, the UE will first receive a part of the system information, and obtain identification information related to the cell, such as PLMN ID, cell ID, etc., and a value tag related to the system information block identifier currently used by the cell and its version information. As shown in fig. 8, when UE1 and UE2 move from cell1 and reselect to cell 2 and cell 3, respectively, first obtain the cell identification information through the first broadcast channel and/or the second broadcast channel, respectively: PLMN A/cell 2 and PLMN A/cell 3, have obtained the system information block label that the cell is using and the value tag value that the version information is relevant at the same time, wherein cell 2 includes SIBm, the value tag is 5; cell 3 also includes SIBm with a value tag of 8.

And the UE compares the identification information of the new cell with the information of the effective range of the stored system information block, judges whether the system information block is effective in the new cell, and simultaneously or further judges whether the version information of the system information block of the new cell is the same as the version information of the stored system information block. When the new cell identification belongs to the effective range of the system information and the version information of the system information block of the new cell is the same as the version information of the stored system information block, the UE continues to use the stored system information block in the new cell; otherwise the saved system information block is not used. Further, when the new cell identifier belongs to the effective range of the system information and the version information of the system information block of the new cell is the same as the version information of the stored system information block, the system information block sent by the new cell is not requested and/or received; otherwise, the system information block sent by the cell is requested and/or received at the new cell. As shown in fig. 6, when UE1 and UE2 move from cell1 to cell 2 and cell 3 respectively, UE1 determines that cell 2 belongs to PLMN a, which is the same as PLMN a in the valid range of SIBm stored therein, so that cell 2 is in the valid range of SIBm stored therein, and the value tag value of SIBm currently used by the cell and the value tag of SIBm stored therein are both 5, so that it is determined that the SIBm stored therein can be used continuously without requesting and receiving SIBm in cell 2; the UE2 judges that the cell 3 belongs to the PLMN A and is the same as the PLMN A in the valid range of the stored SIBm, but the value tag (5) of the SIBm currently used by the cell 3 is different from the value tag (8) of the stored SIBm, so that the stored SIBm cannot be used in the current cell; concurrently or further, the UE2 determines that a new SIBm needs to be requested and received at cell 3.

In summary, the method in the above embodiment enables the UE to determine whether to continue to use the system information block according to the stored system information block and its corresponding effective range and version information when the UE moves and reselects to a new cell, and if the new cell is within the effective range and the version information is also effective, the UE requests and/or receives the corresponding system information block differently, thereby reducing a process in which the UE sends a request message and receives system information, and also reducing a process in which the network-side base station sends system information according to the request. Therefore, on one hand, the power consumption of the UE and the base station can be reduced, and on the other hand, the access speed of the UE in the new cell can be increased.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the method according to the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but the former is a better implementation mode in many cases. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (e.g., ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes instructions for enabling a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone, a computer, a server, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a device for sending system information is further provided, where the device is used to implement the foregoing embodiments and preferred embodiments, and details are not repeated for what has been described. As used below, the term "module" may be a combination of software and/or hardware that implements a predetermined function. Although the means described in the embodiments below are preferably implemented in software, an implementation in hardware, or a combination of software and hardware is also possible and contemplated.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of a structure of a system information transmitting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 10, the apparatus including: a determination module 102 and a first sending module 104, which are described in detail below:

a determining module 102, configured to determine a valid range and version information of a first system information block; a first sending module 104, connected to the determining module 102, configured to send the first system information block within the valid range, where the first system information block includes information of the valid range and the version information, or the first system information block includes information of the valid range.

In an optional embodiment, the apparatus further comprises: and the second sending module is used for sending the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area and the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area by utilizing one or more second system information blocks.

In an alternative embodiment, the information of the valid range is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region.

In an optional embodiment, the version information may include: the Value tag.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a configuration of a system information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 11, the apparatus including: a receiving module 112 and an executing module 114, which are described in detail below:

a receiving module 112, configured to receive a second system information block from a first area, where the second system information block includes an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area of the first area and version information of the first system information block used in the first area; an executing module 114, connected to the receiving module 112, for executing at least one of the following operations according to the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area and the version information of the first system information block used in the first area, and the information and the version information of the valid range of the first system information block received and stored in the second area in advance: determining whether to use the stored first system information block, determining whether to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining whether to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

In an optional embodiment, the information of the valid range of the first system information block is determined by an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area.

In an alternative embodiment, fig. 12 is a block diagram of a structure of the system information processing apparatus determining module 114 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 12, the executing module 114 includes: the first execution unit 122 or the second execution unit 124, the following describes the determination module 114 in detail:

a first executing unit 122, configured to, when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and the first version information of the first system information block used by the first area is the same as the version information of the stored first system information block, perform at least one of the following operations: determining to use the stored first system information block, determining to not request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to not receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area; or, the second executing unit 124 is configured to, when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is not within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and/or the version information of the first system information block used by the first area is different from the version information of the stored first system information block, perform at least one of the following operations: determining not to use the stored first system information block, determining to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

It should be noted that, the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware, and for the latter, the following may be implemented, but not limited to: the modules are all positioned in the same processor; alternatively, the modules are respectively located in different processors in any combination.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a storage medium. Alternatively, in the present embodiment, the storage medium may be configured to store program codes for executing the above steps.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the storage medium may include, but is not limited to: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a removable hard disk, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Alternatively, in the present embodiment, the processor executes the above steps according to the program code stored in the storage medium.

Optionally, the specific examples in this embodiment may refer to the examples described in the above embodiments and optional implementation manners, and this embodiment is not described herein again.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, they may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices, and alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that they may be stored in a storage device and executed by a computing device, and in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different than that described herein, or they may be separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple ones of them may be fabricated into a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for sending system information, comprising:

determining a valid range and version information of a first system information block;

sending the first system information block in the valid range, wherein the first system information block includes the information of the valid range and the version information, or the first system information block includes the information of the valid range;

the method further comprises the following steps: and sending the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area and the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area by using one or more second system information blocks, wherein the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area can be transmitted in the same system information block or can be transmitted in different system information blocks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information of the valid range is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the area identification of the geographical or logical area comprises at least one of:

public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID;

paging area identification (Paging area ID);

cell identification Cell ID;

and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the valid range of the first system information block is identified by:

and identifying in a bitmap mode, wherein the bitmap is set based on geographical area information or logic area information included in other system information blocks except the first system information block.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the geographic area information or the logical area information included in the other system information block comprises a neighboring area list comprising at least the following identification information:

public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID;

paging area identification (Paging area ID);

cell identification Cell ID;

and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

6. A method for processing system information, comprising:

receiving one or more second system information blocks from a first area, where the second system information blocks include an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area of the first area and version information of a first system information block used in the first area, and the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area may be transmitted in the same system information block or may be transmitted in different system information blocks;

according to the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area and the version information of the first system information block used in the first area, and the information and the version information of the effective range of the first system information block received and stored in the second area in advance, at least one of the following operations is performed: determining whether to use the stored first system information block, determining whether to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining whether to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the information of the valid range of the first system information block is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the area identification of the geographical or logical area comprises at least one of:

public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID;

paging area identification (Paging area ID);

cell identification Cell ID;

and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the valid range of the first system information block is identified by:

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the geographical area information or logical area information included in the other system information blocks comprises a neighboring area list consisting of at least the following identification information:

public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID;

paging area identification (Paging area ID);

cell identification Cell ID;

and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

11. The method of claim 6, comprising:

when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and the first version information of the first system information block used by the first area is the same as the version information of the stored first system information block, performing at least one of the following operations: determining to use the stored first system information block, determining not to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining not to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area; when it is determined that the area identification of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is not within the valid range of the stored first system information block and/or that the version information of the first system information block used by the first area is different from the version information of the stored first system information block, performing at least one of the following operations: determining not to use the stored first system information block, determining to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

12. An apparatus for transmitting system information, comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine a valid range and version information of the first system information block;

a sending module, configured to send the first system information block in the valid range, where the first system information block includes information of the valid range and the version information, or the first system information block includes information of the valid range;

the sending module is further configured to send, by using one or more second system information blocks, an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area and version information of a first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area, where the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area may be transmitted in the same system information block or may be transmitted in different system information blocks.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the information of the valid range is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 or 13, wherein the area identification of the geographic or logical area comprises at least one of:

public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID;

paging area identification (Paging area ID);

cell identification Cell ID;

and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

15. An apparatus for processing system information, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive one or more second system information blocks from a first area, where the second system information blocks include an area identifier of a geographic area or a logical area of the first area and version information of a first system information block used in the first area, and the version information of the first system information block used in the geographic area or the logical area may be transmitted in the same system information block or may be transmitted in different system information blocks;

an execution module, configured to perform at least one of the following operations according to the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area, the version information of the first system information block used in the first area, and the information and the version information of the valid range of the first system information block received and stored in the second area in advance: determining whether to use the stored first system information block, determining whether to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining whether to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the information of the valid range of the first system information block is determined by a region identifier of a geographic region or a logical region.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 or 16, wherein the area identification of the geographic or logical area comprises at least one of:

public land mobile network identification, PLMN ID;

paging area identification (Paging area ID);

cell identification Cell ID;

and transmitting the receiving point identification TRP ID.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for performing comprises:

a first execution unit, configured to, when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and the first version information of the first system information block used by the first area is the same as the version information of the stored first system information block, perform at least one of the following operations: determining to use the stored first system information block, determining not to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining not to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area;

a second execution unit, configured to, when it is determined that the area identifier of the geographic area or the logical area of the first area is not within the valid range of the stored first system information block, and/or that the version information of the first system information block used by the first area is different from the version information of the stored first system information block, perform at least one of the following operations: determining not to use the stored first system information block, determining to request the first area to transmit the first system information block used by the first area, and determining to receive the first system information block used by the first area transmitted by the first area.