CN113329452B

CN113329452B - Switching method and equipment

Info

Publication number: CN113329452B
Application number: CN202010128842.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 倪春林
Original assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-02-28
Filing date: 2020-02-28
Publication date: 2022-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 2040-02-28
Also published as: CN113329452A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a switching method and equipment, which comprise the following steps: receiving a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; sending second information to a source node, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship; wherein the second mapping relationship comprises: and mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the terminal for applying for switching data connection, and a target node does not support the first slice. In the embodiment of the invention, for slices which are not supported by the target node, remapping the service network slices can be utilized to ensure the continuity of data transmission.

Description

Switching method and equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a switching method and equipment.

Background

A slicing technology is introduced into a New Radio (NR) system of a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5 th generation, 5G), different slice types correspond to different service types or different service providers, an operator can flexibly configure network slices supported by the system on a network side according to different requirements, and different cells independently configure deployed slice types. But now under network architecture, the protocol provides that the types of the slices in the Registration Area (RA) of the terminal (e.g., user Equipment (UE)) are consistent continuously. I.e. the serving cell can only be designated by the network as registration area for the UE if the supported slice types are identical. Once the UE moves to a cell that is not consistent with the slice type supported by the registration area, the UE needs to reinitiate registration and the network reallocates the registration area. When the UE moves across the registration area in the connected state, if the activated data connection network slice target node does not support, the target node will refuse the handover, and the data connection will be interrupted.

Referring to fig. 1, when a UE initiates a registration request in a cell 1, slice 1 and slice 2 request information carried by the UE, a 5G-Core Network (CN) returns a registration confirmation message for accepting slice 1 and slice 2 to the UE, and provides a registration area for the UE, for example, including the cell 1 and the cell 2. The UE may use slice 1 and slice 2 when cell 1 activates a data connection. When the connected UE moves within the registration area, slice 1 and slice 2 are always supported, so the continuity of data connection can be ensured through the handover procedure. If the UE moves to the cell 3, since the registration areas of the cell 3, cell 1 and cell 2, are different, the slice 2 related data connection cannot be supported, and according to the current standard, the slice 2 based data connection carried by the connected UE will be rejected by the cell 3. Thereby breaking the slice 2 based data connection.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a handover method and device, which solve the problem of how to remap a network slice of a serving cell when a connected UE moves across registration areas to ensure data transmission continuity.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a handover method, applied to a terminal, including:

receiving a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

sending second information to a source node, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

wherein the second mapping relationship comprises: and the mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the data connection which is applied for switching by the terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and generating the second mapping relation according to one or more items of the slice information of the terminal session, the slice information supported by the target node and the first mapping relation.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

receiving, from the target node, slice information supported by the target node.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a handover method, which is applied to a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a source node, and the handover method includes:

receiving second information from a terminal, the second information including: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

according to the second information, sending a switching request message to a target node, wherein the switching request message comprises: the second mapping relationship;

receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

wherein the second mapping relationship comprises: and mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the terminal for applying for switching data connection, and the target node does not support the first slice.

Optionally, the sending, according to the second information, a handover request message to a target node, where the handover request message includes: the second mapping relationship includes:

generating the second mapping relation according to the slice of the terminal session and the first mapping relation;

sending a handover request message to a target node, the handover request message comprising: the second mapping relationship.

Optionally, the handover request confirm message includes: slice remapping information, the slice remapping information indicating that the first slice remaps to a slice supported by the target node.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and sending a notification message to the terminal, wherein the notification message indicates the terminal to initiate switching.

Optionally, the notification message includes: the slice remapping information.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a handover method applied to a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a target node, and the handover method includes:

receiving a handover request message from a source node, the handover request message comprising: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice;

mapping the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relation;

and sending a switching request confirmation message to the source node.

Optionally, the handover request confirm message includes: slice remapping information, the slice remapping information indicating that the first slice maps to a slice supported by the target node.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and sending the information of the slices supported by the target node to the terminal.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

sending a path switching request message to a core network element, wherein the path switching request message comprises: the slice remapping information;

and receiving a path switching request confirmation message from the core network element.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, including:

a first receiving module, configured to receive a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship includes: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

a first sending module, configured to send second information to a source node, where the second information includes: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

wherein the second mapping relationship comprises: and mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the terminal for applying for switching data connection, and a target node does not support the first slice.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, including: a first transceiver and a first processor;

the first transceiver receives and transmits data under control of the first processor;

the first processor reads a program in a memory to perform the following operations: receiving a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; sending second information to a source node, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a source node, and the source node includes:

a fourth receiving module, configured to receive second information from the terminal, where the second information includes: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

a second sending module, configured to send a handover request message to a target node according to the second information, where the handover request message includes: the second mapping relationship;

a fifth receiving module, configured to receive a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a source node, and the radio access network node includes: a second transceiver and a second processor;

the second transceiver receives and transmits data under the control of the second processor;

the second processor reads a program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving second information from a terminal, the second information including: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; according to the second information, sending a switching request message to a target node, wherein the switching request message comprises: the second mapping relationship; receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a target node, and the target node includes:

a sixth receiving module, configured to receive a handover request message from a source node, where the handover request message includes: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice;

a mapping module, configured to map the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relationship;

a fifth sending module, configured to send a handover request acknowledgement message to the source node.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a target node, and the radio access network node includes: a third transceiver and a third processor;

the third transceiver receives and transmits data under control of the third processor;

the third processor reads a program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving a handover request message from a source node, the handover request message comprising: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice; mapping the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relation; and sending a switching request confirmation message to the source node.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication device, including: a processor, a memory and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which program, when executed by the processor, performs steps comprising the handover method as described in the first, second or third aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements steps including the handover method according to the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect.

In the embodiment of the invention, for slices which are not supported by the target node, remapping the service network slices can be utilized to ensure the continuity of data transmission.

Drawings

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Also, like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network slice deployment scenario;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a second flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a third flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a fourth flowchart of a handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

fig. 8 is a second schematic diagram of a terminal according to the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a source node according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a second schematic diagram of a source node according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a target node;

FIG. 12 is a second schematic diagram of a target node according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, the following technical points are first introduced below: and (5) network slicing.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture. The network slicing technology is a technology that enables an operator to cut out a plurality of virtual end-to-end network slicing instances in a 5G network to provide various types of services with different feature requirements. The operator may also deploy slice instances of the same service type but different service providers to serve different customer groups.

In the figure, NSSF is a Network Slice Selection Function (Network Slice Selection Function); AUSF is Authentication Server Function (Authentication Server Function); AMF is Access and Mobility Management Function (Access and Mobility Management Function); UDM is Unified Data Manager; SMF is Session management function (Session management function); the PCF is a Policy Control Function (Policy Control Function); AF is an Application function (Application function); UPF is User Plane Function (User Plane Function); DN is a Data Network (Data Network).

Different Network slices are distinguished by a Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI), which contains two characteristics: slice/Service type (SST) and Slice Specifier (SD).

In a 5G NR environment, when applying for network registration, the UE carries a supported network slice identifier (S-NSSAI) stored by the UE, and a network end returns a network slice service identifier (allowed S-NSSAI) and a registration area received by the UE according to a user subscription and a network support condition.

According to the protocol, when the network is deployed, the network slices in the same Tracking Area (TA) are deployed consistently, and when the UE registers, the 5G Core network (5G-Core network, 5G-CN) assigns a registration Area consisting of a Tracking Area list (TA list) supporting the same network slices to the UE.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. 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 invention.

The terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, in the description and claims of this application, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the use of "and/or" in the specification and claims means that at least one of the connected objects, such as a and/or B, means that three cases, a alone, B alone, and both a and B, exist.

In the embodiments of the present invention, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "e.g.," an embodiment of the present invention 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.

The techniques described herein are not limited to Long-term Evolution (LTE)/LTE-Advanced (LTE-a) systems, and may also be used for various wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.

The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. CDMA systems may implement Radio technologies such as CDMA2000, universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), and so on. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other CDMA variants. TDMA systems may implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM). The OFDMA system may implement radio technologies such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), evolved-UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and higher LTE (e.g., LTE-A) are new UMTS releases that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE-A and GSM are described in the literature from an organization named "third Generation Partnership project" (3 rd Generation Partnership project,3 GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "third generation partnership project 2" (3 GPP 2). The techniques described herein may be used for both the above-mentioned systems and radio technologies, as well as for other systems and radio technologies.

Referring to fig. 3, an embodiment of the present invention provides a handover method, where an execution main body of the method may be a terminal, and the method includes the steps of: step 301 and step 302.

Step 301: receiving a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

for example, when the UE registers, the terminal receives, from a network element of the core network, accepted slice (accepted nsai) information, subscription slice information corresponding to the accepted slice, and mappable slice information of the subscription slice.

Step 302: sending second information to a source node, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

wherein the second mapping relationship comprises: and mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the terminal for applying for switching data connection, and the target node does not support the first slice, namely the type of the slice supported by the target node is different from that of the first slice.

Exemplarily, if the target node supports broadcasting of slice information, the terminal may obtain information whether the target node supports a certain slice before initiating handover, and for a first slice (i.e. for an unsupported slice), the terminal finds a mappable slice of the first slice by querying a mapping relationship between a subscription slice and a mappable slice of the terminal, and sends to the source node through a measurement report: the first slice is mapped to the mappable slice.

If the target node does not support the broadcast of the slice information, the terminal may carry one or more of the received slice information, the subscription slice information corresponding to the received slice, and the mappable slice information of the subscription slice in the measurement report, and process the one or more of the received slice information, the subscription slice information, and the mappable slice information by the source node. Further, the target node may configure a default slice, the target node mapping the first slice to the default slice or refusing to accept data of the first slice.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise: and generating the second mapping relation according to one or more items of the slice information of the terminal session, the slice information supported by the target node and the first mapping relation.

Illustratively, based on the slice information of the terminal session and the slice information supported by the target node, a first slice (a slice that is not supported by the target node and is used by the terminal for data connection of the slice) may be determined, and then a mapping relationship between the first slice and a mappable slice is generated according to the first mapping relationship.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise: receiving, from the target node, slice information supported by the target node. That is, the target node supports broadcasting of slice information.

Referring to fig. 4, an embodiment of the present invention provides a handover method, where an execution subject of the method may be a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a source node, and the method includes: step 401, step 402 and step 403.

Step 401: receiving second information from a terminal, the second information including: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

step 402: according to the second information, sending a switching request message to a target node, wherein the switching request message comprises: the second mapping relationship;

illustratively, the second mapping relationship is generated according to the slice of the terminal session and the first mapping relationship; sending a handover request message to a target node, the handover request message including: the second mapping relationship.

Step 403: receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

In some embodiments, the handover request confirm message may include: slice remapping information indicating that the first slice remaps to a slice supported by the target node.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise: and sending a notification message to the terminal, wherein the notification message indicates the terminal to initiate switching.

In some embodiments, the notification message comprises: the slice remapping information.

In the embodiment of the invention, for the slices which are not supported by the target node, remapping the service network slices can be utilized to ensure the continuity of data transmission.

Referring to fig. 5, an embodiment of the present invention provides a handover method, where an execution subject of the method may be a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a target node, and the handover method includes: step 501, step 502 and step 503.

Step 501: receiving a handover request message from a source node, the handover request message comprising: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice;

step 502: mapping the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relation;

step 503: and sending a switching request confirmation message to the source node.

In some embodiments, the handover request confirm message comprises: slice remapping information, the slice remapping information indicating that the first slice maps to a slice supported by the target node.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: and sending the information of the slices supported by the target node to the terminal.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: sending a path switching request message to a core network element, wherein the path switching request message comprises: the slice remapping information; and receiving a path switching request confirmation message from the core network element.

Take the case of Xn handover between the UE serving cell node and the handover target cell node as an example. The specific implementation method is that the UE sends the remapping according to the network issued mapping list information.

(1) When the UE registers, the 5G-CN network element issues acceptance slice (accepted NSSAI) information and subscription slice information corresponding to the acceptance slice to the UE, and the subscription slice information comprises other possible slice lists which can be mapped by the subscription slice.

(2) When a connected UE initiates an Xn handover across registration areas,

a) If the target node supports the broadcasting of the slice information. Then the UE can obtain the information whether the target node supports a slice when initiating handover, and for an unsupported slice, the mapped slice can be found by querying the slice mapping relationship table. The information is contained in the report of the measurement report, the source node carries the relevant information in the switching request, and the remapping process of the slice is completed by the source node and the target node together.

b) If the target node does not support the slice information broadcast, the UE can carry complete slice information in the measurement report and the source node processes the information; the target node may configure a default slice at each node, and the target node maps slices that the node does not have corresponding support to the default slice or rejects.

referring to fig. 6, steps 601 to 613 are included.

Step 601: the UE initiates a registration procedure.

Step 602: the 5G-CN network element responds to the registration confirmation and carries one or more of the following items: and the UE receives the slicing information, and receives the signing slicing information corresponding to the slicing information and the mappable slicing information of the signing slicing.

Step 603: RAN1 initiated UE measurement control procedure

Step 604

Step 605, the UE sends a measurement report to the RAN1, and the measurement report carries the mapping list generated by the UE according to the slice information of the session, the slices supported by the RAN2, and the mapping slice list

Step 606.

Step 607.

Step 608, ran2 responds to the handover request acknowledge message carrying the slice remapping information.

In steps 609-611.

Step 612, initiating a path switching request to the 5G-CN element by the ran2, and step 613: and the 5G-CN network element replies a path switching confirmation message.

Referring to fig. 7, an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal, where the terminal 700 includes:

a first receiving module 701, configured to receive a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship includes: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

a first sending module 702, configured to send second information to a source node, where the second information includes: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

In some embodiment modes, the terminal 700 further includes:

a second receiving module, configured to receive slice information supported by the target node;

and the generating module is used for generating the second mapping relation according to one or more items of the slice information of the terminal session, the slice information supported by the target node and the first mapping relation.

In some embodiment modes, the terminal 700 further includes:

a third receiving module, configured to receive, from the target node, slice information supported by the target node.

The terminal provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiment shown in fig. 3, which has similar implementation principles and technical effects, and this embodiment is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, where the terminal 800 includes: a first transceiver 801 and a first processor 802;

the first transceiver 801 receives and transmits data under the control of the first processor 802;

the first processor 802 reads a program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; sending second information to a source node, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

In some embodiment modes, the first processor 802 reads the program in the memory to further perform the following operations: receiving slice information supported by the target node; and generating the second mapping relation according to one or more items of the slice information of the terminal session, the slice information supported by the target node and the first mapping relation.

In some embodiments, the first processor 802 reads the program in the memory and performs the following operations: receiving, from the target node, slice information supported by the target node.

Referring to fig. 9, an embodiment of the present invention provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a source node, and the source node 900 includes:

a fourth receiving module 901, configured to receive second information from the terminal, where the second information includes: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship including: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

a second sending module 902, configured to send, according to the second information, a handover request message to a target node, where the handover request message includes: the second mapping relationship;

a fifth receiving module 903, configured to receive a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

wherein the second mapping relationship comprises: and the mapping relation between the first slice and the mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the data connection which is applied for switching by the terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice.

In some embodiments, the second sending module 902 is further configured to: generating the second mapping relation according to the slice of the terminal session and the first mapping relation; sending a handover request message to a target node, the handover request message comprising: the second mapping relationship.

In some embodiments, the handover request confirm message comprises: slice remapping information indicating that the first slice remaps to a slice supported by the target node.

In some embodiments, the source node 900 further comprises:

a third sending module, configured to send a notification message to the terminal, where the notification message indicates the terminal to initiate handover.

The source node provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, which has similar implementation principles and technical effects, and this embodiment is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a source node, and the source node 1000 includes: a second transceiver 1001 and a second processor 1002.

The second transceiver 1001 receives and transmits data under the control of the second processor 1002;

the second processor 1002 reads a program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving second information from a terminal, the second information including: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; according to the second information, sending a switching request message to a target node, wherein the switching request message comprises: the second mapping relationship; receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

In some embodiments, the second processor 1002 reads the program in the memory to further perform the following operations: generating the second mapping relation according to the slice of the terminal session and the first mapping relation; sending a handover request message to a target node, the handover request message comprising: the second mapping relationship.

In some embodiments, the second processor 1002 reads the program in the memory to further perform the following operations: and sending a notification message to the terminal, wherein the notification message indicates the terminal to initiate switching.

Referring to fig. 11, an embodiment of the present invention provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a target node, and the target node 1100 includes:

a sixth receiving module 1101, configured to receive a handover request message from a source node, where the handover request message includes: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: the mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by the terminal for applying for switching data connection, and a target node does not support the first slice;

a mapping module 1102, configured to map the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relationship;

a fifth sending module 1103, configured to send a handover request acknowledge message to the source node.

In some embodiments, the handover request confirm message comprises: slice remapping information representing a mapping of the first slice to a slice supported by the target node.

In some embodiments, the target node 1100 further comprises:

and a sixth sending module, configured to send information of the slices supported by the target node to the terminal.

In some embodiments, the target node 1100 further comprises:

a seventh sending module, configured to send a path switching request message to a core network element, where the path switching request message includes: the slice remapping information;

a seventh receiving module, configured to receive a path switch request acknowledgement message from the core network element.

The target node provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiment shown in fig. 5, which has similar implementation principles and technical effects, and this embodiment is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 12, an embodiment of the present invention provides a radio access network node, where the radio access network node is a target node, and the target node 1200 includes: a third transceiver 1201 and a third processor 1202.

The third transceiver 1201 receives and transmits data under the control of the third processor 1202;

the third processor 1202 reads a program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving a handover request message from a source node, the handover request message comprising: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice; mapping the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relation; and sending a switching request confirmation message to the source node.

In some embodiments, the third processor 1202 reading the program in memory further performs the following operations: and sending the information of the slices supported by the target node to the terminal.

In some embodiments, the third processor 1202 reading the program in memory further performs the following: sending a path switching request message to a core network element, wherein the path switching request message comprises: the slice remapping information; and receiving a path switch request acknowledgement message from the core network element.

Referring to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a structural diagram of a communication device applied in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 13, a communication device 1300 includes: a processor 1301, a transceiver 1302, a memory 1303 and a bus interface, wherein:

in one embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1300 further comprises: a computer program stored on the memory 1303 and executable on the processor 1301, the computer program implementing the steps in the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 5 when executed by the processor 1301.

In fig. 13, the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, with one or more processors represented by processor 1301 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 1303 linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1302 may be a plurality of elements, including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium, it being understood that the transceiver 1302 is an optional component.

The processor 1301 is responsible for managing a bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1303 may store data used by the processor 1301 in performing operations.

The communication device provided in the embodiment of the present invention may execute the method embodiments shown in fig. 3 to fig. 5, which have similar implementation principles and technical effects, and this embodiment is not described herein again.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied in hardware or in software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a compact disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in a core network interface device. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a core network interface device.

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

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

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the embodiments of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A switching method is applied to a terminal, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

sending second information to the source node through the measurement report, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

4. A switching method is applied to a wireless access network node, the wireless access network node is a source node, and the switching method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving second information from the terminal through the measurement report, the second information including: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sending a handover request message to a target node according to the second information comprises: the second mapping relationship includes:

sending a handover request message to a target node, the handover request message including: the second mapping relationship.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the handover request acknowledge message comprises: slice remapping information indicating that the first slice remaps to a slice supported by the target node.

7. The method according to claim 4 or 6, characterized in that the method further comprises:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the notification message comprises: the slice remapping information.

9. A handover method is applied to a radio access network node, wherein the radio access network node is a target node, and the handover method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving a handover request message from a source node, the handover request message comprising: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice; the second mapping relation is sent to the source node by the terminal through a measurement report;

and sending a switching request confirmation message to the source node.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the handover request acknowledge message comprises: slice remapping information representing a mapping of the first slice to a slice supported by the target node.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

12. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the method further comprises:

13. A terminal, comprising:

a first sending module, configured to send second information to a source node through a measurement report, where the second information includes: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

14. A terminal, comprising: a memory, a first transceiver, and a first processor;

the first processor reads a program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; sending second information to the source node through the measurement report, wherein the second information comprises: a second mapping relationship, or the first mapping relationship;

15. A radio access network node, the radio access network node being a source node, the source node comprising:

a fourth receiving module, configured to receive second information from a terminal through a measurement report, where the second information includes: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship comprising: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal;

16. A radio access network node, the radio access network node being a source node, comprising: a memory, a second transceiver, and a second processor;

the second processor reads the program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving second information from the terminal through the measurement report, the second information including: a second mapping relationship or a first mapping relationship, the first mapping relationship including: mapping relation between the signing slice and the mappable slice of the terminal; according to the second information, sending a switching request message to a target node, wherein the switching request message comprises: the second mapping relationship; receiving a handover request acknowledgement message from the target node;

17. A radio access network node, the radio access network node being a target node, the target node comprising:

a sixth receiving module, configured to receive a handover request message from a source node, where the handover request message includes: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice; the second mapping relation is sent to the source node by the terminal through a measurement report;

18. A radio access network node, the radio access network node being a target node, the target node comprising: a memory, a third transceiver, and a third processor;

the third processor reads the program in the memory to perform the following operations: receiving a handover request message from a source node, the handover request message comprising: a second mapping relationship, the second mapping relationship comprising: a mapping relation between a first slice and a mappable slice, wherein the first slice is used by a data connection which is applied for switching by a terminal, and the target node does not support the first slice; the second mapping relation is sent to the source node by the terminal through a measurement report; mapping the first slice to a slice supported by the target node according to the second mapping relation; and sending a switching request confirmation message to the source node.

19. A communication device, comprising: processor, memory and program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor implements steps comprising the handover method according to any of claims 1 to 12.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored thereon, which computer program, when being executed by a processor, carries out steps comprising the handover method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.