CN111356156B

CN111356156B - Measurement control method, device, terminal equipment and computer storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN111356156B
Application number: CN202010172056.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 庄云腾; 王芷
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-12
Filing date: 2020-03-12
Publication date: 2024-01-23
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-12
Also published as: CN111356156A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a measurement control method and device, terminal equipment and storage medium, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel in a first network; and if the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition, the terminal equipment starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for a second network, wherein the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols.

Description

Measurement control method, device, terminal equipment and computer storage medium

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present application relate to, but are not limited to, electronic technologies, and in particular, to a measurement control method, apparatus, terminal device, and computer storage medium.

Background

The New wireless (NR) system supports a stand alone networking (SA) architecture and a Non-stand alone Networking (NSA) architecture, and a typical NSA architecture is a Dual Connection (DC) architecture.

The terminal device is under a network of multiple communication protocols, e.g., the terminal device may communicate with an evolved Node B (eNB) using a 4G communication protocol, with an eNB and/or a next generation base station (next generation Node B, gNB) using an NSA communication protocol, or with a gNB using an SA communication protocol. In the case of a terminal device communicating using a first network, how to control the measurement of the timing of a second network different from the first network in communication protocol, so that the terminal device can perform reasonable performance scheduling is a problem that has been focused in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a measurement control method, a measurement control device, terminal equipment and a computer storage medium.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application is realized as follows:

a measurement control method, comprising:

the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel in a first network;

and if the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition, the terminal equipment starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for a second network, wherein the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols.

A measurement control device comprising:

a first monitoring unit, configured to monitor a channel parameter of a first channel in a first network by a terminal device;

and the measurement control unit is used for starting or recovering measurement and/or measurement report aiming at a second network by the terminal equipment if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet a first condition, wherein the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols.

A terminal device, comprising: a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store,

the memory stores a computer program executable on a processor,

the processor, when executing the program, implements the steps in the measurement control method described above.

A computer storage medium storing one or more programs executable by one or more processors to implement the steps in the measurement control method described above.

The measurement control method, the measurement control device, the terminal equipment and the computer storage medium provided by the embodiment of the application are that the terminal equipment monitors the channel parameters of a first channel in a first network; if the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition, the terminal device starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network, wherein the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols. In this way, the terminal device starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for a second network different from the communication protocol of the first network in case that the channel parameter of the first channel does not satisfy the first condition, so that the terminal device can perform reasonable performance scheduling.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic implementation flow chart of a measurement control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic implementation flow chart of another measurement control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for recovering measurement reporting of NR according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic implementation flow chart of another measurement control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of a measurement control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic hardware entity diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions of the present application are further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and examples.

The measurement control method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a network architecture shown in fig. 1. Wherein the terminal device 101 may establish an air interface connection with the first network device 102 (also referred to as a master network device or a master node), thereby enabling communication with the first network device 102; alternatively, the terminal device 101 may also establish an air interface connection with the second network device 103 (also referred to as a secondary network device or a secondary node), so as to implement communication with the second network device 103; alternatively, the terminal device 101 may also establish an air interface connection with both the first network device 102 and the second network device 103 at the same time, thereby enabling communication with both the first network device 102 and the second network device 103 at the same time. In the dual connectivity mode, the terminal device 101 establishes two connections simultaneously with the first network device 102 and the second network device 103, wherein the first network device 102 is mainly responsible for transmitting signaling and the second network device 103 is responsible for transmitting data.

The types of the first network device 102 and the second network device 103 shown in fig. 1 may be the same or different. In one example, the first network device 102 is a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) base station and the second network device 103 is a New Radio (NR) base station. In another example, the first network device 102 is an NR base station and the second network device 103 is also an NR base station. In yet another example, the first network device 102 is an NR base station and the second network device 103 is an LTE base station. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the types of the first network device 102 and the second network device 103.

In one example, the dual connectivity mode is an Evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network EUTRA new radio NR-dual connectivity Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) mode, or NR EUTRA-Dual Connectivity (NE-DC) mode, or next generation Next Generation EN-DC (NGEN-DC) mode, wherein EN-DC can also be understood as Evolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) NR-Dual Connectivity, and the universal mobile telecommunications system can also be understood as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). EN-DC refers to dual connectivity of a 4G radio access network with a 5G NR, the core network being a 4G core network, and the anchor point (master node) being a 4G eNB. The NE-DC refers to dual connectivity of 5G NR with a 4G radio access network, the core network is a 5G core network, and the anchor point (master node) is a 5G gNB. The NGEN-DC refers to the dual connection of the 4G radio access network and the 5G NR under the 5G core network, and the anchor point (master node) is the 4G base station ng-eNB after upgrading. It should be noted that, the dual connectivity mode is not limited to the EN-DC mode and the NE-DC mode, and the specific type of the dual connectivity mode is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first network device is an evolution network device, the second network device is a next generation network device, or the first network device is an LTE base station, and the second network device is an NR base station, which is described by taking an example, in a single connection mode, a terminal device establishes a connection with an NR base station/LTE base station, user plane data and control plane data are transferred between the terminal device and the NR base station/LTE base station, in a dual connection mode, a connection is established between the terminal device and both the LTE base station and the NR base station, control plane signaling is transferred between the terminal device and the LTE base station, and user plane signaling is transferred between the terminal device and the NR base station. However, in other cases where the first network device and the second network device are similar to the embodiments described in the present application, the description of the embodiments will not be repeated herein.

In a specific implementation, the deployment manner of the first network device and the second network device may be co-sited deployment (for example, the NR base station and the LTE base station may be disposed on one entity device), or may be non-co-sited deployment (for example, the NR base station and the LTE base station may be disposed on different entity devices), which may not be limited in this application. Here, the LTE base station may also be referred to as an evolved Node B (eNB), and the NR base station may also be referred to as a next generation base station (next generation Node B, gNB). It should be noted that, the application of the correlation between the coverage areas of the first network device and the second network device may not be limited, for example, the first network device and the second network device may overlap.

The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a terminal, an access terminal device, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal device, a mobile device, a User Equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, a User agent, or a User Equipment. The terminal device may be a server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a personal digital assistant, a portable media player, a smart speaker, a navigation device, a display device, a wearable device such as a smart bracelet, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR) device, a pedometer, a digital TV, a desktop computer, or a terminal device in a 5G network, etc.

The first network device in the implementation of the present application may be a network side device that performs Wireless communication with a terminal device, for example, an access point of Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi), an evolved base station, such as an eNB or a small station of 4G, a micro station, or a transmission receiving point (transmission reception point, TRP), and may also be a relay station, an access point, an in-vehicle device, or a wearable device.

The second network device in the implementation of the present application may be a network side device that performs Wireless communication with a terminal device, for example, an access point of Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), a base station of next generation communication, such as a gNB or a small station, a micro station or a transmission receiving point (transmission reception point, TRP) of 5G, and may also be a relay station, an access point, an in-vehicle device, or a wearable device.

In the related art, the terminal device may fall back from the dual connectivity mode to the single connectivity mode, and the terminal may suppress or disable the dual connectivity mode if in the single connectivity mode. However, the LTE bandwidth resources and/or signal conditions of the terminal device in the single connection mode are not considered in the related art. For example, if the terminal is in a single connection, the LTE cell has a smaller bandwidth or a worse signal, and cannot provide a higher data transmission rate, so that suppressing the 5G further reduces the data transmission rate, which negatively affects the user experience.

The following will specifically describe the technical solutions of the present application and how the technical solutions of the present application solve the above technical problems by means of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments may be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described in detail in some embodiments.

It should be noted that: in the examples of this application, "first," "second," etc. are used to distinguish similar objects and not necessarily to describe a particular order or precedence.

In addition, the embodiments described in the present application may be arbitrarily combined without any collision.

Fig. 2 is a schematic implementation flow chart of a measurement control method provided in an embodiment of the present application, where, as shown in fig. 2, the method is applied to a terminal device, and the method includes:

s201, the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel in a first network.

The first network may be an LTE network, under which the terminal device communicates with a first network device corresponding to the first network, and the first channel may be a communication channel between the terminal device and the first network device, where channel parameters are used to characterize a transmission capability of data on the channel. In a first single connection mode or a dual connection mode, the terminal device may communicate with the first network device, the first single connection mode being an LTE mode. Monitoring in embodiments of the present application may be understood as listening or detecting. In another embodiment, the first network may be an NR network.

When the terminal monitors the channel parameters of the first channel, the connection mode in which the terminal device is located may be an LTE mode, an NR mode or a dual connection mode. The terminal device may continuously monitor the channel parameters of the first channel, e.g., the terminal device may periodically or aperiodically monitor the channel parameters of the first channel, thereby continuously obtaining the channel parameters of the first channel. In another way, the terminal device may obtain the trigger event, monitor a channel parameter of the first channel based on the trigger event, e.g. in case the terminal device determines that the transmission speed to the first network is less than a first threshold, or determines that the amount of data to be transmitted is greater than a second threshold.

In one embodiment, before the terminal device monitors the channel parameter of the first channel, the terminal device may start the transmission performance optimization function, so that the terminal device may enable the terminal device to be under the second network by measuring the second network different from the current communication protocol of the first network, so that the terminal device may perform reasonable performance scheduling.

In another embodiment, the terminal device may switch the switch, which may be a 4G/5G switch, before monitoring the channel parameters of the first channel, and in case the terminal device switches the switch to 4G, the terminal device will be in LTE mode, when the terminal device cannot enter dual connectivity mode. In case the terminal device switches the switch to 5G and in case the terminal does not disable 5G, the terminal device can enter an NR mode or a dual connectivity mode.

In an aspect, the terminal device may turn on the transmission performance optimization function by default, or switch the switch to 5G. In another aspect, the terminal device may receive a user selection of a determination of a performance optimization function or a selection of a change-over switch to 5G to turn on a transmission optimization function or change over to 5G.

S203, if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, the terminal equipment starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for the second network, wherein the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols.

In one embodiment, the channel parameter of the first channel does not satisfy the first condition may include: the data transmission capability, which may be a transmission rate, of the channel parameter characterization of the first channel is smaller than the first capability, and the terminal device may calculate the data transmission capability based on the channel parameter.

It will be appreciated that if the bandwidth of the first channel is small, this may result in slow transmission of data in the first channel; if the signal quality in the first channel is small, or if the signal strength in the first channel is low, this results in a high bit error rate when data propagates on the first channel, which in turn results in a low transmission rate, which results in a slow transmission of data on the first channel. In one embodiment, the channel parameter of the first channel does not satisfy the first condition, which may be achieved by at least one of: the channel bandwidth of the first channel is less than the first channel bandwidth, the signal quality of the first channel is less than the first signal quality, and the signal strength of the first channel is less than the first signal strength.

The terminal device performs start measurement or resume measurement, which is determined based on a procedure configured by the terminal device, for example, when a channel parameter of the first channel does not meet a first condition, the terminal device enters an idle state, and the terminal device reestablishes connection with the first network, that is, the terminal device starts measurement reporting; and when the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition, the terminal equipment is still connected with the first network, and the terminal resumes measurement reporting.

If the terminal device ceases measurement for the second network, the terminal device resumes measurement, if the terminal device ceases measurement reporting for the second network, the terminal device resumes measurement reporting, and if the terminal device ceases measurement and measurement reporting for the second network, the terminal device resumes measurement and resume measurement reporting.

The measurement or measurement report of the terminal device for the second network may be that the terminal device measures or otherwise reports a target cell corresponding to the second network, and the content of the measurement may be reference signal receiving quality (Reference Signal Receiving Quality). The terminal device may send measurement reports of the target cell to the first network device so that the first network device may follow a subsequent flow, whereby the terminal device may enter a second single connection mode or a dual connection mode based on a response from the network device in the second network.

When the first single connection mode is the LTE mode, the second single connection mode is the NR mode; when the first single connection is the NR mode, the second single connection mode is the LTE mode. The dual connectivity mode is an EN-DC mode or an NE-DC mode or an NGEN-DC mode. When the first single connection mode is an LTE mode, the corresponding double connection mode is an EN-DC mode; when the first single connection mode is the NR mode, the corresponding dual connection mode is the NE-DC mode or the NGEN-DC mode.

In one embodiment, if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, the terminal device will not disable the dual connectivity mode any more, or the terminal device enables the dual connectivity mode, so that the terminal device can connect not only with the first network device but also with the second network device, and dual connectivity or dual connectivity of the terminal device is achieved. In another embodiment, if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, the terminal disconnects from the first network and implements entering the second single connection mode if the terminal is able to communicate using the second network.

In a specific implementation process, the terminal device is in LTE mode, and if it is monitored that the channel parameter of the first channel for transmitting data in LTE does not meet the first condition, measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network is enabled or resumed, so that the terminal device can be in EN-DC mode. Thus, in the case where the transmission capability of the LTE mode is low, the transmission performance is not reduced by the EN-DC mode. In this way, for the terminal in the 5G Non independent Networking (NSA) mode, the network environment is monitored by the terminal, and reasonable power consumption and performance scheduling are performed on the terminal side, so that the best compromise of the performance and the power consumption is achieved, and the user obtains better experience. In general, the embodiments of the present application can restore to a 5G connection through monitoring LTE channel parameters (such as bandwidth and signals), so that the user experience is not reduced.

In the embodiment of the application, under the condition that the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, the terminal equipment starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for the second network different from the communication protocol of the first network, so that the terminal equipment can perform reasonable performance scheduling.

Fig. 3 is a schematic implementation flow chart of another measurement control method provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, where the method includes:

s301, the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel in a first network.

In one embodiment, the terminal device may monitor a channel parameter of a first channel in the first network in the first single connection mode. The first single connection mode is an LTE mode. The terminal device may be in a state of disabling the dual connectivity mode in the first single connectivity mode. It should be understood that the first single connection mode in the embodiment of the present application may also be an NR mode, and the corresponding measurement control method is similar to that of the LTE mode.

The channel parameters may include at least one of channel bandwidth, signal quality, and signal strength. In other embodiments, the channel parameters may also include other parameters that characterize the ability of data to be transmitted over the channel, and are not limited herein. The first channel may be a channel resource allocated to the terminal device by the first network device after the terminal device sends the resource request to the first network device, the terminal device may determine a channel bandwidth based on the channel resource, the terminal device may periodically or aperiodically determine a channel quality of the first channel, for example, the terminal device may determine the channel quality of the first channel based on the channel bandwidth and the monitored signal quality and/or signal strength. In one embodiment, the Signal herein may be a Reference Signal (RS).

S303, if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, enabling the dual-connection mode by the terminal equipment.

The determination by the terminal device that the dual connectivity mode is enabled may be understood as the terminal device no longer disabling the dual connectivity mode. In one embodiment, the terminal device enables the dual connectivity mode if the duration of the first channel parameter not meeting the first condition reaches the first duration.

S305, the terminal equipment receives a first request sent by first network equipment corresponding to a first network, wherein the first request is used for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to a second network.

Before S305, the terminal device may have established a communication connection with the first network device, may transmit and receive data through the first network device, and the first network device may be able to know that the terminal device supports the dual connectivity mode or the capability of supporting the dual connectivity, so that the first network device may continuously send the first request to the terminal device. It should be appreciated that if the first network is an LTE network, the second network may be an NR network. If the first network is an NR network, the second network may be an NR network (corresponding to NGEN-DC mode) or an LTE network (corresponding to NE-DC mode).

The measurement target cell in the embodiment of the present application may be a signal quality of the measurement target cell. In one embodiment, the event of measuring the signal quality of the target cell may be a measurement B1 event or an NR B1 event.

The indication to measure the target cell corresponding to the second network device may be an indication to issue NR B1 event measurement control; the first request may be sent to the terminal device by the first network device after the terminal device establishes a link connection with the first network device. The first request may be included on or indicated by RRC connection reconfiguration signaling.

The terminal device may send the measurement report of the target cell may be a reported NR B1 event measurement report, which may also be understood as an RRC measurement report, after which the second network device may send configuration resources for establishing the NR bearer to the terminal device through the first network device, so that the terminal device may be in a dual connectivity mode.

S307, the terminal equipment sends a measurement report of the target cell to the first network equipment.

The terminal device may measure the target cell based on receiving the first request sent by the first network device, and send a measurement report to the first network device, so that the first network device may perform a subsequent procedure.

Through S303 to S307, the terminal resumes measurement or measurement report for the second network, so that the first network device can continue to perform a subsequent procedure, and the first terminal can enter a second single connection mode or a dual connection mode.

S309, the terminal device enters a second single connection mode or a dual connection mode based on a response from the network device in the second network.

The second single connection mode may be an NR mode, and if the terminal device enters the NR mode, the connection with the first network may be disconnected, and in a possible embodiment, the terminal device may further disable the LTE mode.

In one embodiment, if the terminal device is in the second single connection mode or in the dual connection mode, if it is required to fall back to the first single connection mode, this may be achieved in either of the following ways:

(1) The terminal equipment receives a first request sent by first network equipment, wherein the first request is used for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to second network equipment; the terminal device does not respond to the first request to disable the dual connectivity mode of the terminal device to thereby fall back to the first single connectivity mode.

(2) The terminal equipment receives a first request sent by first network equipment, wherein the first request is used for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to second network equipment; the terminal device responds to the first request, but does not send a measurement report of the target cell to the first network device to disable the dual connectivity mode of the terminal device, thereby reverting to the first single connectivity mode.

It is noted that when the terminal device is in the first single connection mode, if it is determined that the dual connection mode is to be disabled, either of these two modes may be directly adopted for disabling. In the case where the terminal device decides to disable the dual connectivity mode, if the terminal device is already in the dual connectivity mode, the terminal device may initiate NR SCG failure information a secondary cell group failure information flow to the first network device and set the failure Type to "t 310-expire". In the NR SCG failure information message the terminal device does not contain any NR measurements, which would prevent the network from switching the UE to other NR cells. After the UE has sent the NR SCG failure information message, the terminal device may not report the NR measurement result or measurement report. In this way, the terminal device may fall back to the first single connection mode while in the dual connection mode, and resume the network configuration dual connection mode by reporting the NR measurement result if the terminal device determines that the dual connection mode is to be enabled.

In either way, the terminal device disables the dual connectivity mode, which characterizes the terminal device entering the first single connectivity mode, i.e. the terminal device is connected to the first network device and not to the second network device.

In addition, the terminal device may also implement the conversion from the first single connection mode to the dual connection mode by: if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, the terminal device enables the dual-connection mode, then the terminal device can receive the configuration resource for establishing the NR bearer sent by the first network device, and the terminal device responds to the configuration resource of the NR bearer to enable the terminal device to be in the dual-connection mode. And under the condition that the dual-connection mode is disabled, the terminal equipment does not respond to the configuration resource of the NR bearer so as to disable the dual-connection mode of the terminal equipment.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for recovering measurement reporting of NR according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method may be implemented by:

s401, the terminal equipment monitors the LTE cell bandwidth and signal parameters.

The LTE cell bandwidth may correspond to the channel bandwidth of the first channel, and the signal parameter may correspond to the signal quality and/or the signal strength.

S403, the terminal equipment judges whether the LTE cell bandwidth and the signal parameter are smaller than a certain threshold.

S403 may correspond to the channel parameter of the first channel in S203 not meeting the first condition, and for a specific implementation, reference may be made to the description related to S203.

If yes, S405 is executed, and if no, S401 is continued.

S405, the terminal equipment resumes NR measurement and measurement report.

The measurement and measurement report of the recovery NR may correspond to the start or recovery of the measurement and/or measurement report for the second network in the above embodiment.

In this embodiment of the present application, after receiving a first request sent by a first network device and used for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to a second network device, the terminal device sends a measurement report of the target cell to the first network device, that is, if the bandwidth or the signal of the LTE cell changes, the terminal device may determine whether the bandwidth and/or the signal is less than a certain threshold, and if the bandwidth and/or the signal is less than a certain threshold, resume measurement and reporting of NR, so that the first network device, the second network device and the terminal device may perform subsequent procedures, so that the terminal device may be in a dual-connection mode.

Fig. 5 is a schematic implementation flow chart of another measurement control method according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5, where the method includes:

s501, the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel in a first network.

S503, if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, the terminal device enables the dual-connection mode.

In one embodiment, after the terminal device determines to turn on the dual connectivity mode, the terminal device may fall back to the idle state (e.g., the terminal device automatically releases the RRC connection and falls back to the idle state). In another embodiment, after the terminal device determines to turn on the dual connectivity mode, the terminal device may fall back to an unregistered state through a DETACH (DETACH) procedure.

It should be understood that, if the terminal device is in the first single connection state, the second single connection state, or the dual connection state before returning to the idle state or the unregistered state, the terminal device may be in the state.

S505, the terminal equipment sends a second request to the first network equipment, wherein the second request is used for indicating the capability updating requirement of the terminal equipment.

In a state where the terminal device is in an idle state, the terminal device may initiate a tracking area update procedure (tracking area update procedure or TAU procedure) to the first network device. The terminal device may initiate an atach (ATTACH) procedure to the first network device in an unregistered state of the terminal device. In the TAU procedure, the terminal device may send RRC Connection Setup Complete (RRC connection setup complete) message to the first network device, where the RRC connection setup complete message includes a TAU request, and the TAU request may include or indicate the second request. In the atach procedure, the terminal device may send RRC Connection Setup Complete (RRC connection setup complete) message to the first network device, where the RRC connection setup complete message includes an atach request, and the atach request may include or indicate the second request. Wherein the TAU request or the second request included or indicated in the atach may set UE radio capability information update needed (UE radio capability information update requirement, or terminal device capability update requirement) value to 1.

S507, the first network device sends a third request to the terminal device for querying the capabilities of the terminal device.

The third request may be UE Capability Enquiry.

S509, the terminal equipment receives a third request sent by the first network equipment.

S511, the terminal device sends the capability of supporting dual connection of the terminal device to the first network device, so that the terminal device can be in a dual connection mode.

The information of the terminal device capability to support dual connectivity may include or be indicated by the terminal device capability information at UE Capability Information.

It should be understood that the steps in S507-S511 may be performed in either the TAU process or the ATTACH process.

S513, the terminal device receives a first request sent by a first network device corresponding to the first network, where the first request is used to instruct to measure a target cell corresponding to the second network.

And S515, the terminal equipment sends the measurement report of the target cell to the first network equipment.

Through S503 to S515, the terminal starts measurement or measurement report for the second network, so that the first network device can continue to perform a subsequent procedure, and the first terminal can enter a second single connection mode or a dual connection mode.

S517, the terminal device enters a second single connection mode or a dual connection mode based on a response from the network device in the second network.

In one embodiment, if the terminal device is in the dual connectivity mode, if a fallback to the first single connectivity mode is required, this may be achieved in either of the following ways:

(1) The terminal equipment returns to the idle state, initiates a TAU flow to the first network equipment, and in the TAU flow, sends a second request to the first network equipment, wherein the second request is used for indicating the capability updating requirement of the terminal equipment, then the terminal equipment receives a third request which is sent by the first network equipment and used for inquiring the capability of the terminal equipment, and the third request is obtained by the first network equipment responding to the second request; the terminal device responds to the third request and sends the capability of the terminal device for not supporting dual connectivity to the first network device to disable the dual connectivity mode of the terminal device.

(2) The terminal equipment returns to an unregistered state through the DETACH process, initiates an ATTACH process to the first network equipment, sends a second request to the first network equipment in the ATTACH process, receives a third request sent by the first network equipment, responds to the third request, and sends the capability of the terminal equipment for not supporting double connection to the first network equipment so as to disable the double connection mode of the terminal equipment.

Wherein, the related description of the second request and the third request can be referred to S505 and S507.

It can be appreciated that if the terminal device sends to the first network device the capability of the terminal device to support dual connectivity, the first network device may send to the terminal device, after the terminal device establishes a connection, a first request for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to the second network device, to enable the terminal device to be in dual connectivity mode. If the terminal device sends to the first network device the capability of the terminal device that does not support dual connectivity, the first network device does not send the first request to the terminal device after the terminal device establishes connectivity, so that the terminal device cannot be in dual connectivity mode.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device sends a second request for indicating the capability update requirement of the terminal device to the first network device, receives a third request for inquiring the capability of the terminal device sent by the first network device, and sends the capability of the terminal device for supporting dual connection to the first network device so that the terminal device can be in a dual connection mode, and therefore the first network device, the second network device and the terminal device can perform subsequent procedures, the terminal device can be in the dual connection mode, and another implementation mode that the terminal device can be in the dual connection mode is provided.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, embodiments of the present application provide a measurement control method, where the method may further include: if the duration that the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition reaches the first time length, the terminal equipment starts or resumes the measurement and/or measurement report for the second network.

For example, when the terminal device determines that the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition, the terminal device uses the time as the starting time to continuously acquire the channel parameters of the first channel in the first duration, and if the monitored channel parameters of the first channel in the first duration do not meet the first condition, the terminal device can be in the dual-connection mode.

In the embodiment of the application, the situation that the terminal equipment is frequently switched from the first single connection mode to the double connection mode or the situation that the terminal equipment is switched from the first single connection mode to the second single connection mode can be avoided.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a measurement control method, in which after S203, or after the terminal device enters the second single connection mode or the dual connection mode, the terminal device may further perform the following steps:

the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a second channel in a second network; if the channel parameter of the second channel does not meet the second condition, or if the duration of the channel parameter of the second channel does not meet the second condition reaches the second duration, the terminal device stops the measurement and/or measurement report for the second network. In this way, the disabling operation of the second network is performed, enabling the terminal device to fall back to the first single connection mode.

The channel parameters of the second channel do not satisfy the second condition may include: the channel parameters of the second channel characterize a data transmission capacity that is less than the second capacity. In one embodiment, the channel parameter of the second channel does not satisfy the second condition, which may be achieved by at least one of: the channel bandwidth of the second channel is less than the second channel bandwidth, the signal quality of the second channel is less than the second signal quality, and the signal strength of the second channel is less than the second signal strength.

In the embodiment of the application, since the power consumption of the terminal device is high in the second single connection mode or the double connection mode relative to the power consumption of the terminal device in the first single connection mode, in this way, the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved by returning to the first single connection mode after determining that the channel parameter of the second channel does not meet the second condition.

the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel; if the channel parameter of the first channel meets the first condition, or if the duration of the channel parameter of the first channel meets the first condition reaches the third duration, the terminal device stops the measurement and/or measurement report for the second network. In this way, the disabling operation of the second network is performed, enabling the terminal device to fall back to the first single connection mode.

The channel parameters of the first channel satisfying the first condition may include: the channel parameters of the first channel characterize a data transmission capability that is greater than or equal to the first capability. The channel parameters of the first channel satisfying the first condition may be achieved by at least one of: the channel bandwidth of the first channel is greater than or equal to the first channel bandwidth, the signal quality of the first channel is greater than or equal to the first signal quality, and the signal strength of the first channel is greater than or equal to the first signal strength.

In the embodiment of the application, since the power consumption of the terminal device is high in the second single connection mode or the double connection mode relative to the power consumption of the terminal device in the first single connection mode, in this way, the terminal device returns to the first single connection mode after determining that the channel parameter of the first channel meets the first condition, so that the power consumption of the terminal device can be saved.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a measurement control method, in which the terminal device may further perform at least one of the following 4 steps:

(1) Information of whether the terminal equipment carries out voice bearing VOLTE call for long term evolution is obtained; (2) obtaining residual capacity information of the terminal equipment; (3) obtaining temperature information of the terminal equipment; (4) Information of a network congestion situation corresponding to the first network device is obtained.

The terminal device may determine whether the at least one information satisfies the third condition in a case where the at least one information among the 4 kinds of information is obtained. The terminal device may determine whether the current performance of the terminal device is greater than the target performance by the obtained at least one piece of information, to determine whether the at least one piece of information satisfies the third condition.

The at least one piece of information meeting the third condition may be implemented by at least one of: the terminal equipment does not carry out VOLTE call, the residual electric quantity of the terminal equipment is larger than the target electric quantity, the temperature information of the terminal equipment is smaller than the target temperature, and the network state of the terminal equipment corresponding to the first network equipment is in a non-congestion state.

In case the terminal device determines that the at least one piece of information meets the third condition, the terminal device may further initiate or resume measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network based on the at least one piece of information, by: if the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition and at least one information meets the third condition, the terminal device starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment not only does not meet the first condition based on the channel parameters of the first channel, but also meets the third condition based on at least one piece of information, and the measurement and/or measurement report for the second network are started or recovered, so that the terminal equipment can jointly determine whether to measure the second network based on a plurality of parameters, and the terminal equipment can perform reasonable power consumption and/or performance scheduling.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a measurement control apparatus, where the apparatus includes units included, and modules included in the units may be implemented by a processor in a terminal device; of course, the method can also be realized by a specific logic circuit; in an implementation, the processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Microprocessor (MPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or the like.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a measurement control device according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, the measurement control device 600 includes a first monitoring unit 601 and a measurement control unit 602, where:

a first monitoring unit 601, configured to monitor a channel parameter of a first channel in a first network by a terminal device;

the measurement control unit 602 is configured to initiate or resume measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition, where the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols.

In other embodiments of the present application, the first monitoring unit 601 is further configured to monitor a channel parameter of a first channel in the first network in the first single connection mode.

In other embodiments of the present application, the first single connection mode is LTE mode.

In other embodiments of the present application, the measurement control device 600 further includes: a mode control unit 603; the mode control unit 603 is configured to enter a second single connection mode or a dual connection mode based on a response from the network device in the second network after the terminal device starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for the second network.

In other embodiments of the present application, the second single connectivity mode is an NR mode.

In other embodiments of the present application, the dual connectivity mode is an EN-DC mode or an NE-DC mode or an NGEN-DC mode.

In other embodiments of the present application, the channel parameters include at least one of channel bandwidth, signal quality, and signal strength; the channel parameters of the first channel not meeting the first condition include at least one of: the channel bandwidth of the first channel is less than the first channel bandwidth, the signal quality of the first channel is less than the first signal quality, and the signal strength of the first channel is less than the first signal strength.

In other embodiments of the present application, the measurement control unit 602 is further configured to initiate or resume measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network if the duration of the channel parameter of the first channel not meeting the first condition reaches the first time length.

In other embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is in a state of disabling the dual connectivity mode in the first single connectivity mode; the measurement control unit 602 is further configured to enable a dual connectivity mode for the terminal device; receiving a first request sent by first network equipment corresponding to a first network, wherein the first request is used for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to a second network; and sending the measurement report of the target cell to the first network equipment.

In other embodiments of the present application, the measurement control unit 602 is further configured to send a second request to the first network device, where the second request is used to indicate that the terminal device needs a capability update; receiving a third request sent by the first network device for querying the capability of the terminal device; and sending the capability of supporting dual connection of the terminal equipment to the first network equipment so that the terminal equipment can be in a dual connection mode.

In other embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may further include: a second monitoring unit 604.

A second monitoring unit 604, configured to monitor a channel parameter of a second channel in the second network by using the terminal device;

the measurement control unit 602 is configured to stop measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network if the channel parameter of the second channel does not meet the second condition.

In other embodiments of the present application, the first monitoring unit 601 is further configured to monitor a channel parameter of the first channel by the terminal device;

the measurement control unit 602 is further configured to stop the measurement and/or the measurement report for the second network if the channel parameter of the first channel meets the first condition.

In other embodiments of the present application, the measurement control unit 602 is further configured to obtain at least one of information about whether the terminal device performs a long term evolution voice bearer VOLTE call, remaining power information of the terminal device, temperature information of the terminal device, and information about a network congestion condition corresponding to the first network device; if the channel parameters of the first channel do not meet the first condition and at least one information meets the third condition, the terminal device initiates or resumes measurement and/or measurement reporting for the second network.

The description of the apparatus embodiments above is similar to that of the method embodiments above, with similar advantageous effects as the method embodiments. For technical details not disclosed in the device embodiments of the present application, please refer to the description of the method embodiments of the present application for understanding.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, if the measurement control method described above is implemented in the form of a software function module, and sold or used as a separate product, the measurement control method may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or part contributing to the related art, and the computer software product may be stored in a storage medium, and include several instructions to cause a terminal device to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes. Thus, embodiments of the present application are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs executable by one or more processors to implement the steps of the measurement control method of any of the embodiments above.

It should be noted here that: the description of the storage medium and apparatus embodiments above is similar to that of the method embodiments described above, with similar benefits as the method embodiments. For technical details not disclosed in the embodiments of the storage medium and the apparatus of the present application, please refer to the description of the method embodiments of the present application for understanding.

It should be noted that fig. 7 is a schematic hardware entity diagram of a terminal device provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the hardware entity of the terminal device 700 includes: a processor 701 and a memory 702, wherein the memory 702 stores a computer program executable on the processor 701, the processor 701 implementing the steps of the method of any of the embodiments described above when the program is executed.

The memory 702 stores a computer program executable on the processor, and the memory 702 is configured to store instructions and applications executable by the processor 701, and may also cache data (e.g., image data, audio data, voice communication data, and video communication data) to be processed or already processed by each module in the processor 701 and the terminal device 700, which may be implemented by a FLASH memory (FLASH) or a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM).

The processor 701 executes the program to implement the steps of the measurement control method of any one of the above. The processor 701 generally controls the overall operation of the terminal device 700.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing embodiment numbers of the present application are merely for describing, and do not represent advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment of the present application" or "the foregoing embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment of the present application" or "in the foregoing embodiments" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In various embodiments of the present application, the sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of execution, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing embodiment numbers of the present application are merely for describing, and do not represent advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

Without specific explanation, the terminal device may perform any step in the embodiments of the present application, and the processor of the terminal device may perform the step. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the order in which the following steps are performed by the terminal device unless specifically described. In addition, the manner in which the data is processed in different embodiments may be the same method or different methods. It should be further noted that any step in the embodiments of the present application may be independently executed by the terminal device, that is, when the terminal device executes any step in the embodiments described below, execution of the other step may not be dependent.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above described device embodiments are only illustrative, e.g. the division of the units is only one logical function division, and there may be other divisions in practice, such as: multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. In addition, the various components shown or discussed may be coupled or directly coupled or communicatively coupled to each other via some interface, whether indirectly coupled or communicatively coupled to devices or units, whether electrically, mechanically, or otherwise.

The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as units may or may not be physical units; can be located in one place or distributed to a plurality of network units; some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may be separately used as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit; the integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in hardware plus software functional units.

The methods disclosed in the several method embodiments provided in the present application may be arbitrarily combined without collision to obtain a new method embodiment.

The features disclosed in the several product embodiments provided in the present application may be combined arbitrarily without conflict to obtain new product embodiments.

The features disclosed in the several method or apparatus embodiments provided in the present application may be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new method embodiments or apparatus embodiments.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the above method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, where the program, when executed, performs steps including the above method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a mobile storage device, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, or the like, which can store program codes.

Alternatively, the integrated units described above may be stored in a computer readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as a stand-alone product. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or partially contributing to the related art, and the computer software product may be stored in a storage medium, and include several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a removable storage device, a ROM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

In order to realize simultaneous communication with two network devices, the terminal device needs to be provided with two sets of communication modules, and the two sets of communication modules respectively correspond to the two network devices. The first modem and the first radio frequency channel (including the first radio frequency circuit and the first radio frequency antenna) form a first set of communication modules, and the first set of communication modules corresponds to the first network device. The second modem and the second radio frequency path (including the second radio frequency circuit and the second radio frequency antenna) form a second set of communication modules, the second set of communication modules corresponding to the second network device. In one example, the second modem is a 5G modem, the first modem is a 4G modem, the second radio frequency circuit is a 5G RF, and the first radio frequency circuit is a 4G RF. In the dual connectivity mode, the first communication module and the second communication module operate simultaneously.

It should be understood that, if the two sets of communication modules are integrated by a System On Chip (SOC) or the like, the method is also applicable to the case of switching the single connection mode from the dual connection mode as set forth in the present application, and the description of the related connection and the dual connection is not limited to the structure of the dual modem communication module.

The foregoing is merely an embodiment of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A measurement control method, characterized by comprising:

the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a first channel in a first network; the channel parameters include at least one of channel bandwidth, signal quality, and signal strength;

wherein if the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet a first condition and the at least one information meets a third condition, the terminal device starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement reporting for a second network, the first network and the second network being based on different communication protocols;

wherein the channel parameter of the first channel not meeting the first condition includes at least one of:

the channel bandwidth of the first channel is smaller than the first channel bandwidth, the signal quality of the first channel is smaller than the first signal quality, and the signal strength of the first channel is smaller than the first signal strength;

wherein the at least one piece of information satisfying the third condition includes at least one of:

the terminal equipment does not carry out long term evolution voice bearing VOLTE call, the residual electric quantity information of the terminal equipment is larger than the target electric quantity, the temperature information of the terminal equipment is smaller than the target temperature, and the network state corresponding to the terminal equipment and the first network equipment is in a non-congestion state.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device monitors channel parameters of the first channel in the first network in a first single connection mode.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first single connectivity mode is a long term evolution, LTE, mode.

4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the terminal device enters a second single or dual connectivity mode based on a response from a network device in the second network after starting or resuming measurements and/or measurement reporting for the second network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second single connection mode is a new air interface NR mode.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the dual connectivity mode is EN-DC mode or NE-DC mode or NGEN-DC mode.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

and if the duration that the channel parameter of the first channel does not meet the first condition reaches a first time length, the terminal equipment starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for the second network.

8. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the terminal device is in a state of disabling a dual connectivity mode in the first single connectivity mode;

the terminal device starts or resumes measurement and/or measurement report for the second network, including:

the terminal device enables the dual connectivity mode;

receiving a first request sent by first network equipment corresponding to the first network, wherein the first request is used for indicating to measure a target cell corresponding to the second network;

and sending a measurement report of the target cell to the first network equipment.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

sending a second request to the first network device, wherein the second request is used for indicating that the terminal device needs capability update;

receiving a third request sent by the first network device for querying the capability of the terminal device;

and sending the capability of supporting dual connection of the terminal equipment to the first network equipment so that the terminal equipment can be in the dual connection mode.

10. The method according to any of claims 4 to 6, wherein after the terminal device enters the second single connection mode or the dual connection mode, further comprising:

The terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of a second channel in the second network;

and if the channel parameters of the second channel do not meet the second condition, the terminal equipment stops measurement and/or measurement report for the second network.

11. The method according to any of claims 4 to 6, wherein after the terminal device enters the second single connection mode or the dual connection mode, further comprising:

the terminal equipment monitors channel parameters of the first channel;

and if the channel parameter of the first channel meets the first condition, stopping measurement and/or measurement report for the second network by the terminal equipment.

12. A measurement control apparatus, characterized by comprising:

a first monitoring unit, configured to monitor a channel parameter of a first channel in a first network by a terminal device; the channel parameters include at least one of channel bandwidth, signal quality, and signal strength;

a measurement control unit, configured to initiate or resume measurement and/or measurement report for a second network if the channel parameter of the first channel does not satisfy a first condition and at least one information satisfies a third condition, where the first network and the second network are based on different communication protocols;

wherein the at least one information meeting the third condition includes at least one of:

13. A terminal device, comprising: a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store,

the memory stores a computer program executable on a processor,

the processor, when executing the program, implements the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A computer storage medium storing one or more programs executable by one or more processors to implement the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 11.