CN113938994B

CN113938994B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN113938994B
Application number: CN202010774351.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 姚楚婷; 薛祎凡
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-13
Filing date: 2020-08-04
Publication date: 2024-01-09
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-04
Also published as: CN113938994A

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and device. When the terminal equipment is in a first state, a first icon is displayed, wherein the first icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide services corresponding to the NR communication system. When the terminal equipment enters the second state from the first state, a timer is started, and the terminal equipment keeps displaying the first icon until the timer is overtime. If the timer is overtime, the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state, and stops running the timer. In the embodiment of the application, the timer is arranged, and frequent switching of icons can be reduced by improving the effective working time of the timer.

Description

Communication method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application filed on 7.13.2020, filed in chinese national intellectual property office, application number 202010671583.6, entitled "method of displaying 5G icon", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and apparatus.

Background

It is presently specified that if the terminal device resides in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) base station and the terminal device is in a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) idle (idle) state, then if the terminal device receives a system information block type 2 (system information block, SIB 2) from the LTE base station and the SIB2 includes a non-independent Networking (NSA) indication for indicating that NSA is supported, which indicates that the LTE base station is capable of supporting NSA, the terminal device may display a fifth generation mobile communication technology (the 5th generation,5G) icon (icon); alternatively, if the terminal device does not receive SIB2 from the LTE base station, or the SIB2 from the LTE base station received by the terminal device does not include an NSA indication, the terminal device displays a 4G icon and cannot display a 5G icon. If the terminal device is in an RRC connected (connected) state, the terminal device may display a 5G icon if the terminal device is connected to two base stations, i.e., the terminal device is in a dual-connected state, and a primary base station of the two base stations is an LTE base station and a secondary base station is a New Radio (NR) base station, otherwise the terminal device may not display the 5G icon and may only display a 4G icon. The icon may indicate that the terminal device can provide a service corresponding to a certain communication system, for example, the 4G icon may indicate that the terminal device can provide a service corresponding to an LTE communication system, and the 5G icon may indicate that the terminal device can provide a service corresponding to an NR communication system.

Take the example that the terminal device is a mobile phone. With the current conclusion, if the handset is initially in an RRC idle state and camping on an LTE base station, and the handset receives SIB2 from the LTE base station, the SIB2 includes an NSA indication, the handset may display a 5G icon. Once a user needs to network through the mobile phone, the mobile phone enters an RRC connection state under the LTE base station, but when entering the RRC connection state, the LTE base station does not configure an NR auxiliary base station for the mobile phone, so that the mobile phone does not display a 5G icon any more and displays a 4G icon instead. After that, the LTE base station may configure the NR auxiliary base station for the mobile phone, and then the terminal device switches to display the 5G icon again. As can be seen, the current scheme can cause frequent switching of the 5G icon and the 4G icon by the terminal device, and this switching process can increase power consumption of the terminal device and make the user experience worse.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which are used for reducing the power consumption of terminal equipment and improving user experience.

In a first aspect, there is provided a first communication method comprising: when the terminal equipment is in a first state, displaying a first icon, wherein the first icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide services corresponding to the NR communication system; when the terminal equipment enters a second state from a first state, starting a timer, wherein the terminal equipment keeps displaying the first icon before the timer is overtime; and if the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state before the timer is overtime, stopping running the timer.

The method may be performed by a first communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a chip, capable of supporting the functions required by the communication apparatus to implement the method. The first communication means is, for example, a terminal device, or a chip arranged in the terminal device for realizing the functions of the terminal device, or other components for realizing the functions of the terminal device. In the following description, the first communication apparatus is exemplified as a terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device should display the 4G icon in the second state, but the embodiment of the present application sets a timer, and the timer is started at this time, so that the terminal device keeps displaying the first icon, and frequent switching of icons is reduced. Before the timer is overtime, if the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state, the 5G icon is displayed in the first state, so that the embodiment of the application stops running the timer to continue displaying the first icon, and when the terminal equipment enters the second state from the first state next time, the timer can be restarted, so that the timer is reasonably utilized, and the switching process of the icon is reduced through the running of the timer.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal device is in the first state, including:

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, is connected with NR network equipment, and is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, the terminal equipment resides in a first cell, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, the terminal equipment resides in a first cell, and the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and is only connected with NR network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, the terminal equipment is connected with NR network equipment, the terminal equipment is also connected with LTE network equipment, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, and the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment.

The first state is, for example, a 5G state, and the terminal device may display the first icon in the first state. The above states may be considered as the first state, and other states than the above states are of course possible.

With reference to the first optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the first cell supports NSA, including:

system information is received at the first cell, the system information including an NSA indication indicating that the first cell supports NSA.

For example, the terminal device receives system information broadcasted by the network device in the first cell, where the system information includes NSA indication, if an LTE cell supports NSA, it indicates that the terminal device can be configured with NR auxiliary network devices when the LTE cell is connected, that is, the LTE cell supports configuring the NR auxiliary network devices, so the terminal device can determine that the first cell supports NSA; or if the terminal equipment does not receive the system information broadcast by the network equipment in the first cell, the terminal equipment cannot determine whether the first cell supports NSA, and the processing is performed according to the fact that the first cell does not support NSA; or, the terminal device receives the system information broadcast by the network device in the first cell, where the system information does not include the NSA indication, and the terminal device may determine that the first cell does not support NSA. The system information is, for example, SIB2, or may be other system information than SIB2

With reference to the first aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the first aspect or the second optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal device is in the second state, including:

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and is only connected with the LTE network equipment;

the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, and the terminal equipment resides in a second cell, wherein the second cell is an LTE cell and does not support NSA.

The second state is, for example, a 4G state, and the terminal device may display a second icon in the second state. The above states may be considered as the second state, and other states than the above states are of course possible.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the third optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

and stopping displaying the first icon and displaying a second icon when the timer is overtime, wherein the second icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide the service corresponding to the LTE communication system.

Because the terminal device stops running the timer if it enters the first state from the second state before the timer expires, it is indicated that the terminal device does not enter the first state but remains in the second state if the timer runs to expiration. Then, when the timer expires, the terminal device may display a second icon to accommodate the second state.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fourth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

resetting the timer.

After stopping running the timer, the terminal device may further reset the timer, where resetting the timer may include recovering the value of the timer before running. For example, the timer is counted in a positive number from 0, resetting the timer means resetting the timer, or for example, the timer is counted in a negative number from a maximum value, resetting the timer means setting the value of the timer to the maximum value. The maximum value may refer to the timing duration of the timer, for example, 30 seconds, or may be another value. After that, if the terminal device enters the first state again from the second state, the terminal device can also restart the timer, and the timer can be run with an initial value to increase the effective running time of the timer.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fifth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

the terminal equipment enters an RRC connection state from an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal equipment resides in the first cell when in the RRC idle state, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment reselects to a second cell through a cell in an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal equipment resides in a first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell supports NSA, and the second cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the terminal equipment reselects to a second cell through a cell in an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal equipment resides in the first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell is an NR cell, and the second cell is not the NR cell and does not support NSA.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fifth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in a seventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

The terminal equipment is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is only connected with NR network equipment, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is auxiliary network equipment, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through a cell, wherein the terminal equipment is only connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and the connection between the terminal equipment and NR network equipment is released, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with LTE network equipment and the NR network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the terminal equipment is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the terminal equipment is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the terminal equipment is not configured to be connected with the NR secondary network equipment in the first cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the terminal equipment is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is not an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, and the terminal equipment is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell does not support NSA.

As in the above cases, the terminal device may be considered to enter the second state from the first state. Of course, in addition to the above several cases, other cases are possible and can be considered as the terminal device entering the second state from the first state.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the seventh optional implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth optional implementation manner of the first aspect, the entering, by the terminal device, the first state from the second state includes:

the terminal equipment is connected with NR network equipment, and the terminal equipment is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is main network equipment, and the NR network equipment is auxiliary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal equipment enters an RRC idle state from an RRC connection state, and resides in a first cell after entering the RRC idle state, wherein the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and after a link failure occurs, a first cell is reselected or selected through a cell, wherein the first cell is an LTE cell and supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and after a link failure occurs, a first cell is reselected or selected through a cell, wherein the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state in a first cell, and then the terminal equipment performs cell reselection or selects to a second cell, wherein the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, the second cell is an LTE cell and supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state in a first cell, and then the terminal equipment performs cell reselection or selects to a second cell, wherein the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, and the second cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state and is only connected with the LTE network equipment, and then the terminal equipment is switched to a second cell through a cell, wherein the second cell is an NR cell.

As in the above cases, the terminal device may be considered to enter the first state from the second state. Of course, in addition to the above cases, there may be other cases where the terminal device may be regarded as entering the first state from the second state.

In a second aspect, there is provided a second communication method, the method comprising: when the terminal equipment is in a first state, displaying a first icon, wherein the first icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide services corresponding to the NR communication system; starting a timer when the timer is not running and the terminal equipment enters a second state from a first state, wherein the terminal equipment keeps displaying the first icon during the running period of the timer; or when the timer is in an operation state and the terminal equipment enters the second state from the first state, restarting the timer.

The method may be performed by a second communication device, which may be a communication apparatus or a communication device, such as a chip, capable of supporting the functions required by the communication apparatus to implement the method. The second communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or a chip provided in the terminal device for implementing the functions of the terminal device, or other components for implementing the functions of the terminal device. In the following description, the second communication apparatus is taken as an example of a terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device should display the 4G icon (the second icon) in the second state, but the embodiment of the present application sets a timer, and the timer is started or restarted at this time, so that the terminal device keeps displaying the first icon, and frequent switching of icons is reduced. Moreover, the timer is reasonably utilized in the mode, and the icon switching process is reduced through the running of the timer.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, restarting the timer includes:

stopping running the timer;

resetting the timer;

and starting the timer.

Restarting the timer may stop running the timer, then reset the timer, and then start the timer. Resetting the timer may include recovering the timer value prior to running. For example, the timer is counted in a positive number from 0, resetting the timer means resetting the timer, or for example, the timer is counted in a negative number from a maximum value, resetting the timer means setting the value of the timer to the maximum value. The maximum value may refer to the timing duration of the timer, for example, 30 seconds, or may be another value. Thus, when the terminal device starts the timer again, the timer can be run at an initial value to increase the effective running time of the timer.

With reference to the second aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a first optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

and when the timer is overtime, displaying the second icon if the terminal equipment is in the second state, or displaying the first icon if the terminal equipment is in the first state.

When the timer expires, the terminal device may be in the first state or the second state, and then the terminal device displays the corresponding icon according to the current state, so that the displayed icon matches with the current state.

With reference to the second aspect or the first optional implementation manner of the second aspect or the second optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the terminal device is in the first state, including:

With reference to the third optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the first cell supports NSA, including:

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fourth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the terminal device is in the second state, including:

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fifth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a sixth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

With reference to the second aspect or any one of the first optional implementation manner to the fifth optional implementation manner of the second aspect, in a seventh optional implementation manner of the second aspect, the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

With regard to the technical effects brought about by the partly alternative embodiments of the second aspect, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the corresponding embodiments of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, there is provided a communication device, for example the first communication device as described above, or the second communication device as described above. The first communication device is configured to perform the method of the first aspect or any optional implementation of the first aspect, and the second communication device is configured to perform the method of the second aspect or any optional implementation of the second aspect. In particular, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the first aspect or any of the alternative embodiments of the first aspect, e.g. comprising a processing means and a display means. The display module is for example realized by a display of the communication device. The processing module is implemented, for example, by one or more processors of the communication device. Alternatively, the communication device may comprise means for performing the method of the second aspect or any alternative implementation of the second aspect, e.g. comprising a processing means and a display means. The communication means is, for example, a communication device or a chip or other component provided in a communication device. The communication device is illustratively a terminal device.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication device, for example a first communication device or a second communication device as described above. The communication device includes a processor (or processing circuitry), a display (or display circuitry). Optionally, the communication device may further comprise a communication interface (or interface circuit), which may be used to communicate with other devices or apparatuses. Optionally, the communication device may further comprise a memory for storing computer instructions. The processor, the display and the memory are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the above-described first aspect or various alternative embodiments of the first aspect or for implementing the method described in the above-described second aspect or various alternative embodiments of the second aspect. Alternatively, the communication device may not include a memory, which may be external to the communication device. The processor, memory and display are coupled to each other for implementing the method described in the above-described first aspect or various alternative embodiments of the first aspect or for implementing the method described in the above-described second aspect or various alternative embodiments of the second aspect. For example, when the processor executes the computer instructions stored by the memory, the communication device is caused to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the optional embodiments of the first aspect, or the communication device is caused to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the optional embodiments of the second aspect. The communication means is, for example, a communication device or a chip or other component provided in a communication device. The communication device is an exemplary terminal device.

Wherein if the communication means is a communication device, the communication interface is for example implemented by a transceiver (or a transmitter and a receiver) in the communication device, for example by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in the communication device. Alternatively, if the communication device is a chip provided in the communication apparatus, the communication interface is, for example, an input/output interface of the chip, such as an input/output pin or the like, and the communication interface is connected to a radio frequency transceiver component in the communication apparatus, so as to implement the transmission and reception of information through the radio frequency transceiver component.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a first communication system comprising a communication device according to the third aspect (for implementing the method provided by the first aspect or various alternative embodiments of the first aspect) or a communication device according to the fourth aspect (for implementing the method provided by the first aspect or various alternative embodiments of the first aspect).

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a second communication system comprising a communication device according to the third aspect (for implementing the method provided by the second aspect or various alternative embodiments of the second aspect) or a communication device according to the fourth aspect (for implementing the method provided by the second aspect or various alternative embodiments of the second aspect).

In a seventh aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the alternative embodiments of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the alternative embodiments of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions for storing a computer program for causing a computer to carry out the method of the first aspect or any of the alternative embodiments of the first aspect, when the computer program is run on the computer.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions for storing a computer program for causing a computer to carry out the method of the second aspect or any of the alternative embodiments of the second aspect described above when the computer program is run on the computer.

In the embodiment of the application, the timer is arranged, and frequent switching of icons can be reduced by improving the effective working time of the timer.

Drawings

FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of the 5G icon;

fig. 1B is a schematic diagram of a terminal device residing under an LTE base station;

fig. 1C is a schematic diagram of a terminal device in a dual connection state;

fig. 2 is a schematic operation diagram of a terminal 5G id display timer;

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

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the 4G icon;

fig. 5 is a schematic running diagram of a timer in the first communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 7 is a schematic operation diagram of a timer in the second communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is another operation schematic diagram of a timer in the second communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is another schematic block diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

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

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained for easy understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) Terminal devices, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user, specifically, devices that provide voice to a user, or devices that provide data connectivity to a user, or devices that provide voice and data connectivity to a user. For example, may include a handheld device having wireless connectivity, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), exchange voice or data with the RAN, or interact voice and data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a User Equipment (UE), a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a device-to-device (D2D) terminal device, a vehicle-to-device (V2X) terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (internet of things, ioT) terminal device, a subscription unit (subscriber unit), a subscription station (subscriber station), a mobile station (mobile station), a remote station, an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal (remote terminal), an access terminal (access terminal), a user terminal (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), or a user equipment (user device), etc. For example, mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones) computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built mobile devices, and the like may be included. Such as personal communication services (personal communication service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistant, PDAs), and the like. But also limited devices such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited memory capabilities, or devices with limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples include bar codes, radio frequency identification (radio frequency identification, RFID), sensors, global positioning systems (global positioning system, GPS), laser scanners, and other information sensing devices.

By way of example, and not limitation, in embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. The wearable device can also be called as a wearable intelligent device or an intelligent wearable device, and is a generic name for intelligently designing daily wear and developing wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, shoes, and the like, by applying wearable technology. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the clothing or accessories of the user. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also can realize a powerful function through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable intelligent device includes full functionality, large size, and may not rely on the smart phone to implement complete or partial functionality, such as: smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and focus on only certain types of application functions, and need to be used in combination with other devices, such as smart phones, for example, various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring.

While the various terminal devices described above, if located on a vehicle (e.g., placed in a vehicle or mounted in a vehicle), may be considered as in-vehicle terminal devices, for example, also referred to as in-vehicle units (OBUs).

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device may further include a relay (relay). Or it is understood that all that is capable of data communication with a base station can be seen as a terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the device may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal is a terminal device, which is described in the embodiments of the present application as an example.

2) A network device, for example comprising AN Access Network (AN) device, such as a base station (e.g. AN access point), may refer to a device in the access network that communicates over the air with a wireless terminal device through one or more cells, or a network device in a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) technology, for example, is a Road Side Unit (RSU). The base station may be configured to inter-convert the received air frames with IP packets as a router between the terminal device and the rest of the access network, which may include an IP network. The RSU may be a fixed infrastructure entity supporting V2X applications, which may exchange messages with other entities supporting V2X applications. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device may include an evolved base station (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB, evolutional Node B) in an LTE system or long term evolution advanced (long term evolution-advanced, LTE-a), or may also include a next generation NodeB (next generation node B, gNB) in a fifth generation mobile communication technology (the 5th generation,5G) new air interface (NR) system (also simply referred to as an NR system) or may also include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) in a Cloud access network (Cloud radio access network, cloudran) system, although the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The network devices may also include core network devices including, for example, access and mobility management functions (access and mobility management function, AMF), session management functions (session management function, SMF), or user plane functions (user plane function, UPF) in a 5G system, or mobility management entities (mobility management entity, MME) in a 4G system, or the like. The embodiments of the present application mainly relate to access network devices, so, unless otherwise specified, network devices described below refer to access network devices.

In the embodiment of the present application, the means for implementing the function of the network device may be the network device, or may be a means capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the apparatus may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is exemplified by the network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is described.

3) Radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) state, the terminal device has 3 RRC states: an RRC connected (connected) state, an RRC idle (idle) state, and an RRC inactive (inactive) state. For example, either the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state may be referred to as an RRC non-connected state, i.e., the RRC non-connected state may refer to the RRC idle state or to the RRC inactive state.

The "connected state" and "RRC connected state" are the same concept, and the two designations are interchangeable herein): the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with the network, and can perform data transmission.

Herein, "idle state" and "RRC idle state", are the same concept, and the two designations are interchangeable): the terminal device does not establish an RRC connection with the network and the base station does not store the context of the terminal device. If the terminal device needs to enter the RRC connected state from the RRC idle state, an RRC connection establishment procedure needs to be initiated.

Herein, "deactivated state", "inactive state", "RRC inactive state" or "RRC inactive state", etc., are the same concept, and these several designations are interchangeable): the terminal device enters an RRC connection state at the anchor base station before, and then the anchor base station releases the RRC connection, but the anchor base station saves the context of the terminal device. If the terminal device needs to re-enter the RRC connected state from the RRC inactive state, an RRC connection recovery procedure (alternatively referred to as an RRC connection re-establishment procedure) needs to be initiated at the currently camped base station. Because the terminal device may be in a mobile state, the base station where the terminal device currently resides may be the same base station as the anchor base station of the terminal device, or may be a different base station. Compared with the RRC establishment process, the RRC recovery process has shorter time delay and smaller signaling overhead. However, the base station needs to save the context of the terminal device, which occupies the storage overhead of the base station.

4) With the development of multi-access technology dual connectivity (multi-RAT dual connectivity, MR-DC), in the deployment of operators, a base station operating in an LTE system and a base station operating in a 5G NR system may be configured to communicate with a terminal device, that is, the terminal device may be connected to the LTE base station and the NR base station at the same time, so that data may be transmitted by using both the frequency of the LTE system and the frequency of the NR system, thereby improving throughput of the terminal device. Such a scenario where a terminal device connects to base stations of two different access technologies simultaneously may be referred to as MR-DC.

When the terminal equipment is connected to the LTE base station and the NR base station at the same time, if the LTE base station is used as a main base station and the NR base station is used as an auxiliary base station, the scene is specifically called LTE-NR double connection (LTE-NR dual connectivity, EN-DC) in MR-DC; whereas if the NR base station is the primary base station and the LTE base station is the secondary base station, this scenario is specifically referred to as NR-LTE dual connectivity (NR-LTE dual connectivity, NE-DC) in MR-DC.

5) The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. For example, A/B, means: a or B. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

And, unless otherwise indicated, the terms "first," "second," and the like in the embodiments herein are used for distinguishing between multiple objects and are not used for limiting the size, content, order, timing, priority, importance, or the like of the multiple objects. For example, the first icon and the second icon may be the same icon or different icons, and the names do not indicate the difference in the information amount, the indicated content, the priority, the importance, or the like of the two icons.

The foregoing presents some concepts related to the embodiments of the present application, and the following presents technical features related to the embodiments of the present application.

Currently, operators upgrade some LTE base stations so that they can support NSA. The terminal device may establish a connection with both base stations, i.e. the terminal device may operate in a dual connectivity architecture, e.g. the LTE base station may act as a primary base station and the NR base station may act as a secondary base station. At this time, the terminal device enjoys the 5G service, and the 5G icon can be displayed. For example, referring to fig. 1A, a schematic diagram of a display interface of a mobile phone is shown. The "5G" displayed in the upper left hand corner of the display interface of the handset in FIG. 1A represents a 5G icon.

Whether the terminal device displays the 5G icon or not depends on the needs of the operator. According to the investigation and discussion of the global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications association, GSMA) in operation, 4 configurations are currently agreed to, specifying when a 5G icon should be displayed by a terminal device. These 4 configurations include configuration a, configuration B, configuration C, and configuration D, from which the conditions that the terminal device needs to satisfy to display the 5G icon are strict to relaxed. Referring to table 1, 6 scenes, or states of the terminal device, are given, and what icons should be displayed corresponding to the 4 configurations, respectively, under the 6 scenes are given.

TABLE 1

As described in table 1, no coverage of NR means that the terminal device does not receive a signal from the NR base station. Detecting coverage of NR means that the terminal device receives a signal from the NR base station. According to table 1, for example, the terminal device is in RRC idle state and the LTE cell in which the terminal device resides does not support NSA, then the terminal device displays the 4G icon regardless of which configuration is employed. For another example, if the terminal device is in RRC connected state and the LTE cell in which the terminal device resides supports NSA and no coverage by NR, then the terminal device displays a 4G icon if configuration a, configuration B or configuration C is employed and a 5G icon if configuration D is employed.

According to the results of the present discussion, the scheme of combining configuration a and configuration D as above is finally adopted, specifically, if the terminal device resides in the LTE base station and the terminal device is in the RRC idle state, for example, refer to fig. 1B, if the terminal device receives SIB2 from the LTE base station, and the SIB2 includes an NSA indication, where the NSA indication is used to indicate that NSA is supported, which indicates that the LTE base station can support NSA, the terminal device may display a 5G icon; alternatively, if the terminal device does not receive SIB2 from the LTE base station, or the SIB2 from the LTE base station received by the terminal device does not include an NSA indication, the terminal device displays a 4G icon and cannot display a 5G icon. If the terminal device is in RRC connected state, if the terminal device is connected to two base stations, i.e. the terminal device is in dual connected state, and the main base station of the two base stations is an LTE base station and the auxiliary base station is an NR base station, for example, refer to fig. 1C, the terminal device may display a 5G icon, otherwise, the terminal device cannot display a 5G icon and only can display a 4G icon.

Take the example that the terminal device is a mobile phone. With the current conclusion, if the handset is initially in an RRC idle state and camping on an LTE base station, and the handset receives SIB2 from the LTE base station, the SIB2 includes an NSA indication, the handset may display a 5G icon. Once a user needs to network through the mobile phone, the mobile phone enters an RRC connection state under the LTE base station, but when entering the RRC connection state, the LTE base station does not configure an NR auxiliary base station for the mobile phone, so that the mobile phone does not display a 5G icon any more and displays a 4G icon instead. After that, the LTE base station may configure the NR auxiliary base station for the mobile phone, and then the terminal device switches to display the 5G icon again. As can be seen, the current scheme may cause frequent switching of the 5G icon and the 4G icon by the terminal device, and this switching process may increase power consumption of the terminal device.

To reduce frequent switching of icons, the terminal 5G identification display timer may be introduced. And under the condition that the 5G identification display timer is not overtime, the terminal equipment displays the 5G identification. The time point of starting the terminal 5G identifier display timer is that the terminal device enters the RRC connected state from the RRC idle state, or the terminal device releases the NR secondary cell group (secondary cell group, SCG) connection, or the terminal device switches to a new cell broadcasting NSA indication, etc. The terminal 5G identifies that the timing duration of the display timer is recommended to be 30 seconds. The purpose of introducing the terminal 5G identifier display timer is to enable the terminal device to keep displaying the 5G icon by starting the terminal 5G identifier display timer when the terminal device enters the 4G state (for example, a state that the terminal device supports displaying the 5G icon, or a state that the 5G icon needs to be displayed is called a 5G state), or a state that the 5G icon does not support displaying, or a state that the 4G icon needs to be displayed is called a 4G state).

When the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state, if an LTE base station where the terminal equipment resides broadcasts an NSA indication, the terminal equipment displays a 5G icon, and when the terminal equipment enters an RRC connection state, even if a base station to which the terminal equipment is connected supports NSA, the base station cannot immediately add an NR auxiliary base station to the terminal equipment, so the terminal equipment needs to display a 4G icon, and the situation is regarded as that the terminal equipment enters a 4G state from a 5G state; or the terminal equipment is originally connected with the NR SCG, which indicates that the terminal equipment is in a double-connection state, and the auxiliary base station is the NR base station, so that the terminal equipment displays a 5G icon, and after the terminal equipment releases the NR SCG, the terminal equipment is not in the double-connection state any more, so that the terminal equipment needs to display a 4G icon, and the situation is also regarded as that the terminal equipment enters the 4G state from the 5G state; or the terminal equipment is in an RRC connected state, for example, the terminal equipment is in a dual-connection state, and the auxiliary base station is an NR base station, the terminal equipment displays a 5G icon, however, the terminal equipment performs cell switching to a new cell broadcasting NSA indication, and the terminal equipment is in the RRC connected state, and the base station serving the new cell cannot immediately add the NR auxiliary base station to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment needs to display a 4G icon, and the situation is also regarded as that the terminal equipment enters the 4G state from the 5G state.

It can be seen from the above description that only the starting and non-timeout actions of the terminal 5G identification display timer are currently specified, and according to the current description, the terminal 5G identification display timer may have a corresponding problem if it is not stopped. For example, referring to fig. 2, a schematic diagram showing the operation of the timer is identified for the terminal 5G. In fig. 2, the box with diagonal lines indicates that the terminal device is in the 4G state, the blank box indicates that the terminal device is in the 5G state, and the oval indicates that the terminal 5G flag display timer is running. As can be seen from fig. 2, when the terminal device enters the 4G state from the 5G state, the terminal device starts the terminal 5G identification display timer, and the terminal device continues to display the 5G icon. When the terminal 5G mark display timer times out, the terminal equipment is in a 4G state, and the terminal equipment displays a 4G icon. And after the terminal 5G identifier display timer is overtime, the terminal equipment enters a 5G state again, and the terminal equipment displays a 5G icon again. Therefore, even if the terminal 5G mark display timer is adopted, frequent switching of icon display still can be caused, and the power consumption of the terminal equipment is increased.

In view of this, a technical solution of the embodiments of the present application is provided. In the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device should display the 4G icon in the second state, but the embodiment of the present application sets a timer, and the timer is started at this time, so that the terminal device keeps displaying the first icon, and frequent switching of icons is reduced. Before the timer is overtime, if the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state, the 5G icon is displayed in the first state, so that the embodiment of the application stops running the timer to continue displaying the first icon, and when the terminal equipment enters the second state from the first state next time, the timer can be restarted, so that the timer is reasonably utilized, and the switching process of the icon is reduced through the running of the timer.

The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a fourth generation mobile communication technology (the 4th generation,4G) system, for example, an LTE system, or may be applied to a 5G system, for example, an NR system, or may also be applied to a next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, which is not specifically limited. In addition, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to a device-to-device (D2D) scene, such as an NR-D2D scene and the like, or can be applied to a vehicle-to-all (vehicle to everything, V2X) scene, such as an NR-V2X scene and the like, such as a vehicle networking, such as a V2X, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and the like, or can be applied to the fields of intelligent driving, auxiliary driving, intelligent network coupling and the like.

For example, a handset used by a user is under coverage of an LTE base station supporting NSA. For example, when the mobile phone is in the RRC idle state initially, after the screen of the mobile phone is turned on, a 5G icon is displayed on the mobile phone. When the user intends to watch the video by using the mobile phone, the user opens a video Application (APP) on the mobile phone, and at this time, the mobile phone needs to enter an RRC connected state. If the handset changes to display the 4G icon according to the scheme currently specified, the user may consider the current network to be less good and stop watching the video. If the user does not use the mobile phone, the mobile phone may enter an RRC idle state again, and the mobile phone displays a 5G icon again. Such frequent switching may bring additional power consumption to the mobile phone, and may not be suitable for the user, and it is not known whether the current network is suitable for watching video or unsuitable for watching video, so that the user experience is poor. However, if the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is adopted, after the user opens the video Application (APP) on the mobile phone, the mobile phone can keep displaying the 5G icon due to the starting of the timer provided by the embodiment of the application, so that the user can watch the video with confidence. After the user closes the video APP, the handset may still display the 5G icon. Therefore, by adopting the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, icons displayed by the mobile phone do not need to be frequently switched, so that the power consumption of the mobile phone is reduced, and the experience is better for a user.

The method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An embodiment of the present application provides a first communication method, please refer to fig. 3, which is a flowchart of the method.

S31, when the terminal equipment is in the first state, the terminal equipment displays a first icon.

The first icon is used for indicating that the terminal device can provide services corresponding to the NR communication system, for example, the first icon is the 5G icon described above. For example, with continued reference to fig. 1A, the upper left hand corner of the display interface of the handset of fig. 1A is shown as "5G", which is an example of the first icon.

The first state is, for example, the 5G state described above. For example, the terminal device being in the first state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC idle state and the terminal device resides in the first cell, and the first cell supports NSA (e.g., the terminal device receives system information broadcasted by the network device in the first cell, the system information includes an NSA indication, the terminal device may determine that the first cell supports NSA, or if the terminal device does not receive system information broadcasted by the network device in the first cell, the terminal device may not determine whether the first cell supports NSA, and at this time, the terminal device processes according to the first cell not supporting NSA, or the terminal device receives system information broadcasted by the network device in the first cell, where the system information does not include an NSA indication, and the terminal device may determine that the first cell does not support NSA. The first cell may be a cell provided by an LTE network device. As can be seen from the foregoing, according to the current specification, if the terminal device is in this state, the terminal device will display a 5G icon.

For another example, the terminal device being in the first state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC connected state and the terminal device is in a dual connected state, where the terminal device is configured with an NR secondary cell, i.e. the terminal device is connected to an NR network device, and is connected to an LTE network device, where the LTE network device is a primary network device of the terminal device, and the NR network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device, for example, an EN-DC scenario as described above. As can be seen from the foregoing, according to the current specification, if the terminal device is in this state, the terminal device will display a 5G icon.

For another example, the terminal device being in the first state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, and the terminal device resides in a first cell, and the first cell is an NR cell, that is, the first cell may be a cell provided by an NR network device. If the terminal device is in this state, the terminal device will display a 5G icon.

For another example, the terminal device being in the first state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC connected state and the terminal device is connected only with NR network devices (e.g., the terminal device is in an NR-NR DC state, i.e., the terminal device is connected with two NR network devices, where one NR network device is a primary network device of the terminal device and the other NR network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device, or the terminal device is in an NR single connection state, i.e., the terminal device is connected only with one NR network device). If the terminal device is in this state, the terminal device will display a 5G icon.

For another example, the terminal device being in the first state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC connected state, the terminal device is connected to an NR network device, and the terminal device is further connected to an LTE network device, where the NR network device is a primary network device of the terminal device, and the LTE network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device (e.g., the terminal device is in an NE-DC state). If the terminal device is in this state, the terminal device will display a 5G icon.

Alternatively, there may be other implementations of the terminal device in the first state besides the several implementations described above, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

S32, when the terminal equipment enters a second state from the first state, the terminal equipment starts a timer.

The second state is, for example, the 4G state described above.

For example, the terminal device being in the second state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC connected state and the terminal device is connected to only LTE network devices (e.g., the terminal device is in an LTE-LTE DC state, i.e., the terminal device is connected to two LTE network devices, where one LTE network device is a primary network device of the terminal device and the other LTE network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device, or the terminal device is in an LTE single connection state, i.e., the terminal device is connected to only one LTE network device). For another example, the terminal device being in the second state may mean that the terminal device is in an RRC idle state, the terminal device resides in a second cell, and the second cell does not support NSA, where the second cell is a cell provided by the LTE network device. Alternatively, there may be other implementations of the terminal device in the second state besides the several implementations described above, which embodiments of the present application are not limited to.

For example, reference may be made to table 2, which is an example of several states of the terminal device. Table 2 includes a first state including state 1 and state 2 and a second state including state 5 and state 6, i.e., either state 1 or state 2 is considered a first state and either state 5 or state 6 is considered a second state. The terminal device may be switched from the first state to the second state, or may be switched from the second state to the first state, or the terminal device may be switched between several states included in the second state.

TABLE 2

Several implementations of the terminal device going from the first state to the second state are described below in connection with table 2.

In the first mode, the terminal device is in an RRC idle state and camps on a first cell, where the first cell is an LTE cell supporting NSA, i.e. the terminal device is in a first state when in the RRC idle state. After that, the terminal device enters the RRC connection state from the RRC idle state, for example, the terminal device enters the RRC connection state in the first cell, and when the terminal device initially enters the RRC connection state in the first cell provided by the LTE network device, the first cell is not so fast as to configure the NR auxiliary network device for the terminal device, even though the first cell can support NSA, so that the terminal device is in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 2 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

And in the second mode, the terminal equipment is in an RRC idle state and resides in a first cell, and the first cell supports NSA, and the terminal equipment is in a first state. After that, the terminal device reselects to a second cell through the cell, where the second cell is not an NR cell and the second cell does not support NSA, for example, the second cell is an LTE cell that does not support NSA, and it is seen that the terminal device may be in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 2 described in table 3 to state 6 described in table 3.

In the third mode, the terminal device is in an RRC connection state, where the terminal device is connected to the LTE network device and the NR network device, where the LTE network device is a primary network device of the terminal device, and the NR network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device, and at this time, the terminal device is in a first state. After that, the terminal device releases the connection between the terminal device and the NR network device (or, the terminal device releases the NR SCG connection). According to the above-mentioned regulations, when the terminal device is in the RRC-connected state, the 5G icon can be displayed only in the EN-DC scenario, otherwise only the 4G icon can be displayed. After the terminal device has released the connection of the NR network device, it is no longer in EN-DC scenario but only in a scenario of a single connection with the LTE network device, so if the previous specification is followed, the terminal device should display a 4G icon, that is, the terminal device is in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 1 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

The fourth mode is that the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with the NR network equipment, the terminal equipment is also connected with the LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is a main network equipment of the terminal equipment, the NR network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment of the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment is in a first state at the moment. The terminal device is then handed over to the first cell, which supports NSA, e.g. the first cell is an LTE cell supporting NSA, but the terminal device is in RRC connected state instead of in RRC idle state in the first cell, and thus the terminal device will be in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 1 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

The fifth mode is that the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with the NR network equipment, the terminal equipment is also connected with the LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is a main network equipment of the terminal equipment, the NR network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment of the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment is in a first state at the moment. After that, the terminal device is handed over to the first cell, and the terminal device is not configured to connect to the NR-secondary network device in the first cell, and therefore, the terminal device is in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 1 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

The sixth mode is that the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, where the terminal equipment is connected to the NR network equipment, the terminal equipment is further connected to the LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is a primary network equipment of the terminal equipment, and the NR network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment of the terminal equipment, where the terminal equipment is in a first state. Thereafter, the terminal device switches to the first cell, and the first cell is not an NR cell, and therefore, the terminal device is in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 1 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

The seventh mode is that the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is connected with the NR network equipment, the terminal equipment is also connected with the LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is a main network equipment of the terminal equipment, the NR network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment of the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment is in a first state at the moment. After that, the terminal device has a link failure (for example, an RLF event occurs), and after the link failure occurs, the terminal device enters an RRC idle state and reselects or selects to the first cell through a cell, and the first cell does not support NSA, for example, the first cell is an LTE cell that does not support NSA, so that the terminal device is in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 1 described in table 3 to state 6 described in table 3.

Alternatively, table 3 may also be referenced, as an example of several states of the terminal device. Table 3 includes a first state including state 1, state 2, state 3, and state 4, and a second state including state 5 and state 6, i.e., state 1, state 2, state 3, or state 4 are all considered to be the first state, and state 5 or state 6 are all considered to be the second state. The terminal device may be switched from the first state to the second state, or may be switched from the second state to the first state, or the terminal device may be switched between several states included in the second state. If table 2 is applied, if the terminal device enters the second state shown in table 3 from state 3 or state 4 shown in table 3, the terminal device will not start the timer, i.e. these cases are not considered as entering the second state from the first state in the embodiments of the present application; if table 3 is applied, however, if the terminal device enters the second state shown in table 3 from state 3 or state 4 shown in table 3, the terminal device starts a timer, i.e. these cases are regarded as entering the second state from the first state in the embodiment of the present application.

TABLE 3 Table 3

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Several implementations of the terminal device going from the first state to the second state are described below in connection with table 3. The difference between table 3 and table 2 is that table 3 has states 3 and 4 added to the first state, and therefore, the state transition process corresponding to table 3 and the state transition process corresponding to table 2 have intersections. For example, table 3 may correspond to the first to seventh embodiments described above, and thus will not be described here again. Several implementations described below are state transitions not included in table 2.

Mode eight, the terminal device is in RRC idle state and camps on the first cell, and the first cell is an NR cell, where the terminal device is in the first state. After that, the terminal device reselects to a second cell through the cell, where the second cell is not an NR cell and the second cell does not support NSA, for example, the second cell is an LTE cell that does not support NSA, and it is seen that the terminal device may be in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 3 described in table 3 to state 6 described in table 3.

And the ninth mode is that the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment is only connected with the NR network equipment, and the terminal equipment is in a first state at the moment. And then, the terminal equipment is switched to a first cell, wherein the first cell is an LTE cell. When the terminal device initially enters the RRC connected state, the first cell is not able to immediately configure the NR auxiliary network device for the terminal device even though the first cell is capable of supporting NSA, so the terminal device may be in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 4 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

In a tenth mode, the terminal device is in an RRC connected state, where the terminal device is connected to the LTE network device and the NR network device, and the NR network device is a primary network device of the terminal device, and the LTE network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device, where the terminal device is in a first state. And then, the terminal equipment is switched to a first cell, wherein the first cell is an LTE cell. When the terminal device initially enters the RRC connected state, the first cell is not able to immediately configure the NR auxiliary network device for the terminal device even though the first cell is capable of supporting NSA, so the terminal device may be in the second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 4 described in table 3 to state 5 described in table 3.

In an eleventh mode, the terminal device is in an RRC connected state, where the terminal device is connected to the LTE network device and the NR network device, and the NR network device is a primary network device of the terminal device, and the LTE network device is a secondary network device of the terminal device, where the terminal device is in a first state. After that, the terminal device has a link failure (for example, a radio link failure (radio link failure, RLF) event occurs), and after the link failure occurs, the terminal device enters an RRC idle state and reselects or selects to a first cell, where the first cell is an LTE cell and the first cell does not support NSA, so that the terminal device is in a second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 4 described in table 3 to state 6 described in table 3.

Mode twelve, the terminal device is in RRC connected state, where the terminal device is only connected to the NR network device, and the terminal device is in the first state. After that, the terminal device has a link failure (for example, a radio link failure (radio link failure, RLF) event occurs), and after the link failure occurs, the terminal device enters an RRC idle state and reselects or selects to a first cell, where the first cell is an LTE cell and the first cell does not support NSA, so that the terminal device is in a second state. This situation can thus be seen as the terminal device having entered the second state from the first state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 4 described in table 3 to state 6 described in table 3.

Alternatively, there may be other implementations of the terminal device entering the second state from the first state, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

In the case that the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the embodiment of the application may enable the terminal device to start a timer, and during the running period of the timer, the terminal device may keep displaying the first icon. That is, by starting the timer, the terminal device can keep continuing to display the first icon without switching to the 4G icon (second icon described later). Therefore, the process of switching the displayed icons by the terminal equipment is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced, and the experience is better for users.

And S33, if the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state before the timer is overtime, the terminal equipment stops running the timer.

For example, table 2 may be applied, and several implementations of the terminal device entering the first state from the second state are described below in connection with table 2.

The method a, the terminal equipment and the NR network equipment are connected, the terminal equipment is also connected with the LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is a main network equipment, and the NR network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment. For example, initially the terminal device does not establish a connection with the NR network device, e.g. the terminal device is in state 5 of table 3, only the LTE network device is connected, at which point the terminal device is in the second state. And then, the terminal equipment establishes connection with the NR network equipment, which is equivalent to connecting with the NR auxiliary network equipment, and the terminal equipment is in a first state. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 5 described in table 2 to state 1 described in table 3.

And b, the terminal equipment enters an RRC idle state from an RRC connection state, and resides in a first cell after entering the RRC idle state, wherein the first cell supports NSA. For example, the terminal device may be connected to only the LTE network device initially, or the terminal device may be connected to two LTE network devices, where the terminal device is in the second state. After that, the terminal device enters an RRC idle state and the first cell supports NSA, so the terminal device is in the first state. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 5 described in table 2 to state 2 described in table 2.

And c, the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and enters an RRC idle state after the link failure occurs, and the terminal equipment is selected to a first cell through cell reselection or cell selection, wherein the first cell is an LTE cell and supports NSA. For example, the terminal device may be connected to only the LTE network device initially, or the terminal device may be connected to two LTE network devices, where the terminal device is in the second state. After that, the terminal device has a link failure (e.g., an RLF event occurs), and after the link failure occurs, the terminal device enters an RRC idle state and performs cell reselection or cell selection to a first cell, where the first cell supports NSA, so that the terminal device is in a first state. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. If the second cell is an LTE cell, this situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 5, described in table 2, to state 2, described in table 2.

Mode d, the terminal device is in an RRC idle state in the first cell, where the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, and the terminal device is in the second state. And then, the terminal equipment is in a first state through cell reselection or cell selection to a second cell, wherein the second cell is an LTE cell and supports NSA. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 6 described in table 2 to state 2 described in table 2.

Alternatively, table 3 may be applied, and several implementations of the terminal device going from the second state to the first state are described below in connection with table 3. The difference between table 3 and table 2 is that table 3 has states 3 and 4 added to the first state, and therefore, the state transition process corresponding to table 3 and the state transition process corresponding to table 2 have intersections. For example, table 3 may also correspond to the foregoing modes a, b and d, and thus will not be described here again. Several implementations described below are state transitions not included in table 2. In addition, if table 2 is applied, if the terminal device enters state 3 or state 4 shown in table 3 from the second state shown in table 3, the terminal device does not stop running the timer, i.e., these cases are not regarded as entering the first state from the second state in the embodiment of the present application; if table 3 is applied, if the terminal device enters the state 3 or the state 4 shown in table 3 from the second state shown in table 3, the terminal device stops running the timer, that is, the situation is regarded as entering the first state from the second state in the embodiment of the present application.

And e, the terminal equipment is in an RRC connection state, and enters an RRC idle state after the link failure occurs, and the terminal equipment is reselected to a first cell, wherein the first cell is an NR cell through cell reselection or cell selection. For example, the terminal device may be connected to only the LTE network device initially, or the terminal device may be connected to two LTE network devices, where the terminal device is in the second state. After that, the terminal device has a link failure (for example, an RLF event occurs), and after the link failure occurs, the terminal device enters an RRC idle state, and through cell reselection or cell selection, the terminal device enters a first cell, which is an NR cell, so that the terminal device is in the first state. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 5 described in table 3 to state 3 described in table 3.

Mode f, the terminal device is in an RRC idle state in the first cell, where the first cell is not an NR cell, and the terminal device is in the second state. And then, the terminal equipment reselects or selects a second cell through the cell, wherein the second cell is an NR cell, and the terminal equipment is in a first state. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 6 described in table 3 to state 3 described in table 3.

Mode g, the terminal device is in an RRC connected state in the first cell, and is only connected to the LTE network device, where the terminal device is in a second state. And then the terminal equipment is switched to a second cell, wherein the second cell is an NR cell, and the terminal equipment is in a first state. This situation can therefore be seen as the terminal device having entered the first state from the second state. This situation can be seen as the terminal device going from state 5 described in table 3 to state 4 described in table 3.

Alternatively, there may be other implementations of the terminal device entering the first state from the second state, which are different from the several implementations described above, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

When the terminal device is in the first state, the first icon should be displayed. If the timer continues to run at this time, the running time of the timer is consumed. In the embodiment of the application, therefore, if the terminal device enters the first state from the second state, the terminal device stops running the timer, because the terminal device is in the first state, the terminal device still displays the first icon, i.e. the stop of the timer does not affect the display of the first icon by the terminal device. In addition, after stopping running the timer, the terminal device may further reset the timer, where resetting the timer may include recovering the value of the timer before running. For example, the timer is counted in a positive number from 0, resetting the timer means resetting the timer, or for example, the timer is counted in a negative number from a maximum value, resetting the timer means setting the value of the timer to the maximum value. The maximum value may refer to the timing duration of the timer, for example, 30 seconds, or may be another value. After that, if the terminal device enters the first state again from the second state, the terminal device may also restart the timer to continue displaying the first icon.

And S34, when the timer is overtime, the terminal equipment displays a second icon. For example, when the timer expires, the terminal device stops displaying the first icon and displays the second icon; or when the timer times out, the terminal device displays the second icon, and the first icon can be continuously displayed at the moment.

Wherein S34 and S33 are two parallel steps, it being understood that when the timer is in the running state, if the terminal device enters the first state from the second state, S33 is performed, and before the timer times out, if the terminal device remains in the second state, S34 is performed when the timer times out. Thus, both S33 and S34 may be considered optional steps, or S34 may be considered optional steps. S34 is indicated by a broken line in fig. 3.

The second icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide the service corresponding to the LTE communication system. For example, the second icon is the 4G icon described above. For example, referring to fig. 4, the "4G" displayed in the upper left corner of the display interface of the mobile phone in fig. 4 is an example of the second icon.

For example, reference may be made to fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of the operation of the timer. In the scenario shown in fig. 5, the terminal device is first in the first state (i.e., the 5G state shown in fig. 5), and the terminal device displays the first icon. Then, the terminal device enters the second state (4G state shown in fig. 5) from the first state, and when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device starts the timer, and the terminal device continues to display the first icon. And in the running time of the timer, the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state, and when the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state, the terminal equipment stops running the timer, and in addition, the terminal equipment can reset the timer, so that the terminal equipment continuously displays the first icon. Before the timer times out, the terminal equipment keeps the second state, and does not enter the first state from the second state, and then the terminal equipment displays a second icon when the timer times out.

As can be seen from comparing fig. 2, if the scheme corresponding to the scenario shown in fig. 2 is adopted, when the terminal device enters the 5G state from the 4G state, the terminal 5G identification display timer continues to run, and when the terminal device is in the 5G state, the running of the terminal 5G identification display timer consumes running time. When the timer expires, if the terminal device is in the 4G state, the 4G icon needs to be displayed, and after that, the terminal device may enter the 5G state again, and the terminal device switches to display the 5G icon again, thereby still causing frequent switching of the icons. However, if the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is adopted, as shown in fig. 5, the terminal device stops running the timer as long as it enters the first state from the second state, so that the running of the timer is more efficient. If the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the timer is started again, so that the timer can cover more time of the terminal device in the second state, the terminal device is likely to enter the first state after being in the second state for a period of time, and the time of the terminal device in the second state can be covered by the running time of the timer, the terminal device does not need to switch the icon in the period of time, the icon switching process is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal device is saved. If the terminal device does not enter the first state from the second state before the timer times out, it may indicate that the terminal device may stay in the second state for a longer time, in which case, the terminal device is caused to display the second icon when the timer times out, so that the icon displayed by the terminal device more accords with the state in which the terminal device is located.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device should display the 4G icon in the second state, but the embodiment of the present application sets a timer, and the timer is started at this time, so that the terminal device keeps displaying the first icon, and frequent switching of icons is reduced. Before the timer is overtime, if the terminal device enters the first state from the second state, the 5G icon is displayed in the first state, so that the embodiment of the application stops running the timer to continue displaying the first icon, and when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state next time, the timer can be restarted, so that the timer is reasonably utilized, and the switching process of the icon is reduced through the running of the timer.

In order to solve the same technical problem, the embodiment of the present application provides a second communication method, please refer to fig. 6, which is a flowchart of the method.

And S61, when the terminal equipment is in the first state, the terminal equipment displays a first icon.

For more on S61, reference is made to the description of S31 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

And S62, when the timer is not operated and the terminal equipment enters the second state from the first state, the terminal equipment starts the timer.

For more on S62, reference is made to the description of S32 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

And S63, when the timer is in an operation state and the terminal equipment enters a second state from the first state, restarting the timer by the terminal equipment so as to continuously display the first icon. Wherein, S62 and S63 may be two parallel ways, not both performed, but one of them is selected to be performed under the corresponding conditions. Restarting the timer may include stopping the timer, resetting the timer, and starting the timer. With respect to the process of resetting the timer, reference is made to the relevant description of the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

The terminal device starts a timer when entering the second state from the first state, and before the timer expires, the terminal device may enter the first state from the second state again. As to what the terminal device is considered to enter the first state from the second state, reference is made to the description of S33 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

After entering the first state, the terminal device is likely to enter the second state again from the first state before the timer expires. Then, if the terminal device enters the second state from the first state again, the terminal device restarts the timer so that the running time of the timer can cover the state of the terminal device for a longer time as much as possible. Because the terminal device restarts the timer, the terminal device will continue to display the first icon.

It can be understood that, when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state every time, if the timer is not running, the timer is started, and if the timer is in the running state, the timer is restarted, so that the running of the timer is more effective, and more time that the terminal device is in the second state can be covered, for example, if the terminal device enters the first state from the second state within the running time of the timer, the terminal device can keep displaying the first icon even if the timer is overtime, the switching process of the icon is reduced, the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced, and the user experience is also improved.

And S64, when the timer is overtime, the terminal equipment displays the icon according to the state of the terminal equipment. Wherein S64 is an optional step, indicated by a dashed line in fig. 6.

For example, when the timer times out, if the terminal device is in the second state, the second icon is displayed, or if the terminal device is in the first state, the first icon is displayed.

For example, reference may be made to fig. 7, which is a schematic diagram of the operation of the timer. In the scenario shown in fig. 7, the terminal device is first in the first state (i.e., the 5G state shown in fig. 7), and the terminal device displays the first icon. Then, the terminal device enters the second state (4G state shown in fig. 7) from the first state, for example, when the timer is not running, the terminal device starts the timer when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, and the terminal device continues to display the first icon. During the running time of the timer, the terminal device again enters the first state from the second state. During the running time of the timer, for example, the terminal device enters the second state from the first state again, when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device restarts the timer, and at this time, the terminal device continues to display the first icon. When the timer expires, the terminal device displays a first icon because the terminal device is in a first state.

For another example, reference may be made to fig. 8, which is another operational schematic diagram of a timer. In the scenario shown in fig. 8, the terminal device is first in the first state (i.e., the 5G state shown in fig. 8), and the terminal device displays the first icon. Then, the terminal device enters the second state (4G state shown in fig. 8) from the first state, for example, when the timer is not running, the terminal device starts the timer when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, and the terminal device continues to display the first icon. During the running time of the timer, the terminal device again enters the first state from the second state. During the running time of the timer, for example, the terminal device enters the second state from the first state again, when the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device restarts the timer, and at this time, the terminal device continues to display the first icon. When the timer expires, the terminal device displays a second icon because the terminal device is in a second state.

As can be seen from comparing fig. 2, if the scheme corresponding to the scenario shown in fig. 2 is adopted, when the terminal device enters the 5G state from the 4G state, the terminal 5G identification display timer continues to run, and when the terminal device is in the 5G state, the running of the terminal 5G identification display timer consumes running time. When the timer expires, if the terminal device is in the 4G state, the 4G icon needs to be displayed, and after that, the terminal device may enter the 5G state again, and the terminal device switches to display the 5G icon again, thereby still causing frequent switching of the icons. However, if the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is adopted, as shown in fig. 7 or fig. 8, the terminal device only needs to enter the second state from the first state, and then starts or restarts the timer, so that the timer can cover more time of the terminal device in the second state, and it is likely that the terminal device enters the first state after being in the second state for a period of time, and the time of the terminal device in the second state may be covered by the running time of the timer, so that the terminal device does not need to switch the icon during the period, the switching process of the icon is reduced, and the power consumption of the terminal device is saved.

In the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, the terminal device should display the 4G icon in the second state, but the embodiment of the present application sets a timer, and the timer is started or restarted at this time, so that the terminal device keeps displaying the first icon, and frequent switching of the icons is reduced. Moreover, the timer is reasonably utilized in the mode, and the icon switching process is reduced through the running of the timer.

The apparatus for implementing the above method in the embodiments of the present application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the above contents can be used in the following embodiments, and repeated contents are not repeated.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 900 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 900 is, for example, a terminal apparatus 900. The terminal device 900 is illustratively a terminal device as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

The terminal device 900 includes a display module 920 and a processing module 910, and optionally, the terminal device 900 may further include a transceiver module 930. The terminal device 900 may be a terminal device, a chip applied in the terminal device, or other combined devices, components, etc. having the functions of the terminal device. When the terminal device 900 is a terminal device, the display module 920 may be a display, the display may include a display screen, a display circuit, and the like, the processing module 910 may be one or more processors (or processing circuits), for example, a baseband processor, the baseband processor may include one or more central processing units (central processing unit, CPUs), the transceiver module 930 may include a transmitting module and a receiving module, the transmitting module may be a transmitter, the transmitter may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like, the receiving module may be a receiver, the receiver may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like, wherein the transmitter and the receiver may be different modules, respectively, or the transmitter and the receiver may be disposed in the same functional module, which may be referred to as a transceiver, or the transmitting module and the receiving module may be different modules, respectively, or the transmitting module and the receiving module may be disposed in the same functional module, which may be referred to as a transceiver module. When the terminal device 900 is a component having the functions of the terminal device described above, the display module 920 may be a display, the display may include a display screen, a display circuit, and the like, the processing module 910 may be a processor (or a processing circuit), such as a baseband processor, and the transceiver module 930 may be a radio frequency unit, where the transmitter and the receiver may be different modules, respectively, or the transmitter and the receiver may be disposed in the same functional module, which may be a radio frequency unit. When the terminal device 900 is a chip system, the display module 920 may be a display circuit of a chip (e.g., a baseband chip), the transmission module may be an output interface of the chip (e.g., a baseband chip), the reception module may be an input interface of the chip, and both the output interface and the input interface of the chip may implement functions of the transceiver module 930 (or if the input interface and the output interface may be the same interface, the transmission module and the reception module are considered to be the same functional module, which is the transceiver module 930, i.e., the input/output interface of the chip), the processing module 910 may be a processor (or a processing circuit) of the chip system, and the processor may include one or more CPUs. It is to be appreciated that the processing module 910 in embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit components (or processing circuits), and the transceiver module 930 may be implemented by a transceiver (e.g., including a receiver and a transmitter) or transceiver-related circuit components.

For example, the processing module 910 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3, except for display operations and transceiving operations, such as S32 and S33, and/or other procedures for supporting the techniques described herein. The display module 920 may be used to perform all display operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3, e.g., S31 and S34, and/or to support other processes for the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 930 may be used to perform all of the transceiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3, e.g., operations to receive system information, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein.

The display module 920 is configured to display a first icon when the terminal device 900 is in the first state, where the first icon is used to indicate that the terminal device 900 can provide a service corresponding to the NR communication system;

a processing module 910, configured to start a timer when the terminal device 900 enters the second state from the first state, where the terminal device 900 keeps displaying the first icon until the timer expires;

the processing module 910 is further configured to stop running the timer if the terminal device 900 enters the first state from the second state before the timer expires.

As an alternative embodiment, the terminal device 900 is in the first state, including:

the terminal equipment 900 is in an RRC connection state, the terminal equipment 900 is connected with NR network equipment, and the terminal equipment 900 is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC idle state, the terminal device 900 resides in a first cell, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is in an RRC idle state, the terminal equipment 900 resides in a first cell, and the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 900 is in RRC connected state, and terminal equipment 900 is connected only with NR network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC connection state, the terminal device 900 is connected with an NR network device, and the terminal device 900 is further connected with an LTE network device, where the NR network device is a primary network device, and the LTE network device is a secondary network device.

As an alternative embodiment, the first cell supports NSA, including:

a transceiver module 930, configured to receive system information at the first cell, where the system information includes an NSA indication, where the NSA indication is used to indicate that the first cell supports NSA.

As an alternative embodiment, the terminal device 900 is in the second state, including:

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC connected state, and the terminal device 900 is only connected to the LTE network device;

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC idle state, where the terminal device 900 resides in a second cell, where the second cell is an LTE cell and does not support NSA.

As an optional implementation manner, the processing module 910 is further configured to stop displaying the first icon and display a second icon when the timer expires, where the second icon is used to indicate that the terminal device 900 is capable of providing a service corresponding to the LTE communication system.

As an alternative embodiment, the processing module 910 is further configured to reset the timer.

As an alternative embodiment, the terminal device 900 enters the second state from the first state, including:

the terminal device 900 enters an RRC connected state from an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal device 900 resides in the first cell when in the RRC idle state, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

in the RRC idle state, the terminal device 900 reselects to a second cell through a cell, where the terminal device 900 camps in a first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell supports NSA, and the second cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal device 900 is in the RRC idle state, reselects to a second cell through a cell, where the terminal device 900 resides in the first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell is an NR cell, and the second cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA.

the terminal equipment 900 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is connected with NR network equipment only, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is connected with an LTE network equipment and an NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the NR network equipment is a main network equipment, the LTE network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal equipment 900 is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through a cell, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is only connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is in an RRC connection state, and the connection between the terminal equipment 900 and NR network equipment is released, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is connected with LTE network equipment and the NR network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the terminal equipment 900 is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein when the terminal equipment 900 is in the RRC connection state, connection exists between the terminal equipment 900 and an NR network equipment, the terminal equipment 900 is also connected with an LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is a main network equipment, the NR network equipment is an auxiliary network equipment, and the terminal equipment 900 is not configured to be connected with the NR auxiliary network equipment in the first cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal equipment 900 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment 900 is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the terminal equipment 900 is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is not an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through a cell, where the terminal equipment 900 is connected with an NR network device when in the RRC connection state, and the terminal equipment 900 is further connected with an LTE network device, where the LTE network device is a primary network device, the NR network device is a secondary network device, and the first cell does not support NSA.

As an alternative embodiment, the terminal device 900 enters the first state from the second state, including:

the terminal equipment 900 establishes connection with NR network equipment, and the terminal equipment 900 is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 900 enters an RRC idle state from an RRC connection state, and the terminal equipment 900 resides in a first cell after entering the RRC idle state, wherein the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The terminal device 900 is in an RRC connected state, and after a link failure occurs, reselects or selects a first cell through a cell, where the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC connected state, and after a link failure occurs, reselects or selects a first cell, where the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC idle state in a first cell, and then the terminal device 900 performs cell reselection or selects to a second cell, where the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, the second cell is an LTE cell, and the second cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal device 900 is in an RRC idle state in a first cell, and then the terminal device 900 performs cell reselection or selects to a second cell, where the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, and the second cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal device 900 is in RRC connected state, and is connected to only the LTE network device, after which the terminal device 900 is handed over to a second cell, which is an NR cell, through a cell.

For other functions that can be implemented by the terminal device 900, reference may be made to the related description of the embodiment shown in fig. 3, which is not repeated.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1000 is illustratively a terminal apparatus 1000. Terminal device 1000 is illustratively a terminal device such as that described in the embodiment shown in fig. 6.

Terminal device 1000 can include a display module 1020 and a processing module 1010, and optionally terminal device 1000 can also include a transceiver module 1030. Terminal device 1000 can be, for example, a terminal device, a chip for use in a terminal device, or other combination device, component, etc. having the functions of the terminal device. With respect to the implementation of the display module 1020, reference may be made to the description of the display module 920, with respect to the implementation of the processing module 1010, with respect to the implementation of the transceiver module 1030, and with respect to the transceiver module 930.

For example, the processing module 1010 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 6, except for display operations, such as S62 and S63, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The display module 1020 may be used to perform all display operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, e.g., S61 and S64, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. Transceiver module 1030 may be used to perform all of the transceiving operations performed by the terminal device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 6, e.g., to receive system information, and/or to support other procedures for the techniques described herein.

The display module 1020 is configured to display a first icon when the terminal device 1000 is in the first state, where the first icon is used to indicate that the terminal device 1000 can provide a service corresponding to the NR communication system;

a processing module 1010, configured to start a timer when the timer is not running and the terminal device 1000 enters a second state from a first state, where the terminal device 1000 keeps displaying the first icon during the running of the timer;

alternatively, the processing module 1010 is configured to restart the timer when the timer is in the running state and the terminal device 1000 enters the second state from the first state.

As an alternative embodiment, the processing module 1010 is configured to restart the timer by:

stopping running the timer;

resetting the timer;

and starting the timer.

As an alternative embodiment, the display module 1020 is further configured to:

when the timer times out, the second icon is displayed if the terminal device 1000 is in the second state, or the first icon is displayed if the terminal device 1000 is in the first state.

As an alternative embodiment, terminal device 1000 is in the first state, comprising:

Terminal equipment 1000 is in an RRC connection state, the terminal equipment 1000 is connected with NR network equipment, and the terminal equipment 1000 is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal device 1000 is in an RRC idle state, terminal device 1000 resides in a first cell, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 is in an RRC idle state, terminal equipment 1000 resides in a first cell, and the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal device 1000 is in RRC connected state, terminal device 1000 being connected only with NR network devices; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal device 1000 is in an RRC connected state, terminal device 1000 is connected to an NR network device, and terminal device 1000 is further connected to an LTE network device, where the NR network device is a primary network device and the LTE network device is a secondary network device.

As an alternative embodiment, the first cell supports NSA, including:

a transceiver module 1030 is configured to receive system information at the first cell, where the system information includes an NSA indication, and the NSA indication is used to indicate that the first cell supports NSA.

As an alternative embodiment, terminal device 1000 is in said second state, comprising:

Terminal device 1000 is in RRC connected state, terminal device 1000 is connected only to LTE network devices;

terminal device 1000 is in an RRC idle state and terminal device 1000 resides in a second cell, wherein the second cell is an LTE cell and does not support NSA.

As an alternative embodiment, terminal device 1000 can enter the second state from the first state, comprising:

terminal equipment 1000 enters an RRC connection state from an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal equipment 1000 resides in the first cell when in the RRC idle state, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 reselects to a second cell through a cell in an RRC idle state, wherein terminal equipment 1000 camps in a first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell supporting NSA, the second cell not being an NR cell and not supporting NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal device 1000 in the RRC idle state reselects to a second cell through a cell, wherein terminal device 1000 in the RRC idle state camps on the first cell, the first cell is an NR cell, and the second cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA.

Terminal equipment 1000 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment 1000 is connected with NR network equipment only, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the terminal equipment 1000 is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein the terminal equipment 1000 connects LTE network equipment and NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the terminal equipment 1000 is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through a cell, wherein when the terminal equipment 1000 is in the RRC connection state, only connection with NR network equipment exists, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

Terminal equipment 1000 is in an RRC connection state, and connection between terminal equipment 1000 and NR network equipment is released, wherein terminal equipment 1000 is connected with LTE network equipment and the NR network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein when the terminal equipment 1000 is in the RRC connection state, connection exists with NR network equipment, the terminal equipment 1000 is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein when the terminal equipment 1000 is in the RRC connection state, connection exists between the terminal equipment 1000 and NR network equipment, the terminal equipment 1000 is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the terminal equipment 1000 is not configured to be connected with the NR secondary network equipment in the first cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

terminal equipment 1000 is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein when the terminal equipment 1000 is in the RRC connection state, connection exists with NR network equipment, the terminal equipment 1000 is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is not an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

Terminal equipment 1000 is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein when the terminal equipment 1000 is in the RRC connection state, connection exists between the terminal equipment 1000 and NR network equipment, and the terminal equipment 1000 is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell does not support NSA.

For other functions that can be implemented by the terminal device 1000, reference may be made to the related description of the embodiment shown in fig. 6, which is not repeated.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device which can be a terminal device or a circuit. The communication means may be adapted to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiments.

Fig. 11 shows a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal device when the communication device is a terminal device. For easy understanding and convenient illustration, in fig. 11, a mobile phone is taken as an example of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 11, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal apparatuses may not have an input/output device.

When data need to be sent, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be sent and then outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit carries out radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then sends the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor is shown in fig. 11. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc. The memory may be provided separately from the processor or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit with the transmitting and receiving functions may be regarded as a transmitting and receiving unit of the terminal device (the transmitting and receiving unit may be one functional unit, which can implement the transmitting function and the receiving function, or the transmitting and receiving unit may also include two functional units, which are a receiving unit capable of implementing the receiving function and a transmitting unit capable of implementing the transmitting function, respectively), and the processor with the processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 13, the terminal device includes a display unit 1130, a transceiving unit 1110, and a processing unit 1120. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver device, etc. The processing unit may also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. The display unit may also be referred to as a display or a display device or the like. Alternatively, the device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver unit 1110 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver unit 1110 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver unit 1110 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver circuitry, or the like. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, or receiving circuit, among others. The transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver unit 1110 may be used to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the processing unit 1120 may be used to perform other operations on the terminal device side than the transmitting operation and the displaying operation in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and the display unit 1130 may be used to perform the displaying operation on the terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 3.

Alternatively, the transceiver unit 1110 may be configured to perform a transmitting operation and a receiving operation on the terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the processing unit 1120 may be configured to perform operations other than the transmitting operation and the displaying operation on the terminal device in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the display unit 1130 may be configured to perform a displaying operation on the terminal device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 6.

When the communication device is a chip-like device or circuit, the device may comprise a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The receiving and transmitting unit can be an input and output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

When the communication apparatus in this embodiment is a terminal device, reference may be made to the device shown in fig. 12. As an example, the device may perform functions similar to the processing module 910 of fig. 9. For example, the processing module 910 in the above embodiment may be the processor 1210 in fig. 12, and perform the corresponding functions; the transceiver module 930 in the above embodiment may be the transmit data processor 1220 and/or the receive data processor 1230 in fig. 12, and perform corresponding functions. As another example, the processing module 1010 in the above embodiment may be the processor 1210 in fig. 12, and perform the corresponding functions; the transceiver module 1030 in the above embodiment may be the transmit data processor 1220 and/or the receive data processor 1230 in fig. 12 and perform the corresponding functions. Although a channel encoder, a channel decoder are shown in fig. 12, it is to be understood that these modules are not limiting illustrations of the present embodiment, but are merely schematic.

Fig. 13 shows another form of the present embodiment. The processing device 1300 includes a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, a peripheral subsystem, and the like. The communication device in this embodiment may act as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 1303, an interface 1304. The processor 1303 performs the functions of the processing module 910, and the interface 1304 performs the functions of the transceiver module 930. Alternatively, the processor 1303 performs the functions of the processing module 1010, and the interface 1304 performs the functions of the transceiver module 1030. As another modification, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 1306, a processor 1303, and a program stored in the memory 1306 and executable on the processor, where the processor 1303 implements the method on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment when executing the program. It is noted that the memory 1306 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located within the modulation subsystem or within the processing device 1300, as long as the memory 1306 is coupled to the processor 1303.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the available medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

The various illustrative logical blocks and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the general purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software element executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software cells may be stored in random access memory (random access memory, RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In an example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.

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.

In one or more exemplary designs, the above-described functions described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination of the three. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on the computer-readable medium. Computer readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media that facilitate transfer of computer programs 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. For example, such computer-readable media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to carry or store program code in the form of instructions or data structures and other data structures that may be read by a general or special purpose computer, or a general or special purpose processor. Further, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium, e.g., if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source via a coaxial cable, fiber optic computer, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless such as infrared, radio, and microwave, and is also included in the definition of computer-readable medium. The disks (disks) and disks (disks) include compact disks, laser disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (digital versatile disc, DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disk where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while disks usually reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above may also be included within the computer-readable media.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the examples described above, the functions described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, these 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 foregoing embodiments have been provided for the purpose of illustrating the embodiments of the present application in further detail, and it should be understood that the foregoing embodiments are merely illustrative of the embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are included in the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing description of the present application may enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the teachings of the embodiments of the application, and any modifications may be made based on the teachings disclosed and the principles described in the embodiments of the application may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention of the application. Thus, the disclosure of the embodiments of the present application is not limited to the embodiments and designs described, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Although the present application has been described in connection with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations thereof can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the application. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents that fall within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, given that such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, the embodiments of the present application are intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

In combination with the above, the present application also provides the following embodiments:

embodiment 1, a communication method, comprising:

when the terminal equipment is in a first state, displaying a first icon, wherein the first icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide services corresponding to the NR communication system;

when the terminal equipment enters a second state from a first state, starting a timer, wherein the terminal equipment keeps displaying the first icon before the timer is overtime;

And if the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state before the timer is overtime, stopping running the timer.

Embodiment 2, the method of embodiment 1, wherein the terminal device is in the first state, includes:

Embodiment 3, the method of embodiment 1, the first cell supporting NSA, comprising:

Embodiment 4, the method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the terminal device is in the second state, includes:

Embodiment 5, the method of any one of embodiments 1-4, further comprising:

Embodiment 6, the method of any one of embodiments 1-5, further comprising:

resetting the timer.

Embodiment 7, a method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the terminal device enters a second state from a first state, including:

Embodiment 8, a method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 6, wherein the terminal device enters a second state from a first state, including:

Embodiment 9, the method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the terminal device enters the first state from the second state, and includes:

Embodiment 10, a communication method, comprising:

starting a timer when the timer is not running and the terminal equipment enters a second state from a first state, wherein the terminal equipment keeps displaying the first icon during the running period of the timer;

or when the timer is in an operation state and the terminal equipment enters the second state from the first state, restarting the timer.

Embodiment 11, the method of embodiment 10, restarting the timer, comprising:

stopping running the timer;

Resetting the timer;

and starting the timer.

Embodiment 12, the method of embodiment 10 or embodiment 11, further comprising:

Embodiment 13, the method according to any one of embodiments 10 to 12, wherein the terminal device is in the first state, and includes:

Embodiment 14, the method of embodiment 13, wherein the first cell supports NSA, comprising:

Embodiment 15, the method according to any one of embodiments 10 to 14, wherein the terminal device is in the second state, including:

Embodiment 16, the method according to any one of embodiments 10 to 15, wherein the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, includes:

Embodiment 17, the method according to any one of embodiments 10 to 15, wherein the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, including:

Embodiment 18, a communication device, comprising:

the display module is used for displaying a first icon when the communication device is in a first state, wherein the first icon is used for indicating that the communication device can provide services corresponding to the NR communication system;

a processing module, configured to start a timer when the communication device enters a second state from a first state, where the communication device keeps displaying the first icon until the timer expires;

the processing module is further configured to stop running the timer if the communication device enters the first state from the second state before the timer expires.

Embodiment 19, the communication device of embodiment 18, the communication device being in the first state, comprising:

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, is connected with NR network equipment, and is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC idle state, the communication device camps on a first cell, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The communication device is in an RRC idle state, the communication device resides in a first cell, and the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, and is only connected with NR network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, the communication device is connected with NR network equipment, the communication device is also connected with LTE network equipment, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, and the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment.

Embodiment 20, the communication device of embodiment 19, further comprising a transceiver module; the first cell supports NSA, including:

the transceiver module is configured to receive system information in the first cell, where the system information includes an NSA indication, and the NSA indication is used to indicate that the first cell supports NSA.

Embodiment 21, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 18 to 20, wherein the communication device is in the second state, comprising:

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, and is only connected with LTE network equipment;

the communication device is in an RRC idle state, the communication device camps on a second cell, wherein the second cell is an LTE cell and does not support NSA.

Embodiment 22 of the communication device according to any one of embodiments 18 to 21, wherein the display module is further configured to stop displaying the first icon and display a second icon when the timer expires, the second icon being configured to indicate that the communication device is capable of providing a service corresponding to the LTE communication system.

Embodiment 23, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 18 to 22, wherein the processing module is further configured to reset the timer.

Embodiment 24, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 18 to 23, wherein the communication device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

the communication device enters an RRC connection state from an RRC idle state, wherein the communication device resides in the first cell when in the RRC idle state, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device reselects to a second cell through a cell in an RRC idle state, wherein the communication device resides in a first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell supports NSA, and the second cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is reselected to a second cell through a cell in an RRC idle state, wherein the communication device resides in the first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell is an NR cell, and the second cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA.

The communication device according to embodiment 25, which is any one of the embodiments 18 to 23, is configured to enter a second state from a first state, and includes:

the communication device is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the communication device is connected with NR network equipment only, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the communication device is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is an LTE cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein the communication device is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the NR network equipment is primary network equipment, the LTE network equipment is secondary network equipment, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through a cell, wherein the communication device is only connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the first cell is an LTE cell, and the first cell does not support NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The communication device is in an RRC connection state, and the connection between the communication device and NR network equipment is released, wherein the communication device is connected with LTE network equipment and NR network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the communication device is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the communication device is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the communication device is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the communication device is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the communication device is not configured to be connected with the NR secondary network equipment in the first cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is switched to a first cell in an RRC connection state, wherein the communication device is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, the communication device is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell is not an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The communication device is in an RRC connection state, enters an RRC idle state after a link failure occurs, and reselects or selects a first cell through the cell, wherein the communication device is connected with NR network equipment when in the RRC connection state, and the communication device is also connected with LTE network equipment, the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment, and the first cell does not support NSA.

Embodiment 26, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 18 to 25, wherein the communication device enters the first state from the second state, and includes:

the communication device establishes connection with NR network equipment, and the communication device is also connected with LTE network equipment, wherein the LTE network equipment is primary network equipment, and the NR network equipment is secondary network equipment; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device enters an RRC idle state from an RRC connection state, and resides in a first cell after entering the RRC idle state, wherein the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC connection state, and after a link failure occurs, a first cell is reselected or selected through a cell, wherein the first cell is an LTE cell and supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

The communication device is in an RRC connection state, and after a link failure occurs, a first cell is reselected or selected through a cell, wherein the first cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC idle state in a first cell, and then the communication device performs cell reselection or selects to a second cell, wherein the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, the second cell is an LTE cell and supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC idle state in a first cell, and then the communication device performs cell reselection or selects to a second cell, wherein the first cell is not an NR cell and does not support NSA, and the second cell is an NR cell; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

the communication device is in an RRC connection state and is only connected with the LTE network equipment, and then the communication device is switched to a second cell through a cell, wherein the second cell is an NR cell.

Embodiment 27, a communication device, comprising:

a processing module, configured to start a timer when the timer is not running and the communication device enters a second state from a first state, where the communication device keeps displaying the first icon during running of the timer;

Or the processing module is used for restarting the timer when the timer is in an operation state and the communication device enters the second state from the first state.

Embodiment 28, the communication device of embodiment 28, the processing module is configured to restart the timer by:

stopping running the timer;

resetting the timer;

and starting the timer.

An embodiment 29, the communication device according to embodiment 27 or embodiment 28, wherein the display module is further configured to display the second icon if the communication device is in the second state or display the first icon if the communication device is in the first state when the timer expires.

Embodiment 30, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 27 to 29, wherein the communication device is in the first state, comprising:

Embodiment 31, the communication device of embodiment 30, further comprising a transceiver module; the first cell supports NSA, including:

Embodiment 32 is the communication device according to any one of embodiments 27 to 31, wherein the communication device is in the second state, comprising:

Embodiment 33, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 27 to 32, wherein the communication device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

Embodiment 34, the communication device according to any one of embodiments 27 to 32, wherein the communication device enters the second state from the first state, and includes:

Embodiment 35, a communication device, wherein the communication device comprises a processor and a display, the processor and the display being coupled, capable of performing the method of any of embodiments 1 to 9, or performing the method of any of embodiments 10 to 17.

Embodiment 36, a chip comprising a processor for performing the method of any of embodiments 1 to 9 described above, or performing the method of any of embodiments 10 to 17, when the processor executes instructions. The instructions may come from memory internal to the chip or from memory external to the chip. Optionally, the chip further comprises an input-output circuit.

Embodiment 37, a communication system, wherein the communication system comprises a communication device according to any one of embodiments 18 to 26.

Embodiment 38, a communication system, wherein the communication system comprises a communication device according to any one of embodiments 27 to 34.

Embodiment 39, a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of embodiments 1 to 9 or causes the computer to perform the method as described in any one of embodiments 10 to 17.

Embodiment 40, a computer program product for storing a computer program which, when executed by a computer, can implement the method as described in any of embodiments 1 to 9 or implement the method as described in any of embodiments 10 to 17.

Although the present application has been described herein in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art from a review of the figures, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

when the terminal equipment is in a first state, displaying a first icon, wherein the first icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide services corresponding to an NR communication system;

and if the terminal equipment enters the first state from the second state before the timer is overtime, stopping running the timer, wherein the terminal equipment keeps displaying the first icon after the timer stops running.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is in the first state, comprising:

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first cell supports NSA, comprising:

4. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the terminal device is in the second state, comprising:

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

And stopping displaying the first icon and displaying a second icon when the timer is overtime, wherein the second icon is used for indicating that the terminal equipment can provide services corresponding to an LTE communication system.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

resetting the timer.

7. A method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, comprising:

the terminal equipment enters an RRC connection state from an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal equipment resides in a first cell when in the RRC idle state, and the first cell supports NSA; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

and the terminal equipment reselects to a second cell through a cell in an RRC idle state, wherein the terminal equipment resides in a first cell in the RRC idle state, the first cell is an NR cell, and the second cell is not the NR cell and does not support NSA.

8. A method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the terminal device enters the second state from the first state, comprising:

9. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the terminal device entering the first state from the second state comprises:

10. A communication device comprising a display module and a processing module, the display module and the processing module being coupled to be capable of performing the method of any of claims 1-9.

11. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.