CN111565399A

CN111565399A - Radio link monitoring RLM method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111565399A
Application number: CN201910114215.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 酉春华; 黄曲芳; 郭英昊; 赵力
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-14
Filing date: 2019-02-14
Publication date: 2020-08-21
Also published as: WO2020164398A1

Abstract

An RLM method provided in an embodiment of the present application includes: when it is determined that the RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored, the first counting unit 1 of the terminal. When the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal determines a Radio Link Failure (RLF). Or, when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal starts a first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires, the terminal determines the RLF. Thereby improving RLF accuracy for unlicensed spectrum cells.

Description

Radio link monitoring RLM method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for monitoring a radio link monitoring RLM.

Background

Radio Link Monitoring (RLM) is introduced in a communication system to monitor whether a link of a serving cell is available for data communication between a wireless network device and a terminal. When the terminal determines that the radio link monitoring (RLF) fails, it triggers the radio link re-establishment procedure or triggers the RLF to report to the base station. With the introduction of new spectrum and new bandwidth of communication systems and the increase of complexity, the role of RLM in wireless communication is also becoming more important, and therefore, it is necessary to provide a more accurate RLM method to improve the accuracy of RLF.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present application provides a method and an apparatus for radio link monitoring RLM, in order to provide a more accurate RLM mechanism, thereby improving the accuracy of RLF.

In a first aspect, a radio link monitoring, RLM, method is provided, which includes the following steps: when it is determined that the RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored, the first counting unit of the terminal is incremented by 1. And when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal determines Radio Link Failure (RLF). Or, when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal starts a first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires (expire), the terminal determines the RLF.

Wherein, the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times, which means that: the radio link states determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are continuously the RLM RS unsuccessfully monitored (without being included with the radio link state of the IS or without being included with the OOS), so that the first counting unit of the terminal continuously adds 1 to reach the first preset number of times or reach the first preset value, or may also be referred to as reaching counting units, such as reaching N310.

The first timing unit is started when the count of the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the first timing unit can run within preset time, and the first timing unit expires when the first timing unit runs to reach the preset time. Alternatively, the first timing unit stops when it recovers from the radio link problem before the first timing unit expires. Wherein the first timing unit operates upon start-up until the first timing unit expires or stops. The first timing unit may be started when not running or restarted when the first timing unit is running. The first timing unit may be started or restarted from an initial value, e.g. the initial value may be 0, i.e. starting from 0. The running time (preset time) of the first timing unit does not change unless the timing unit stops or expires. Here, for convenience of explanation, the description is only performed with respect to the first timing unit, and alternatively, the description of the first timing unit is applicable to other timing units, such as the second timing unit.

Wherein, whether to recover from the radio link problem is as follows: during the operation period of the first timing unit (within the preset time of the first timing unit), when the physical layer of the terminal determines IS, it will transfer an IS indication to the RRC layer (or MAC layer or RLC layer, etc.) of the terminal, and when the number of times that the RRC layer (or MAC layer or RLC layer, etc.) receives consecutive IS indications does not reach the consecutive counting units (such as Counter311 or N311), that IS, when the IS indication does not reach the preset value during the operation period of the first timing unit, it IS considered that the recovery from the radio link problem IS not achieved, and the timing unit expires, and the terminal determines RLF. In addition, when the number of consecutive IS indications reaches the consecutive counting unit (e.g. Counter311 or referred to as N311) during the operation of the first timing unit (or before the expiration of the first timing unit), it IS considered to recover from the radio link problem, and the first timing unit also stops counting. The continuous IS (IS indication) means that the radio link states determined by the terminal on a plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are all IS, and other (RLM RS undetected successfully or OOS) radio link states are not included in the period; or, the radio link state determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources IS, during which the successful radio link state IS not monitored by the RLM RS.

Therefore, whether the RLM reference signal RS is successfully monitored or not is used as a basis for monitoring the radio link, and under the condition that the radio link of the unlicensed spectrum cell is not sent due to LBT failure, the radio link can be accurately identified to be the RLF, so that the radio link cannot be judged to be OOS and is determined to be the RLF too early, and the accuracy of the RLF under the scene of the unlicensed spectrum cell is greatly improved.

In one embodiment, the adding 1 to the first counting unit of the terminal when it is determined that the monitoring of the RLM reference signal RS is not successful may include the following steps: when it is determined that the RLM reference signal RS monitoring is not successful, the terminal physical layer generates a first indication. Wherein the first indication is used for indicating that the terminal does not successfully monitor the RLM RS or for indicating that the first counting unit is increased by 1. The terminal physical layer passes the first indication to the terminal RRC layer. And the RRC layer of the terminal adds 1 to the first counting unit according to the first indication.

Optionally, the first indication may also be transferred by the physical layer to other protocol layers such as the PDCP layer (or the MAC layer) of the terminal. The first indication is transferred from the physical layer to the RRC layer by way of example only, and the application is not limited thereto. Further, other protocol layers such as the terminal PDCP layer (or MAC layer) add 1 to the counting unit according to the first indication.

It can be seen that the counting unit of the terminal may not only add 1 when it is determined that the RLM reference signal RS is unsuccessfully monitored, but also add 1 according to the first indication.

In one embodiment, the first counting unit is incremented by 1 not only when the terminal determines that RLM RS monitoring is not successful, but also by 1 when the terminal determines OOS. In other words, the terminal does not successfully monitor the RLM RS (or the terminal determines the OOS according to the first indication), and the first counting unit is incremented by 1.

Alternatively, the terminal may determine the OOS by the terminal physical layer, and deliver the OOS indication to other protocol layers, such as the MAC layer, the RLC layer, or the RRC layer. So that the first counting unit of the terminal may also be incremented by 1 according to the OOS indication.

It can be seen that, by using the same counting unit to count the number of times that RLM RS fails to detect and the number of times of OOSs, for example, when the first counter is N310, the counting unit in the prior art can be compatible.

In one embodiment, the number of the first indication (or the number of times the terminal determines that the RLM reference signal RS is unsuccessfully monitored) and the number of times of the OOS (or the OOS indication) may also be counted in different counting units. That is, when the terminal determines the OOS, the second counting unit of the terminal is incremented by 1, wherein the second counting unit is a different counting unit from the first counting unit.

The method specifically comprises the following steps:

and when the RLM reference signal RS is determined not to be monitored successfully, and/or the terminal adds 1 to the first counting unit of the terminal according to the first indication. When the terminal determines the OOS, the second counting unit of the terminal is incremented by 1. Alternatively, the terminal may determine the OOS by the terminal physical layer, and deliver the OOS indication to other protocol layers, such as the MAC layer, the RLC layer, or the RRC layer. So that the second counting unit of the terminal can also be incremented by 1 according to the OOS indication.

When the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times and/or when the second counting unit counts a second preset number of times, the terminal determines the radio link failure RLF.

Optionally, when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times, and/or when the second counting unit counts a second preset number of times, the terminal starts the first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires, the terminal determines the RLF.

Optionally, when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times, the terminal starts the first timing unit, and the first timing unit expires, and/or when the second counting unit reaches a second preset number of times, the terminal starts the second timing unit, and the second timing unit expires, the terminal determines the RLF.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first counting unit in the embodiment of the present application reaches a first preset number of times, where the first preset number is: the radio link states determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are continuously that RLM RS IS not successfully monitored without being interspersed with other (such as IS or OOS) radio link states, so that the first counting unit of the terminal continuously adds 1 to reach a first preset number of times or reach a first preset value, or may also be referred to as reaching counting units, such as reaching N310. In the embodiment of the present application, the counting of the second counting unit to the second preset number of times means: the radio link states determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are all OOS continuously without being interspersed with other (such as IS or RLM RS unsuccessfully monitoring) radio link states, so that the second counting unit of the terminal continuously adds 1 to reach a second preset number of times or reach a second preset value, or can also be called as reaching counting units. Optionally, the first preset number and the second preset number may be the same or different.

The description of the expiration of the first timing unit and the description of the expiration of the second timing unit are the same as those of the above embodiments, and are not repeated here.

It can be seen that, by adopting the embodiment of the present application, different counting units and/or different timing units are used to process the first indication (that monitoring of the RLM reference signal RS is not successful) and the OOS (or the OOS indication), respectively, the RLM measurement result is more accurate.

In the above embodiments, when the terminal determines that the number of consecutive IS times reaches the third preset number, the first counting unit and/or the second counting unit are reset (or cleared). The third preset number may be one time or multiple times in succession, which is not limited in the present application. It should be noted that the number of consecutive IS herein merely means: and within the preset time, the terminal determines that the states of the radio links are all IS, and does not include any other radio link states, such as OOS (out of service) radio link states, and/or does not include radio link states which are not monitored successfully by the RLM reference signals RS.

In each of the above embodiments, after the terminal determines the RLF according to the above embodiments, the method may further include: the terminal sends a second indication to the RAN device, the second indication indicating the RLF type. Wherein, the RLF type comprises: the RLF is a failure due to OOS. Alternatively, the RLF is a failure due to successful RLM RS monitoring. The RAN device determines whether or not a change of a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) needs to be performed according to the second instruction. Specifically, when the RLF type is a failure caused by OOS, the RAN device determines, according to a second indication, that the RLF type is a failure caused by OOS, and executes the SCG change. Or, when the RLF type is a failure caused by the first indication, the SCG change is not performed.

In each of the foregoing embodiments, after the terminal determines the RLF, the RLM method provided in this embodiment may further include: and the terminal sends the RLF to RAN equipment. Alternatively, the terminal triggers a radio link re-establishment procedure.

In a second aspect, there is provided an RLM device comprising means for performing the steps of the above first aspect and the various embodiments of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, an RLM device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a program, and the processor calls the program stored in the memory to execute the methods provided in the first aspect and the various embodiments of the first aspect of the present application.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides an RLM device comprising at least one processing element (or chip) for performing the methods of the first aspect above and the various embodiments of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a program which, when executed by a processor, is adapted to perform the method of the first aspect above and the various embodiments of the first aspect.

A sixth aspect provides a program product, e.g. a computer readable storage medium, comprising the program of the fifth aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a control plane protocol stack followed by a terminal to communicate with a RAN device in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an RLM method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a method for implementing step S310;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another RLM method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another RLM method provided in embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another RLM process provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an RLM apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another RLM apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another RLM device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. Other embodiments, which can be derived by one of ordinary skill in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, some terms in the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) A terminal, also called a User Equipment (UE), is a device providing voice and/or data connectivity to a User, for example, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, a vehicle-mounted device, and so on. Common terminals include, for example: the mobile phone includes a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palm computer, a Mobile Internet Device (MID), and a wearable device such as a smart watch, a smart bracelet, a pedometer, and the like.

2) A base station, also called a Radio Access Network (RAN) device, is a device for accessing a terminal to a wireless Network, including but not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Node B (NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Home Base Station (e.g., Homeevolved Node B, or Home Node B, HNB), BaseBand Unit (BBU). In addition, a Wifi Access Point (AP) or the like may also be included.

3) A unit (or entity) in this application refers to a functional unit (or entity) or a logical unit (or entity). It may be in the form of software whose function is carried out by a processor executing program code; but may also be in hardware.

4) "plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. The ranges described above "or" below "and the like include boundary points.

Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the terminal 110 accesses a wireless network through the RAN device 120 to acquire a service of an external network (e.g., the internet) through the wireless network or to communicate with other terminals through the wireless network.

The communication between the terminal 110 and the RAN equipment 120 follows an air interface protocol. Please refer to fig. 2, which is a diagram illustrating a control plane protocol stack for a terminal to communicate with a RAN device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, a Protocol stack of the terminal includes a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. Among them, the PDCP layer, the RLC layer, and the MAC layer constitute a layer 2(L2) protocol stack.

Currently, the major functions of the NAS layer include: and executing Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer management, authentication, EPS connection management, inactive (idle) mobility processing, security control and the like. The main functions of the RRC layer include: there are broadcast, paging, RRC connection management, RB control, mobility functions, UE measurement reporting and control, etc. The PDCP layer has main functions including encryption/decryption, header compression/decompression, integrity protection, etc. The main functions of the RLC layer include: segmentation, concatenation, reordering, automatic repeat request (ARQ), and the like. The main functions of the MAC layer include multiplexing, scheduling, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and the like.

In an actual communication process, even though a radio link between a terminal and a RAN device has been initially connected, the communication quality of the radio link may be lower than a certain threshold due to the mobility of the terminal, the stability of the RAN device, and the like, that is, a radio link problem is caused. Therefore, the wireless link needs to be monitored, and the traditional wireless link monitoring method includes: the terminal physical layer may measure an RLM RS from the RAN device, for example, a Synchronization Signal and physical broadcast Channel block (SSB) or a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), to determine the PDCCH quality, where the PDCCH quality is a predetermined block error rate. When the PDCCH quality IS lower than a first threshold, the physical layer of the terminal determines synchronization (InSync, IS) and indicates the IS to the RRC layer of the terminal. Or, when the PDCCH quality is higher than the second threshold, the terminal physical layer determines out of synchronization (OOS), and indicates the OOS to the terminal RRC layer, and the terminal counting unit adds 1 according to the OOS indication, such as the counting unit 310(Counter310 or referred to as N310) or other counting units, when the counting unit count reaches a preset number, the terminal starts a timing unit, such as the timing unit 310(Timer310 or referred to as T310), and when the timing unit expires, the terminal determines RLF, and then executes an RLF reporting procedure or triggers a radio link reestablishment procedure.

The above method is applicable in the scenario of a licensed spectrum cell, however, in the scenario of an unlicensed spectrum cell, before the RAN device sends an RLM RS signal, the RAN device needs to determine whether resources to be used for sending the RLM RS are already occupied: the RAN device performs a radio channel access procedure (perform channel access procedure), in other words, a Listen Before Talk (LBT) procedure is required to determine whether the resource for transmitting the RLM RS is already occupied. If the existing radio link monitoring method is used for performing radio link monitoring on the scene of the unlicensed spectrum cell, during the LBT of the RAN device, or the LBT has not been successful yet, since the RLM RS cannot be sent, the terminal cannot monitor the RLM RS, the terminal may prematurely confirm out-of-sync (OOS), and actually, since the RAN device has not sent the RLM RS, there is misjudgment and premature RLF determination.

In view of the above, the present application provides an RLM method and apparatus, which solve the RLM problem of the unlicensed spectrum cell, so as to improve the RLF accuracy.

The following detailed description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. Please refer to fig. 3, which is a diagram illustrating an example of an RLM method according to an embodiment of the present application, the method including the following steps:

s310: when it is determined that the RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored, the first counting unit of the terminal is incremented by 1. For example, the RLM RS may be an SSB or a CSI-RS, which is only an example, and the RLM RS is not limited in this application.

S320: when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal determines a Radio Link Failure (RLF).

Alternatively, S320': when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal starts a first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires (expire), the terminal determines the RLF.

For example, the first counting unit may also be referred to as a counter, such as counter310(N310) or other counting units, and the first timing unit may also be referred to as a Timer, such as Timer310(T310) or other timing units, and the counting unit or the timing unit is not limited in this application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the counting of the first counting unit to the first preset number of times means: the radio link states determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are continuously the RLM RS unsuccessfully monitored (without being included with the radio link state of the IS or without being included with the OOS), so that the first counting unit of the terminal continuously adds 1 to reach the first preset number of times or reach the first preset value, or may also be referred to as reaching counting units, such as reaching N310.

The first timing unit is started when the count of the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the first timing unit can run within preset time, and the first timing unit expires when the first timing unit runs to reach the preset time. Alternatively, the first timing unit stops when recovering from the radio link problem before the timing unit expires. Wherein the first timing unit operates upon start-up until the first timing unit expires or stops. The first timing unit may be started when not running or restarted when the first timing unit is running. The first timing unit may be started or restarted from an initial value, e.g. the initial value may be 0, i.e. starting from 0. The running time (preset time) of the first timing unit does not change unless the timing unit stops or expires. Here, for convenience of explanation, the description is only performed with respect to the first timing unit, and alternatively, the description of the first timing unit is applicable to other timing units, such as the second timing unit.

Wherein, whether to recover from the radio link problem is as follows: during the operation period of the first timing unit (within the preset time of the first timing unit), when the physical layer of the terminal determines IS, it will transfer an IS indication to the RRC layer (or MAC layer or RLC layer, etc.) of the terminal, and when the number of times that the RRC layer (or MAC layer or RLC layer, etc.) receives consecutive IS indications does not reach the consecutive counting units (such as Counter311 or N311), that IS, when the IS indication does not reach the preset value during the operation period of the first timing unit, it IS considered that the recovery from the radio link problem IS not achieved, and the timing unit expires, and the terminal determines RLF. In addition, when the number of consecutive IS indications reaches the consecutive counting unit (e.g. Counter311 or referred to as N311) during the operation of the first timing unit (or before the expiration of the first timing unit), it IS considered to recover from the radio link problem, and the first timing unit also stops counting. The continuous IS (IS indication) means that the radio link states determined by the terminal on a plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are all IS, and other (RLM RS undetected successfully or OOS) radio link states are not included in the period; or, the radio link status determined by the terminal on the plurality of preconfigured RLM RS resources IS, during which the successful radio link status IS not monitored with RLMRS.

It can be seen that, the terminal executes the step S310, and by adding whether monitoring of the RLM reference signal RS is successful or not as a basis for monitoring the radio link, in a scenario of an unlicensed spectrum cell, it can be accurately identified that the radio link of the unlicensed spectrum cell is determined as the RLF too early without being determined as the OOS under a condition that the RLM RS is not sent due to LBT failure, so that the accuracy of the RLF in the scenario of the unlicensed spectrum cell is greatly improved.

In the RLM method shown in fig. 3, after the terminal performs step S310, step S320 is performed, which not only simplifies the procedure, but also saves radio resources. Alternatively, after the terminal performs step S310, step S320' is performed, so that the RLF result of this method is more accurate because the procedure of whether the first timing unit can recover from the radio link problem during operation is added.

In an optional manner, please refer to fig. 4, the step S310 may include the following steps:

s410: when it is determined that the RLM reference signal RS monitoring is not successful, the terminal physical layer generates a first indication. Wherein the first indication is used for indicating that the terminal does not successfully monitor the RLM RS or for indicating that the first counting unit is increased by 1.

S420: the terminal physical layer passes the first indication to the terminal RRC layer.

S430: and the RRC layer of the terminal adds 1 to the first counting unit according to the first indication.

In this embodiment, the first indication may also be delivered by the physical layer to other protocol layers such as the PDCP layer (or the MAC layer) of the terminal. The first indication is transferred from the physical layer to the RRC layer by way of example only, and the application is not limited thereto. Further, other protocol layers such as the terminal PDCP layer (or MAC layer) add 1 to the counting unit according to the first indication.

In conjunction with the above methods shown in fig. 3 and 4, optionally, not only is the first counting unit incremented by 1 when the terminal determines that the RLM RS monitoring is not successful, but also the first counting unit is incremented by 1 when the terminal determines the OOS. In other words, the terminal does not successfully monitor the RLM RS (or the terminal determines the OOS according to the first indication), and the first counting unit is incremented by 1. Please refer to fig. 5, which is a flowchart illustrating an RLM method according to an embodiment of the present application, including the following steps:

s510: and when the RLM reference signal RS is determined to be unsuccessfully monitored, and/or when the terminal determines OOS, and/or the terminal adds 1 to the first counting unit of the terminal according to the first indication.

S520: when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal determines a Radio Link Failure (RLF).

Alternatively, S520': when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal starts a first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires, the terminal determines the RLF.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times, which is: the terminal determines whether the state of the radio link IS OOS (out of band state of the IS radio link) or not if the RLM RS IS unsuccessfully monitored on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources, so that the first counting unit of the terminal IS continuously added with 1 to reach a first preset number of times or a first preset value, or the terminal can also be called to reach the number of counting units, such as N310.

As can be seen, by using the RLF method described in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the first counting unit may be N310, and the first timing unit may be T310, so that not only the problem of accurate RLM monitoring of the unlicensed spectrum cell may be solved, but also the prior art may be compatible, and the monitoring procedure is simple by using one timing unit and one counting unit. The timing unit and the counting unit are here only examples. Optionally, the first timing unit or the first counting unit may also be defined as another timing unit or other counting unit, which is not limited in this application.

In conjunction with the methods shown in fig. 3 and 4 above, optionally, the number of times of the first indication (or the terminal determines that the RLM reference signal RS is unsuccessfully monitored) and the number of times of the OOS (or the OOS indication) may also be counted in different counting units. That is, when the terminal determines the OOS, the second counting unit of the terminal is incremented by 1, wherein the second counting unit is a different counting unit from the first counting unit. Please refer to fig. 6, which is a flowchart illustrating an RLM method according to an embodiment of the present application, including the following steps:

s610: and when the RLM reference signal RS is determined not to be monitored successfully, and/or the terminal adds 1 to the first counting unit of the terminal according to the first indication.

S612: when the terminal determines the OOS, the second counting unit of the terminal is incremented by 1.

Alternatively, the terminal may determine the OOS by the terminal physical layer, and deliver the OOS indication to other protocol layers, such as the MAC layer, the RLC layer, or the RRC layer. So that the second counting unit of the terminal can also be incremented by 1 according to the OOS indication.

Wherein, step S610 and step S612 are independent from each other, and they are not in sequence.

S620: when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times and/or when the second counting unit counts a second preset number of times, the terminal determines the radio link failure RLF.

Alternatively, S620': when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times and/or when the second counting unit counts a second preset number of times, the terminal starts the first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires, the terminal determines the RLF.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times: the radio link states determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are continuously that RLM RS IS not successfully monitored without being interspersed with other (such as IS or OOS) radio link states, so that the first counting unit of the terminal continuously adds 1 to reach a first preset number of times or reach a first preset value, or may also be referred to as reaching counting units, such as reaching N310. In the embodiment of the present application, the counting of the second counting unit to the second preset number of times means: the radio link states determined by the terminal on the plurality of pre-configured RLM RS resources are all OOS continuously without being interspersed with other (such as IS or RLM RS unsuccessfully monitoring) radio link states, so that the second counting unit of the terminal continuously adds 1 to reach a second preset number of times or reach a second preset value, or can also be called as reaching counting units. Optionally, the first preset number and the second preset number may be the same or different.

Alternatively, S620 ": when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal starts the first timing unit, and the first timing unit expires, and/or when the second counting unit reaches a second preset number, the terminal starts the second timing unit, and the second timing unit expires, the terminal determines the RLF.

Wherein the expiration of the first timing element is described above with respect to the embodiment shown in fig. 3. The description of the expiration of the second timing unit is similar to that of the expiration of the first timing unit and is not repeated here. The counts of IS (IS indication) described in this application may all be counted by N311, and optionally, may also be counted by other different counting units, which IS not limited in this application. Optionally, during the operation of the first timing unit and during the operation of the second timing unit, the preset times of consecutive IS (IS indication) may also be different, for example, the preset times may not be both N311, which IS not limited in this application.

It can be seen that after step S610 is performed, when step S620 is employed, the RLM test method is simple. When step S620' is adopted, it is compatible with the prior art that one timing unit (for example, Timer310) is adopted, and when step S620 ″ is adopted, different counting units and different timing units are adopted to process the first indication (RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored) and the OOS (or OOS indication), respectively, so that the RLM measurement result is more accurate.

Optionally, please refer to fig. 7, which is a method for monitoring RLM according to an embodiment of the present application, where after the terminal determines the RLF according to the methods in the foregoing embodiments, the method may further include:

s710: the terminal sends a second indication to the RAN device, the second indication indicating the RLF type. Wherein, the RLF type comprises: the RLF is a failure due to OOS. Alternatively, the RLF is a failure due to successful RLM RS monitoring.

S720: the RAN device determines whether or not a change of a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) needs to be performed according to the second indication. Specifically, when the RLF type is a failure caused by OOS, the RAN device determines, according to a second indication, that the RLF type is a failure caused by OOS, and executes the SCG change. Or, when the RLF type is a failure caused by the first indication, the SCG change is not performed.

In each of the above embodiments, after the terminal determines the RLF, the RLM method provided in this embodiment may further include: and the terminal sends the RLF to RAN equipment. Alternatively, the terminal triggers a radio link re-establishment procedure.

Therefore, the RLM method provided by the application is suitable for the scenes of the unlicensed spectrum cells, so that the radio link of the unlicensed spectrum cannot be identified as OOS prematurely in the access process. Therefore, the monitoring result is more accurate.

The method disclosed in the above embodiments may be performed by an RLM device, which may be a terminal, or may be a part of a terminal. The RLM device comprises various units for performing all or part of the steps of any of the above methods.

Please refer to fig. 8, which is a schematic structural diagram of an RLM device according to an embodiment of the present application. For performing some or all of the operations of the methods described above. As shown in fig. 8, the RLM device 800 includes a first counting unit 810 and a determining unit 820. The first counting unit 810 is configured to add 1 when the RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored. The determining unit 820 is configured to determine a radio link failure RLF when the first counting unit 810 reaches a first preset number. Alternatively, the determining unit 820 is configured to start a first timing unit when the first counting unit 810 counts a first preset number of times, and determine the RLF when the first timing unit expires.

For example, the first counting unit 810 may be N310 or another counting unit, the first timing unit may be T310 or another timing unit, and the counting unit or the timing unit is not limited in this application.

The description of the first counting unit 810 counting the first preset number of times and the description of the expiration of the first timing unit are the same as the above embodiments, and are not repeated here.

It can be seen that, by using the RLM device 800 provided in this embodiment of the present application, in a scenario of an unlicensed spectrum cell, it can be identified that a radio link of the unlicensed spectrum cell is determined as an RLF too early due to an LBT failure without being determined as an OOS, so that the RLF accuracy in the scenario of the unlicensed spectrum cell is greatly improved.

With continued reference to fig. 8, optionally, the RLM apparatus 800 may further include a generating unit 830 configured to generate a first indication at a physical layer of the apparatus 800 when the RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored. Wherein the first indication is to indicate unsuccessful monitoring of the RLM RS or to indicate an addition of 1 to the first count unit. Optionally, the RLM apparatus 800 may further include a transferring unit 840 for transferring the first indication from a physical layer of the apparatus 800 to a radio resource control, RRC, layer of the apparatus 800. The first counting unit increments by 1 at the RRC layer of the apparatus 800 according to the first indication.

In this embodiment, the first indication may be a PDCP layer (or MAC layer) or other protocol layer delivered to the apparatus 800 by the physical layer. The first indication is transferred from the physical layer to the RRC layer by way of example only, and the application is not limited thereto. Further, other protocol layers such as the PDCP layer (or the MAC layer) of the apparatus 800 add 1 to the first counting unit 810 according to the first indication.

Optionally, the first counting unit 810 is further configured to add 1 when the apparatus 800 determines that the out-of-synchronization OOS. In one embodiment, determining the OOS may be determining the OOS by a physical layer of the apparatus 800 and communicating an OOS indication to other protocol layers, such as a MAC layer or an RLC layer or an RRC layer. So that the first counting unit of the apparatus 800 may also increment by 1 according to the OOS indication.

Optionally, the number of times of the first indication (or the determination that the RLM reference signal RS is not successfully monitored) and the number of times of the OOS (or the OOS indication) may be counted in different counting units, please refer to fig. 9, and the apparatus 900 may further include, in addition to the above apparatus 800, a second counting unit 910 for adding 1 when determining the out-of-synchronization OOS. Further, the determining unit 820 may be further configured to start the second timing unit when the second counting unit 910 counts a second preset number of times, and determine RLF when the second timing unit expires. Optionally, the apparatus 900 may further include a second determining unit 920 (not shown in the figure), where the second determining unit 920 is configured to start the second timing unit when the second counting unit 910 counts a second preset number of times, and determine the RLF when the second timing unit expires. The first counting unit in this embodiment of the present application reaches a first preset number of times, the second counting unit counts a second preset number of times, the first timing unit expires, and the description of the expiration of the second timing unit is the same as the above method embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

In each of the above apparatuses, when the terminal determines that the number of consecutive IS times reaches a third preset number, the first counting unit and/or the second counting unit IS reset (or cleared). The third preset number may be one time or multiple times in succession, which is not limited in the present application. It should be noted that the number of consecutive IS herein merely means: and within a preset time, the terminal determines that the states of the radio links are all IS, and does not accompany any other radio link states, such as the radio link states not accompanied by OOS and/or the radio link states not monitored successfully by the RLM reference signals RS.

With continuing reference to fig. 8 or fig. 9, optionally, apparatus 800 and/or apparatus 900 may further include a first sending unit 860, configured to send a second indication to the RAN device, where the second indication indicates the RLF type. Wherein the RLF types include: the RLF is a failure due to OOS; alternatively, the RLF is a failure due to successful RLM RS monitoring.

With continuing reference to fig. 8 or fig. 9, optionally, apparatus 800 and/or apparatus 900 may further include a second sending unit 870 for sending the RLF to the RAN device. Optionally, the apparatus 800 and/or the apparatus 900 may further include a triggering unit 880 for triggering the radio link re-establishment procedure.

It should be understood that the above division of the RLM device 800 or the RLM device 900 into units is only a logical division, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. And these units can be implemented entirely in software, invoked by a processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; and part of the units can be realized in the form of calling by a processing element through software, and part of the units can be realized in the form of hardware. For example, the processing unit may be a processing element separately set up, or may be implemented by being integrated in a chip of the terminal, or may be stored in a memory of the terminal in the form of a program, and the processing element of the terminal calls and executes the functions of the above units. The other units are implemented similarly. In addition, all or part of the units can be integrated together or can be independently realized. The processing element described herein may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the method or the units above may be implemented by hardware integrated logic circuits in a processor element or instructions in software.

For example, the above units may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), among others. For another example, when some of the above units are implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other processor capable of calling programs. As another example, these units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

Please refer to fig. 10, which is a schematic structural diagram of an RLM device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the RLM device 1000 includes a processor 1010 and a memory 1020. The processor 1010 executes various functional applications and data processing of the terminal or other devices by executing software programs, instructions and modules stored in the memory 1020 to implement the RLM method described above. The RLM device 1000 may optionally further include a transceiver 1030 for communicating with other network devices or a communication network. Alternatively, the RLM device 1000 may be a terminal or belong to a part of a terminal.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs the steps including the method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, but not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; and such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the corresponding technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A radio link monitoring, RLM, method, comprising:

when the RLM reference signal RS is determined to be unsuccessfully monitored, adding 1 to a first counting unit of the terminal;

when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number, the terminal determines Radio Link Failure (RLF); alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times, the terminal starts a first timing unit, and when the first timing unit expires, the terminal determines RLF.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal adds 1 to the first counting unit when the terminal determines that the RLM reference signal RS monitoring is not successful, comprising:

when determining that the monitoring of the RLM Reference Signal (RS) is not successful, a terminal physical layer generates a first indication, wherein the first indication is used for indicating that the terminal does not successfully monitor the RLM RS or is used for indicating that 1 is added to the first counting unit;

the terminal physical layer transmits the first indication to a terminal Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer;

and the terminal RRC layer adds 1 to the first counting unit according to the first indication.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

and when the terminal determines the out-of-step OOS, adding 1 to the first counting unit.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

and when the terminal determines the out-of-step OOS, adding 1 to a second counting unit of the terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: and when the count of the second counting unit reaches a second preset number, starting a second timing unit, and when the second timing unit expires, determining the RLF by the terminal.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first counting unit and/or the second counting unit are reset when the terminal determines that the number of times the IS synchronized reaches a third preset number of times.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein after the terminal determines RLF, the method further comprises:

and the terminal sends a second indication to the RAN equipment, wherein the second indication is used for indicating the RLF type.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the RLF type comprises:

the RLF is a failure due to OOS; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the RLF is a failure due to the RLM RS unsuccessfully monitoring.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein after the terminal determines the RLF, the method further comprises:

the terminal sends the RLF to RAN equipment, or the terminal triggers a radio link re-establishment procedure.

10. A radio link monitoring, RLM, apparatus, comprising:

the first counting unit is used for adding 1 when the RLM reference signal RS is not monitored successfully;

a determining unit, configured to determine a Radio Link Failure (RLF) when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the determining unit is used for starting the first timing unit when the first counting unit reaches a first preset number of times, and determining the RLF when the first timing unit expires.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a generating unit, configured to generate a first indication at the device physical layer when RLM reference signal RS monitoring is not successful, where the first indication is used to indicate that RLM RS monitoring is not successful or to indicate that the first counting unit is increased by 1;

a transferring unit for transferring the first indication from the physical layer to the device radio resource control, RRC, layer;

the first counting unit adds 1 according to the first indication at the device RRC layer.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein the first counting unit is further configured to:

when the out-of-step OOS is determined, 1 is added.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

and the second counting unit is used for adding 1 when the out-of-step OOS is determined.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the determination unit is further to:

when the second counting unit counts a second preset number of times, starting the second timing unit, and when the second timing unit expires, determining RLF.

15. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 14, wherein the first counting unit and/or the second counting unit are reset when the number of times the IS synchronized reaches a third preset number of times.

16. The apparatus of any of claims 10 to 15, further comprising:

a first sending unit, configured to send a second indication to the RAN device, where the second indication is used to indicate the RLF type.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the RLF type comprises:

the RLF is a failure due to the RLM RS unsuccessfully monitoring.

18. The apparatus of any of claims 10 to 17, further comprising:

a second transmitting unit, configured to transmit the RLF to RAN equipment; or comprises a triggering unit for triggering a radio link re-establishment procedure.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1-9 when the instructions are run on a processor.