CN112566206A

CN112566206A - Cell change control method, cell change control device, terminal device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN112566206A
Application number: CN202011394363.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈智颖
Original assignee: Oppo Chongqing Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Oppo Chongqing Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-02
Filing date: 2020-12-02
Publication date: 2021-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-02
Also published as: CN112566206B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a cell change control method, a cell change control device, terminal equipment and a storage medium. The method is applied to the terminal equipment and comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment executes cell change operation, changes a service cell from a first cell to a second cell, and the cell change operation comprises any one of cell reselection and cell handover; and if the time length of the cell change operation carried out by the cell which is at the latest time from the second cell as the starting point does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuously executing the cell change operation. The cell change control method, the cell change control device, the terminal equipment and the storage medium can avoid the situation that the terminal equipment has cell cycle change, reduce the power consumption of the terminal equipment and improve the cruising ability of the terminal equipment.

Description

Cell change control method, cell change control device, terminal device and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for controlling cell change, a terminal device, and a storage medium.

Background

With the rapid development of communication technologies, 5G (5th generation mobile networks, fifth generation mobile communication technologies) has gradually entered the life of internet users, and with the deployment of 5G networks, network architectures become more and more complex. Under the condition that the network environment is complex, a plurality of cells coexist, and the terminal equipment is easy to fall into an infinite-circulation cell change circle, so that the power consumption of the terminal equipment is increased, and the cruising ability of the terminal equipment is influenced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application discloses a cell change control method and device, terminal equipment and a storage medium, which can avoid the situation that the terminal equipment changes the cell cycle, reduce the power consumption of the terminal equipment and improve the cruising ability of the terminal equipment.

The embodiment of the application discloses a control method for cell change, which is applied to terminal equipment and comprises the following steps:

the terminal equipment executes cell change operation, changes a service cell from a first cell to a second cell, and the cell change operation comprises any one of cell reselection and cell handover;

and if the time length of the cell change operation carried out by the cell which is at the latest time from the second cell as the starting point does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuously executing the cell change operation.

The embodiment of the application discloses a control device of district change, is applied to terminal equipment, and the device includes:

a cell change module, configured to perform a cell change operation, change a serving cell from a first cell to a second cell, where the cell change operation includes any one of cell reselection and cell handover;

and the stopping module is used for stopping continuing executing the cell change operation if the time length of the cell change operation which is carried out by taking the current cell as the starting cell and is closest to the second cell does not exceed the first time length.

The embodiment of the application discloses a terminal device, which comprises a memory and a processor, wherein a computer program is stored in the memory, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor is enabled to realize the method.

An embodiment of the application discloses a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method as described above.

The embodiment of the application discloses a method and a device for controlling cell change, a terminal device and a storage medium, wherein the terminal device executes cell change operation to change a serving cell from a first cell to a second cell, the cell change operation comprises any one of cell reselection and cell handover, if the time length of the cell change operation performed by the terminal device, which is closest to the second cell and serves as a starting cell, does not exceed a first time length, a cyclic change condition of starting from the second cell and changing back to the second cell exists in the first time length, the terminal device stops continuously executing the cell change operation, whether the terminal device falls into the cyclic change of the cells can be monitored, the situation that the terminal device cyclically changes the cells is avoided, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced, and the cruising ability of the terminal device is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an application scenario of a method for controlling a cell change according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a cell change in one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for controlling cell change in one embodiment;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method of controlling cell change in another embodiment;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method of controlling cell change in another embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling cell change in one embodiment;

fig. 7 is a block diagram of a terminal device in one embodiment.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It is to be noted that the terms "comprises" and "comprising" and any variations thereof in the examples and figures of the present application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It will be understood that, as used herein, the terms "first," "second," and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, but these elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first cell may be referred to as a second cell, and similarly, a second cell may be referred to as a first cell, without departing from the scope of the present application. Both the first cell and the second cell are cells, but they are not the same cell.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an application scenario of a method for controlling a cell change in an embodiment. As shown in fig. 1, a communication connection is established between the terminal device 10 and the network device, optionally, the terminal device 10 and the network device may establish a communication connection through communication technologies of fourth generation (4G), fifth generation, and the like, and a communication connection manner of the terminal device and the network device is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The network device may include an access network device 20, and one or more core network devices 30 in communication with the access network device 20.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 10 may be referred to as a User Equipment (UE). The terminal device may be a Personal Communication Service (PCS) phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or the like, and may also be a mobile phone, a Mobile Station (MS), a terminal device (mobile terminal), a notebook computer, or the like, and the terminal device 10 may communicate with one or more core networks through a Radio Access Network (RAN). The terminal equipment 10 may be, for example, a mobile telephone (or so-called "cellular" telephone) or a computer with terminal equipment, etc., and the terminal equipment 10 may also be, for example, a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included, or vehicle-mounted mobile device that exchanges voice and/or data with the radio access network. The terminal device 10 may also be a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a network evolved in the future, and the like, and the implementation of the present application is not limited.

The access network device 20 may be a long-term evolution (LTE) system, a New Radio (NR) (mobile communication system) system, or an evolved base station (evolved Node B, which may be referred to as eNB or e-NodeB) macro base station, a micro base station (also referred to as a "small base station"), a pico base station, an Access Point (AP), a Transmission Point (TP), a new generation base station (new generation Node B, NodeB) in an authorized assisted access long-term evolution (LAA-LTE) system.

The Core network device 30 may be a Next Generation Core (NGC) device, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), or the like.

In the related art, in order to ensure better communication quality, the terminal device 10 may perform operations such as cell reselection or cell handover, select a cell with better signal quality as a serving cell, and access the serving cell to the network. In more complex network environments, the terminal device 10 may be involved in a complex loop of cyclic changes. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a cell change in one embodiment. As shown in fig. 2, 5 cells exist around the terminal device 10, and the terminal device 10 performs a cell change from the cell PCI 222400, goes through the cell change 7 times, and returns to the cell PCI 222400. The process that the terminal device 10 appears from a cell within a certain time and returns to the cell after one or more cell changes can be regarded as a cyclic change circle. For example, the cell change procedure in fig. 2 includes: the cell PCI 222400-cell PCI 781650-cell PCI 2221650-cell PCI 911650-cell PCI 781650-cell PCI 4461650-cell PCI 222400 can form a cycle change circle. Wherein, the cell PCI 781650-cell PCI 2221650-cell PCI 911650-cell PCI 781650 can also form a circle of circular change.

In the prior art, the terminal device 10 can only defend against the occurrence of PING PONG cell replacement from cell a to cell B to cell a, and the terminal device 10 cannot defend against the complex situation that a cyclic change circle comprises a plurality of cells, so that the terminal device may get into infinite cell cyclic change, thereby bringing burden to the terminal device 10, causing the power consumption of the terminal device to increase, affecting the cruising ability of the terminal device, and causing unnecessary resource consumption of the network device.

As shown in fig. 3, in an embodiment, a method for controlling cell change is provided, which is applicable to the terminal device described above, and the terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a smart wearable device, a tablet computer, a vehicle-mounted terminal, and the like. The method may comprise the steps of:

in step 310, the terminal device performs a cell change operation to change the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, where the cell change operation includes any one of cell reselection and cell handover.

A cell, also called a cell, refers to an area covered by a base station or a part of a base station (e.g. a sector antenna, etc.) in a cellular mobile communication system, and terminal devices in the covered area can communicate with the base station through a wireless channel. The serving cell may refer to a cell currently providing a service to the terminal device, and the terminal device may access a corresponding network through the serving cell and perform network communication. Optionally, the serving cell may be an LTE cell or an NR cell, where the NR cell may be an NR cell under an SA (stand-alone) architecture or an NR cell under an NSA non-stand-alone architecture.

In some embodiments, the current serving cell of the terminal device may be one or more. If the terminal device can communicate only through a single mobile network in the SA mode, for example, the terminal device is only connected to the NR network of 5G or only connected to the LTE network of 4G, only the NR cell or the LTE cell may be selected as the serving cell, and if the terminal device is in the NSA mode, the terminal device may be simultaneously connected to the NR network of 5G and the LTE network of 4G, the NR cell and the LTE cell may be simultaneously selected as the serving cell. When there are a plurality of serving cells, the performing of the cell change operation in this embodiment may refer to changing any one of the serving cells from a first cell to a second cell, or may refer to changing a primary serving cell from the first cell to the second cell.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may perform cell search in real time or at certain time intervals, and may record a physical identifier and cell information of each searched cell in a cell list, where the physical identifier may be composed of one or more letters, numbers, symbols, and the like, and the cell information may include a cell type, a signal quality, and the like, and the cell type may include an LTE cell, an NR cell, and the like. When the cell search is performed, the signal quality of each cell can be measured, and whether the cell change operation needs to be performed is determined according to the signal quality of each cell. If there is a neighboring cell with a signal quality better than the signal quality of the current serving cell, a cell change operation may be performed to change the serving cell to the neighboring cell with the better signal quality.

The terminal equipment can respectively execute different cell change operations under different network states. The network state may include an idle state and a connection state, where the idle state refers to a state where the terminal device does not establish an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection with the wireless network, and the connection state refers to a state where the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with the wireless network.

In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in an idle state, the terminal device may perform cell reselection and reselect a new cell for camping. The terminal device may select a cell to camp according to the reselection priority of each searched cell (i.e., the cell recorded in the cell list), receive the priority parameter of each cell issued by the network device, determine the cell with the highest reselection priority according to the priority parameter of each cell, and select the cell that camp with the highest reselection priority. As a specific implementation manner, if there are multiple cells with the highest reselection priority, the terminal device may select a cell with the best signal quality to camp on, so as to ensure the communication quality.

In some embodiments, when the terminal device is in the connected state, the terminal device may perform cell switching, where the current serving cell provides a service to the terminal device in the connected state, and on the premise of not interrupting the service, the terminal device may switch to a new cell, and continue to provide the service by the new cell.

After the RRC connection is established between the terminal device and the network device, the network device may issue a measurement control instruction to the terminal device, and the terminal device may measure each searched cell (i.e., the cell recorded in the cell list) according to the measurement control instruction, where the measurement may include, but is not limited to, common-frequency measurement, inter-frequency measurement, quality measurement, and the like, and send a measurement report to the network device. After receiving the measurement report, the network device may determine whether the terminal device needs to perform cell handover by combining with a preset handover policy or algorithm, and if so, may send a handover instruction to the terminal device. The terminal equipment can be switched to a new cell for service according to the cell identification carried by the switching instruction.

And step 320, if the time length of the cell change operation performed by the cell which is the latest time from the second cell as the starting point does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuously performing the cell change operation.

The starting cell of the cell change operation refers to a cell before the change when the terminal device performs the cell change operation, and the target cell of the cell change operation refers to a cell after the change when the cell change operation is performed. Taking the example that the terminal device performs the cell change operation and changes the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, the first cell may be the starting cell of the cell change operation performed this time, and the second cell may be the target cell of the cell change operation performed this time.

After changing the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, the time length for the cell change operation performed by the cell that is the latest time from the current distance to the second cell as the starting point cell, that is, the time length for the change from the second cell to another cell from the terminal device to the current time can be obtained. The current corresponding time may refer to a time when the terminal device performs a cell change operation, or may refer to a time when the terminal device completes the cell change operation and changes from the first cell to the second cell.

As an alternative embodiment, each time the terminal device performs a cell change operation, the terminal device may record change information such as the execution time of the cell change operation, the starting cell, and the target cell, which may be indicated by a cell physical identifier or the like, each time the change information is executed. The terminal device may query whether a change record of the second cell as the starting cell exists in the stored change information after changing the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, and if the change record of the second cell as the starting cell exists, may obtain an execution time closest to the current time from the change record, and calculate a time length between the current time and the closest execution time.

Illustratively, the change information recorded by the terminal device may be as shown in table 1:

TABLE 1

Execution time	Starting cell	Target cell
			14：00：30	PCI 222 400	PCI 222 1650
14：01：24	PCI 222 1650	PCI 78 1650
			14：02：04	PCI 78 1650	PCI 91 1650
14：02：54	PCI 91 1650	PCI 222 400

Taking the change information recorded in table 1 as an example, the terminal device may change the cell change operation performed this time from the cell PCI 911650 to the cell PCI 222400, and may find that the cell PCI 222400 is 14: 00: when the cell change operation is performed 30 as the starting cell, the current time (i.e., the execution time of the cell change operation executed this time) 14 can be calculated: 02: 54 and 14: 00: the time period between 30 is 2 minutes and 24 seconds. The modification information in table 1 is only for describing the above embodiment, and is not intended to limit the examples of the present application.

The terminal device may determine whether a time length for performing a cell change operation with a cell that is the latest time from the second cell as a starting point at present exceeds a first time length, and if the time length does not exceed the first time length, it may be stated that the second cell is changed in a cycle within the first time length, where the cycle change may refer to a situation that the second cell is started from the second cell, and changed back to the second cell after one or more cell change operations. The first time period may be set according to actual requirements, such as 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, and the like, and is not limited herein.

If the second cell is circularly changed within the first time length, the terminal equipment may also circularly change to the second cell if the cell change operation is subsequently continued, and the terminal equipment falls into a meaningless circle of circular change. Therefore, if the time length for performing the cell change operation with the current cell closest to the second cell as the starting cell does not exceed the first time length, the terminal device may stop continuing to perform the cell change operation, and the subsequent cell change operation is not allowed to be performed, thereby avoiding the situation that the terminal device has multiple meaningless cell cycle changes.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device executes a cell change operation to change the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, where the cell change operation includes any one of cell reselection and cell handover, and if a time length of the cell change operation performed by the current cell, which is the latest time from the second cell as a starting point, does not exceed a first time length, which indicates that a cyclic change condition of starting from the second cell and changing back to the second cell exists in the first time length, the terminal device stops continuously executing the cell change operation, and can monitor whether the terminal device falls into the cyclic change of the cells, so as to avoid the cyclic change condition of the cells occurring in the terminal device, reduce power consumption of the terminal device, and improve cruising ability of the terminal device.

As shown in fig. 4, in an embodiment, another method for controlling cell change is provided, which is applicable to the terminal device described above, and the method may include the following steps:

step 402, the terminal device performs a cell change operation to change the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, where the cell change operation includes any one of cell reselection and cell handover.

Step 404, record the first cell, and start a change timer corresponding to the first cell, where the change timer is used to record the duration of the first cell as the starting cell of the cell change operation.

When the terminal device executes the cell change operation each time, the terminal device can record the starting cell of the cell change operation each time, namely the cell before the change, and start the change timer corresponding to the starting cell, and each time the cell change operation can independently start a corresponding change timer for recording the accumulated time of the terminal device leaving the starting cell. The set timing duration of the change timer may be the first duration, and by determining whether the change timer is overtime (i.e., exceeds the set first duration), it may be determined whether a cell corresponding to the change timer is cyclically changed. Optionally, the starting recording time when each change timer is started may be 0, and the recording time is continued, where the recording time is the time length for the terminal device to leave the cell corresponding to the change timer.

The terminal device changes the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, that is, the physical identifier of the first cell is recorded, and a change timer corresponding to the first cell is started, where the change timer may record the duration of the cell change operation executed by the terminal device this time after the terminal device leaves the first cell. The time length for the terminal equipment to leave the cell corresponding to the change timer can be intuitively obtained through the change timer, and the efficiency for monitoring whether the terminal equipment is involved in cell cycle change can be improved.

Step 406, if the time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuing to execute the cell change operation, where the change timer corresponding to the second cell is started when the second cell is used as the starting cell of the cell change operation last time.

After the terminal device changes the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, it may determine whether the time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell exceeds the first time length, where the change timer corresponding to the second cell is started when the terminal device leaves the second cell and changes to another cell for the last time. If the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not time out, that is, the time length recorded by the change timer does not exceed the first time length, it can be described that the time length for the terminal device to leave the second cell does not exceed the first time length and is changed back to the second cell, and if there is a cyclic change, the cell change operation can be stopped from being continuously executed, so as to prevent the terminal device from falling into an meaningless cyclic change circle.

In an embodiment, the step of stopping continuing to perform the cell change operation if the duration recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first duration may include: and acquiring all started and recorded change timers of which the duration does not exceed the first duration, matching the second cell with the cells corresponding to the acquired change timers, and stopping continuously executing cell change operation if the matching is successful.

When the terminal equipment changes the service cell from the first cell to the second cell, all started change timers can be obtained, each change timer can respectively correspond to the starting cell of the cell change operation executed each time, whether the time length recorded by each change timer exceeds the first time length or not can be judged, and the change timer of which the recorded time length does not exceed the first time length is selected. Namely, whether each change timer is overtime or not can be judged, and the change timer which is not overtime is selected. The second cell may be recorded and the physical identity of the second cell may be matched with the physical identities of the cells corresponding to the change timers that have not timed out. If there is a cell whose physical identifier is consistent with the physical identifier of the second cell in the cells corresponding to the change timers which are not overtime, it is determined that the matching is successful.

If there is a cell matched with the second cell in the cells corresponding to the change timers of which the recorded duration does not exceed the first duration, it can be described that the second cell is used as a starting cell of the cell change operation executed by the terminal device within the first duration, the duration that the terminal device leaves the second cell and changes to other cells does not exceed the first duration and changes back to the second cell, and if there is a cyclic change condition within the first duration, the cell change operation can be stopped from being continuously executed.

Illustratively, all the started change timers of the terminal device may be as shown in table 2:

TABLE 2

Serial number	Starting cell	Duration of recording
			1	PCI 222 400	00：02：24
2	PCI 222 1650	00：01：30
			3	PCI 78 1650	00：00：50
4	PCI 91 1650	0

Taking the data in table 2 as an example, wherein the 4th started change timer is the change timer corresponding to the currently executed cell change operation, and assuming that the target cell of the currently executed cell change operation is PCI 2221650, and the first time duration set by the change timer is 2 minutes, the change timers with the recorded time duration not exceeding 2 minutes, that is, the 2 nd, 3 rd and 4th change timers in table 2, may be obtained from all the started change timers. The target cell PCI 2221650 of the currently executed cell change operation may be matched with the starting cells corresponding to the 2 nd, 3 rd and 4th change timers, and since the target cell of the currently executed cell change operation is matched with the starting cell of the 2 nd change timer, it may be said that the terminal device leaves the cell PCI 2221650 within 2 minutes, and after one or more cell change operations, changes back to the cell PCI 2221650, and if there is a cyclic change, the continuous execution of the cell change operation may be stopped.

Assuming that the target cell of the currently executed cell change operation is PCI 222400, the target cell PCI 2221650 of the currently executed cell change operation can be matched with the starting cells corresponding to the 2 nd, 3 rd and 4th change timers, and since the target cell of the currently executed cell change operation is not matched with the starting cells corresponding to the 2 nd, 3 rd and 4th change timers, it indicates that the normal cell change operation is met, and the terminal device may allow the subsequent cell change operation to be continuously executed. Whether the terminal equipment is trapped in the cell for cyclic change can be monitored through a simple and reliable algorithm, and the monitoring efficiency and accuracy are improved.

In another embodiment, the step of stopping continuing to perform the cell change operation if the duration recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first duration may include: and acquiring a change timer corresponding to the second cell, reading the shortest time recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell, and stopping continuously executing the cell change operation if the shortest time does not exceed the first time.

For each cell around the terminal device, there may be a case where the cell change operation is performed once or multiple times as a starting cell. After the terminal device changes the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, all change timers corresponding to the second cell may be obtained, and each obtained change timer may respectively correspond to the second cell for one time as a starting cell for cell change operation. In some embodiments, the physical identifier of the second cell may be matched with the physical identifiers of the cells corresponding to all the started change timers, and the change timer corresponding to the cell successfully matched with the second cell is the change timer corresponding to the second cell.

In other embodiments, an independent timer set may also be maintained separately for each cell, and the timer set may be a storage file, a storage area, or the like. Each cell can correspond to a timer set one by one, and all started change timers corresponding to the corresponding cells can be stored in the timer set. The terminal device may obtain all change timers corresponding to the second cell from the timer set corresponding to the second cell.

The recorded shortest time length can be read from all the change timers corresponding to the second cell, the shortest time length is the time length recorded by the change timer which is started at the last time and corresponds to the second cell, and whether the shortest time length exceeds the first time length or not is judged. That is, it is determined whether the most recently started change timer corresponding to the second cell has timed out. If the last started change timer corresponding to the second cell is not overtime, it can be said that the time length for the terminal device to leave the second cell and change to another cell does not exceed the first time length and change back to the second cell, and if there is a cyclic change in the first time length, the cell change operation can be stopped from being continuously executed. And directly acquiring a change timer corresponding to the second cell, and judging whether the recorded shortest time length exceeds the first time length, so that whether the second cell is circularly changed can be more accurately judged.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may clear the started change timer, and may delete the change timer whose recorded duration exceeds the time threshold periodically, for example, the change timer whose recorded duration exceeds 1 hour or 2 hours, etc., to ensure that the change timer does not occupy too much space and cause unnecessary burden to the terminal device.

In some embodiments, in a case where the terminal device is allowed to continue performing the cell change operation, when the terminal device performs the next cell change operation, the terminal device changes the serving cell from the second cell to the third cell and restarts a change timer corresponding to the second cell, where the restarted change timer may be used to record a duration of the second cell as a starting cell of the next cell change operation.

The cases that allow the cell change operation to continue may include at least two cases:

in case one, the time length of the cell change operation performed by the cell that is currently closest to the second cell as the starting point exceeds the first time length, and further, the time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell is greater than the first time length (that is, timeout occurs), the terminal device allows the cell change operation to be continuously performed.

And the second situation is that after the terminal equipment stops executing the cell change operation, the situation that the cell change operation is allowed to be continuously executed is recovered.

When the terminal equipment executes the next cell change operation, the second cell can be used as the starting cell of the next cell change operation and is changed to the third cell, the change timer corresponding to the second cell can be restarted, and the accumulated time of the terminal equipment leaving the second cell is recorded through the change timer.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may also maintain only one corresponding change timer for each cell, that is, only the change timer corresponding to the cell change operation performed by each cell which has been used as the starting cell last time may be reserved. And the terminal equipment changes the service cell from the second cell to the third cell, the change timer corresponding to the second cell can be reset, and the recording of time can be restarted, so that the time recorded by the change timer corresponding to each cell can be ensured to be the time length for the terminal equipment to change from the cell to other cells when the terminal equipment leaves the cell for the last time. Therefore, the operation load of the terminal equipment can be reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment is further reduced.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device starts the change timer corresponding to the starting cell when executing each cell change operation, and the started change timer can be used for effectively monitoring whether the terminal device is involved in cell cycle change.

In some embodiments, the cell change operation may be a cell reselection, and the step of stopping continuing to perform the cell change operation may include: stopping measuring the second cell and the adjacent cell, or adjusting the reselection priority corresponding to the second cell to the highest priority, so that the terminal device resides in the second cell.

When the terminal device is in an idle state, cell reselection may be performed, and a serving cell may be reselected from a first cell to a second cell, where the serving cell may refer to a cell where the terminal device resides, and the terminal device may access a wireless network through the residing cell. After the terminal device reselects the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, if the time length of cell reselection performed by the cell which is the latest time from the second cell as a starting point does not exceed the first time length, the cell reselection is stopped to be continuously performed.

Alternatively, the terminal device may stop measuring the second cell and the neighboring cells, thereby causing the terminal device to camp on the second cell. Optionally, the terminal device may also adjust the reselection priority corresponding to the second cell to the highest priority, and because the terminal device performs cell reselection according to the reselection priorities of the cells, under the condition that the reselection priority corresponding to the second cell is adjusted to the highest priority, the reselection priority of the second cell is higher than the reselection priorities of other cells, so that the terminal device may be camped in the second cell. The cell reselection can be stopped in time when the terminal equipment is monitored to have the cell cyclic reselection, so that the situation that the terminal equipment has the cell cyclic reselection is avoided, the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced, and the cruising ability of the terminal equipment is improved.

In some embodiments, the cell change operation may be a cell handover, and the step of stopping continuing to perform the cell change operation may include: stopping sending the measurement report to the network equipment, or stopping receiving the switching instruction sent by the network equipment, or not executing the received switching instruction when receiving the switching instruction sent by the network equipment.

When the terminal device is in a connected state, cell switching may be performed, and a serving cell may be switched from a first cell to a second cell, where the serving cell may refer to a cell providing a service to the terminal device, and the terminal device may establish an RRC connection with the radio network through the serving cell. After the terminal equipment switches the service cell from the first cell to the second cell, if the time length of the cell switching which is carried out by taking the current cell as the starting cell and is closest to the second cell as the starting cell does not exceed the first time length, the cell switching is stopped to be continuously executed.

Optionally, the terminal device may stop sending the measurement report to the network device, and if the network device does not receive the measurement report sent by the terminal device, the network device may not determine whether the terminal device needs to perform cell switching according to a preset switching policy or algorithm, that is, the network device may not send a switching instruction to the terminal device. Optionally, the terminal device may also stop receiving the handover instruction sent by the network device, discard the handover instruction sent by the network device, or when receiving the handover instruction sent by the network device, not execute the received handover instruction, thereby implementing that the cell handover is not continued. The cell switching can be stopped in time when the terminal equipment is monitored to have the cell cycle switching, the terminal equipment is prevented from being trapped in a cycle switching ring, the communication stability of the terminal equipment in a connection state can be ensured, the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced, and the cruising ability of the terminal equipment is improved. Meanwhile, the resource consumption of the network equipment can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the cell change operation may also include cell reselection and cell handover at the same time, and when cell reselection or cell handover is performed each time, the target cell for cell reselection or cell handover performed this time is determined, and it is determined whether a time length for performing cell reselection or cell handover, which is the latest time from the target cell of this time as a starting cell, exceeds a first time length. And if the time length of the cell reselection or the cell handover performed by taking the current target cell as the starting cell for the last time does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuing the cell reselection and the cell handover.

In the embodiment of the application, when it is monitored that the terminal device falls into the cell cycle change, the cell change operation can be stopped to be continuously executed according to the strategies corresponding to different executed cell change operations, so that the situation that the terminal device has the cell cycle change is avoided, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced, and the cruising ability of the terminal device is improved.

As shown in fig. 5, in an embodiment, another method for controlling cell change is provided, which is applicable to the terminal device described above, and the method may include the following steps:

step 502, the terminal device performs a cell change operation to change the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, where the cell change operation includes any one of cell reselection and cell handover.

Step 504, record the first cell, and start a change timer corresponding to the first cell, where the change timer is used to record the duration of the first cell as the starting cell of the cell change operation.

Step 506, if the time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuing to execute the cell change operation, where the change timer corresponding to the second cell is started when the second cell is used as the starting cell of the cell change operation for the last time.

The descriptions of steps 502-506 can refer to the related descriptions in the above embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

And step 508, when the terminal device detects that the condition of changing again is met, allowing the cell changing operation to be continuously executed.

In some embodiments, the re-alter condition may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following:

(1) and the stop duration recorded by the pause timer reaches the second duration, and the pause timer is started when the cell change operation is stopped to be continuously executed.

When the terminal device stops continuing to execute the cell change operation, a pause timer may be started, where the pause timer may be used to record a stop duration for the terminal device to stop executing the cell change operation, and a timing duration set by the pause timer may be a second duration. The terminal device may re-allow the cell change operation to be performed when the stop duration recorded by the pause timer reaches a second duration (i.e. timeout occurs), and the second duration may be set according to actual requirements, for example, 10 minutes, 13 minutes, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

(2) The signal strength of the second cell is below a strength threshold.

The terminal device may detect, in real time or periodically, a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the second cell, and determine whether the detected RSSI is lower than a Strength threshold, and if the detected RSSI is lower than the Strength threshold, it may indicate that the network Signal quality of the second cell is poor, and the terminal device may re-allow the cell change operation to be performed, so as to select a cell with better Signal quality for data service.

(3) The signal strength of the second cell drops by more than a threshold value within a certain time period.

The terminal device may detect the RSSI of the second cell in real time or periodically, and calculate a decrease range of the RSSI of the second cell within a certain time period, where the certain time period may be set according to actual requirements, for example, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and the like, but is not limited thereto. The method can determine whether the drop amplitude of the RSSI of the second cell in a certain time period exceeds an amplitude threshold, and if the drop amplitude exceeds the amplitude threshold, it can be said that the network signal quality drop speed of the second cell is too fast, which may be because the terminal device is in a mobile state and leaves the range of the second cell, or because the signal of the second cell is interfered and the like, which affects the normal communication of the terminal device, the terminal device can re-allow the cell change operation to be performed, so as to select a cell with better signal quality for data service.

(4) The terminal device is in a mobile state.

The terminal equipment can acquire the real-time position information and judge whether the real-time position information changes, and if the real-time position information of the terminal equipment is detected to change, the terminal equipment can be determined to be in a moving state. Alternatively, the terminal device may obtain real-time location information through a GPS (Global Positioning System) module or the like, and further, may assist in determining whether the terminal device is in a moving state through an acceleration sensor or the like. It should be noted that, whether the terminal device is in the moving state may also be determined by other manners, and is not limited to the above manners.

When the terminal device is in a moving state, the terminal device may leave a range covered by the second cell or be far away from the second cell, so that a situation that the signal quality of the second cell is affected may occur, and the communication stability of the terminal device is affected. Therefore, when the terminal device is detected to be in the moving state, the cell change operation can be allowed to be continuously executed so as to ensure the communication quality of the terminal device.

In some embodiments, in a case where the terminal device allows the cell change operation to be continuously performed, when the terminal device performs the next cell change operation, the serving cell is changed from the second cell to the third cell, the change timer corresponding to the second cell may be restarted, and whether the terminal device is involved in the cell cycle change may be continuously monitored.

In the embodiment of the application, when the terminal device detects that the condition of re-change is met, the cell change operation is allowed to be continuously executed, the situation that the terminal device is cyclically changed in the cell is avoided, the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced, meanwhile, the communication quality of the terminal device is ensured, and the performance of the terminal device is improved.

As shown in fig. 6, in one embodiment, a cell change control apparatus 600 is provided, which is applicable to the terminal device described above. The cell change control apparatus 600 may include a cell change module 610 and a stop module 620.

A cell change module 610, configured to perform a cell change operation to change a serving cell from a first cell to a second cell, where the cell change operation includes any one of cell reselection and cell handover.

A stopping module 620, configured to not exceed the first time length if the time length for performing the cell change operation with the current cell closest to the second cell as the starting point cell.

In one embodiment, the control device 600 for cell change includes a start module in addition to the cell change module 610 and the stop module 620.

The starting module is used for recording the first cell and starting a change timer corresponding to the first cell, the change timer is used for recording the duration of the first cell as a starting cell of cell change operation, and the timing duration set by the change timer is the first duration.

The stopping module 620 is further configured to stop continuing to execute the cell change operation if the duration recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first duration, where the change timer corresponding to the second cell is started when the second cell is used as the starting cell of the cell change operation last time.

In one embodiment, the stopping module 620 includes an obtaining unit, a matching unit, and a stopping unit.

And the acquisition unit is used for acquiring all the started and recorded change timers of which the duration does not exceed the first duration.

And a matching unit, configured to match the second cell with the cell corresponding to each acquired change timer.

And a stopping unit, configured to stop continuing to perform the cell change operation if the matching is successful.

In an embodiment, the stopping module 620 is further configured to obtain a change timer corresponding to the second cell; and reading the shortest time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell, and stopping continuously executing the cell change operation if the shortest time length does not exceed the first time length.

In an embodiment, the starting module is further configured to, when the terminal device performs the next cell change operation while allowing the cell change operation to continue, change the serving cell from the second cell to the third cell, and restart a change timer corresponding to the second cell, where the restarted change timer is used to record a duration of the second cell as a starting cell of the next cell change operation.

In an embodiment, if the cell change operation is cell reselection, the stopping module 620 is further configured to stop measuring the second cell and the neighboring cell, or adjust the reselection priority corresponding to the second cell to the highest priority, so that the terminal device is camped in the second cell.

In an embodiment, if the cell change operation is cell handover, the stopping module 620 is further configured to stop sending the measurement report to the network device, or stop receiving a handover command sent by the network device, or not execute the received handover command when receiving the handover command sent by the network device.

In one embodiment, the control device 600 for cell change includes an allowing module in addition to the cell change module 610, the stopping module 620 and the starting module.

And the allowing module is used for allowing the cell change operation to be continuously executed when the terminal equipment detects that the condition of the change is met.

In one embodiment, the re-altering conditions include one or more of:

the stop duration recorded by the pause timer reaches a second duration, and the pause timer is started when the cell change operation is stopped to be continuously executed;

the signal strength of the second cell is below a strength threshold;

the descending amplitude of the signal intensity of the second cell in a certain time period exceeds an amplitude threshold value;

the terminal device is in a mobile state.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a terminal device in one embodiment. As shown in fig. 7, the terminal device may include: radio frequency module 710, memory 720, input unit 730, display unit 740, sensor 750, audio circuit 760, WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) module 770, processor 780, and power supply 790. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terminal device configuration shown in fig. 7 does not constitute a limitation of the terminal device, and that the terminal device may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

The rf module 710 may be used for receiving and transmitting signals during information transmission and reception or during a call, and in particular, receives downlink information of a base station and then processes the downlink information to the processor 780; in addition, the data for designing uplink is transmitted to the base station. Generally, the radio frequency module 710 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the radio frequency module 710 may also communicate with a network and other devices through wireless communication. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol, including but not limited to global system for mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), long term evolution, email, Short Message Service (SMS), etc.

The memory 720 may be used to store software programs and modules, and the processor 780 may execute various functional applications of the terminal device and data processing by operating the software programs and modules stored in the memory 720. The memory 720 may mainly include a program storage area and a data storage area, wherein the program storage area may store an operating system, an application program required by at least one function (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.), and the like; the storage data area may store data (such as audio data, a phonebook, etc.) created according to the use of the terminal device, and the like. Further, the memory 720 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid state storage device.

The input unit 730 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and generate key signal inputs related to user settings and function control of the terminal device. Specifically, the input unit 730 may include a touch panel 732 and other input devices 734. Touch panel 732, also referred to as a touch screen, may collect touch operations by a user on or near the touch panel 732 (e.g., operations by a user on or near touch panel 732 using any suitable object or accessory such as a finger, a stylus, etc.) and drive the corresponding connection device according to a predetermined program. Alternatively, the touch panel 732 may include two parts, a touch detection device and a touch controller. The touch detection device detects the touch direction of a user, detects a signal brought by touch operation and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controller receives touch information from the touch sensing device, converts it to touch point coordinates, and sends the touch point coordinates to the processor 780, and can receive and execute commands from the processor 780. In addition, the touch panel 732 may be implemented by various types, such as a resistive type, a capacitive type, an infrared ray, and a surface acoustic wave. In addition to the touch panel 732, the input unit 730 may include other input devices 734. In particular, other input devices 734 may include, but are not limited to, one or more of a physical keyboard, function keys (such as volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, a joystick, and the like.

The display unit 740 may be used to display information input by the user or information provided to the user and various menus of the terminal device. The display unit 740 may include a display panel 742, and optionally, the display panel 742 may be configured in the form of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an organic light-Emitting diode (OLED), or the like. Further, touch panel 732 can overlay display panel 742, and when touch panel 732 detects a touch operation thereon or nearby, it can be transmitted to processor 780 to determine the type of touch event, and then processor 780 can provide a corresponding visual output on display panel 742 according to the type of touch event. Although in fig. 7, touch panel 732 and display panel 742 are shown as two separate components to implement the input and output functions of the terminal device, in some embodiments, touch panel 732 and display panel 742 may be integrated to implement the input and output functions of the terminal device.

The terminal device may also include at least one sensor 750, such as light sensors, motion sensors, and other sensors. Specifically, the light sensor may include an ambient light sensor that adjusts the brightness of the display panel 742 according to the brightness of ambient light, and a proximity sensor that turns off the display panel 742 and/or the backlight when the terminal device is moved to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the accelerometer sensor can detect the magnitude of acceleration in each direction (generally, three axes), detect the magnitude and direction of gravity when stationary, and can be used for applications (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer attitude calibration) for recognizing the attitude of the terminal device, and related functions (such as pedometer and tapping) for vibration recognition; as for other sensors such as a gyroscope, a barometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, and an infrared sensor, which can be configured in the terminal device, detailed description is omitted here.

Audio circuitry 760, speaker 762, microphone 764 may provide an audio interface between the user and the terminal device. The audio circuit 760 may transmit the converted electrical signal of the received audio data to the speaker 762, and convert the converted electrical signal into an audio signal by the speaker 762 and output the audio signal; on the other hand, the microphone 764 converts the collected sound signals into electrical signals, which are received by the audio circuit 760 and converted into audio data, which are then processed by the audio data output processor 780 and then transmitted to, for example, another terminal device via the rf module 710, or output to the memory 720 for further processing.

WiFi belongs to short-distance wireless transmission technology, and the terminal equipment can help a user to send and receive e-mails, browse webpages, access streaming media and the like through the WiFi module 770, and provides wireless broadband Internet access for the user.

The processor 780 is a control center of the terminal device, connects various parts of the entire terminal device using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the terminal device and processes data by operating or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 720 and calling data stored in the memory 720, thereby integrally monitoring the terminal device. Optionally, processor 780 may include one or more processing units; preferably, the processor 780 may integrate an application processor, which primarily handles operating systems, user interfaces, applications, etc., and a modem processor, which primarily handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into processor 780.

The terminal device also includes a power supply 790 (e.g., a battery) for powering the various components, which may preferably be logically coupled to the processor 780 via a power management system to manage charging, discharging, and power consumption management functions via the power management system. Although not shown, the terminal device may further include a camera, a bluetooth module, and the like, which are not described herein.

In one embodiment, computer programs stored in memory 720, when executed by processor 780, cause processor 780 to implement the methods as described in the embodiments above.

The embodiment of the application discloses a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program, wherein the computer program realizes the method described in the above embodiments when being executed by a processor.

Embodiments of the present application disclose a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program, and the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method as described in the embodiments above.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by a computer program, which can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, and can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above when the program is executed. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), or the like.

Any reference to memory, storage, database, or other medium as used herein may include non-volatile and/or volatile memory. Suitable non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in a variety of forms, such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link (Synchlink) DRAM (SLDRAM), Rambus Direct RAM (RDRAM), direct bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM).

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Those skilled in the art should also appreciate that the embodiments described in this specification are all alternative embodiments and that the acts and modules involved are not necessarily required for this application.

In various embodiments of the present application, it should be understood that the size of the serial number of each process described above does not mean that the execution sequence is necessarily sequential, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. 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 units, if implemented as software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer accessible memory. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application, which is a part of or contributes to the prior art in essence, or all or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product, stored in a memory, including several requests for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like, and may specifically be a processor in the computer device) to execute part or all of the steps of the above-described method of the embodiments of the present application.

The foregoing detailed description is directed to a method, an apparatus, a terminal device, and a storage medium for controlling cell change disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, and specific examples are applied in the present application to explain the principles and implementations of the present application. Meanwhile, for a person skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present application, there may be variations in the specific embodiments and the application scope, and in summary, the content of the present specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present application.

Claims

1. A method for controlling cell change is applied to a terminal device, and comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after the terminal device performs a cell change operation to change the serving cell from the first cell to the second cell, the method further comprises:

recording the first cell, and starting a change timer corresponding to the first cell, where the change timer is used to record the duration of the first cell as a starting cell of the cell change operation, and the timing duration set by the change timer is the first duration.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the stopping of continuing the cell change operation if the time duration for the cell change operation performed by the cell that is currently closest to the second cell as the starting point does not exceed the first time duration comprises:

and if the time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first time length, stopping continuously executing the cell change operation, wherein the change timer corresponding to the second cell is started when the second cell is used as the starting cell of the cell change operation for the last time.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein stopping continuing to perform the cell change operation if the duration recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first duration comprises:

acquiring all started and recorded change timers of which the duration does not exceed the first duration;

matching the second cell with the obtained cells corresponding to the change timers;

and if the matching is successful, stopping continuously executing the cell change operation.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein stopping continuing to perform the cell change operation if the duration recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell does not exceed the first duration comprises:

acquiring a change timer corresponding to the second cell;

and reading the shortest time length recorded by the change timer corresponding to the second cell, and stopping continuously executing the cell change operation if the shortest time length does not exceed the first time length.

6. The method of any of claims 2 to 5, further comprising:

and under the condition that the cell change operation is allowed to be continuously executed, when the terminal equipment executes the next cell change operation, changing the serving cell from the second cell to a third cell, and restarting a change timer corresponding to the second cell, wherein the restarted change timer is used for recording the duration of the second cell as the starting cell of the next cell change operation.

7. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the stopping of the cell change operation if the cell change operation is cell reselection comprises:

stopping measuring the second cell and the adjacent cell, or adjusting the reselection priority corresponding to the second cell to the highest priority, so that the terminal device resides in the second cell.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the stopping of the cell change operation if the cell change operation is a cell handover comprises:

stop sending measurement reports to the network device, or

Stopping receiving the switching command sent by the network equipment, or

And when receiving the switching instruction sent by the network equipment, not executing the received switching instruction.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

and when the terminal equipment detects that the condition of changing again is met, allowing the cell changing operation to be continuously executed.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the re-altering conditions comprise one or more of:

the signal strength of the second cell is below a strength threshold;

the terminal equipment is in a moving state.

11. A cell change control device applied to a terminal device, the device comprising:

12. A terminal device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored therein a computer program that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

13. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.