CN111586735B

CN111586735B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111586735B
Application number: CN201910118049.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王瑞; 彭文杰; 戴明增
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-15
Filing date: 2019-02-15
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2039-02-15
Also published as: CN111586735A; WO2020164431A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method and device, relates to the technical field of communication, and can solve the problem that power consumption of a terminal is large in the process that the terminal is recovered to a connection state from a third state. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal receives measurement configuration information from the first master station, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises information of a measurement effective area and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal; subsequently, the terminal carries out cell measurement on the measurement target in the third state only in the measurement effective region, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method and device.

Background

A terminal in the 5generation mobile communication technology (5G) system may be in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle mode, an RRC connected mode, or a third state. At present, in the process of restoring the terminal from the third state to the connected state, the terminal may always perform cell measurement, resulting in large power consumption of the terminal.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which can solve the problem of large power consumption of a terminal in the process of recovering the terminal from a third state to a connected state.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, a communication method is provided, in which a terminal performs cell measurement on a measurement target only in a measurement active region in a third state after receiving measurement configuration information sent by a first master station, where the measurement configuration information includes information of the measurement active region and the measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to the third state of the terminal.

And when the terminal is in a tristate state and is only positioned in the effective measurement area, carrying out cell measurement on the measurement target. Therefore, the terminal does not need to carry out cell measurement all the time, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the present application, the cell measurement is stopped when the terminal is not in the measurement valid area.

The terminal of the application performs the cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective area and when the terminal is in the third state, correspondingly, once the terminal is not in the measurement effective area, the terminal stops the cell measurement, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the information of the measurement valid area includes at least one of a first cell list, a first radio access network equipment tracking area (RNA), an access network equipment list, or a first Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) list. If the information of the measurement effective area includes the first cell list, the terminal in the measurement effective area means: the terminal resides in a cell in the first cell list. If the information of the measurement effective region includes the first RNA, the terminal in the measurement effective region means: the cell in which the terminal resides belongs to the first RNA. If the information of the measurement effective area includes an access network device list, the terminal in the measurement effective area means: the terminal resides in a cell served by any access network device in the list of access network devices. If the information of the measurement valid area includes the first SSB list, the terminal in the measurement valid area means: the terminal resides within the SSBs in the first SSB list.

It can be seen that, in the measurement valid area, the terminal of the present application may refer to that a cell where the terminal resides belongs to the measurement valid area, or that an SSB where the terminal resides belongs to the first SSB list.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, that the terminal is in the measurement valid area means that the terminal can measure a signal of a measurement target.

Correspondingly, if the terminal cannot detect the signal of the measurement target or the signal quality of the measurement target is smaller than the preset threshold, it indicates that the terminal is not in the measurement effective area.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the information of the measurement valid region includes at least one of a first cell list, a first RNA list, an access network device list, or a first SSB list. The terminal in the effective measurement area means that: the terminal can measure the signal of the measurement target in the resident cell of the terminal or the resident SSB of the terminal.

Specifically, if the information of the measurement effective area includes the first cell list, the cell where the terminal resides is any cell in the first cell list. If the information of the measurement effective area comprises an access network equipment list, the resident cell of the terminal provides a service cell for any access network equipment in the access network equipment list. If the information of the measurement valid region includes the first RNA list, the resident cell of the terminal belongs to the first RNA. If the information of the measurement valid region includes the first SSB list, the resident SSB of the terminal is any SSB in the first SSB list.

It can be seen that the terminal in the measurement effective region of the present application may refer to that the cell where the terminal resides belongs to the measurement effective region, and the terminal can measure (detect) a signal of a measurement target; or, the SSB in which the terminal resides belongs to the first SSB list, and the terminal can measure (detect) a signal of a measurement target.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the terminal further obtains and stores a measurement result, and sends the measurement result to the second master station, where the measurement result is used to determine whether to resume the connection between the terminal and the first secondary station (the secondary station that provides service for the terminal before the terminal is switched to the third state); subsequently, the terminal receives the air interface resource configuration information from the second master station, and establishes the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the air interface resource configuration information, wherein the air interface resource configuration information is allocated to the first auxiliary station.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, before the terminal sends the measurement result to the second master station, the terminal further receives capability information from the second master station, where the capability information is used to indicate that the second master station has a capability of receiving the measurement result in the first message, and the first message is used to request to resume connection of the terminal or is used to indicate that the terminal has completed connection with the second master station. Accordingly, the terminal transmits a first message including the measurement result to the second master station.

The terminal adopts the corresponding first message to send the measurement result according to the capacity information sent by the second master station, and can better adapt to the capacity of the second master station.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed connection with the second master station, so that the terminal further sends a connection recovery request to the second master station before sending the measurement result to the second master station. Correspondingly, the terminal also receives a connection recovery message sent from the second master station, where the connection recovery message includes a first security parameter and first configuration information, the first security parameter is used to derive a security key used by the terminal for communicating with the first slave station, and the first configuration information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the terminal and the first slave station.

If the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed a connection with the second primary station, the process of restoring the connection of the terminal with the first secondary station is implemented in two steps.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed connection with the second master station, so that the terminal further sends a connection recovery request to the second master station before sending the measurement result to the second master station. Correspondingly, the terminal further receives a connection recovery message sent from the second master station, where the connection recovery message includes second configuration information, the second configuration information is used to instruct that security protection is performed on data of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) carried via an air interface corresponding to the first secondary station by using a first security key, and the first security key is a security key used for communication between the second master station and the terminal.

If the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed a connection with the second primary station, the process of restoring the connection of the terminal with the first secondary station is implemented in two steps. Firstly, the terminal carries out security protection on the data of the PDCP loaded via the air interface corresponding to the first auxiliary station according to the second configuration information, and then the terminal establishes the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the air interface resource configuration information. In this scenario, data of PDCP carried over an air interface corresponding to the first secondary station may be transmitted by using RLC of the second primary station.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the measurement target includes: a cell in the second cell list, a cell in the second RNA, at least one frequency bin, or at least one SSB in the second synchronization signal block SSB list.

In a second aspect, a communication device is provided, which is capable of implementing the functions of the first aspect and any one of its possible implementations. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation manner of the present application, the communication device may include a receiving unit and a processing unit, and the receiving unit and the processing unit may perform corresponding functions in the communication method according to the first aspect and any one of the possible implementation manners thereof, for example: a receiving unit, configured to receive measurement configuration information from a first master station, where the measurement configuration information includes information of a measurement effective area and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal; and the processing unit is used for carrying out cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective region in the third state.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor, which is coupled to a memory, and is configured to read and execute instructions in the memory to implement the communication method according to the first aspect and any one of the possible implementation manners thereof.

Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data for the communication device. Further optionally, the communication device may further include a transceiver, configured to perform, under control of a processor of the communication device, the step of transceiving data, signaling, or information in the communication method according to the first aspect and any one of the possible implementations thereof, for example, receiving measurement configuration information.

Alternatively, the communication device may be a terminal, or may be a part of a device in the terminal, such as a system-on-chip in the terminal. The system-on-chip is adapted to support the terminal to implement the functions referred to in the first aspect and any one of its possible implementations, e.g. to receive or process data and/or information referred to in the above-mentioned communication method. The chip system includes a chip and may also include other discrete devices or circuit structures.

In a fourth aspect, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein; which when run on a communication device causes the communication device to perform a communication method as described above in the first aspect and its various possible implementations.

In a fifth aspect, there is also provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the communication method as described in the first aspect and its various possible implementations.

It should be noted that all or part of the above instructions may be stored on the first computer storage medium, where the first computer storage medium may be packaged together with the processor or may be packaged separately from the processor, and this application is not limited in this respect.

For a detailed description of the second, third, fourth, fifth and their various implementations in this application, reference may be made to the detailed description of the first aspect and its various implementations; moreover, the beneficial effects of the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect and various implementation manners thereof may refer to the beneficial effect analysis of the first aspect and various implementation manners thereof, and are not described herein again.

In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, where after obtaining measurement configuration information, a first master station sends the measurement configuration information to a terminal, so that when the terminal is in a third state and is located only in a measurement effective area, cell measurement is performed on a measurement target. The measurement configuration information here includes information of a measurement effective region and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal.

The first master station generates and sends the measurement configuration information to the terminal, and the measurement configuration information is applied to the third state of the terminal, so that the terminal carries out cell measurement on a measurement target when the terminal is in the third state and is only located in a measurement effective region, the cell measurement is not required to be carried out all the time, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the present application, the information of the measurement valid region includes at least one of a first cell list, a first RNA, an access network device list, or a first SSB list; the measurement target includes at least one of a cell in the second cell list, a cell in the second RNA list, at least one frequency point, or an SSB in the second SSB list.

A seventh aspect provides a communication device capable of implementing the functions of the sixth aspect and any one of its possible implementations. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In a possible manner of this application, the communication device may include a processing unit and a sending unit, and the processing unit and the sending unit may execute corresponding functions in the communication method according to the sixth aspect and any one of the possible implementations thereof, for example: a processing unit, configured to generate measurement configuration information, where the measurement configuration information includes information of a measurement valid region and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal; and the sending unit is used for sending the measurement configuration information to the terminal.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor, which is coupled to a memory, and configured to read and execute instructions in the memory to implement the communication method according to the sixth aspect and any one of the possible implementation manners.

Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data for the communication device. Further, optionally, the communication apparatus may further include a transceiver, configured to perform, under the control of the processor of the communication apparatus, the step of transceiving data, signaling, or information in the communication method according to the sixth aspect and any one of the possible implementation manners of the foregoing sixth aspect, for example, sending measurement configuration information.

Optionally, the communication device may be the first master station, or may be a part of the first master station, for example, a system-on-chip in the first master station. The system-on-chip is adapted to support the first master station to implement the functions referred to in the sixth aspect and any one of its possible implementations, e.g. to transmit or process data and/or information referred to in the above-mentioned communication method. The chip system includes a chip and may also include other discrete devices or circuit structures.

In a ninth aspect, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein; which when run on a communication device causes the communication device to perform the communication method as described in the above sixth aspect and its various possible implementations.

In a tenth aspect, there is also provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the communication method as described in the above sixth aspect and its various possible implementations.

For a detailed description of the seventh aspect, the eighth aspect, the ninth aspect, the tenth aspect, and various implementations thereof in the present application, reference may be made to the detailed description of the sixth aspect and various implementations thereof; moreover, for the beneficial effects of the seventh aspect, the eighth aspect, the ninth aspect, the tenth aspect and various implementation manners thereof, reference may be made to beneficial effect analysis in the sixth aspect and various implementation manners thereof, and details are not repeated here.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a communication method in which a second master station receives a connection resumption request from a terminal, the connection resumption request requesting resumption of a radio link control RRC connection of the terminal; if the second master station determines to restore the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station, the second master station acquires security configuration information of the first auxiliary station (the auxiliary station providing service for the terminal before the terminal is switched to the third state), and sends a connection restoration message including the security configuration information to the terminal, wherein the security configuration information includes a first security parameter and first configuration information, or includes second configuration information; the first security parameter is used for deriving a security key adopted by the terminal for communicating with the first secondary station, and the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the terminal and the first secondary station; the second configuration information is used for indicating that the first security key (the security key adopted by the communication between the second master station and the terminal) is adopted to perform security protection on the data of the PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) carried by the air interface corresponding to the first secondary station; correspondingly, the second master station receives the measurement result from the terminal and determines to continue to recover the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the measurement result; and then, the second master station acquires the air interface resource configuration information of the first auxiliary station and sends the air interface resource configuration information to the terminal, wherein the air interface resource configuration information is used for establishing the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station.

It can be seen that, after receiving the connection recovery request, the second master station first sends the security configuration information to the terminal, so that the terminal performs security protection on corresponding bearer/data according to the security configuration information, and subsequently, the second master station obtains the measurement result, determines to continue recovering the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the measurement result, and sends the air interface resource configuration information to the terminal, thereby realizing recovery of the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the present application, the security configuration information includes a first security parameter and first configuration information, and thus, the method for the second master station to obtain the security configuration information of the first secondary station includes: the second master station generates a first security parameter and first configuration information; or the second master station determines the first security parameter and sends a first message to the first auxiliary station, wherein the first message is used for requesting to recover the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station; the second primary station receives first configuration information from the first secondary station.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the security configuration information includes second configuration information, and thus, the method for the second master station to obtain the security configuration information of the first secondary station includes: firstly, a second master station acquires a context of a terminal, wherein the context of the terminal comprises at least one of random access resources distributed to the terminal by a first auxiliary station, configuration information used for indicating SCG (service control group) load and configuration information of PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) load carried by the SCG; then, the second master station determines a first auxiliary station according to the context of the terminal, and sends information of a downlink data forwarding tunnel to the first auxiliary station, wherein the downlink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting downlink data of an air interface bearer corresponding to the first auxiliary station; then, the second master station receives information of an uplink data forwarding tunnel from the first auxiliary station, wherein the uplink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting uplink data carried by an air interface corresponding to the first auxiliary station; finally, the second master station acquires the second configuration information.

The second master station communicates with the first auxiliary station to establish a downlink data forwarding tunnel and an uplink data forwarding tunnel, so that data passing through the first auxiliary station can be transmitted through the downlink data forwarding tunnel or the uplink data forwarding tunnel, and delay, loss or disorder of the data is effectively avoided.

Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the present application, the second master station further sends a resume transmission instruction to the first secondary station, where the resume transmission instruction is used to instruct to enable the downlink data forwarding tunnel and the uplink data forwarding tunnel.

A twelfth aspect provides a communication device capable of implementing the functions of the eleventh aspect and any one of its possible implementations. These functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible manner of this application, the communication device may include a receiving unit, a processing unit, and a transmitting unit, and the receiving unit, the processing unit, and the transmitting unit may perform corresponding functions in the communication method of the eleventh aspect and any one possible implementation manner thereof, for example: a receiving unit, configured to receive a connection recovery request from a terminal, where the connection recovery request is used to request recovery of radio link control RRC connection of the terminal; the processing unit is used for acquiring the security configuration information of the first auxiliary station if the connection between the recovery terminal and the first auxiliary station is determined; the first auxiliary station is used for providing service for the terminal before the terminal is switched to the third state; the security configuration information comprises first security parameters and first configuration information, or comprises second configuration information; the first security parameter is used for deriving a security key adopted by the terminal for communicating with the first secondary station, and the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the terminal and the first secondary station; the second configuration information is used for indicating that the data of the PDCP carried by the air interface corresponding to the first auxiliary station is subjected to security protection by adopting a first security key, and the first security key is used for communicating the second main station and the terminal; a transmitting unit for transmitting a connection restoration message including security configuration information to a terminal; the receiving unit is further used for receiving the measurement result from the terminal and determining to continue restoring the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the measurement result; the processing unit is further configured to acquire air interface resource configuration information of the first secondary station; and the sending unit is further configured to send air interface resource configuration information to the terminal, where the air interface resource configuration information is used to establish connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station.

In a thirteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor, which is coupled to a memory, and reads and executes instructions in the memory to implement the communication method of the eleventh aspect and any one of the possible implementation manners thereof.

Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data for the communication device. Further optionally, the communication device may further include a transceiver, configured to perform, under control of the processor of the communication device, the steps of transceiving data, signaling or information in the communication method according to the eleventh aspect and any one of the possible implementations thereof, for example, receiving suspend indication information and sending suspend response message.

Optionally, the communication device may be a second master station, or may be a part of a device in the second master station, for example, a system-on-chip in the second master station. The chip system is configured to support the second master station to implement the functions referred to in the eleventh aspect and any one of its possible implementations, for example, to receive, transmit or process data and/or information referred to in the above communication method. The chip system includes a chip and may also include other discrete devices or circuit structures.

In a fourteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein is also provided; which when run on a communication device causes the communication device to perform a communication method as described above in the eleventh aspect and its various possible implementations.

In a fifteenth aspect, there is also provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the communication method as described in the above eleventh aspect and its various possible implementations.

Reference may be made to the detailed description of the twelfth aspect, the thirteenth aspect, the fourteenth aspect, the fifteenth aspect and various implementations thereof in this application for reference to the detailed description of the eleventh aspect and various implementations thereof; moreover, for the beneficial effects of the twelfth aspect, the thirteenth aspect, the fourteenth aspect, the fifteenth aspect and various implementation manners thereof, reference may be made to analysis of the beneficial effects of the eleventh aspect and various implementation manners thereof, and details are not described here.

A sixteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising a communication device according to any of the second to fifth aspects, a communication device according to any of the seventh to tenth aspects, and a communication device according to any of the twelfth to fifteenth aspects.

In the present application, the names of the above-mentioned communication means do not limit the devices or functional modules themselves, which may appear by other names in actual implementations. Insofar as the functions of the respective devices or functional modules are similar to those of the present application, they fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture for a NEDC scenario;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture for an NG-ENDC scenario;

fig. 3 is a schematic hardware structure diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a first flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a second flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a third schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a fourth flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a first schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a second schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a third schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

In the following, the terms "first", "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.

A Radio Access Network (RAN) of the 5generation mobile communication technology (5G) system is called a next-generation RAN (NG-RAN), and an NG-RAN node includes an evolved node base (eNB) connected to a next-generation core Network (NGC), that is, an NG-eNB, and also includes a New Radio (NR) base station (called a gNB).

The ng-eNB may provide a service of the 5th generation core network (5 GCN) for the terminal, and may also provide a service of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for the terminal. In an actual deployment, the ng-eNB may be connected with only 5GCN/EPC, or may be connected with both 5GCN and EPC. 5GCN may also be referred to as 5 GC.

The gNB provides a terminal with radio transmission resources through the NR technique and provides the terminal with a 5GC service.

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a terminal may be in an RRC idle mode (RRC idle mode) or an RRC connected mode (RRC connected mode). In a scenario where a terminal is in an RRC idle state, the terminal deletes an Access Stratum (AS) context, a core network device retains the context of the terminal, a RAN device does not have the context of the L terminal, and a terminal-specific signaling connection (UE assisted S1connection) does not exist between the core network device and the RAN device. When downlink data of a terminal arrives, a core network device may initiate paging (paging) of the terminal in a Tracking Area (TA) of the terminal, where the tracking area may also be referred to as a paging area. The terminal monitors the paging channel to know whether the terminal needs to switch to the RRC connection state for downlink data reception. When the terminal needs to send uplink data, the terminal also actively switches to the RRC connected state to complete sending the uplink data. When the terminal in the RRC idle state crosses the TA, a Tracking Area Update (TAU) is required. In a scene that a terminal is in an RRC connected state, both core network equipment and RAN equipment have a context of the terminal, the RRC connection is maintained between the terminal and the RAN equipment, and the terminal can perform uplink and downlink transmission of data.

In a 5G system, the terminal may also be in an RRC idle state and an RRC connected state. In addition to the RRC idle state and the RRC connected state, the terminal of the 5G system may be in a third state, where the third state may also be referred to as an inactive state (RRC inactive mode or RRC _ inactive state).

In a scenario where the terminal is in the third state, both the terminal and the RAN device store the AS context of the terminal, the core network device stores the context of the terminal, a signaling connection (UE assisted NG connection) dedicated to the terminal is provided between the core network device and the RAN device, and the RRC connection between the terminal and the RAN device is suspended (suspended). When downlink data of a terminal arrives, the RAN device may initiate paging, and a paging area may be an idle TA, may also be a RAN-based notification area (RNA), and may also be a cell list. When the terminal in the third state crosses the paging area, a location update, such as a TAU or a RAN-based notification area update (RNAU), needs to be performed.

It can be seen that for the core network device, the terminal in the third state is similar to the terminal in the connected state. For RAN equipment, the terminal in the third state is similar to the terminal in the idle state, and there is no real-time RRC connection and data transmission, and downlink data needs to be transmitted to the terminal through paging. When uplink data arrives at the terminal, the terminal needs to send a request to the RAN device to recover RRC connection, and then send the uplink data.

For the third state, since the terminal dedicated connection between the core network device and the RAN device is not released, the RAN device stores the AS context of the terminal, which can accelerate the speed of the terminal restoring to the connection state and perform data transmission quickly.

In the 5G system, there is a heterogeneous communication system of multiple radio access technology (MR-DC) dual connectivity. The heterogeneous communication system includes NEDC (NR E-UTRA DC) and NG-ENDC (Next Generation E-UTRA NR DC). In both heterogeneous communication systems, the ng-eNB has dual connectivity with the gNB.

NEDC is also known as Option 4/4 a. In the NEDC communication system, the gbb is MN, the ng-eNB is SN, the MN is connected to the NGC, and the MN and the SN provide an air interface transmission resource for data between the terminal and the NGC.

As shown in fig. 1, (a) in fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an Option 4 communication system, and (b) in fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an Option 4A communication system. In the Option 4 communication system, the gNB is connected with the NGC through an NG interface (comprising an NG-C interface and an NG-U interface), and the NG-eNB is connected with the gNB through an Xn interface. Unlike the Option 4 communication system, in the Option 4A communication system, the NG-eNB is also connected to the NGC through the NG-U interface. For ease of distinction, the connections of the control planes are indicated by dashed lines in fig. 1.

NG-ENDC is also known as Option 7/7A/7X. In the NG-ENDC communication system, the NG-eNB is MN, the gNB is SN, and the MN is connected with the NGC. Different from the ENDC communication system, in the NG-ENDC communication system, the MN and the SN provide air interface transmission resources for data between the terminal and the NGC.

As shown in fig. 2, (a) in fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the Option 7 communication system, and (b) in fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the Option 7A communication system. In the Option 7 communication system, the NG-eNB is connected with the NGC through an NG interface (comprising an NG-C interface and an NG-U interface), and the NG-eNB is connected with the gNB through an Xn interface. Unlike the Option 7 communication system, in the Option 7A communication system, the gNB is also connected to the NGC through the NG-U interface. For ease of distinction, the connections of the control plane are indicated by dashed lines in fig. 2.

It can be seen that the base stations in the NE-DC communication system and the NG EN-DC communication system described above both belong to NG-RAN nodes and are connected to 5 GCs, and therefore, the terminals in the NE-DC communication system and the NG EN-DC communication system can support the third state.

Currently, in an NE-DC communication system and an NG EN-DC communication system, when a terminal is restored to a connected state from a third state, the terminal may perform cell measurement all the time, resulting in large power consumption of the terminal.

In view of the foregoing problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where measurement configuration information including a measurement effective area and a measurement target is configured for a terminal, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal, so that the terminal performs cell measurement on the measurement target when the terminal is in the third state and is only located in the measurement effective area. Therefore, the terminal does not need to carry out cell measurement all the time, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is applicable to the heterogeneous communication system shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2, and is also applicable to a 5G system supporting multi-connection of the same standard, for example, a dual connectivity communication system between a gNB and a gNB, or a dual connectivity communication system between a ng-eNB and a ng-eNB, and is used for providing data transmission between the UE and a 5 GC.

The primary station according to the embodiment of the present application may be the above-mentioned gNB or the above-mentioned ng-eNB, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. Similarly, the secondary station according to the embodiment of the present application may be the above-mentioned gNB, and may also be the above-mentioned ng-eNB, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, if the embodiment of the present application is applied to the heterogeneous communication system shown in fig. 1, a primary station providing a service for a terminal is a gNB, and a secondary station providing a service for the terminal is an ng-eNB.

The master station in this embodiment of the application may be a master station that provides a service for the terminal before the terminal switches (transit) from the connected state to the third state, or a master station that provides a service for the terminal after the terminal recovers from the third state to the connected state. Similarly, the secondary station may provide a service for the terminal before the terminal is switched from the connected state to the third state, or may provide a service for the terminal after the terminal is restored from the third state to the connected state.

The terminal in this embodiment of the present application may refer to a mobile phone, a tablet, a Personal Computer (PC), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wearable electronic device, and the like, which can implement data transmission with the ng-eNB/gNB on the control plane and the user plane.

The terminal, the ng-eNB and the gNB in the embodiment of the application all belong to a communication device. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a communication apparatus applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 3, the communication device may include a processor 31, a memory 32, and a bus 33. The following specifically describes each constituent element of the communication apparatus with reference to fig. 3:

the processor 31 is a control center of the communication apparatus, and may be a single processor or a collective term for a plurality of processing elements. For example, the processor 31 is a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as: one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors, DSPs), or one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

The processor 31 may perform various functions of the communication device by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 32, and calling data stored in the memory 32, among other things.

For one embodiment, processor 31 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU 0 and CPU 1 shown in FIG. 3.

The communication device may also include other processors, such as processor 35 shown in fig. 3, as an example. Each of the plurality of processors in the communication apparatus may be a single-Core Processor (CPU) or a multi-Core Processor (CPU). A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

The memory 32 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory 32 may be self-contained and coupled to the processor 31 via a bus 33. The memory 32 may also be integrated with the processor 31.

The memory 32 is used for storing software programs for executing the scheme of the application, and is controlled by the processor 31 to execute.

The bus 33 may be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended ISA (enhanced Industry Standard Architecture) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 3, but this does not mean only one bus or one type of bus.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises a transceiver 34. The transceiver 34 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks under the control of the processor 31. Such as for communicating with communication networks such as ethernet, Radio Access Network (RAN), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), etc. The transceiver 34 may include all or part of a baseband processor and may also optionally include a Radio Frequency (RF) processor. The RF processor is used for transceiving RF signals, and the baseband processor is used for processing baseband signals converted from RF signals or baseband signals to be converted into RF signals.

The transceiver 34 is optional and is therefore indicated in fig. 3 by dashed lines.

It should be noted that the device structure shown in fig. 3 does not constitute a limitation of the communication apparatus, and the communication apparatus may include more or less components than those shown in fig. 3, or combine some components, or arrange different components, in addition to the components shown in fig. 3.

The following describes a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application with reference to the communication system shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 and the communication apparatus shown in fig. 3. Each device mentioned in the following method embodiments may have a component shown in fig. 3, and is not described again.

As is apparent from the above description, in the 5G communication system, the RRC state of the terminal may be switched from the connected state to the third state, and subsequently, the RRC state of the terminal may be restored from the third state to the connected state. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, the master station 1 is used to indicate a master station that provides a service for a terminal before the terminal is switched from a connection state to a third state, that is, the master station 1 indicates a first master station; the master station 2 is adopted to represent a master station which provides service for the terminal after the terminal is restored to the connection state from the third state, namely the master station 2 represents a second master station; the secondary station 1 is taken to mean a secondary station that provides services for a terminal before the terminal is switched from a connected state to a third state, i.e. the secondary station 1 means a first secondary station.

It is easy to understand that the master station 1 and the master station 2 in the embodiment of the present application may be the same device or different devices. And after the terminal is in the third state, the terminal reselects the cell to reside. If the primary station 1 provides service for the reselected cell, the primary station 1 and the primary station 2 are the same device. If the primary station 2 provides service for the reselected cell and the primary station 1 does not provide service for the reselected cell, the primary station 1 and the primary station 2 are different devices.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 4, the communication method includes the following steps.

S400, the main station 1 acquires measurement configuration information.

The measurement configuration information includes information of a measurement effective region and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal.

The information of the measurement valid region includes at least one of a first cell list, a first RAN Notification Area (RNA), an access network equipment list, or a first Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) list.

Optionally, the first cell list includes one or more cell identifiers, the first RNA includes at least one of one or more cell identifiers, one or more RNA codes (RNACs), and one or more tracking area identifiers, the access network device list includes identifiers of one or more access network devices, and the first SSB list includes identifiers of one or more SSBs.

Illustratively, the information of the measurement active area is an identity of the primary station 1 or a list of cells that the primary station 1 serves. Since the terminal moves out of the coverage of the primary station 1 and sends a connection recovery request to other primary stations, the other primary stations may not perform recovery of the source secondary station, and it is not beneficial if the terminal still performs the third-state measurement outside the coverage of the primary station 1. In this case, the terminal may be limited to perform the third state measurement only in the coverage area of the primary station 1, avoiding meaningless power consumption by the terminal.

Illustratively, the information of the measurement effective region is RNA configured for the terminal when the master station 1 places the terminal in the third state. If the terminal moves out of the RNA, the RNA update needs to be triggered, correspondingly, the terminal needs to send a connection recovery request to the network, and at the moment, the network can update the information of the measurement effective area. Optionally, if the network does not update the information of the measurement effective area, the terminal may stop performing the third-state measurement, so as to save power consumption.

Optionally, the information of the measurement effective area may also be a TA list or a Cell Global Identifier (CGI) list.

The measurement target includes: a cell in the second cell list, a cell in the second RNA, at least one frequency bin, or an SSB in the second SSB list. When the second RNA includes the RNAC or the tracking area identifier, if the RNAC or the tracking area identifier broadcast by one cell belongs to the second RNA, the cell is considered as the cell in the second RNA.

Optionally, the measurement target is embodied directly (or referred to as explicit) or indirectly (or referred to as implicit), and this is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

For example, if the measurement target is embodied in an indirect manner, the measurement target may be a designated primary cell and/or a designated Secondary Cell Group (SCG).

S401, the main station 1 sends measurement configuration information to the terminal.

Optionally, the primary station 1 sends an RRC connection reconfiguration (RRC connection reconfiguration) message including the measurement configuration information to the terminal, or the primary station 1 sends an RRC connection release message including the measurement configuration information to the terminal; or, the master station 1 sends a system message including measurement configuration information to the terminal; alternatively, the primary station 1 carries a part of the measurement configuration information in an RRC connection reconfiguration value message/RRC connection release message and transmits it to the terminal, and carries another part of the measurement configuration information in a system message and transmits it to the terminal.

S402, the terminal judges whether the terminal is in the effective measurement area.

In one implementation, if the information of the measurement valid area includes the first cell list, the terminal in the measurement valid area means: the terminal resides in a cell in the first cell list, and thus, the terminal determines whether it is within the measurement valid area by judging whether it resides in a cell of the first cell list. Similarly, if the information of the measurement valid region includes the first RNA, the terminal in the measurement valid region means: the cell where the terminal resides belongs to the first RNA, and thus, the terminal determines whether the cell where the terminal resides is within the measurement valid region by determining whether the cell where the terminal resides belongs to the first RNA. It can be understood that, when the first RNA includes the RNAC or the tracking area identifier, if the RNAC or the tracking area identifier broadcast by the cell where the terminal resides belongs to the first RNA, the cell where the terminal resides is considered to belong to the first RNA. If the information of the measurement effective area includes the access network device list, the terminal in the measurement effective area means: the terminal resides in the cell which is served by any access network device in the access network device list, so that the terminal determines whether the access network device to which the resident cell belongs is in the access network device list or not, and whether the resident cell belongs is in the effective measurement area or not. If the information of the measurement valid area includes the first SSB list, the terminal in the measurement valid area means: the terminal resides in the SSBs in the first SSB list, and thus, the terminal determines whether the resident SSBs are in the measurement valid area by determining whether the resident SSBs belong to the first SSB list.

For example, if the information of the measurement effective area includes an access network device list, and the access network device list includes the master station 1, the terminal determines whether a cell (e.g., cell 1) in which the terminal resides belongs to the master station 1. If the cell global identity broadcast by the cell 1 contains the identity of the master station 1, the terminal is in the measurement effective area. If the cell global identity broadcasted by the cell 1 does not contain the identity of the master station 1, the terminal is not in the measurement effective area.

In another implementation, the terminal is in the measurement valid region, which means that the terminal can measure (detect) a signal of a measurement target.

For example, if the terminal detects that the signal quality of the measurement target is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, the terminal can detect the signal of the measurement target.

In another implementation, the terminal in the measurement valid area means: the terminal can measure (detectable) signals of a measurement target in a resident cell of the terminal or a resident SSB of the terminal.

If the information of the measurement effective area comprises a first cell list, the resident cell of the terminal is any cell in the first cell list; if the information of the measurement effective area comprises an access network equipment list, a resident cell of the terminal provides a service cell for any access network equipment in the access network equipment list; if the information of the measurement effective region comprises a first RNA, the resident cell of the terminal belongs to the first RNA; if the information of the measurement valid region includes the first SSB list, the resident SSB of the terminal is any SSB in the first SSB list.

Illustratively, the information of the measurement valid cell includes a first cell list including cell 1, cell 2, and cell 3, and if the terminal is camped on cell 1 and can measure the signal of the measurement target, it indicates that the terminal is in the measurement valid area.

And S403, if the terminal is in the measurement effective area, the terminal performs cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective area according to the measurement configuration information in the third state.

In S401, the terminal is in a connected state and communicates with the master station 1. Subsequently, the terminal receives the state switching instruction information sent by the master station 1, where the state switching instruction information is used to instruct the RRC state of the terminal to be switched from the connected state to the third state. In response to the state switching indication information, the terminal switches its RRC state to a third state. Alternatively, the terminal stores configuration information corresponding to the secondary station 1 (i.e., the first secondary station to which the embodiment of the present application relates). The secondary station 1 is a secondary station that provides a service to the terminal before the terminal is switched to the third state.

The status switch indication information may be carried in the message 1. Illustratively, the message 1 may be an RRC connection release (RRC connection release) message.

Optionally, the state switching indication information may be embodied in a direct (or referred to as explicit) or indirect (or referred to as implicit) manner, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the application.

Illustratively, if the state switching indication information is embodied in a direct manner, the state switching indication information may be an RRC inactive command. If the status switching indication information is embodied in an indirect manner, the status switching indication information may be a terminal identifier 1, where the terminal identifier 1 is a special identifier for the terminal to be in a third state in a certain access network area, such as an inactive radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI) or a resume ID. The access network area may consist of one or more cells or of one or more tracking areas TA or of one or more RAN areas (RAN-areas). Wherein one tracking area is characterized by one TA code (TAC); a RAN area is characterized by a RAN area identity (RAN-area code) which is unique within only one TA.

The process of switching the terminal from the connected state to the third state may refer to the following description of S600 to S603.

Optionally, the measurement configuration information and the state switching indication information may be carried in the same message or different messages, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

And when the terminal is in the third state, the terminal performs cell measurement according to the measurement configuration information. Specifically, if the terminal is in the third state, the terminal performs cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective region according to the measurement configuration information.

S404, if the terminal is not in the effective measurement area, the terminal stops the cell measurement.

The terminal of the embodiment of the application carries out cell measurement on the measurement target in the third state and only in the measurement effective region, so that the terminal does not need to carry out cell measurement all the time, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced. Optionally, when the RRC state of the terminal is switched from the third state to the idle state, the terminal stops the measurement indicated by the measurement configuration information.

Optionally, the measurement configuration information in this embodiment of the present application may also be applied to an idle state of the terminal, which is similar to the third state. Or the measurement configuration information in this embodiment may also be applied to a third state and an idle state of the terminal, where the terminal does not stop the measurement indicated by the measurement configuration information when the RRC state of the terminal is switched between the third state and the idle state. This will not be described one by one here. For convenience of understanding, the embodiments of the present application mainly use a third state where the measurement configuration information is applied to the terminal as an example for description.

Further optionally, after S403, after the terminal performs cell measurement on the measurement target, the terminal obtains and stores the measurement result, and then the terminal may further send the measurement result to the second primary station (the network device that provides service for the reselected cell after the terminal performs cell reselection), so that the second primary station determines whether to resume the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1.

With reference to fig. 4, as shown in fig. 5, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application further includes, after S403:

and S500, the terminal acquires and stores the measurement result.

And S501, the terminal reselects the cell and resides in the selected cell.

And the terminal in the third state performs cell reselection in the moving process and resides in the selected cell.

For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, a cell reselected by a terminal is taken as a cell 2, and a primary station 2 provides a service for the cell 2. The primary station 2 may be the same as or different from the primary station 1.

S502, the master station 2 transmits capability information to the terminal, the capability information indicating that the master station 2 has a capability of receiving the measurement result in the first message.

Optionally, the primary station 2 sends the capability information (for example, sends a system message including the capability information) to the terminal in a broadcast manner, or directly sends the capability information to the terminal through a dedicated signaling after the terminal resides in the cell 2.

Optionally, the first message is used to request to resume the connection of the terminal. For example, the first message is a message 3 (message 3 or MSG3) in a random access procedure, and the MSG3 may include an RRC connection resume request (RRC connection resume request) or an RRC resume request (RRC resume request). At this time, the capability indication information may be configuration information of the random access resource, that is, the dedicated random access resource is carried in the system message of the master station 2, and when the terminal performs random access by using the dedicated random access resource, the master station 2 may know that the terminal can carry the measurement result in the first message. Further optionally, the primary station 2 may allocate uplink resources to the terminal, so that the terminal device sends the first message carrying the measurement result.

Alternatively, the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed a connection with the primary station 2. For example, the first message may be an RRC connection recovery complete (RRC) message, an RRC connection recovery complete (RRC connection recovery complete) message, an RRC reconfiguration complete (RRC reconfiguration complete) message, or an RRC connection reconfiguration complete (RRC connection reconfiguration complete) message.

And S503, the terminal sends the measurement result to the master station 2 according to the capability information.

Specifically, the terminal transmits a first message including the measurement result to the master station 2. The first message may refer to the description of S502 above.

Optionally, if the first message is used to request to recover the connection of the terminal, a Logical Channel (LC) used by the terminal to send the measurement result is different from an LC used by the terminal to send the service data.

Illustratively, the measurement result is sent through SRB1, and at this time, the LC identifier of the measurement result is the LC identifier corresponding to SRB 1.

Note that, in the present application, the first message is MSG3, which only means that the content of the first message is transmitted before the terminal receives MSG4, and does not limit whether the content of the first message is transmitted once or in multiple times. That is, the RRC connection recovery request/RRC recovery request and the measurement result may be transmitted together or separately. For example, the terminal transmits an RRC connection resume request (RRC connection resume request) or an RRC resume request (RRC resume request) in the resource allocated by the first uplink scheduling, and transmits the measurement result in the resource allocated by the second uplink scheduling.

If the first message is used for requesting to recover the connection of the terminal, the primary station 2 can quickly determine whether to recover the connection of the terminal and the secondary station 1, thereby improving the communication efficiency of the terminal. If the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed the connection with the primary station 2, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is easy to implement, and the message 3 (message 3 or MSG3) in the existing random access procedure does not need to be modified.

S504, the primary station 2 determines to recover the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1 according to the measurement result, and sends air interface resource configuration information to the terminal.

The air interface resource configuration information is used for indicating the air interface resource of the terminal access auxiliary station 1.

Optionally, the air interface resource configuration information includes Random Access Channel (RACH) resources, a primary cell, a secondary cell list, configuration of each cell in the SCG, and the like.

And S505, the terminal establishes the connection between the terminal and the auxiliary station 1 according to the air interface resource configuration information.

The terminal in the third state may send the measurement result to the primary station 2 to restore the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1. Here, the measurement result sent by the terminal may be obtained by the terminal performing cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective area because the terminal is in the third state, so that the terminal does not need to perform cell measurement all the time, power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced, communication between the terminal and the secondary station 1 is recovered, and communication efficiency of the terminal is improved.

It should be noted that, after receiving the measurement result, the primary station 2 may also determine not to resume the connection with the secondary station 1, for example, to release the secondary station 1, so S504 and S505 are optional steps in this embodiment.

As will be appreciated from the above description, the first message may be used to request that the connection of the terminal be restored, and may also be used to indicate that the terminal has completed the connection with the primary station 2. In a scenario where the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed connection with the primary station 2, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is easy to implement, and the message 3 (message 3 or MSG3) in the existing random access procedure does not need to be modified. This scenario will now be described in detail.

As shown in fig. 6, a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application includes:

s600, after determining to switch the RRC state of the terminal from the connected state to the third state, the primary station 1 sends state switching indication information to the terminal, and sends suspend indication information to the secondary station 1.

There is an RRC connection between the primary station 1 and the terminals, and the primary station 1 configures DC operation for the terminals, for example: the primary station 1 selects the secondary station 1 as the secondary station of the terminal.

And the terminal transmits data through the air interface resource of the main station 1 and the air interface resource of the auxiliary station 1. Communication data of the terminal and the master station 1, for example: data of a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) or signaling of a Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) is secured based on an initial MN security key. And the communication data of the terminal and the secondary station 1 is subjected to security protection based on the initial SN security key. Correspondingly, the air interface bearer for performing security protection based on the MN security key is called an air interface bearer corresponding to the master station, which is referred to as an MN bearer for short; the air interface bearer for performing security protection based on the SN security key is referred to as an air interface bearer corresponding to the secondary station. The air interface bearer includes a DRB and an SRB, abbreviated as an SN bearer.

Security protection here may refer to encryption and decryption, integrity protection and integrity check. Encryption/decryption needs to be performed based on the encryption key and the encryption algorithm. Integrity protection/integrity verification needs to be performed according to an integrity protection key and an integrity protection algorithm. Generally, the encryption key is derived (derived) based on a basic key and an encryption algorithm, and the integrity protection key is derived based on the basic key and the integrity protection algorithm. The encryption algorithm and the integrity protection algorithm may be the same or different. Optionally, both the ciphering algorithm and the integrity protection algorithm may be configured by a network device to which a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity belongs. For example: the primary station 1 configures an encryption algorithm and an integrity protection algorithm used by MN bearer, and the secondary station 1 configures an encryption algorithm and an integrity protection algorithm used by SN bearer. Illustratively, the basic key may be KeNB or KgNB.

The terminal may establish two types of radio bearers when configured for DC operation. Wherein, the first type is bearer (MN terminated bearer) terminated by PDCP, referred to as MN bearer for short, the PDCP at the side of the bearer base station is deployed on MN, and the PDCP of MN carries out security related processing; the second type is a PDCP terminated bearer (SN terminated bearer), referred to as SN bearer, where the PDCP at the base station side of this bearer is deployed on the SN, and the SN PDCP performs security related processing. The PDCP Protocol Data Units (PDUs) carried by the MN and the SN may be sent through MN air interface resources and/or SN air interface resources. When the transmission is only performed through an MN air interface resource, the transmission is called Master Cell Group (MCG) bearer; when the transmission is only through SN air interface resources, the SCG bearer is called; when MN air interface resources and SN air interface resources are used simultaneously for transmission, the split (split) bearer is called, and at this time, if MN bearer is used, MCG split bearer is used, and if SN bearer is used, SCG split bearer is used.

In the embodiment of the present application, keys used for encryption and integrity protection are collectively referred to as a security key, and an encryption algorithm and an integrity protection algorithm are collectively referred to as a security algorithm. That is, the security key includes an encryption key and/or an integrity protection key, and the security algorithm includes an encryption algorithm and/or an integrity protection algorithm.

Illustratively, the encryption keys include an encryption key for RRC signaling and/or an encryption key for data; the integrity protection key comprises an integrity protection key for RRC signaling and/or an integrity protection key for data; the encryption algorithm comprises an encryption algorithm for RRC signaling and/or an encryption algorithm for data; the integrity protection algorithm includes an integrity protection algorithm for RRC signaling and/or an integrity protection algorithm for data.

In a scenario where a terminal performs data transmission through an air interface resource of a primary station 1 and an air interface resource of a secondary station 1, a security context of the terminal includes: at least one of an initial MN base key, an initial SN base key, an initial MN security key (key for MN link security), an initial MN security algorithm (algorithm for MN link security), an initial SN security key (key for SN link security), an initial SN security algorithm (algorithm for SN link security), a next hop parameter (NH), a next hop chain counting parameter (NCC), and an SN security parameter. Wherein the SN security parameter is used to obtain an initial SN base key based on the initial MN base key. For example, the SN security parameter is Sk counter.

After the primary station 1 determines to switch the RRC state of the terminal from the connected state to the third state, the primary station 1 transmits, to the terminal, state switching instruction information for instructing switching of the RRC state of the terminal from the connected state to the third state.

Specifically, the state switching indication information may be carried in the message 1. Illustratively, the message 1 may be an RRC connection release (RRC connection release) message.

Optionally, the message 1 may further include a second security parameter. The second security parameter is used for the terminal to derive a basic key for next communication with the base station based on the current initial MN basic key. For example, the second security parameter is a next hop chain count parameter NCC. Optionally, the terminal stores the second security parameter in a security context of the terminal.

After the primary station 1 determines to switch the RRC state of the terminal from the connected state to the third state, the primary station 1 transmits suspension indication information to the secondary station 1 through an inter-base station interface (e.g., an Xn interface), where the suspension indication information is used for suspending data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal.

Alternatively, the suspend indication information may be embodied directly (or referred to as explicit) or indirectly (or referred to as implicit), and this is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the application. For example, the suspension indication information may be carried in a secondary station modification (SN modification) message or a secondary station release (SN release) message of the Xn interface.

It should be noted that, the primary station 1 may first send the state switching indication information to the terminal, and then send the suspension indication information to the secondary station 1, or may first send the suspension indication information to the secondary station 1, and then send the state switching indication information to the terminal, or may send the suspension indication information to the secondary station 1 at the same time as sending the state switching indication information to the terminal, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the application.

Optionally, the primary station 1 needs to determine that no downlink data of the terminal is to be transmitted before sending the state switch to the terminal. For data transmission on the master station side (including MN bearer and SN bearer data transmitted through the air interface of the master station), the master station 1 may determine itself, but the master station 1 cannot determine in real time whether the secondary station 1 has downlink data of a terminal to be transmitted, and particularly for SN bearer, the downlink data is directly sent to the secondary station 1 by the core network, and the master station 1 cannot sense the data transmission condition. The embodiment of the present application further provides a method for the primary station 1 to determine whether the RRC state of the terminal can be switched from the connected state to the third state, and the method may be used alone as an independent method, or may be used in combination with other steps of this embodiment. The method specifically comprises the following steps: before sending state switching indication information to the terminal, the primary station 1 sends a suspension demand indication to the secondary station 1, and is used for inquiring whether the secondary station 1 can switch the terminal from a connection state to a third state; if the auxiliary station 1 allows the terminal to be switched from the connection state to the third state (optionally, if there is no uplink and downlink data of the terminal at the auxiliary station 1 within a preset time period, the auxiliary station 1 allows the terminal to be switched to the third state), the auxiliary station 1 sends a suspension confirmation indication to the main station 1, so as to indicate that the auxiliary station agrees to switch the terminal from the connection state to the third state; on the contrary, if the secondary station 1 does not allow the terminal to be switched to the third state, a suspension rejection indication is sent to the primary station 1. Optionally, the suspension rejection indication may include a cause value indicating that there is downlink data transmission of the terminal and/or uplink data transmission of the terminal. Optionally, the suspension rejection indication may further include bearer information of uplink and/or downlink data transmission of the terminal, such as a data radio bearer identifier, or a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier, or a Packet Data Unit (PDU) session identifier.

S601, after receiving the state switching indication information, the terminal switches its RRC state to a third state.

Optionally, after switching the RRC state of the terminal to the third state, the terminal further stores configuration information 1 corresponding to the secondary station 1.

The configuration information 1 includes at least one of configuration information of the SCG bearer and PDCP status of the SN bearer.

Optionally, the configuration information carried by the SCG may include any one or a combination of the following information: the secondary station 1 provides information of the serving cell set, DRB identification and RLC configuration for the terminal. The set of serving cells in the secondary station 1 includes at least one primary Cell (also referred to as a special Cell or PScell), and may further include one or more secondary cells.

In addition to the configuration information 1, after receiving the status switch indication information, the terminal may further store at least one of a current security context, a radio bearer configuration (SRB or DRB, where a specific bearer type may be MN bearer or SN bearer), a C-RNTI (C-RNTI used in the source PCell) used in the source cell, a cell Identity and a physical cell Identity of the source cell, and a terminal Identity 1.

Wherein, the radio bearer configuration may contain any one or combination of the following information: a radio bearer identifier, a Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol configuration, a packet data convergence protocol PDCP configuration, and a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) configuration.

The current security context includes at least one of an initial MN base key, an initial SN base key, an initial MN security key, an initial SN security key, an initial MN security algorithm, an initial SN security algorithm, NH, and NCC.

S602, upon receiving the suspend instruction information, the secondary station 1 suspends (suspend) data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal.

S603, the secondary station 1 sends a suspend response message to the primary station 1, for indicating that the data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal is suspended.

The suspend response message includes configuration information 2. The configuration information 2 includes at least one of configuration information for indicating an SCG bearer, configuration information of a SN bearer, and a PDCP status of the SN bearer. Wherein the configuration information of the SN bearer comprises at least one of a radio bearer identification, a configuration of the PDCP and a configuration of the SDAP.

Optionally, the configuration information 2 may further include a random access resource allocated by the secondary station 1 to the terminal, so that the primary station 1 may store the random access resource allocated by the secondary station 1 to the terminal. Thus, if the terminal is restored to the connected state from the third state, and the secondary station 1 still provides service for the terminal after the terminal is restored to the connected state, the primary station 2 (or the primary station 1) does not need to request the secondary station 1 for the random access resource through the interface message any more, so that the time delay for the terminal to acquire the random access resource and access the secondary station 1 according to the random access resource is saved. Optionally, the secondary station 1 may update the random access resource, and ensure the validity of the random access resource. The process of the secondary station 1 updating the random access resource may be periodic, initiated by the secondary station 1, or requested by the primary station 1, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the secondary station 1 retains the configuration information 2. In the scene that the secondary station 1 retains the configuration information 2, if the terminal is restored to the connected state from the third state and the secondary station 1 still provides service for the terminal after the terminal is restored to the connected state, the secondary station 1 does not need to reconfigure the terminal and/or reestablish NG/Xn connection, thereby effectively improving the rate of data transmission by the terminal through the air interface of the secondary station. Note that, in a scenario where the secondary station 1 retains the configuration information 2, the secondary station 1 may delete part of the information in the configuration information 2. For example, the secondary station 1 deletes the configuration information of the SCG bearer, and retains the configuration information of the SN bearer and/or the PDCP status of the SN bearer.

Optionally, after receiving the suspend indication information (for example, carried in the SN Release message), the secondary station 1 deletes the context of the terminal (including the configuration information 2), releases the dedicated resource allocated by the secondary station 1 to the terminal on the interface between the secondary station 1 and the primary station 1 (for example, a signaling connection dedicated to the terminal on an Xn interface control plane and a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnel dedicated to the terminal on an Xn interface user plane), and releases the dedicated resource allocated by the secondary station 1 to the terminal on the interface between the secondary station 1 and the 5GC (for example, including a GTP NG tunnel dedicated to the terminal on an interface user plane of the secondary station 1 and the 5 GC). This procedure is consistent with the procedure of releasing the secondary station for the terminal. In this scenario, if the subsequent terminal is restored to the connected state from the third state, the secondary station 1 does not continue to provide services for the terminal, and the primary station 1 does not need to instruct the secondary station 1 to delete the terminal context and the interface dedicated resource. In this scenario, the suspension of data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal by the secondary station 1 may be understood as the stop of data transmission with the terminal by the secondary station 1.

Optionally, correspondingly, after receiving the suspend response message, the primary station 1 stores the configuration information 2.

It should be noted that, after the primary station 1 switches the connection state of the terminal to the third state, the primary station 1 and the secondary station 1 suspend communication of the terminal, but in a scenario where downlink data of the terminal exists, the core network may transmit the downlink data of the terminal to the primary station 1 or the secondary station 1. When the secondary station 1 reserves the dedicated resource allocated to the terminal on the interface between the secondary station 1 and the core network, the secondary station 1 receives the downlink data of the terminal from the core network on the interface, and the secondary station 1 transmits a paging request indication to the primary station 1 for indicating that the primary station has the downlink data of the terminal. Optionally, the paging request indication carries data forwarding address request information, which is used to request other base stations to provide data forwarding addresses. Illustratively, the data forwarding address request message may include at least one of the number of data forwarding addresses, information of radio bearers for data forwarding, information of PDU sessions for data forwarding, and information of QoS flows for data forwarding. At this time, the primary station 1 may send a paging message of the Xn interface to another base station (e.g., the primary station 2), where the paging message is sent by the other base station over its respective air interface, so that the UE requests switching from the third state to the connected state. Optionally, the paging message of the Xn interface may further include data forwarding address request information, which is used to request other base stations to provide data forwarding addresses. Optionally, the data forwarding address request information may be provided by the secondary station, or may be generated by the primary station according to downlink data received by the primary station from the terminal of the core network. Accordingly, if the terminal sends a connection recovery request to the primary station 2 in S604, the primary station 2 sends a context request message to the primary station 1, where the context request message may carry a data forwarding address (e.g., a downlink Xn interface user plane address) allocated to the terminal. The master station 2 compares the terminal identifier 1 in the paging message of the interface with the terminal identifier 2 in the first message, thereby determining whether the terminals are the same. Optionally, the data forwarding address provided by the primary station 2 may be allocated by the primary station 2 to the terminal. Optionally, if the paging request indication sent by the secondary station 1 to the primary station 1 includes data forwarding address request information, the primary station 1 sends the data forwarding address received from the primary station 2 to the secondary station 1, so that the secondary station 1 forwards data to the primary station 2 according to the address.

S604, the terminal sends a connection restoration request to the master station 2.

Optionally, the terminal in the third state performs cell reselection during the moving process, and resides in the selected cell. Thus, the terminal needs to transmit a connection restoration request to the master station 2 (the network device to which the selected cell belongs).

For example, the connection recovery request may be a message 3 (message 3 or MSG3) in the random access procedure, and the MSG3 may be an RRC connection recovery request (RRC connection resume request) or an RRC recovery request (RRC resume request).

Specifically, the connection recovery request includes the terminal identifier 2 and the security verification parameter.

The terminal identifier 2 may be the same as the terminal identifier 1, or may be a part of the terminal identifier 1. The terminal identifier 1 may refer to the description of S600, which is not described in detail here.

The security check parameter is used by the primary station 2 to verify the validity of the terminal. Specifically, the terminal derives the security check parameter based on the current MN security key. In an optional manner, after deriving the first MN basic key for communicating with the master station 2 based on the second security parameter, the terminal derives the first MN security key for communicating with the master station 2 based on the first MN basic key, and uses the first MN security key as the current MN security key. In another alternative, the terminal uses the initial MN security key for communication with the primary station 1 as the current MN security key, for example: the current MN security key serves as an integrity protection key for RRC signaling.

Optionally, the connection restoration request sent by the terminal may further include first information indicating whether the connection between the secondary station 1 and the terminal can be restored. The first information is obtained by measuring the terminal in the third state according to the measurement configuration information. The measurement configuration information may refer to the description of S400 above.

S605, the primary station 2 determines whether to resume the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1.

If the connection restoration request includes the first information, the primary station 2 may determine whether to restore the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1 based on the first information.

The primary station 2 may also determine whether data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal has been suspended after acquiring the context of the terminal. If the data transmission of the secondary station 1 and the terminal has been suspended, the primary station 2 determines to resume the connection of the terminal and the secondary station 1.

If the master station 1 and the master station 2 are the same device, the master station 2 stores the context of the terminal.

If the master station 1 and the master station 2 are different devices, the master station 2 may store the contexts of the terminals (the master station 1 and the master station 2 are connected to the same core network device, and thus the master station 2 may acquire the contexts of the terminals without interacting with the master station 1), or may not store the contexts of the terminals. If the master station 2 does not store the context of the terminal, the master station 2 sends a context request message to the master station 1 to acquire the context of the terminal.

If the primary station 2 determines not to resume the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1, after S605, S606 and S607 may also be continued. If the primary station 2 determines to restore the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1, the execution of S608 and subsequent steps is continued after S605.

S606 (optional), the primary station 2 sends a release request to the secondary station 1.

S607 (optional), the secondary station 1 transmits a release response to the primary station 2.

Since S606 and S607 are optional, they are indicated by broken lines in fig. 6.

Optionally, after S607, the terminal may further send the measurement result to the primary station 2, so that the primary station 2 determines the secondary station providing the service for the terminal according to the measurement result.

S608, the primary station 2 obtains the first security parameter and the first configuration information.

The first security parameter is used to derive a security key used by the terminal to communicate with the secondary station 1.

Optionally, the primary station 2 may determine the first security parameter after determining to restore the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1, or may obtain the first security parameter from the context of the terminal.

When the master station 2 does not store the context of the terminal, the master station 2 transmits a context request message to the master station 1 to acquire the context of the terminal, and the master station 2 acquires the first security parameter from the context of the terminal. In this scenario, the primary station 1 needs to determine a first security parameter and store it in the context of the terminal. The primary station 1 may also send the first security parameter to the terminal via message 1, so that the terminal stores the first security parameter.

The first configuration information is used to instruct the terminal not to resume transmission of the SN bearer, i.e., not to resume transmission and reception of the PDCP corresponding to the SN bearer. Or, the first configuration information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend transmission of the SCG bearer of the SN bearer, that is, when the SN bearer carries a corresponding MCG bearer, resume transmission and reception of the PDCP corresponding to the SN bearer, and data of the PDCP is transmitted and received via the MCG bearer.

Wherein the context of the terminal includes at least one of radio access capability information (e.g., UE-radio access capability info) of the terminal, a security context of the terminal, RRC configuration information (e.g., including AS-config) of the terminal, radio management control configuration (e.g., RRM-config) of the terminal, random access resources allocated by the secondary station 1 for the terminal, a terminal identity 1, configuration information 2, and a first terminal identity indicating the terminal. The first terminal identification is used for the secondary station 1 to identify the terminal.

Here, the security context of the terminal includes: at least one of an initial MN base key, an initial SN base key, an initial MN security algorithm, an initial SN security key, an initial SN security algorithm, NH, NCC, an SN security parameter, a first MN base key, a first MN security key, and a second security parameter.

Optionally, the first terminal identifier may be an interface identifier allocated by the secondary station 1 to the terminal on an interface between the secondary station 1 and the primary station 1, for example: UE XnAPID on the secondary station 1 side.

Optionally, if the master station 2 is the master station 1, and the master station 2 stores the context of the terminal, the master station 2 obtains the first configuration information according to the context of the terminal. Optionally, if the master station 1 has sent the context of the terminal to the master station 2, the master station 2 directly obtains the first configuration information according to the context of the terminal stored in the master station 2. If the master station 2 does not store the context of the terminal, the master station 2 transmits a context request message to the device storing the context of the terminal to acquire the context of the terminal.

In another implementation, after determining to restore the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1, the primary station 2 sends to the secondary station 1 a message 2 including an identification of the first terminal, for requesting to restore the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1. Upon receiving the message 2, the secondary station 1 determines first configuration information, and then the secondary station 1 transmits the first configuration information to the primary station 2.

Since the first terminal identifier may be a terminal identifier of an interface between sites, when the first terminal identifier is a unique identifier of the interface, in order to enable the secondary station 1 to identify the terminal according to the first terminal identifier, the secondary station 1 further needs to know an identifier of an opposite site corresponding to the first terminal identifier, for example, an identifier of the primary station 1. Illustratively, when the first terminal is identified as UE XnAP ID on the secondary station 1 side, the secondary station 1 can identify the terminal by the identification of the primary station 1 and the UE XnAP ID on the secondary station 1 side.

S609, the primary station 2 sends a connection recovery message including the first security parameter and the first configuration information to the terminal.

This connection recovery message may be used to indicate the success of the connection recovery between the primary station 2 and the terminal, and this connection recovery message is the fourth message (message 4 or MSG4) in the random access procedure. Illustratively, the MSG4 is an RRC connection recovery (RRC connection resume) message, or an RRC recovery (RRC resume) message, or an RRC reconfiguration value message, or an RRC connection reconfiguration message, etc.

S610, the terminal derives the first SN basic key according to the first security parameter, and determines the first SN security key according to the first SN basic key.

S611, the terminal applies the first SN security key to the PDCP carried by the SN.

In S603, when the data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal is suspended, for the PDCP of the secondary station 1, the corresponding RLC bearer of the PDCP may be reserved or suspended.

If the RLC bearer corresponding to the PDCP entity of the secondary station 1 is suspended in S603, the data transmitted through the PDCP entity of the secondary station 1 will be buffered in the PDCP entity in the process from S603 to S611.

S612, the terminal sends a first message including the measurement result to the master station 2.

The first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed a connection with the primary station 2. The measurement result in the embodiment of the present application may be a measurement report (measurement report).

For example, the first message may be an RRC recovery complete (RRC resume complete) message, an RRC connection recovery complete (RRC connection resume complete) message, an RRC reconfiguration complete (RRC reconfiguration complete) message, or an RRC connection reconfiguration complete (RRC connection reconfiguration complete) message.

The measurement result here may be the measurement result obtained by the terminal in the flow shown in fig. 4/5, that is, the measurement result is obtained by the terminal being in the third state and performing cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective area according to the measurement configuration information. Of course, the measurement result here may also be a measurement result obtained by a terminal in the prior art, and is not limited here.

And S613, the primary station 2 judges whether to continue to recover the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1 according to the measurement result.

If the primary station 2 determines that the restoration of the terminal' S connection with the secondary station 1 is not continued, S614 and S615 may be further continued after S613. If the primary station 2 determines to continue restoring the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1, S616 and subsequent steps continue after S613.

S614 (optional), the primary station 2 sends a release request to the secondary station 1.

S615 (optional), the secondary station 1 sends a release response to the primary station 2.

Since S614 and S615 are optional, they are indicated by dashed lines in fig. 6.

S616, the primary station 2 obtains the air interface resource configuration information of the secondary station 1, and sends the air interface resource configuration information to the terminal.

Optionally, if, in the processes of S603 to S616, the PDCP of the secondary station 1 has no corresponding RLC bearer (the RLC bearer corresponding to the PDCP of the secondary station 1 is released or suspended after the terminal enters the third state), the air interface resource configuration information further includes information of the RLC bearer configured for the PDCP of the secondary station 1. In this way, the terminal can resume all the RLC bearers suspended after receiving the air interface resource configuration information.

In the embodiment of the present application, there are various ways for the primary station 2 to obtain the configuration information of the air interface resource of the secondary station 1.

For example, in an implementation manner, the master station 2 obtains a context of a terminal, and obtains air interface resource configuration information based on the context of the terminal.

In another implementation, after determining to resume the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1, the primary station 2 sends to the secondary station 1 a message 3 including an identification of the first terminal, for requesting to resume the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1. After receiving the message 3, the secondary station 1 determines air interface resource configuration information, and then the secondary station 1 sends the air interface resource configuration information to the primary station 2.

And S617, the terminal establishes the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1 according to the air interface resource configuration information.

In summary, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal recovers a part of the connection with the secondary station 1 according to the first security parameter and the first configuration information, and then recovers the remaining connection with the secondary station 1 according to the air interface resource configuration information, so that the msg3 message is prevented from being expanded, and the applicability is strong.

In addition, in the process of recovering the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1, the measurement result sent by the terminal to the primary station 2 may be obtained by the terminal performing cell measurement on the measurement target in the third state and only in the measurement effective area, so that the terminal does not need to perform cell measurement all the time, and the power consumption of the terminal is effectively reduced.

It should be noted that the method flow shown in fig. 6 may be implemented in combination with the flows shown in fig. 4/5, and will not be described in detail here.

If the method flow shown in fig. 6 can be implemented by combining with the flows shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5, the measurement configuration information sent by the primary station 1 in S401 and the state switching indication information sent by the primary station 1 in S600 may be carried in the same message or may be carried in different messages.

In S603, the primary station 1 and the secondary station 1 suspend communication of the terminals. The RLC bearer corresponding to the PDCP of the secondary station 1 is suspended, so that when the core network device sends the downlink data of the terminal to the secondary station 1, the downlink data can only be buffered in the PDCP of the secondary station 1 and cannot be transmitted to the terminal, which may cause data delay, loss, or confusion.

In order to solve this problem, the communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application may further establish a downlink data forwarding tunnel and an uplink data forwarding tunnel between the primary station 2 and the secondary station 1 after the secondary station 1 suspends the connection between the secondary station 1 and the terminal, so that before the connection between the secondary station 1 and the terminal is restored, the data passing through the secondary station 1 may be transmitted by using the established uplink data forwarding tunnel and the established downlink data forwarding tunnel, and delay, loss, or confusion of the data is effectively avoided.

As shown in fig. 7, a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application includes:

s700, after determining to switch the RRC state of the terminal from the connected state to the third state, the primary station 1 sends state switching indication information to the terminal, and sends suspend indication information to the secondary station 1.

S700 may refer to the description of S600 above, and will not be described in detail here.

S701, after receiving the state switching instruction information, the terminal switches its RRC state to a third state, and stores configuration information 1 corresponding to the secondary station 1.

S701 may refer to the description of S601, which is not described in detail here.

S702, upon receiving the suspend instruction information, the secondary station 1 suspends (suspend) data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal.

S703, the secondary station 1 sends a suspend response message to the primary station 1, for indicating that the data transmission between the secondary station 1 and the terminal is suspended.

S703 may refer to the description of S603, and is not described in detail here.

S704, the terminal sends a connection restoration request to the master station 2.

S704 may refer to the description of S604 above, and will not be described in detail here.

S705, the primary station 2 determines whether to resume connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1.

If the primary station 2 determines not to resume the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1, after S705, S706 and S707 may also be continuously performed. If the primary station 2 determines to resume the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1, after S705, it continues to perform S708 and subsequent steps.

S706 (optional), the primary station 2 sends a release request to the secondary station 1.

S707 (optional), the secondary station 1 transmits a release response to the primary station 2.

Since S706 and S707 are optional, they are indicated by broken lines in fig. 7.

Optionally, after S707, the terminal may further send a measurement result to the primary station 2, so that the primary station 2 determines a secondary station serving the terminal according to the measurement result.

S708, the primary station 2 obtains the context of the terminal, and determines the secondary station 1 according to the context of the terminal.

The context of the terminal includes at least one of radio access capability information (e.g., UE-radio access capability info) of the terminal, a security context of the terminal, RRC configuration information (e.g., including AS-config) of the terminal, radio management control configuration (e.g., RRM-config) of the terminal, random access resources allocated to the terminal by the secondary station 1, a terminal identification 1, configuration information 2, and a first terminal identification indicating the terminal. The first terminal identification is used for the secondary station 1 to identify the terminal. And the main station 2 determines the auxiliary station which provides service for the terminal before the auxiliary station 1 enters a third state for the terminal according to the context of the terminal.

Optionally, if the primary station 2 is the primary station 1, and the primary station 2 stores the context of the terminal, the primary station 2 determines the secondary station 1 according to the context of the terminal. If the master station 2 does not store the context of the terminal, the master station 2 transmits a context request message to the device storing the context of the terminal to acquire the context of the terminal.

S709, the primary station 2 sends the information of the downlink data forwarding tunnel to the secondary station 1.

The downlink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting downlink data carried by the SN, where the SN is carried as a DRB.

Optionally, the information of the downlink data forwarding tunnel is a Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (TEID) allocated by the master station 2.

If the primary station 2 and the primary station 1 are the same device, the information of the downlink data forwarding tunnel and the suspension indication information in the above S700 may be carried in the same message and sent.

S710, the secondary station 1 sends information of the uplink data forwarding tunnel to the primary station 2.

The uplink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting uplink data carried by the SN.

Optionally, the information of the uplink data forwarding tunnel is a TEID allocated by the secondary station 1.

S711, the primary station 2 acquires the second configuration information.

The second configuration information is used to indicate that the PDCP that configures the SN bearer applies a first security key, where the first security key is a security key used by the master station 2 for communicating with the terminal, that is, to reconfigure the SN bearer to the MN bearer. Optionally, the second indication information further carries configuration information of an MCG bearer, which is used to associate with the original SN bearer, that is, it is ensured that the DRB reconfigured as the MN bearer can perform data transmission through the MCG bearer.

S712, the master station 2 sends a connection recovery message including the second configuration information to the terminal.

S713, the terminal adopts the first security key to perform security protection on the data of the PDCP loaded via the air interface corresponding to the SN.

That is, the terminal reconfigures the SN bearer as the MN bearer.

S714, the primary station 2 sends a resume transmission instruction to the secondary station 1, where the resume transmission instruction is used to instruct to enable the downlink data forwarding tunnel and the uplink data forwarding tunnel.

After S712, S714 is performed. In the embodiment of the present application, S714 may be executed first, and then S713 is executed, S713 may also be executed first, and then S714 may also be executed, and S714 and S713 may also be executed at the same time, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

S715, the terminal sends the measurement result to the master station 2.

In particular, the terminal may send a first message to the primary station 2 including the measurement result, the first message being used to indicate that the terminal has completed the connection with the primary station 2. The measurement result in the embodiment of the present application may be a measurement report (measurement report).

And S716, the primary station 2 judges whether to continue restoring the connection between the terminal and the secondary station 1 according to the measurement result.

If the primary station 2 determines that the restoration of the terminal' S connection with the secondary station 1 is not continued, S717 and S718 may be further continued after S716. If the primary station 2 determines to continue restoring the connection of the terminal with the secondary station 1, S719 and subsequent steps continue after S716.

S717 (optional), the primary station 2 sends a release request to the secondary station 1.

S718 (optional), the secondary station 1 sends a release response to the primary station 2.

Since S717 and S718 are optional, they are indicated by broken lines in fig. 7.

And S719, the primary station 2 acquires the air interface resource configuration information of the secondary station 1, and sends the air interface resource configuration information to the terminal.

Optionally, for the bearer reconfigured to be the MN bearer in step S713, the air interface resource configuration information may include PDCP configuration information, which is used to instruct the terminal to apply an SN key to the MN bearer, that is, to reconfigure the MN bearer back to the SN bearer. Further optionally, if the SN bearer, that is, the PDCP of the secondary station 1, has no corresponding RLC bearer, the air interface resource configuration information further includes information of an SCG bearer (that is, an SCG RLC bearer) configured for the SN bearer. Thus, after receiving the air interface resource configuration information, the terminal can continue to transmit the original SN bearer and the original SCG RLC bearer through the SN and the SCG.

And S720, the terminal establishes the connection between the terminal and the auxiliary station 1 according to the air interface resource configuration information.

To sum up, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application establishes the downlink data forwarding tunnel and the uplink data forwarding tunnel between the primary station 2 and the secondary station 1 in advance, so that before the connection between the secondary station 1 and the terminal is recovered, the data transmitted through the secondary station 1 is transmitted by using the established uplink data forwarding tunnel and the established downlink data forwarding tunnel, and thus, delay, loss, or confusion of the data is effectively avoided.

It should be noted that the method flow shown in fig. 7 may be implemented in combination with the flows shown in fig. 4/5, and will not be described in detail here.

If the method flow shown in fig. 7 can be implemented by combining with the flows shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5, the measurement configuration information sent by the primary station 1 in S401 and the state switching indication information sent by the primary station 1 in S700 may be carried in the same message or may be carried in different messages.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 8, where the communication device 8 may be a terminal, or may be a part of a device in the terminal, for example, a system on chip in the terminal. Optionally, the chip system is configured to support the terminal to implement the functions involved in the foregoing method embodiments, for example, to receive, send, or process data and/or information involved in the foregoing method. The chip system includes a chip and may also include other discrete devices or circuit structures.

The communication means 8 is adapted to perform the steps performed by the terminal in the method shown in any of the above figures 4-7. The communication device 8 provided in the embodiment of the present application may include modules corresponding to the respective steps.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 8 may be divided into functional modules according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. The division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the communication apparatus 8 in the present embodiment, in the case of dividing each functional module according to each function. As shown in fig. 8, the communication apparatus 8 includes a receiving unit 81, a processing unit 82, and a transmitting unit 83.

The receiving unit 81 is configured to support the communication device 8 to perform the receiving operation shown in any one of the above-mentioned fig. 4 to 7, for example: s401, S502, S504, S600, S609, S616, S700, S712, S719, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The processing unit 82 is configured to support the communication device 8 to perform the operations such as the acquisition shown in any one of fig. 4 to 7, for example: s402, S403, S404, S500, S501, S505, S601, S610, S611, S617, S701, S713, S720, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The transmitting unit 83 is configured to support the communication device 8 to perform the transmitting operation shown in any one of the above-mentioned fig. 4 to 7, for example: s503, S602, S604, S612, S704, S715, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Of course, the communication device 8 provided in the embodiment of the present application includes, but is not limited to, the above modules, for example, the communication device 8 may further include the storage unit 84.

The memory unit 84 may be used for storing program codes of the communication means 8 and may also be used for storing measurement results.

The entity block diagram of the communication device 8 provided by the present application can refer to fig. 3 described above. The receiving unit 81 and the sending unit 83 may be the transceiver 34 in fig. 3, the processing unit 82 may be the processor 31 in fig. 3, and the storage unit 84 may be the memory 32 in fig. 3.

Another embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed on the communication apparatus 8, the communication apparatus 8 executes the steps of the terminal in the communication method according to any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 4 to 7.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the processor of the communication apparatus 8 may read the computer-executable instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer-executable instructions to cause the communication apparatus 8 to perform the steps of the terminal in the communication method of the embodiment as shown in any one of fig. 4 to 7.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 9, where the communication device 9 may be a first master station, and may also be a part of a device in the first master station, for example, a chip system in the first master station. Optionally, the chip system is configured to support the first master station to implement functions involved in the foregoing method embodiments, for example, to receive, transmit, or process data and/or information involved in the foregoing method. The chip system includes a chip and may also include other discrete devices or circuit structures.

The communication means 9 are adapted to perform the steps performed by the primary station 1, i.e. the first primary station, in the method shown in any of the figures 4-7. The communication device 9 provided in the embodiment of the present application may include modules corresponding to the respective steps.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 9 may be divided into functional modules according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. The division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 9 shows a possible configuration of the communication device 9, with the functional modules being divided for each function. As shown in fig. 9, the communication apparatus 9 includes a processing unit 91, a transmitting unit 92, and a receiving unit 93.

The processing unit 91 is configured to support the communication device 9 to perform the operations such as the acquisition shown in any one of fig. 4 to 7, for example: s400, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The transmitting unit 92 is configured to support the communication device 9 to perform the transmitting operation shown in any one of the above-mentioned fig. 4 to 7, for example: s600, S700, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The receiving unit 93 is configured to support the communication device 9 to perform the receiving operation shown in any one of the above-mentioned fig. 4 to 7, for example: s603, S703, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

Of course, the communication device 9 provided in the embodiment of the present application includes, but is not limited to, the above modules, for example, the communication device 9 may further include the storage unit 94.

The memory unit 94 may be used for storing program codes of the communication device 9, and may also be used for storing measurement configuration information and the like.

The entity block diagram of the communication device 9 provided by the present application can refer to fig. 3 described above. The transmitting unit 92 and the receiving unit 93 may be the transceiver 34 in fig. 3, the processing unit 91 may be the processor 31 in fig. 3, and the storage unit 94 may be the memory 32 in fig. 3.

Another embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed on the communication apparatus 9, the communication apparatus 9 executes the steps of the primary station 1 in the communication method according to the embodiment shown in any one of fig. 4 to 7.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the processor of the communication apparatus 9 may read the computer-executable instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer-executable instructions to cause the communication apparatus 9 to perform the steps of the primary station 1 in the communication method of the embodiment as shown in any one of fig. 4 to 7.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 10, where the communication device 10 may be a second master station, or may be a part of a device in the second master station, for example, a chip system in the second master station. Optionally, the system-on-chip is configured to support the second master station to implement the functions involved in the foregoing method embodiments, for example, to receive, transmit, or process data and/or information involved in the foregoing method. The chip system includes a chip and may also include other discrete devices or circuit structures.

The communication means 10 are arranged to perform the steps performed by the primary station 2 (i.e. the second primary station) in the method shown in any of the figures 5-7. The communication device 10 provided in the embodiment of the present application may include modules corresponding to the respective steps.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus 10 may be divided into functional modules according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. The division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a possible configuration of the communication device 10, in the case of dividing the functional modules according to the respective functions. As shown in fig. 10, the communication apparatus 10 includes a receiving unit 101, a processing unit 102, and a transmitting unit 103.

The receiving unit 101 is configured to support the communication device 10 to perform the receiving operation shown in any one of the above-mentioned fig. 5 to 7, for example: s503, S607, S612, S615, S707, S710, S715, S718, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The processing unit 102 is configured to support the communication device 11 to perform the operations of configuring, releasing, monitoring, etc. shown in any one of fig. 5 to 7, for example: s504, S605, S608, S613, S616, S705, S708, S711, S716, S719, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

The transmitting unit 103 is configured to support the communication device 10 to perform the transmitting operation shown in any one of fig. 5 to 7, for example: s502, S504, S606, S609, S614, S616, S706, S709, S714, S717, S719, etc., and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

Of course, the communication device 10 provided in the embodiment of the present application includes, but is not limited to, the above modules, for example, the communication device 10 may further include the storage unit 104. The memory unit 104 may be used to store program codes and data for the communication device 10.

The entity block diagram of the communication device 10 provided by the present application may refer to fig. 3 described above. The receiving unit 101 and the transmitting unit 103 may be the transceiver 34 in fig. 3, the processing unit 102 may be the processor 31 in fig. 3, and the storage unit 104 may be the memory 32 in fig. 3.

Another embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed on the communication apparatus 10, the communication apparatus 10 executes the steps of the primary station 2 in the communication method according to any one of the embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 7.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the processor of the communication apparatus 10 may read the computer-executable instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer-executable instructions to cause the communication apparatus 10 to perform the steps of the primary station 2 in the communication method of the embodiment as shown in any one of fig. 5 to 7.

In the above embodiments, all or part of the implementation may be realized by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, may take the form of a computer program product, either entirely or partially. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line) or wirelessly (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data first access network device including one or more available media integrated servers, data centers, and the like. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions.

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

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

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

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or partially contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product, where the software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps 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 usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the 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 method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a terminal receives measurement configuration information from a first master station, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises information of a measurement effective area and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the terminal;

the terminal carries out cell measurement on the measurement target only in the measurement effective region in a third state;

the terminal acquires and stores a measurement result;

the terminal sends a first message comprising the measurement result to a second master station;

before the terminal sends the first message including the measurement result to the second master station, the communication method further includes:

and the terminal receives capability information from the second master station, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the second master station has the capability of receiving the measurement result in the first message, and the first message is used for requesting to recover the connection of the terminal or indicating that the terminal has finished connecting with the second master station.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, further comprising:

and when the terminal is not in the effective measurement area, stopping cell measurement.

3. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2,

the information of the measurement valid region comprises at least one of a first cell list, a first radio access network equipment tracking area RNA, an access network equipment list, or a first synchronization signal block SSB list;

if the information of the measurement effective area includes the first cell list, the terminal in the measurement effective area means: the terminal resides in a cell in the first cell list;

if the information of the measurement effective region includes the first RNA, the terminal in the measurement effective region means: the cell where the terminal resides belongs to the first RNA;

if the information of the measurement effective area includes the access network device list, the terminal in the measurement effective area means: the terminal resides in a cell which is served by any access network equipment in the access network equipment list;

if the information of the measurement valid area includes the first SSB list, the terminal in the measurement valid area means: the terminal resides within an SSB in the first SSB list.

4. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2,

the terminal in the measurement effective area means that the terminal can measure the signal of the measurement target.

5. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2,

the terminal in the effective measurement area means that: the terminal can measure the signal of the measurement target in the resident cell of the terminal or the resident SSB of the terminal;

if the information of the measurement effective area includes the first cell list, the cell where the terminal resides is any cell in the first cell list; if the information of the measurement effective area comprises the access network equipment list, the resident cell of the terminal provides a service cell for any access network equipment in the access network equipment list; if the information of the measurement effective region comprises the first RNA, the resident cell of the terminal belongs to the first RNA; if the information of the measurement effective area includes the first SSB list, the resident SSB of the terminal is any SSB in the first SSB list.

6. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the communication method further comprises:

and the terminal receives air interface resource configuration information from the second master station, and establishes connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the air interface resource configuration information, wherein the air interface resource configuration information is allocated to the first auxiliary station.

7. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed connection with the second master station, and before the terminal transmits the measurement result to the second master station, the communication method further comprises:

the terminal sends a connection recovery request to the second master station;

the terminal receives a connection recovery message sent by the second master station, where the connection recovery message includes a first security parameter and first configuration information, the first security parameter is used to derive a security key used for communication between the terminal and the first secondary station, and the first configuration information is used to instruct the terminal to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the terminal and the first secondary station.

8. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed connection with the second master station, and before the terminal transmits the measurement result to the second master station, the communication method further comprises:

the terminal sends a connection recovery request to the second master station;

the terminal receives a connection recovery message sent by the second master station, wherein the connection recovery message comprises second configuration information; the second configuration information is used to instruct that a first security key is used to perform security protection on data of a packet data convergence protocol PDCP carried by an air interface corresponding to the first secondary station, where the first security key is used for communication between the second primary station and the terminal.

9. The communication method according to claim 1 or 2,

the measurement target includes: a cell in the second cell list, a cell in the second RNA, at least one frequency bin, or at least one SSB in the second synchronization signal block SSB list.

10. A method of communication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a second master station receives a connection recovery request from a terminal, wherein the connection recovery request is used for requesting recovery of radio link control (RRC) connection of the terminal;

if the second master station determines to recover the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station, the second master station acquires the security configuration information of the first auxiliary station; the first auxiliary station is an auxiliary station which provides service for the terminal before the terminal is switched to the third state; the security configuration information comprises first security parameters and first configuration information, or comprises second configuration information; the first security parameter is used for deriving a security key adopted by the terminal for communicating with the first secondary station, and the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the terminal and the first secondary station; the second configuration information is used for instructing to perform security protection on data of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) carried via an air interface corresponding to the first secondary station by using a first security key, and the first security key is used for communicating between the second primary station and the terminal;

the second master station sends a connection recovery message including the security configuration information to the terminal;

the second master station receives the measurement result from the terminal and determines to continue restoring the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the measurement result;

and the second master station acquires the air interface resource configuration information of the first auxiliary station and sends the air interface resource configuration information to the terminal, wherein the air interface resource configuration information is used for establishing the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station.

11. The communication method according to claim 10, wherein the security configuration information includes the first security parameter and the first configuration information, and the second primary station acquires the security configuration information of the first secondary station, including:

the second master station generating the first security parameters and the first configuration information;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the second master station determines the first security parameter and sends a first message to the first secondary station, wherein the first message is used for requesting to recover the connection between the terminal and the first secondary station; the second primary station receives the first configuration information from the first secondary station.

12. The communication method according to claim 10, wherein the security configuration information includes the second configuration information, and the second primary station acquiring the security configuration information of the first secondary station includes:

the second master station acquires the context of the terminal, wherein the context of the terminal comprises at least one of random access resources distributed to the terminal by the first auxiliary station, configuration information used for indicating SCG (cell group) loading and configuration information of PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) loading by the SCG;

the second master station determines the first auxiliary station according to the context of the terminal and sends information of a downlink data forwarding tunnel to the first auxiliary station, wherein the downlink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting downlink data of an air interface bearer corresponding to the first auxiliary station;

the second master station receives information of an uplink data forwarding tunnel from the first auxiliary station, wherein the uplink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting uplink data carried by an air interface corresponding to the first auxiliary station;

the second master station acquires the second configuration information.

13. The communication method according to claim 12, further comprising:

and the second master station sends a recovery transmission instruction to the first auxiliary station, wherein the recovery transmission instruction is used for instructing to start the downlink data forwarding tunnel and the uplink data forwarding tunnel.

14. A communications apparatus, comprising a processor coupled to a memory, configured to read and execute instructions from the memory to implement:

receiving measurement configuration information from a first master station, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises information of a measurement effective area and a measurement target, and the measurement configuration information is applied to a third state of the communication device;

performing cell measurement on the measurement target in a third state only in the measurement effective region;

the processor is further configured to obtain a measurement result;

the memory is also used for storing the measurement result;

the processor is further configured to send a first message including the measurement result to a second master station;

before the transmitting the first message including the measurement result to the second master station, the processor is further configured to: receiving capability information from the second master station, the capability information indicating that the second master station is capable of receiving the measurement result in the first message, the first message being used for requesting to resume the connection of the communication apparatus or indicating that the communication apparatus has completed the connection with the second master station.

15. The communications apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

and when the cell is not in the effective measurement area, stopping cell measurement.

16. The communication device according to claim 14 or 15,

if the information of the measurement valid area includes the first cell list, the measurement valid area is: camping on a cell in the first cell list;

if the information of the measurement effective region includes the first RNA, the measurement effective region is: the resident cell belongs to the first RNA;

if the information of the measurement effective area includes the access network device list, the measurement effective area is: residing in a cell served by any access network device of the access network device list;

if the information of the measurement valid area includes the first SSB list, the measurement valid area is: resides within an SSB in the first list of SSBs.

17. The communication device according to claim 14 or 15,

the measurement effective area is a signal capable of measuring the measurement target.

18. The communication device according to claim 14 or 15,

the measurement effective area is as follows: measuring signals of the measurement target in a resident cell or a resident SSB;

if the information of the measurement effective area includes the first cell list, the resident cell is any cell in the first cell list; if the information of the measurement effective area comprises the access network equipment list, the resident cell provides service for any access network equipment in the access network equipment list; if the information of the measurement effective region comprises the first RNA, the resident cell belongs to the first RNA; if the information of the measurement valid region includes the first SSB list, the resident SSB is any SSB in the first SSB list.

19. The communication device according to claim 14 or 15,

the processor is further configured to receive air interface resource configuration information from the second master station, and establish a connection between the communication apparatus and the first auxiliary station according to the air interface resource configuration information, where the air interface resource configuration information is allocated to the first auxiliary station.

20. The communications apparatus of claim 14 or 15, wherein the first message is used to indicate that the communications apparatus has completed a connection with the second master station, and wherein before the communications apparatus transmits the measurement result to the second master station, the processor is further configured to:

sending a connection recovery request to the second master station;

receiving a connection recovery message sent by the second master station, where the connection recovery message includes a first security parameter and first configuration information, the first security parameter is used to derive a security key used for communication between the communication apparatus and the first secondary station, and the first configuration information is used to instruct the communication apparatus to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the communication apparatus and the first secondary station; or, the connection recovery message includes second configuration information; the second configuration information is used to instruct that data of a packet data convergence protocol PDCP carried over an air interface corresponding to the first secondary station is to be securely protected by using a first security key, where the first security key is used for communication between the second primary station and the communication apparatus.

21. The communication device according to claim 14 or 15,

the measurement target includes: and the cells in the second cell list, the cells in the second radio access network equipment tracking region RNA, at least one frequency point or at least one SSB in the second synchronous signal block SSB list.

22. A communications apparatus, comprising a processor coupled to a memory, configured to read and execute instructions from the memory to implement:

receiving a connection recovery request from a terminal, wherein the connection recovery request is used for requesting to recover radio link control (RRC) connection of the terminal;

if the connection between the terminal and a first auxiliary station is determined to be recovered, acquiring the security configuration information of the first auxiliary station; the first auxiliary station is an auxiliary station which provides service for the terminal before the terminal is switched to the third state; the security configuration information comprises first security parameters and first configuration information, or comprises second configuration information; the first security parameter is used for deriving a security key adopted by the terminal for communicating with the first secondary station, and the first configuration information is used for indicating the terminal to suspend transmission of an air interface bearer corresponding to the terminal and the first secondary station; the second configuration information is used for indicating that data of a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) carried via an air interface corresponding to the first secondary station is subjected to security protection by adopting a first security key, and the first security key is used for communicating the communication device with the terminal;

sending a connection recovery message including the security configuration information to the terminal;

receiving a measurement result from the terminal, and determining to continue restoring the connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station according to the measurement result;

and acquiring air interface resource configuration information of the first auxiliary station, and sending the air interface resource configuration information to the terminal, wherein the air interface resource configuration information is used for establishing connection between the terminal and the first auxiliary station.

23. The communication device of claim 22,

the security configuration information includes the first security parameter and the first configuration information, and the processor is specifically configured to:

generating the first security parameter and the first configuration information;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

determining the first security parameter, and sending a first message to the first secondary station, wherein the first message is used for requesting to recover the connection between the terminal and the first secondary station; receiving the first configuration information from the first secondary station;

the security configuration information includes the second configuration information, and the processor is specifically configured to:

acquiring a context of the terminal, wherein the context of the terminal comprises at least one of random access resources distributed to the terminal by the first secondary station, configuration information used for indicating a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) bearer and configuration information of a PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) carried by the SCG;

determining the first auxiliary station according to the context of the terminal, and sending information of a downlink data forwarding tunnel to the first auxiliary station, wherein the downlink data forwarding tunnel is used for transmitting downlink data of an air interface bearer corresponding to the first auxiliary station;

receiving information of an uplink data forwarding tunnel from the first auxiliary station, where the uplink data forwarding tunnel is used to transmit uplink data of an air interface bearer corresponding to the first auxiliary station;

and acquiring the second configuration information.

24. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when run on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the communication method of any one of claims 1-9 or perform the communication method of any one of claims 10-13.