CN111345080A

CN111345080A - System information updating method, access network equipment and terminal equipment

Info

Publication number: CN111345080A
Application number: CN201780096751.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李振宇; 韩金侠; 南杨; 张武荣
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-11-28
Filing date: 2017-11-28
Publication date: 2020-06-26
Anticipated expiration: 2037-11-28
Also published as: WO2019104472A1; CN111345080B

Abstract

The invention relates to a wireless communication technology, and discloses a system information updating method, access network equipment, terminal equipment and a wireless communication system. The system information updating method comprises the following steps: generating a first system information updating indication message when recognizing that the terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state; the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message is first message sending times; and sending the first system information updating indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state. The method provided by the invention can reduce the resource consumption of the system, improve the flexibility of the access network equipment for sending the indication message and improve the flexibility of the terminal equipment for operation.

Description

System information updating method, access network equipment and terminal equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the field of wireless communication, in particular to a system information updating method and access network equipment, another system information updating method and terminal equipment and a wireless communication system.

Background

An Enhanced machine type communication (eMTC-U) technology based on unlicensed spectrum is an important branch of the internet of everything technology. The eMTC-U is evolved based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, is more suitable for communication between objects and has lower cost.

In an eMTC-U system, when an Evolved NodeB (eNB) determines to update system information, the eNB sends a system information update indication (direct indication) to a Terminal device (Terminal Equipment) in a cell through an MPDCCH (radio network controller) scrambled by a P-RNTI (radio network temporary identity) so as to enable the Terminal device to update the system information.

However, in the process of implementing the invention, the inventor finds that the eMTC-U system has the following characteristics: the system information reflecting the channel interference situation may change frequently. The reason for this feature is that the eMTC-U system operates on the unlicensed spectrum and shares the unlicensed spectrum with other systems (e.g., Wi-Fi systems, bluetooth systems, etc.), so that there is a mutual interference phenomenon between different systems. In order to identify the interference situation on the unlicensed spectrum, the eNB needs to measure the system interference level (i.e. frequency point or channel measurement), and if a certain frequency point or channel is not available or is available, notify the terminal through system information. Since the channel interference level dynamically changes, the system information reflecting the channel interference situation may change frequently.

Based on the above characteristics of the eMTC-U system, the inventors further found that at least the following problems exist in the prior art: 1) since the scheme is to release the RRC connection of the terminal device, frequent changes of the system information frequently cause the terminal device to release the RRC connection and re-access the cell, thereby greatly consuming system resources; 2) since the terminal device in the RRC idle state does not feed back the channel quality any more, the access network device can only send the system information update indication message with the maximum number of repetitions according to the requirement of the limit coverage, and therefore will consume more system resources.

Disclosure of Invention

A system information updating method and access network equipment, another system information updating method and terminal equipment, and a wireless communication system are described herein to reduce system resource consumption, improve flexibility of sending an indication message by the access network equipment, and improve flexibility of operation of the terminal equipment.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for updating system information, where the method is used for an access network device, and includes: generating a first system information updating indication message when recognizing that the terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state; the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message is first message sending times; and sending the first system information updating indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state.

Through the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station does not require the terminal equipment to enter the RRC idle state, but directly informs the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state to update the system information; the processing mode can avoid the terminal equipment from frequently releasing RRC connection and reentering the cell; therefore, the system resource consumption can be effectively reduced.

Meanwhile, the terminal equipment can receive the system information updating indication message in the RRC connection state, so that the terminal equipment can feed back the channel quality to the base station, the base station can determine the repeated sending times of the system information updating indication message according to the channel quality fed back by the terminal equipment, and the base station carries the repeated sending times of the message in the indication message; in the processing mode, on one hand, the base station does not need to uniformly send the system information updating indication messages with the same times to the terminal equipment in different states according to the maximum sending times configured by the system, on the other hand, the terminal equipment can obtain the actual sending times of the indication messages and control subsequent operations such as the recovery time of service data and/or signaling message transmission and the like according to the actual sending times; therefore, the flexibility of the base station for sending the indication message can be effectively improved, and the flexibility of the terminal equipment operation can be effectively improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: generating a second system information updating indication message when the terminal equipment is identified to be in an RRC idle state; the second system information updating indication message comprises the message sending times which are the second message sending times; and sending the second system information updating indication message of the second message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state.

With reference to the first aspect or the first implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second implementation manner of the first aspect, before the generating the first system information update indication message, the method further includes: receiving a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) sent by the terminal device; and determining the sending times of the first message according to the CQI.

Under the scene that coverage enhancement is needed, a base station needs to send an indication message according to the maximum sending times configured by a system under the limit condition so as to ensure that terminal equipment can correctly receive the indication message and demodulate downlink information from the indication message. The terminal device in the RRC connected state may measure the channel quality CQI, and feed back the CQI to the base station through the uplink channel, so that the base station may determine the actual number of times of transmission, that is, the number of times of transmission of the first message, through the CQI fed back by the terminal device. For the terminal in the RRC idle state, since the terminal device does not feed back the channel quality any more, the base station can only transmit the second message with the maximum number of transmissions according to the requirement of the limit coverage, that is, the number of transmissions of the second message is the maximum number of transmissions configured by the system. It can be seen that the number of times the second message is sent is typically greater than the number of times the first message is sent. The processing mode can ensure that the base station determines the message sending times according to the actual channel quality; therefore, the message sending times can be effectively reduced, and the system resource consumption is further reduced.

With reference to the first aspect, the first implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: suspending transmission of service data and/or signaling messages with the terminal device in a time unit of the first system information updating indication message for sending the first message sending times; and after the time unit, resuming the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the terminal device.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station suspends the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message between the base station and the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state in the time unit of the first system information updating indication message for sending the first message sending times, the terminal equipment suspends the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message between the terminal equipment and the base station in the time unit for receiving the first indication message, the terminal equipment determines the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message between the terminal equipment and the base station according to the first message sending times, and when the recovery time is up, the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message between the terminal equipment and the base station is recovered; by the processing mode, the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state can determine the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message according to the first message sending times, and the recovery time is earlier than the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message determined according to the maximum sending times configured by the system, so that the terminal equipment can recover the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the base station as early as possible; therefore, the influence on the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message of the terminal equipment in the connection state can be effectively reduced, and the terminal equipment is ensured to recover the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message at the correct moment.

With reference to the first aspect, the first implementation manner of the first aspect, the second implementation manner of the first aspect, or the third implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the first aspect, the first system information update indication message is downlink control information DCI, the direct indication flag of the DCI is a system information update indication, and the number of times of sending the DCI message is the number of times of sending the first message. The second system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication, and the message sending times of the DCI are the second message sending times.

With reference to the first aspect or the foregoing various implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending the first system information update indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal device in the RRC connected state includes: if the paging time of the terminal equipment corresponds to a downlink effective time unit in a system information updating period, starting to send the first system information updating indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal equipment at the paging time; and if the paging time does not correspond to the downlink effective time unit, starting to repeatedly send an indication message to the terminal equipment at the starting position of the downlink effective time unit after the paging time.

With reference to the first aspect or the foregoing various implementation manners of the first aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the first aspect, the sending the first system information update indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal device in the RRC connected state includes: sending a first system information update indication message of a first message sending frequency to the terminal device through a Machine Type Communication Physical downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH). By adopting the processing mode, the PDSCH channel can be prevented from being sent; therefore, channel resources can be effectively saved.

With reference to the first aspect or the foregoing various implementations of the first aspect, in a seventh implementation of the first aspect, the present invention further includes: and broadcasting the updated system information to the terminal equipment in a system information updating period next to the system information updating period corresponding to the first system information updating indication message.

With reference to the seventh implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth implementation manner of the first aspect, the broadcasting updated system information to the terminal device includes: and broadcasting the updated system information to the terminal equipment through an anchor channel of the fixed frequency point. By adopting the processing mode, the success rate of system information transmission can be improved.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access network device, which includes a module for performing behavior correspondence between access network devices in the system information updating method design. The modules may be software and/or hardware.

In one possible design, the access network device includes a processor and a memory, and the processor is configured to support the access network device to perform corresponding functions in the system information updating method. The memory is for coupling with the processor and retains program instructions and data necessary for accessing network equipment.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for updating system information, including: when terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state, receiving a first system information updating indication message repeatedly sent by access network equipment, wherein the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message are first message sending times; and determining the times of sending the first system information updating indication message by the access network equipment according to the sending times of the first message.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state receives the indication message repeatedly sent by the base station, and the indication message carries the repeated sending times of the message, and the terminal equipment can determine the times of sending the indication message by the base station according to the repeated sending times of the message carried in the indication message; by the processing mode, the terminal equipment can control subsequent operations such as recovery time of service data and/or signaling message transmission and the like according to the actual sending times; therefore, the flexibility of the terminal equipment operation can be effectively improved.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: when the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, receiving a second system information updating indication message repeatedly sent by the access network equipment, wherein the message sending times included in the second system information updating indication message are second message sending times; and determining the times of sending the second system information updating indication message by the access network equipment according to the times of sending the second message.

With reference to the third aspect or the first implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second implementation manner of the third aspect, the number of times of sending the first message is smaller than the number of times of sending the second message.

With reference to the third aspect, the first implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third implementation manner of the third aspect, the present invention further includes: acquiring channel quality CQI; and sending the CQI to the access network equipment.

With reference to the third aspect, the first implementation manner of the third aspect, the second implementation manner of the third aspect, or the third implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: suspending transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the access network equipment in a time unit of receiving the first system information update indication message of the first message sending times; and determining the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message according to the sending times of the first message; and resuming the transmission of the traffic data and/or the signaling message with the access network equipment at the resuming time.

With reference to the third aspect or the foregoing various implementation manners of the third aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the third aspect, the first system information update indication message is downlink control information DCI, the direct indication flag of the DCI is a system information update indication, and the number of message sending times of the DCI is the number of first message sending times. The second system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication, and the message sending times of the DCI are the second message sending times.

With reference to the third aspect or the foregoing various implementation manners of the third aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the third aspect, the receiving a first system information update indication message repeatedly sent by an access network device includes: if the paging time corresponds to the downlink effective time unit, the terminal equipment starts to receive the indication message at the paging time; and if the paging time does not correspond to the downlink effective time unit, the terminal equipment starts to receive the indication message at the time corresponding to the downlink effective subframe after the paging time.

With reference to the third aspect or the foregoing various implementation manners of the third aspect, in a seventh implementation manner of the third aspect, the receiving a first system information update indication message repeatedly sent by an access network device includes: and the terminal equipment receives the indication message through the machine type communication physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH).

With reference to the third aspect or the foregoing various implementations of the third aspect, in an eighth implementation of the third aspect, the method further includes: in the next system information updating period, the terminal equipment receives the updated system information broadcast by the access network equipment; and updating the system information corresponding to the terminal equipment side according to the updated system information.

With reference to the third aspect or the foregoing various implementation manners of the third aspect, in a ninth implementation manner of the third aspect, the terminal device receives the updated system information through an anchor channel of a fixed frequency point.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, which includes a module configured to perform a behavior correspondence between terminal devices in the system information updating method design. The modules may be software and/or hardware.

In one possible design, the terminal device includes a processor and a memory, and the processor is configured to support the terminal device to perform corresponding functions in the system information updating method. The memory is for coupling to the processor and retains program instructions and data necessary for the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wireless communication system, where the system includes the access network device and the terminal device in the foregoing aspects.

In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer program product including instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

Compared with the prior art, the scheme provided by the invention can reduce the consumption of system resources, improve the flexibility of sending the indication message by the access network equipment and improve the flexibility of operating the terminal equipment.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a system information update cycle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a system information updating process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of service data transmission between a base station and a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a signal transmission process between a base station and a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the periodicity of the Anchor channel according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system interaction according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another system information updating flow provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow of updating system information according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of an Anchor channel period according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of another Anchor channel period provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of another Anchor channel period provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of another Anchor channel period provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following describes an application scenario and a technical solution in an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in fig. 1, a terminal device is wirelessly connected to a Radio Access Network (RAN), and the terminal device can Access a Core Network (CN) through the RAN. The techniques described herein may be applicable to an Unlicensed-Spectrum-based evolved Machine Type Communication (eMTC-U) system or an licensed-Spectrum-based evolved Machine Type Communication (eMTC) system. In addition, the method can also be applied to other systems requiring system information update, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an Evolution system using a subsequent LTE system, and the like. For clarity, only the eMTC-U system will be described here as an example. In the eMTC-U system, an Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) is used as a Radio Access Network, and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is used as a Core Network. The UE accesses the EPC through the E-UTRAN.

In this application, the terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. The terminal device of the present invention includes various devices capable of performing data communication with the access network device, such as a handheld device with wireless communication function, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, and various forms of User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a terminal (terminal), and so on. In addition, the Relay is also a terminal device.

In an eMTC-U system, end devices include devices such as sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, drones, trackers, robots/robotic devices, and the like. The terminal devices may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network, and each terminal device may be stationary or mobile. In the eMTC-U system, a terminal device may also be referred to as an access terminal, a Mobile Station (MS), a subscriber unit, a Station (STA), and so on. The terminal device may be a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a tablet device, a smartphone, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, an entertainment device (e.g., a music player, a gaming device, etc.), a camera, a vehicle-mounted device, a navigation device, a drone, a robot/machine device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, a smart garment, a smart wristband, a smart ring, a smart bracelet, smart glasses, virtual reality goggles), and so forth.

The access network device related to the present invention is a device deployed in a radio access network to provide a wireless communication function for a terminal device, and the access network device is an entity communicating with the terminal device. The Access network device may include various macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, Access Points (APs), and the like. In systems using different radio access technologies, the names of devices with access network device functions may be different, for example, in an LTE network, referred to as an Evolved Node B (eNodeB), in a 3G network, referred to as a Node B (Node Base), and so on. For convenience of description, in this application, it is simply referred to as a base station or eNB.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which mainly includes a core network, an access network, and a terminal device. The core network EPC serves as a bearer layer, and can implement functions such as voice call control. The core Network EPC mainly includes a Mobility Management Entity (Mobility Management Entity), a Serving Gateway (SGW), a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW), and the like. The access network mainly comprises a base station. The terminal device needs to support a system information updating function and the like.

In a wireless communication system, the third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) defines the functions of system information broadcasting. The system information broadcast is an important function in the LTE system, and includes generation, scheduling, updating, and the like of system information. The system information of the access network is broadcasted to the terminal equipment in the cell, so that the terminal equipment can establish wireless connection with the network by obtaining enough access information.

The system information is not always unchanged, and the terminal equipment can try to receive the system information again if the system information is unchanged for a long time; if the system information of the access network side changes, the network side needs to inform the terminal equipment of updating the system information. The terminal equipment in the RRC idle state and the RRC connected state can be notified that the system information is changed by paging and needs to be acquired again.

However, the LTE protocol specifies that system information is not changeable at any time except for ETWS (earthquake and tsunami warning system) and CMAS (commercial mobile alert system) warning messages, i.e., that a change in broadcasting occurs at a specific point in time, thereby introducing the concept of a system information update Period (Modification Period). For convenience of description, in this application, it is simply referred to as an update period.

The system information update period is described in detail below with reference to fig. 3. In the time domain, time is divided into successive update periods. The LTE protocol specifies that a system information update Period (Default Paging Cycle) is an update Period coefficient (Modification Period Coef), where the Paging Period and the update Period coefficient are notified to the terminal device in a system information block SIB2, and the update Period coefficient takes a value of 2,4,8,16, or the like. That is, the UE receives paging once at intervals of one paging cycle, so that the terminal device receives paging of "update cycle coefficient" at most in one update cycle. Therefore, the updating period coefficient is introduced to prevent the terminal device from being unaware of the system information change of the base station due to the loss of the paging message when the signal is poor or to increase the paging chance sent by the access network to the terminal device.

The 3GPP standardizes a series of processing procedures for system information update by a protocol. As can be seen from fig. 3, it is assumed that system information in a broadcast control channel BCCH modification period (n) is changed in a certain update period, at this time, the base station does not immediately re-issue a new system information broadcast, but in this update period n, the base station determines a paging message sending time, that is, a paging time, of each terminal device according to parameters such as a paging period of each terminal device, a terminal device identifier, and the like, and the base station sends a paging message at the paging time to notify all terminal devices in a cell that the system information broadcast is changed. The base station will not send a new system information broadcast until the start of the next update period (update period n + 1).

LTE in 3GPP defines paging messages and paging cycles (DRX cycles). A Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) corresponding to the paging message are scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier P-RNTI, and system information update is indicated by information bits carried in the PDSCH Channel.

In each updating period, the UE determines the sending time of the paging message of the terminal device according to the paging period, the identifier of the terminal device, and other parameters, monitors the paging message at the paging time to determine whether the system information is changed (at most, the "updating period coefficient" can be monitored for several times in each updating period), and receives the updated system information in the next system information updating period if it is monitored that the base station sends the system information updating indication at the paging time. In order to correctly receive system information broadcast, when discovering system information change, the terminal device needs to identify the boundary of two adjacent update periods, and starts to receive new system information when a new update period starts.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below based on the common aspects of the present invention described above.

An embodiment of the invention provides a system information updating method, access network equipment, terminal equipment and a wireless communication system. When the base station determines that the system information changes, the base station directly indicates the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state in the cell to update the system information, and the base station can determine the repeated sending times of the system information updating indication message according to the channel quality fed back by the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state, and the repeated sending times of the message are carried in the indication message.

The eMTC-U System has various System Information, and the System Information may be carried by a Master Information Block (MIB), an Information Block transmitted by an Anchor channel (SIB-a), and a System Information Block (SIBs). When the system information on the anchor channel is sent through the MIB and SIB-a, the system information that may be carried in the MIB and SIB-a are shown in table 1, respectively:

TABLE 1 MIB and SIB-A carried System information

When the system information on the anchor channel is sent through the MIB, the system information that the MIB may carry is shown in table 2:

TABLE 2 System information carried by MIB

Taking the example that the system information on the anchor channel is sent through the MIB and the SIB-a, when any system information in the SIB-a needs to be changed, the eNB sends a system information update indication to the UE, and the UE reads the SIB-a and updates the system parameters according to the indication message sent by the eNB, and determines whether to continue reading other SIBs through a systemlnfaluetag field in the SIB-a.

The system information may be transmitted through the MIB and SIB-a, or may be transmitted through the MIB. Whatever the transmission method, there is the same thing, namely: the possibility that the system information is dynamically changing, frequently updated.

In a system information updating scheme adopted in an eMTC system, a base station firstly indicates terminal equipment to release RRC connection so that the terminal equipment enters an RRC idle state, and then sends a direct indication message of downlink control information DCI (such as DCI 6-2 format), namely the terminal equipment is required to receive the system updating indication message in the RRC idle state uniformly, and the system information updating scheme does not consider frequent change of system information to cause frequent release of RRC connection and cell re-access, thereby causing the problem of more system resource consumption. In addition, in the system information updating scheme, since the terminal device in the RRC idle state does not feed back the channel quality any more, the access network device can only send the system information updating indication message with the maximum number of repetitions according to the requirement of the limit coverage, which also results in a large consumption of system resources.

Through the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station does not require the terminal equipment to enter the RRC idle state, but directly informs the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state to update the system information; the processing mode can avoid the terminal equipment from frequently releasing RRC connection and reentering the cell; therefore, the system resource consumption can be effectively reduced. Meanwhile, the base station can determine the repeated sending times of the system information updating indication message according to the channel quality fed back by the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state; the processing mode can ensure that the base station determines the message sending times according to the actual channel quality, thereby reducing the message sending times; therefore, the flexibility of the base station for sending the indication message can be effectively improved, and the consumption of system resources is further reduced. Meanwhile, the base station carries the repeated sending times of the message in the indication message; the processing mode enables the terminal equipment to obtain the actual sending times of the indication message, and the terminal equipment controls subsequent operations such as the recovery time of service data and/or signaling message transmission and the like according to the actual sending times; therefore, the flexibility of the terminal equipment operation can be effectively improved.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig. 4.

In part 401, the base station generates a first system information update indication message upon identifying that the terminal device is in a radio resource control, RRC, connected state.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, when the base station determines that the system information changes and needs to inform the terminal equipment of updating the system information, the system information updating indication message is generated, and the indication message carries the sending times of the indication message.

For convenience of description, in the present application, the system information update indication message is simply referred to as an indication message or a message; an indication message sent to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state is called a first system information updating indication message, which is simply called a first indication message, and the sending times of the first indication message is called the sending times of the first message; and the indication message sent to the terminal device in the RRC idle state is referred to as a second system information update indication message, which is simply referred to as a second indication message, and the number of times of sending the second indication message is referred to as the number of times of sending the second message.

In one example, when the base station recognizes that the terminal device is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state, the following steps can be adopted to determine the number of times of sending the first message; 1) receiving channel quality CQI sent by terminal equipment; 2) and determining the sending times of the first message according to the CQI. Since the number of first message transmissions is determined based on the actual channel quality, the number of first message transmissions is typically less than the maximum number of message transmissions for the system configuration. By adopting the processing mode, the message sending times can be reduced; therefore, the system resource consumption can be effectively reduced.

The indication message may be Downlink Control Information (DCI). The DCI may be carried by a downlink physical control channel PDCCH, and includes downlink control information sent by the base station to the terminal device. The content included in the DCI subframe is shown in table 3:

direct indicating mark

1 bit

Direct indication of information	8 bits
Reserved field	x bits

TABLE 3 DCI subframe content

When the "direct indication flag" of the DCI subframe is marked as 0, it indicates that the downlink control channel carries a system information update indication message, that is, the "direct indication information" is valid, and the corresponding 8 bits use a bitmap (bitmap) to indicate the information in table 4:

TABLE 4 information directly indicated

In one example, a partially reserved field of a DCI subframe may be used to indicate the number of repeated transmissions of a message, i.e., the number of message transmissions is transmitted using the reserved field of the DCI. If the reserved field is x bits, the number of message transmissions may occupy n bits, where n is a positive integer greater than 1, e.g., n-2 or n-3, etc.; the processing mode can ensure that the format and the length of the DCI subframe are unchanged, thereby being compatible with the existing functions of a wireless communication system. The content of the DCI subframe including the number of message transmissions is shown in table 5:

direct indicating mark	1 bit
Direct indication of information	8 bits
DCI subframe message transmission times	n bits
Reserved field	(x-n) bits

TABLE 5 DCI subframe content including number of repeated transmissions

In another example, the bit number of the DCI may be increased, and the increased bit number is used to indicate the number of times of the repeated transmission of the indication message; the processing mode does not occupy the existing reserved field of the DCI; thus, existing reserved fields can be used to represent other more useful information.

It should be noted that, to implement the solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the base station first determines that the system information changes, and determines that it is necessary to notify the terminal device to update the system information. In one example, the base station may determine whether the system information changes by active detection, and when the system information changes are detected, obtain updated system information. The base station can periodically initiate the operation of actively detecting whether the system information changes according to a pre-configured detection period; active detection can also be initiated at any time according to the service requirements.

For example, the system information of the eMTC-U system includes an interference condition of a data channel, and the base station may determine whether the system information changes as follows: before a base station prepares to send data to terminal equipment, the base station firstly actively carries out CCA on a channel for multiple times, and the interference condition of the channel is counted according to the CCA result. If the CCA results show that one or some channels are occupied, the base station may limit the occupied channels to be no longer used within a period of time T, and notify the terminal device that the channel is unavailable in a system information updating manner. The base station can continue to evaluate the idle channels of the channels after the time T, if the base station measures that the received energy of the channels is lower than a threshold value for many times in the statistical time, the channels are considered to be continuously used, and the terminal equipment is informed that the channels are available again in a system information updating mode.

The base station can determine whether the system information changes through a direct detection mode or an indirect detection mode. For example, to determine whether an interference condition of a data channel of the eMTC-U system changes, the base station may first measure different frequency points, determine an available frequency point and an unavailable frequency point, and when the base station operates in a frequency hopping mode, an index of the data channel may be determined according to the index of the available frequency point.

After the base station generates the first indication message, the base station may enter part 402 to notify the terminal device that the system information needs to be updated.

In part 402, the base station transmits a first system information update indication message of a first message transmission number to the terminal device in the RRC connected state.

Before the base station sends the indication message to the terminal equipment, the paging sending time corresponding to the terminal equipment in a system information updating period is determined according to the paging period and the terminal equipment identification. After the paging time corresponding to the terminal equipment is determined, the paging time corresponding to the terminal equipment in the system information updating period repeatedly sends an indication message to the terminal equipment according to the message sending times. For example, when the base station determines to transmit the indication message to the terminal device in the RRC connected state 10 times, the base station first generates the indication message and makes the indication message include the indication information that the number of transmission times of the message is 10, and then repeatedly transmits the indication message to the terminal device 10 times.

The base station may send an indication message to the terminal device through a Downlink Control Channel, where the Downlink Control Channel includes, but is not limited to, a PDCCH Channel, an Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH Channel), an MPDCCH Channel, (a Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel, NPDCCH Channel), and the like. For example, the base station sends the PDCCH only containing the P-RNTI scrambling to the terminal equipment, and indicates system information updating through information bits carried in the PDCCH channel.

In one example, the wireless communication system is an eMTC system, and since the working scene of the terminal device in the eMTC system includes a factory, a workshop, a code head, and the like, which are generally blocked, signal fading is severe, and in order to improve the signal coverage, the performance of a downlink channel or a downlink signal needs to be enhanced, so that an indication message needs to be sent multiple times. In this case, the base station may send the indication message, which may only include the PDCCH scrambled by the P-RNTI, and indicate system information update through information bits carried in the PDCCH channel. By adopting the processing mode, the base station does not need to send the PDSCH for multiple times, so that the channel resources can be effectively saved.

The starting time of the base station repeatedly sending the indication message to the terminal device may be a paging time corresponding to the terminal device, that is, the starting time unit of the multiple sent indication messages corresponds to the time unit where the paging time is located, and the paging time needs to correspond to the downlink effective time unit. The base station may repeatedly send the starting time of the indication message to the terminal device, or may be a time corresponding to a first downlink valid time unit after a time unit corresponding to the paging time, that is, the starting time unit is the first downlink valid time unit after the time unit corresponding to the paging time, and the time unit corresponding to the paging time is not the downlink valid time unit.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the base station can send the system information updating indication to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state. In one example, in a time unit when the base station sends multiple indication messages to the terminal device in the RRC connected state, the base station suspends transmission of traffic data and/or signaling messages with the terminal device, and resumes transmission of traffic data and/or signaling messages with the terminal device after sending the indication messages.

The time unit may be a time length occupied by repeatedly transmitting the indication message for multiple times, and may be N subframes or N slots, where N is an integer greater than 1. In one example, for DCI containing an indication message, the base station is to repeatedly transmit the DCI 8 times, and if the minimum time unit for the base station to transmit the DCI once is 1 subframe, the base station needs to transmit 8 subframes, and the corresponding time length is 8 subframes; if the minimum time unit for the base station to transmit the DCI once is 1 time slot, the base station needs to transmit 8 time slots, and the corresponding time length is 8 time slots.

The signaling message does not include an indication message. The base station suspends the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the terminal equipment, and at least one of the following modes can be adopted: 1) the base station suspends sending downlink authorization and uplink authorization information to the terminal equipment, wherein the downlink authorization information comprises control information of a downlink PDSCH channel, and the uplink authorization information comprises control information of an uplink PUSCH channel; 2) a base station suspends sending downlink PDSCH (physical Downlink shared channel) to terminal equipment, wherein the PDSCH carries downlink service or high-level control information, the downlink service comprises but is not limited to voice service, streaming media service and web browsing service, and the high-level control information comprises RRC (radio resource control) signaling or system broadcast information; 3) the base station suspends receiving a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH Channel) and/or a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH Channel) of the terminal device.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment also suspends the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message between the terminal equipment and the base station during the period of receiving the indication message, and can determine the recovery time of the signal transmission according to the sending times of the first message; and resuming transmission of traffic data and/or signaling messages with the access network equipment at the resume time.

The terminal equipment suspends the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the base station, and at least one of the following modes can be adopted: 1) the terminal equipment suspends receiving the downlink authorization and the uplink authorization information; 2) the terminal equipment suspends receiving the downlink PDSCH channel; 3) the terminal equipment suspends sending an uplink PUSCH (physical uplink shared channel), wherein the PUSCH carries uplink service or uplink control information, the uplink service comprises but is not limited to voice service, streaming media service and web browsing service, and the uplink control information comprises but is not limited to feedback information of a downlink PDSCH (physical downlink shared channel) and feedback information of downlink quality; 4) the terminal equipment suspends the sending of an uplink PUCCH channel, wherein the PUCCH channel carries uplink control information, and the uplink control information comprises but is not limited to feedback information of downlink PDSCH channel and feedback information of downlink quality.

The following describes the service data transmission between the base station and the terminal device in detail with reference to fig. 5. Before the sub-frame n moment, the base station and the terminal equipment transmit service data; at the time of a subframe N, the base station repeatedly sends a system information updating indication message to the terminal equipment through a PDCCH (physical Downlink control channel), wherein the indication message for N times corresponds to N subframes in a time domain; and at the moment of the subframe N +1, recovering the service data transmission between the base station and the terminal equipment.

The following describes the signal transmission procedure between the base station and the terminal device in detail with reference to fig. 6. Referring to fig. 6(a), assuming that downlink traffic transmitted through the PDSCH channel is between the base station and the terminal device, the base station determines that the PDSCH channel needs to repeatedly transmit 8 subframes according to the coverage requirement. Referring to fig. 6(b), which is a case that the indication message includes the number of times of message transmission, it is assumed that the number of times of repetition of the indication message transmitted by the base station to the device is 4, that is, the number of times corresponds to 4 subframes, if a subframe where the paging time is located is encountered during the PDSCH transmission process, the base station starts at the subframe where the paging time is located, and continuously transmits the indication message of 4 subframes through the PDCCH channel, and in a time unit corresponding to the 4 subframes, transmission of service data is suspended between the base station and the terminal device, and transmission of service data is resumed immediately after the 4 subframes. Referring to fig. 6(c), it is a case that the indication message does not include the number of times of message transmission, in this case, the maximum number of times of transmission of the indication message is configured only by the broadcast information, and it is assumed that the maximum number of times of transmission is 6, that is, it corresponds to 6 subframes, if a subframe where a paging time is located is encountered during the PDSCH transmission process, and the subframe where the base station is located starts at the paging time, the indication message of 4 subframes may be continuously transmitted through the PDCCH channel according to the coverage requirement, but the terminal device can only transmit and receive the indication message according to the maximum number of times of transmission 6, that is, it is necessary to suspend transmission of service data between the base station and the terminal device in a time unit corresponding to the 6 subframes, and transmission of the service data can be resumed only after the 6 subframes; therefore, the b diagram scheme has small influence on the service, and the c diagram scheme has large influence on the service. Referring to fig. 6(d), it is also a case that the indication message does not include the number of message transmissions, in this case, the maximum number of transmissions of the indication message configured according to the broadcast information is 6 at the beginning of the subframe where the paging time is located, and the indication message of 6 subframes is continuously transmitted through the PDCCH channel, and the terminal device also receives the indication message according to the maximum number of transmissions of 6.

In another example, when the base station identifies that the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, a second system information update indication message is generated; and sending a second system information updating indication message of the sending times of the second message to the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state. The second system information update indication message may also include a number of times of message transmission, which is the number of times of second message transmission.

Under the scene that coverage enhancement is needed, a base station needs to send an indication message according to the maximum sending times configured by a system under the limit condition so as to ensure that terminal equipment can correctly receive the indication message and demodulate downlink information from the indication message. The terminal device in the RRC connected state may measure the channel quality CQI and feed back the CQI to the base station through the channel, so that the base station may determine the actual number of times of transmission, that is, the number of times of transmission of the first message, through the CQI fed back by the terminal device. For the terminal in the RRC idle state, since the terminal device does not feed back the channel quality any more, the base station can only transmit the second message for the maximum number of times of transmission according to the requirement of the limit coverage, that is, the number of times of transmission of the second message is the maximum number of times of transmission configured by the system. It can be seen that the number of times the second message is sent is typically greater than the number of times the first message is sent.

The channel quality may be Received Signal energy (RSSI), Received Signal Power (RSRP), Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), and the like. The terminal device may measure the channel quality, and assume that the channel quality of the terminal device a is x and the channel quality of the terminal device B is y, if x is smaller than y, when the terminal device a reports x and the terminal device B reports y, the access network determines that the channel quality of the terminal device a is low, so that an indication message of a large number of times needs to be sent to the terminal device a, and the access network determines that the channel quality of the terminal device B is high, so that an indication message of a small number of times needs to be sent to the terminal device B.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the indication messages with different times are sent to the terminal equipment in different states, so that the message sending times are reduced; therefore, the flexibility of the base station for sending the indication message can be effectively improved, and the consumption of system resources is further reduced.

In one example, after the base station repeatedly sends the first indication message to the terminal device, the base station broadcasts the updated system information to the terminal device in a next update period of the update period corresponding to the first indication message, so that the terminal device establishes a wireless connection with the network by obtaining sufficient access information.

In a wireless communication system (such as eMTC-U) based on an unlicensed spectrum, a base station may broadcast updated system information to a terminal device through an Anchor channel (Anchor channel) of a fixed frequency point, or may broadcast through a data channel of a non-Anchor channel.

The following describes a process of broadcasting system information to a terminal device through an anchor channel of a fixed frequency point in detail with reference to fig. 7. Since unlicensed spectrum based wireless communication systems operate on shared spectrum, the data channel may be interfered with by other systems. In order to reduce the synchronization time of the base station and the terminal equipment and reduce the power consumption of the terminal equipment, a primary synchronization signal PSS and a secondary synchronization signal SSS of the base station and system messages MIB and SIB-A are transmitted in one or a plurality of channels of fixed frequency points. The channel is an Anchor channel, the Anchor channel and the data channel work at different frequency points, and the Anchor channel only transmits downlink data or only transmits the downlink channel. In order to ensure fair use of the Anchor channel, a plurality of base stations periodically occupy the Anchor channel, and the period is called an Anchor channel period. In fig. 6, the Anchor channel period is 80ms, the time for the base station to occupy the Anchor channel and broadcast the system information to the UE is 5ms, and one Anchor channel period includes one data channel.

As can be seen from fig. 7, the base station broadcasts the system information through the Anchor channel, not through other data channels; by the processing mode, the data channel unavailability caused by the interference of the data channel can be avoided; therefore, the successful transmission or reception of the synchronization signal and the system information can be effectively ensured.

The Anchor channel may be configured with one or more frequency bins. And configuring a plurality of frequency points for the Anchor channel, so that when one frequency point is seriously interfered, switching to other frequency points can be allowed.

In an example, before broadcasting the system information to the terminal device, the base station may first perform Clear Channel Assessment (CCA), measure an energy condition on a current Channel, and if the measured energy exceeds a threshold, consider that the Channel is occupied, and at this time, may not send data; otherwise, if the measured energy is lower than the threshold, the channel is considered to be idle, and data can be transmitted. Therefore, the base stations realize time division multiplexing to seize the channel, and avoid mutual interference caused by simultaneously sending data.

An embodiment of the present invention will be further described with reference to fig. 8.

In 801, a base station identifies whether a terminal device is in an RRC connected state.

In 802, the base station generates a first system information update indication message including a first message transmission number when recognizing that the terminal device is in an RRC connected state.

At element 802', the base station generates a second system information update indication message including a number of second message transmissions upon identifying that the terminal device is in an RRC idle state.

At part 803-a, at a paging time corresponding to the terminal device within a system information update period n, the terminal device suspends transmission of service data and/or signaling messages with the base station; and in the 803-B part, at the paging time corresponding to the terminal equipment in one system information updating period n, the base station suspends the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the terminal equipment.

In part 804, in a time unit starting from a paging time corresponding to the terminal device in a system information update cycle n, the base station repeatedly sends the indication information to the terminal device, where the length of the time unit is a duration corresponding to the indication message of the number of times the message is sent.

In section 805, the terminal device receives an indication message repeatedly transmitted by the base station in a time unit beginning at a paging time corresponding to the terminal device within one system information update period n. The specific mode may be that the terminal device detects whether there is a PDCCH scrambled by the P-RNTI, if so, detects whether the PDCCH is a system information update instruction, and if so, does not need to receive the PDSCH scrambled by the P-RNTI, and only needs to determine which system information needs to be read again in the next system information update period n +1 according to the DCI content in the PDCCH.

At 806, the terminal device determines a recovery time for transmission of the traffic data and/or signaling messages based on the number of repeated transmissions.

The terminal device resumes transmission of traffic data and/or signaling messages with the base station at the resumption time in part 807-a, and resumes transmission of traffic data and/or signaling messages with the terminal device after the base station repeatedly transmits the indication message in part 807-B.

In part 808, after the base station finishes sending the indication message in the system information updating period n, the base station broadcasts the updated system information to the terminal device in the system information updating period n + 1.

In section 809, the terminal device receives updated system information broadcast by the base station to the terminal device during a system information update period n + 1.

In block 810, the terminal device updates the system information on the terminal device side based on the received updated system information.

It can be seen from the foregoing embodiments that, in the method for updating system information provided in the embodiments of the present invention, the base station does not require the terminal device to enter the RRC idle state, but directly notifies the terminal device in the RRC connected state to update the system information; the processing mode can avoid the terminal equipment from frequently releasing RRC connection and reentering the cell; therefore, the system resource consumption can be effectively reduced. Meanwhile, the base station can determine the repeated sending times of the system information updating indication message according to the channel quality fed back by the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state; the processing mode can ensure that the base station determines the message sending times according to the actual channel quality, thereby reducing the message sending times; therefore, the flexibility of the base station for sending the indication message can be effectively improved, and the consumption of system resources is further reduced. Meanwhile, the base station carries the repeated sending times of the message in the indication message; the processing mode enables the terminal equipment to obtain the actual sending times of the indication message, and the terminal equipment controls subsequent operations such as the recovery time of service data and/or signaling message transmission and the like according to the actual sending times; therefore, the flexibility of the terminal equipment operation can be effectively improved.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a system information updating method on the terminal device side according to the foregoing embodiment.

In a 901 part, when a terminal device is in a radio resource control RRC connected state, the terminal device receives a first system information update indication message repeatedly transmitted by a base station.

The terminal equipment can receive the indication message through the downlink control channel. The terminal device in the RRC connection state may monitor whether the P-RNTI of the terminal device is present on the downlink control channel at the paging time corresponding to the terminal device in each paging cycle in one system information update cycle, and if the P-RNTI is found, the terminal device reads the corresponding indication message and detects whether the indication message includes the indication information for system information update. The first system information update indication message includes the first message sending times.

In an example, the first system information update indication message is downlink control information DCI, the direct indication flag of the DCI is a system information update indication, and the number of times of sending the DCI message is the number of times of sending the first message. If the indication message received by the terminal equipment indicates that the system information is updated, the terminal equipment knows that the system information changes in the next system information updating period boundary and obtains the repeated sending times of the indication message.

The downlink control channel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel, an EPDCCH channel, an MPDCCH channel, an NPDCCH channel, and the like. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of part 402 in the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.

The base station sends a plurality of indication messages to the terminal equipment in the connection state at the paging time corresponding to the terminal equipment in the paging cycle in the system information updating cycle. The terminal device may combine the plurality of indication messages to enhance the received signal power, and when the signal strength of the combined indication message reaches the signal demodulation threshold, determine whether the base station has sent the system information change indication message, and obtain the first message sending times.

And if the base station starts to send the indication message at the paging time of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment starts to receive the indication message at the time of the subframe corresponding to the paging time. And if the base station starts to send the indication message at the time corresponding to the downlink effective subframe after the paging time of the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment starts to receive the indication message at the time corresponding to the downlink effective subframe after the paging time.

The number of times of transmission of the first message may be determined by the base station based on the actual channel quality of the terminal device. In order to enable the base station to determine the sending times of the indication message according to the actual channel quality of the terminal device, the terminal device needs to feed back a channel quality CQI to the base station. In one example, the terminal device may feed back CQI to the base station by: 1) acquiring CQI; 2) and sending the CQI to the access network equipment.

In part 902, the terminal device determines, according to the number of times of sending the first message, the number of times of sending the first system information update indication message by the base station.

The base station carries the repeated sending times of the message in the indication message, and the terminal equipment can determine the times of sending the first system information updating indication message by the base station according to the repeated sending times of the message carried in the indication message.

In one example, in a time unit when the terminal device receives the first system information update indication message of the first message sending times, the terminal device suspends the transmission of the traffic data and/or signaling messages with the base station; determining the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message according to the sending times of the first message; and recovering the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message between the base station and the recovery time. For details, reference may be made to the related description in the first embodiment, and details are not repeated herein.

In another example, when the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, the terminal device receives a second system information update indication message repeatedly sent by the base station, where the number of message sending times included in the second system information update indication message is the second number of message sending times; and the terminal equipment determines the times of sending the second system information updating indication message by the base station according to the times of sending the second message. The number of times the first message is sent is typically less than the number of times the second message is sent. For details, reference may be made to the related description in the first embodiment, and details are not repeated herein.

The second system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication, and the message sending times of the DCI are the second message sending times.

In one example, after receiving a system information update instruction in one system information update period n, the terminal device receives updated system information broadcast by the base station in the next system information update period n +1, and updates the system information corresponding to the terminal device side according to the received updated system information.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present invention is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It is to be understood that each network element, such as the terminal device, the access network device, etc., contains a module for performing each function for limiting the above functions. Those of skill in the art would appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. 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.

Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of a design of the access network equipment involved in the above embodiments.

The access network equipment comprises a transmitter/receiver 1001, a controller/processor 1002, a memory 1003 and a communication unit 1004. The transmitter/receiver 1001 is used to support information transceiving between an access network device and the terminal device in the above embodiments, and to support radio communication between the terminal device and other terminal devices. The controller/processor 1002 performs various functions for communicating with terminal devices. In the uplink, uplink signals from the terminal device are received via the antenna, conditioned by the receiver 1001, and further processed by the controller/processor 1002 to recover the traffic data and signaling messages sent by the terminal device. On the downlink, traffic data and signaling messages are processed by a controller/processor 1002 and conditioned by a transmitter 1001 to generate a downlink signal, which is transmitted via an antenna to terminal devices. Controller/processor 1002 may also perform the processes of fig. 4-8 relating to access network equipment and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. Memory 1003 is used to store program codes and data for the access network equipment. The communication unit 1004 is configured to support the access network device to communicate with other network entities. For example, for supporting communication between the access network device and other communication entities shown in fig. 1, such as devices located in the core network EPC.

It will be appreciated that fig. 10 only shows a simplified design of the access network equipment. It will be appreciated that the access network equipment may include any number of transmitters, receivers, processors, controllers, memories, communication units, etc.

Fig. 11 shows a block diagram of a design of the terminal device involved in the above-described embodiment.

An encoder 1106 receives traffic data and signaling messages to be sent on the uplink. Encoder 1106 processes (e.g., formats, encodes, and interleaves) the traffic data and signaling messages. A modulator 1007 further processes (e.g., symbol maps and modulates) the coded traffic data and signaling messages and provides output samples. The transmitter 1101 conditions (e.g., converts to analog, filters, amplifies, and frequency upconverts, etc.) the output samples and generates an uplink signal, which is transmitted via an antenna to the access network equipment described in the embodiments above. On the downlink, the antenna receives the downlink signal transmitted by the access network device in the above embodiment. Receiver 1102 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, downconverts, and digitizes, etc.) the received signal from the antenna and provides input samples. A demodulator 1109 processes (e.g., decouples) the input samples and provides symbol estimates. A decoder 1108 processes (e.g., deinterleaves and decodes) the symbol estimates and provides decoded data and signaling messages for transmission to the UE. Encoder 1106, modulator 1107, demodulator 1109, and decoder 1108 may be implemented by a modem processor 1105. These elements are handled according to the radio access technology employed by the radio access network (e.g., access technologies of eMTC, eMTC-U, LTE, and other evolved systems).

The controller/processor 1103 controls and manages the operation of the terminal device, and is configured to perform the processing performed by the UE in the above-described embodiments. Such as other processes for controlling the terminal device to update system information and/or techniques described herein based on received indication messages. By way of example, the controller/processor 1103 is configured to support the terminal device in performing the processes of fig. 9. The memory 1104 is used for storing program codes and data for the terminal device.

The controller/processor for performing the functions of the above-described access network device or terminal device of the present invention may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, hardware not shown, 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.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a further system information updating method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In part 1201, if the base station determines that the system information needs to be updated, the base station performs idle channel estimation on a first downlink channel used for sending a system information update indication message in a system information update period.

In block 1202, if the first evaluation result corresponding to the first downlink channel is channel idle, the base station generates a first sequence as a system information update indication message, and sends the first sequence to the terminal device in the RRC connected state or the idle state through the idle first downlink channel.

The first downlink channel comprises a downlink channel for transmitting a system information update indication message. The system information is transmitted through a second downlink channel.

Fig. 13 shows a schematic view of the periodicity of the Anchor channel in the embodiment of the present invention. The first downlink channel comprises N data channels for frequency hopping, the second downlink channel comprises M channels with fixed frequency points, and the channels with fixed frequency points are also called Anchor (Anchor) channels. The base station periodically evaluates the channel on the channel with fixed frequency point, and the period is T; if the channel evaluation result is idle, the base station sends information on the channel of the fixed frequency point, and if the channel evaluation result is busy, the fixed frequency point is not occupied any more in the period. The base station carries out channel evaluation on 1 or more data channels in each period T, and if the evaluation result is idle, the base station firstly sends a first sequence or a second sequence on the data channels, wherein the first sequence is used for informing the terminal equipment to carry out system information updating. The data channels are a subset of N data channels for frequency hopping, and the first sequence and the second sequence are used for presence detection by the terminal device. In a fixed frequency point period, the terminal equipment detects whether a first sequence which is sent by a base station and is used as a system information updating indication message exists; if yes, receiving the updated system information broadcasted by the base station in the next fixed frequency point period.

And if the first evaluation result is that the channel is idle but the base station determines that the system information does not need to be updated, the base station generates a second sequence only used as a channel idle indication and sends the second sequence to the terminal equipment through an idle channel.

On the terminal equipment side, if the terminal equipment detects the first sequence in one system information updating period, the terminal equipment receives updated system information broadcasted by the base station in the next system information updating period, and updates the system information corresponding to the terminal equipment side according to the updated system information. If the terminal device detects the second sequence in a system information update period, the terminal device learns that the system information does not need to be updated.

The result of the clear channel assessment is a sequence (such as Zadoff-Chu sequence), and the terminal device determines whether the CCA at the base station side is successful according to the sequence, and further determines whether to continue receiving subsequent information, so that the sequence is called a presence detection sequence. In the prior art, if the evaluation result is idle, the base station sends a presence detection sequence to the terminal equipment; if busy, no presence detect sequence is sent.

The Zadoff-Chu sequence has better cross correlation and auto correlation and is widely used in an LTE system, and the Zadoff-Chu sequence is taken as an example to explain the specific use of the presence detection sequence in the scheme. The generation formula of the Zadoff-Chu sequence is as follows:

wherein N is_ZCIs the length of the Zadoff-Chu sequence, and u is the root parameter of the Zadoff-Chu sequence; by taking different u values, different Zadoff-Chu sequences can be generated, and different Zadoff-Chu sequences can also be generated in other manners, for example, by performing cyclic shift on the Zadoff-Chu sequences generated under the same u value, the scheme is not limited.

Taking the example of generating different Zadoff-Chu sequences by using different root parameters, assuming that the Zadoff-Chu sequence generated by using the root parameter u1 is a sequence a, and the Zadoff-Chu sequence generated by using the root parameter u2 is a sequence B, then: when CCA is successful and system information does not need to be updated, sending a sequence A; when CCA is successful and system information needs to be updated, sending a sequence B; CCA fails and no transmission occurs. Accordingly, the terminal side: detecting the sequence A, judging that the CCA is successful without reading system information again; detecting the sequence B, judging that CCA is successful and needing to read system information again; and judging that the CCA fails if A or B is not detected.

It should be noted that, the base station needs to perform CCA on both the anchor channel and the data channel, and therefore, the presence detection sequence may be transmitted before transmission of the anchor channel or before transmission of the data channel. The following description will take the case where the data channel transmits the presence detect sequence.

Fig. 14 shows another schematic view of the periodicity of the Anchor channel in the embodiment of the present invention. The base station carries out CCA before the data channel corresponding to the anchor channel transmission period n-1, and after the CCA is successful, the base station determines which existence detection sequence is transmitted according to whether the system information in the anchor channel period n needs to be updated or not. If the system information in the anchor channel period n does not need to be updated, the sequence A is sent by the corresponding data channel in the anchor channel period n-1, if the system information in the anchor channel period n +1 needs to be updated, the sequence B is sent by the corresponding data channel in the anchor channel period n, and the updating period of the system information is equal to the sending period of the anchor channel.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the existence detection sequence is divided into a first sequence and a second sequence, the first sequence indicates that the channel is idle and the system information needs to be updated, the second sequence only indicates that the channel is idle and does not indicate that the system information needs to be updated, when the terminal equipment detects the first sequence, the system information needs to be reread, and when the terminal equipment detects the second sequence, the system information does not need to be reread; by the processing mode, the sequence corresponding to the idle channel evaluation result can be reused and simultaneously used as an indication message for indicating whether the system information needs to be updated, and the additional configuration of the system information updating indication message is avoided; therefore, system resources can be effectively saved.

In an example, if the first evaluation result is that the channel is not idle, the base station continues to perform idle channel evaluation on the first downlink channel until the first evaluation result is that the channel is idle, and when the first evaluation result is that the channel is idle, the base station generates a first sequence serving as a system information update indication message and sends the first sequence to the terminal device in the RRC connection state or the idle state through the idle first downlink channel.

Fig. 15 shows a schematic view of another Anchor channel period in the embodiment of the present invention. The system information needs to be updated in an anchor channel sending period n, a data channel CCA in the anchor channel sending period n-1 fails, at the moment, the base station needs to continue CCA in a corresponding data channel in the anchor channel sending period n, a sequence B is sent after CCA succeeds, if CCA in the period n fails, the base station needs to continue CCA in a corresponding data channel in the anchor channel sending period n +1, and a sequence B is sent after CCA succeeds until CCA succeeds and sends the sequence B, and in the subsequent anchor channel sending period, if system information does not change, the sequence A is sent after CCA succeeds.

In part 1203, the base station broadcasts the updated system information to the terminal device through a second downlink channel in a next system information update period.

In one example, before the base station broadcasts the updated system information, the method further comprises; carrying out idle channel assessment on the second downlink channel; and if the second evaluation result corresponding to the second downlink channel is that the channel is not idle, continuously sending the first sequence to the terminal equipment through the idle first downlink channel until the second evaluation result is that the channel is idle, and broadcasting updated system information to the terminal equipment through the second downlink channel when the second evaluation result is that the channel is idle.

Fig. 16 shows a schematic diagram of an Anchor channel period in another embodiment of the present invention. The system information needs to be updated in an anchor channel sending period n, a data channel CCA in the anchor channel sending period n-1 succeeds, and a sequence B is sent, but a corresponding anchor channel CCA in the anchor channel sending period n fails, at this time, if the data channel CCA succeeds in the anchor channel sending period n, the data channel in the anchor channel sending period n needs to continue to send the sequence B until the anchor channel CCA succeeds in the next anchor channel sending period n + x, and then the base station needs to send the sequence A in the anchor channel sending period n + x +1 and after the anchor channel sending period n + x + 1. The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a 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. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in user equipment. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in user equipment.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in this invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer-readable media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The above-mentioned embodiments, which further illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention, should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only specific and real-time embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements and the like made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

A method for updating system information, comprising:

generating a first system information updating indication message when recognizing that the terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state; the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message is first message sending times;

and sending the first system information updating indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second system information updating indication message when the terminal equipment is identified to be in an RRC idle state; the second system information updating indication message comprises the message sending times which are the second message sending times;

and sending the second system information updating indication message of the second message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state.
The method of claim 2, wherein the first number of message transmissions is less than the second number of message transmissions.
The method of claim 1, prior to the generating the first system information update indication message, further comprising:

receiving channel quality CQI sent by the terminal equipment;

and determining the sending times of the first message according to the CQI.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

suspending transmission of service data and/or signaling messages with the terminal device in a time unit of the first system information updating indication message for sending the first message sending times;

and after the time unit, resuming the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the terminal device.
The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the first system information update indication message is downlink control information, DCI, and the direct indication of the DCI is a system information update indication.
The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the second system information update indication message is downlink control information DCI, and the direct indication flag of the DCI is a system information update indication.
A method for updating system information, comprising:

when terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state, receiving a first system information updating indication message repeatedly sent by access network equipment, wherein the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message are first message sending times;

and determining the times of sending the first system information updating indication message by the access network equipment according to the sending times of the first message.
The method of claim 8, further comprising:

when the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, receiving a second system information updating indication message repeatedly sent by the access network equipment, wherein the message sending times included in the second system information updating indication message are second message sending times;

and determining the times of sending the second system information updating indication message by the access network equipment according to the times of sending the second message.
The method of claim 9, wherein the first number of message transmissions is less than the second number of message transmissions.
The method of claim 8, further comprising:

acquiring channel quality CQI;

and sending the CQI to the access network equipment.
The method of claim 8, further comprising:

suspending transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the access network equipment in a time unit of receiving the first system information update indication message of the first message sending times; and determining the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message according to the sending times of the first message;

and resuming the transmission of the traffic data and/or the signaling message with the access network equipment at the resuming time.
The method according to any of claims 8-12, wherein the first system information update indication message is downlink control information, DCI, and the direct indication of DCI is a system information update indication.
The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the second system information update indication message is downlink control information DCI, and the direct indication flag of the DCI is a system information update indication.
An access network device, comprising:

at least one memory;

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to: generating a first system information updating indication message when recognizing that the terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state; the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message is first message sending times; and sending the first system information updating indication message of the first message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC connection state.
The access network device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

generating a second system information updating indication message when the terminal equipment is identified to be in an RRC idle state; the second system information updating indication message comprises the message sending times which are the second message sending times;

and sending the second system information updating indication message of the second message sending times to the terminal equipment in the RRC idle state.
The access network device of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: the number of times of sending the first message is less than the number of times of sending the second message.
The access network device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

receiving channel quality CQI sent by the terminal equipment;

and determining the sending times of the first message according to the CQI.
The access network device of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

suspending transmission of service data and/or signaling messages with the terminal device in a time unit of the first system information updating indication message for sending the first message sending times;

and after the time unit, resuming the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the terminal device.
The access network device of any of claims 15-19, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: the first system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication.
The access network device of claim 16 or 17, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: the second system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication.
A terminal device, comprising:

at least one memory;

at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to: when terminal equipment is in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection state, receiving a first system information updating indication message repeatedly sent by access network equipment, wherein the message sending times included in the first system information updating indication message are first message sending times; and determining the times of sending the first system information updating indication message by the access network equipment according to the sending times of the first message.
The terminal device of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

when the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, receiving a second system information updating indication message repeatedly sent by the access network equipment, wherein the message sending times included in the second system information updating indication message are second message sending times;

and determining the times of sending the second system information updating indication message by the access network equipment according to the times of sending the second message.
The terminal device of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: the number of times of sending the first message is less than the number of times of sending the second message.
The terminal device of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

acquiring channel quality CQI;

and sending the CQI to the access network equipment.
The terminal device of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

suspending transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message with the access network equipment in a time unit of receiving the first system information update indication message of the first message sending times; and determining the recovery time of the transmission of the service data and/or the signaling message according to the sending times of the first message;

and resuming the transmission of the traffic data and/or the signaling message with the access network equipment at the resuming time.
The terminal device of any of claims 22-26, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: the first system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication.
The terminal device of claim 23 or 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: the second system information updating indication message is Downlink Control Information (DCI), and the direct indication mark of the DCI is a system information updating indication.
A communication system, comprising: an access network device according to any of claims 15 to 21 and a terminal device according to any of claims 22 to 28.