CN114080001A

CN114080001A - Method and device for accessing wireless network

Info

Publication number: CN114080001A
Application number: CN202010838963.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘铭; 牛杰
Original assignee: Huawei Technical Service Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technical Service Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-19
Filing date: 2020-08-19
Publication date: 2022-02-22

Abstract

A method and a device for accessing a wireless network relate to the technical field of communication. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment sends first information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal equipment currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network type; the network equipment receives a signal measurement result of the terminal equipment in a first cell from the terminal equipment; and the network equipment sends second information to the terminal equipment according to the signal measurement result, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to access a second cell, the second cell is a neighbor cell of the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type. Therefore, according to the signal measurement result of the first cell where the terminal equipment is located, the signal quality of the different-system adjacent cell of the first cell, namely the second cell, is estimated, and the terminal equipment is indicated to be accessed into the second cell, so that the service continuity of the terminal equipment can be guaranteed when the different-system networks are interoperated.

Description

Method and device for accessing wireless network

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for accessing a wireless network.

Background

With the development of communication technologies, fourth generation mobile communication technology (4G for short) networks and fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G for short) networks have been gradually popularized to meet the rapidly growing demands of wireless data services. Meanwhile, in order to protect existing network facilities, guarantee the quality of voice services, and guarantee the requirements of basic wireless services of low-end devices in the network, the 2th generation mobile communication technology (abbreviated as 2G) network and the 3th generation mobile communication technology (abbreviated as 3G) network are still used as service bearer networks. Therefore, a case where heterogeneous networks coexist for a long period of time may occur.

At present, in a scenario where heterogeneous networks coexist, services mainly carried by different networks are different, for example, a network with a lower network system priority (for short, a low-system network, such as 2G, 3G, etc.) mainly carries voice services, a network with a higher network system priority (for short, a high-system network, such as 4G, 5G, etc.) mainly carries data services, and network balance and smooth evolution are realized through a large number of functional characteristics applied to interoperation between the low-system network and the high-system network (for short, interoperation between heterogeneous networks, which may also be referred to as interoperation between heterogeneous systems), so as to ensure the service quality of terminal equipment, effectively realize the offloading of different users and different services, avoid network resource waste, and improve the resource utilization rate of each network. When inter-operation between heterogeneous networks is performed, how to ensure service continuity of a terminal device is still an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application aims to provide a method and a device for accessing a wireless network, which are beneficial to ensuring the service continuity of terminal equipment when inter-operation is carried out between different-system networks.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for accessing a wireless network, including: the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends first information to terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for informing the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal equipment currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network standard; the network equipment receives a signal measurement result of the terminal equipment in the first cell from the terminal equipment; and the network equipment sends second information to the terminal equipment according to the signal measurement result, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to access a second cell, the second cell is a cell adjacent to the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type.

Through the design, the network equipment determines the second cell of the different system type to be accessed according to the signal measurement result of the first cell where the terminal equipment resides currently, so that the probability of step-on and disconnection is reduced, and even step-on and disconnection is avoided when the terminal equipment performs interoperation between different system type networks to access a wireless network.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending, by the network device, the first information to the terminal device includes: and the network equipment sends the first information to the terminal equipment after the terminal equipment accesses the first cell and establishes user service.

Through the design, the network equipment instructs the terminal equipment to measure the signal of the first cell after the terminal equipment is accessed into the first cell and user service is established, and the signal measurement of the different-system target cell is not required to be carried out after the service of the terminal equipment side is finished, so that the reduction of the interoperation time delay among different-system networks is facilitated, and the service continuity of the terminal equipment side is ensured. The user service may be, for example, a voice service or a data service, which is not limited in this application.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending, by the network device, the second information to the terminal device according to the signal measurement result of the first cell includes: the network device sends the second information to the terminal device when determining that the signal measurement result satisfies any one of the following conditions: the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold and less than a second preset threshold.

Through the design, the signal measurement result of the network equipment in the first cell indicates the terminal equipment to carry out inter-operation between different-mode networks. The second cell can be configured in advance and can have a specific incidence relation with the first cell, the signal quality of the second cell can be estimated quickly according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, then the terminal device is instructed to be accessed into the second cell, and the probability of occurrence of step-on-air and talk-off is facilitated to be reduced due to the fact that the signal quality of a target network is estimated according to the signal quality of the first cell. Meanwhile, signal measurement is not needed to be carried out on the different-system target cells after the service on the terminal equipment side is finished, so that the reduction of the time delay of interoperation between different-system networks is facilitated, and the service continuity on the terminal equipment side is guaranteed.

In a possible implementation manner, before the network device sends the second information to the terminal device, the method further includes: the network device obtains neighboring cell configuration information, where the neighboring cell configuration information is used to indicate a relationship between a first coverage area of the first cell and a second coverage area of the second cell.

Through the design, for example, relevant configuration can be completed in advance according to the cell antenna information and the neighbor cell configuration information can be obtained, and the neighbor cell configuration information can be used for indicating the relationship between the coverage area of the first cell and the coverage area of the second cell, so that when inter-operation is performed between different-system networks, a target cell which is required to be accessed is quickly locked according to the neighbor cell configuration information, and reduction of network delay is facilitated. The first network device may obtain the neighboring cell configuration information in a variety of ways. For example, from locally stored configuration data; generating according to the locally stored antenna information of the first cell and/or the second cell; obtained from a particular control device; and after the antenna information of the second cell is obtained from the second network equipment, generating and the like according to the antenna information of the first cell and/or the antenna information of the second cell. Then, according to the neighboring cell configuration information, it can be determined whether there is a second cell that satisfies the relevant conditions, so as to determine whether the signal measurement result of the first cell can be used as one of the bases for instructing the terminal device to perform inter-operation between different-format networks quickly, thereby determining whether to send the second information to instruct the terminal device to access the second cell.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network equipment determines that the overlapping rate of the second coverage area and the first coverage area is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold value based on the neighboring cell configuration information; the overlapping ratio is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping region of the second coverage region and the first coverage region, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage region and the first coverage region.

Through the design, the different-system adjacent cells are configured for the first cell according to the overlapping relation among the coverage areas of the cells, so that the target cell to be accessed is quickly locked when the different-system networks are interoperated, and the network delay is reduced.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network device determines that the second coverage area and the first coverage area are concentric coverage based on the neighboring cell configuration information.

Through the design, because the second cell and the first cell are covered in a concentric mode, the signal quality of the two cells has similarity, the signal quality of the second cell is estimated based on the signal measurement result of the first cell, the inter-system interoperation is carried out, the probability of step-on-air offline of the terminal equipment during the inter-system interoperation is favorably reduced, and even the step-on-air offline is avoided.

In a possible implementation manner, before sending the second information to the terminal device, the method further includes: the network device determines that the terminal device is within the coverage of the second cell.

Through the design, before the first network device sends the second information, for example, whether the terminal device is in the coverage area of the second cell can be determined according to the position information of the terminal device, the antenna information of the first cell, and the like, so that it is further ensured that the terminal device does not step on air and off-line when performing inter-system network interoperation.

In a possible implementation manner, before the network device sends the second information to the terminal device, the method further includes: and the network equipment determines that the user service performed by the terminal equipment in the first cell is executed and ended.

Through the design, if the user service is a service with strong perception on the network signal quality or network delay, such as a voice service, the terminal equipment can be triggered to carry out inter-system network interoperation after the user service is finished, so that the service continuity of the terminal equipment side is guaranteed.

In a possible implementation manner, when the terminal device is in an interoperation scenario among different networks of different systems, the signal measurement of the first cell may be implemented correspondingly based on the measurement manner corresponding to the network system of the terminal device, and a corresponding measurement result is obtained. For example, the signal measurements may include measurements based on any one or more of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), downlink received level of a serving cell, and a signal strength indicator (RSSI).

In a possible implementation manner, the embodiment of the present application is applicable to an operation from a low-standard network to a high-standard network, and the priority of the second network standard is higher than the priority of the first network standard; the method is also suitable for the operation from a high-system network to a low-system network, and the priority of the second network system is lower than that of the first network system.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network device may control the terminal device in multiple manners to implement inter-network inter-operation between different types of networks. The second information includes second cell information, and the second cell information includes a frequency point of the second cell or an identifier of the second cell. The frequency points are numbers for fixed frequencies. The transmission frequency can be designated based on the frequency point replacement frequency in the corresponding network. The second information may be an RRC release message including a frequency point of the second cell, so as to trigger the terminal device to access the second cell in a redirection manner. The second information may be a handover command including an identifier of the second cell, so as to trigger the terminal device to access the second cell through a handover mode.

In one possible implementation, the network device is any one of: a radio network controller RNC, an evolution type base station eNB and a 5G base station gNB.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for accessing a wireless network, including a receiving unit and a sending unit; the sending unit is configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information is used to notify the terminal device to perform signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal device currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network standard; the receiving unit is used for receiving a signal measurement result of the terminal equipment in a first cell from the terminal equipment; the sending unit is further configured to send second information to the terminal device according to the signal measurement result, where the second information is used to indicate that the terminal device accesses a second cell, where the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is configured to: and after the terminal equipment accesses the first cell and establishes user service, sending the first information to the terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is configured to: when the signal measurement result is determined to meet any one of the following conditions, sending the second information to the terminal equipment; wherein the first condition comprises any one of: the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold and less than a second preset threshold.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a processing unit; before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is configured to: and acquiring neighboring cell configuration information, wherein the neighboring cell configuration information is used for indicating a relationship between a first coverage area of the first cell and a second coverage area of the second cell.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the network device determines, based on the neighboring cell configuration information, that an overlapping rate of the second coverage area and the first coverage area is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, where the overlapping rate is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area.

In a possible implementation manner, before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is further configured to: and determining that the terminal equipment is in the coverage range of the second cell.

In a possible implementation manner, before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is further configured to: and determining that the user service performed by the terminal equipment in the first cell is executed and ended.

In one possible implementation, the signal measurements include any one or more of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), downlink received level of a serving cell, and a signal strength indicator (RSSI).

In a possible implementation manner, the priority of the second network type is higher than the priority of the first network type; or the priority of the second network system is lower than that of the first network system.

In a possible implementation manner, the second information includes second cell information, and the second cell information includes a frequency point of the second cell or an identifier of the second cell.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus is any one of: a radio network controller RNC, an evolution type base station eNB and a 5G base station gNB.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus for accessing a wireless network, including: a processor and an interface circuit, the processor being configured to communicate with a terminal device via the interface circuit and to perform the method according to the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which includes a computer program, when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which comprises a computer program, when the computer program runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method of the first aspect.

The present application may be further combined to provide further implementations on the basis of the implementations provided by the above aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart of accessing a wireless network based on a blind redirection mode;

fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of cell handover based on a measurement target network;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a network system suitable for use in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for accessing a wireless network according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIGS. 5A-5C are schematic diagrams of cell relationships according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of accessing a wireless network;

fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart illustrating an access to a wireless network according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an apparatus provided herein;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

At present, in a scenario of inter-system network interoperation (also referred to as inter-system interoperation), a GSM network in 2G mainly carries voice and short message services, a UMTS network in 3G can carry a small amount of voice and Packet Service (PS) services with a medium bias in a partial rate, an LTE network in 4G can carry PS services with a large rate and voice services (e.g., volt), and a 5G mainly carries PS services, so that a terminal device is preferentially connected to a high-system network (i.e., a network with a higher priority of a network system) through inter-system network interoperation to provide a higher-speed wireless data service for the terminal device; or, when there is a need to establish a voice service at the terminal device side, the terminal device is transferred to a low-standard network (i.e., a network with a lower priority of network standards) to provide a higher-quality voice service for the terminal device. Therefore, the method is beneficial to ensuring the service quality of the terminal equipment side, can effectively realize the distribution of different users and different services, avoids the waste of network resources and improves the utilization rate of each network resource.

Blind redirection (blind redirection) is a heterogeneous network interoperation mode that does not measure a target network and enables designated terminal equipment to enter a specific network by carrying frequency points in Radio Resource Control (RRC) release messages. Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of returning from a UMTS network to an LTE network based on a blind redirection mode.

Referring to fig. 1, the process of returning from the UMTS network to the LTE network based on the blind redirection mode includes the following steps:

s101: the terminal equipment establishes voice service by accessing the UMTS network so as to provide high-quality voice service for the user at the terminal equipment side.

S102: and releasing (ending) the voice service established by the terminal equipment in the UMTS network.

S103: a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in the UMTS network directly sends an RRC release message to the terminal device to trigger a blind redirection procedure, where the RRC message carries a frequency point to indicate the terminal device to redirect to the LTE network corresponding to the frequency point.

S104: the terminal device is redirected to the LTE network in response to the RRC message.

In the flow shown in fig. 1, since both the RNC and the terminal device do not know the signal quality of the LTE network, if the signal quality in the target cell covered by the LTE network is poor, the terminal device may not access the LTE network, so that a situation of short-term network disconnection of the terminal device occurs, which is represented as no signal or no service on the terminal device side.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of the return from the UMTS network to the LTE network based on the way of measuring the target network. The measurement refers to measurement of signal strength and/or signal quality and the like of the heterogeneous target network connected to the terminal device.

Referring to fig. 2, the procedure of returning from the UMTS network to the LTE network based on the measurement target network includes the following steps:

s201: the terminal equipment establishes voice service by accessing the UMTS network to provide high-quality voice service for the user at the terminal equipment side.

S202: and releasing (ending) the voice service established by the terminal equipment in the UMTS network.

S203: the RNC in the UMTS network decides whether to trigger a fast return function based on LTE network measurements.

S204: and the RNC judges that a rapid return function based on LTE network measurement needs to be triggered, starts a compression mode and sends a measurement indication message to the terminal equipment so as to trigger the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on the LTE network.

S205: after the terminal equipment measures the signal of the LTE network, the terminal equipment reports the signal measurement data to the RNC in the form of a measurement report.

S206: after receiving a measurement report about the LTE network reported by the terminal device, the RNC makes a decision to perform network handover according to the measurement report, and decides that the terminal device accesses the LTE network in a handover manner (i.e., by configuring a handover target cell to directly perform a network handover function), and then triggers the terminal device to start a corresponding handover procedure.

S207: and the terminal equipment correspondingly starts a switching process to switch the network and accesses the LTE network.

Since the compression mode is a mode, when the terminal device performs inter-frequency inter-system handover or quick return, the physical channel needs to idle a part of time slots, so that the terminal device measures the mode of other frequency points and other standard signals in the idle time slots, and the compression mode may deteriorate the quality of the physical channel and thus deteriorate the voice quality, in order to ensure the voice quality of the terminal device side, the compression mode is applied in the process shown in fig. 2, which may limit the flow of signal measurement on the LTE network that can be started only after the voice service on the terminal device side is finished, resulting in a long time delay for the terminal device to handover to the LTE network, which is about 2.6 s.

Similarly, the terminal device may redirect or switch from the high-standard network to the low-standard network based on the manner shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2, which may also cause the problem of the above-mentioned delay in stepping down and taking off the network.

In a scenario where heterogeneous networks coexist, for some services (e.g., voice services and/or partial data services) with strong perception on network signal quality or network delay, no matter whether the user steps on the air and is away from the network or has high network delay, the service continuity of the terminal device side will be affected, and poor mobile internet service experience is often brought to the user. Therefore, how to guarantee the service continuity of the terminal device side when performing inter-operation between heterogeneous networks is still an important issue to be urgently solved.

In view of this, the present application provides a method and an apparatus for accessing a wireless network, where after a terminal device accesses a first cell, a network device instructs the terminal device to perform signal measurement on the first cell where the terminal device currently resides, and then sends second information to the terminal device according to a signal measurement result of the first cell reported by the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to access a second cell. The second cell can be a heterogeneous adjacent cell which is configured for the first cell in advance and has a specific incidence relation, and the signal quality of the second cell can be estimated according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, so that the risk of step-on and space-off can be reduced when the heterogeneous networks are interoperated. And moreover, the signal measurement process is started without waiting for the user service at the terminal equipment side to be finished, so that the network delay is greatly reduced.

In order to facilitate understanding of those skilled in the art, some terms in the embodiments of the present application will be explained below.

1) Terminal devices, including devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to a user, may include, for example, handheld devices having wireless connection capabilities or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal device may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a User Equipment (UE), a Long Term Evolution (LTE) terminal device, a fifth Generation Mobile communication Network (5G) terminal device, a wireless terminal device, a Mobile terminal device, a device-to-device communication (D2D) terminal device, a V2X terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (IoT) terminal device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (Mobile station), a remote station (remote), an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal (remote), an access terminal (terminal), a user agent (user agent), a wireless terminal device, a Mobile terminal device, a device-to-device communication (D2D) terminal device, a V2X terminal device, a machine-to-machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (IoT) terminal device, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber station), a Mobile station (Mobile station), a remote station (remote station), an Access Point (AP), an access point (access terminal), a remote station (user agent), a wireless terminal (user agent, a wireless terminal, or user equipment (user device), etc. For example, mobile telephones (or so-called "cellular" telephones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included mobile devices, and the like may be included. For example, Personal Communication Service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. Also included are constrained devices, such as devices that consume less power, or devices that have limited storage capabilities, or devices that have limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples of information sensing devices include bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), laser scanners, and the like.

By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable equipment can also be called wearable smart device or intelligent wearable equipment etc. is the general term of using wearable technique to carry out intelligent design, develop the equipment that can dress to daily wearing, like glasses, gloves, wrist-watch, dress and shoes etc.. A 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 realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. The generalized wearable smart device includes full functionality, large size, and can implement full or partial functionality without relying on a smart phone, such as: smart watches or smart glasses and the like, and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to be used in cooperation with other devices such as smart phones, such as various smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry and the like for monitoring physical signs.

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

In this embodiment, the terminal device may further include a relay (relay). Or, it is understood that any device capable of data communication with a base station may be considered a terminal device.

2) Network equipment, including Access Network (AN) equipment, may refer to equipment in AN access network that communicates with a wireless terminal over AN air interface through one or more cells, such as a base station or AN access point, a base station controller, and the like. The network device may include an evolved Node B (NodeB or eNB or e-NodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system or a long term evolution-advanced (LTE-a) system, or may also include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G), a next generation Node B (gNB) in a new radio, NR, system (also referred to as NR system), or may also include a centralized unit (central unit, CU) and a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) in a Cloud access network (RAN Cloud access network, RAN) system, which is not limited in this embodiment.

The network device may also include a core network device including, for example, an access and mobility management function (AMF), etc.

Since different networks employ different communication technologies, the network device may further include an entity or a network element for implementing a radio resource management function and a control function for the terminal device, such as a Radio Network Controller (RNC) in a UMTS network. Radio resource management may be used primarily to maintain the stability of radio propagation and the quality of service of a radio connection, and control functions may include functions related to the establishment, maintenance and release of radio bearers. In networks of different systems, devices for implementing the radio resource management function and the control function may have different names, which is not limited in this application.

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

3) Network type, type of network. Different network systems have different priorities. Generally, the terminal device preferentially accesses to a network with a higher network type priority to obtain a better data transmission rate. When the signal quality of the network with higher network type priority is poor or a specific service is required, the terminal device is connected to the network with lower network type priority to ensure the service continuity of the terminal device side. In any two different network types in the embodiment of the present application, a network with a lower priority of the network type may be referred to as a low-type network, and a network with a higher priority of the network type may be referred to as a high-type network.

By way of example, the embodiment of the application can be applied to a scene of interoperation among various heterogeneous networks. For example, the scenario from a low-standard network to a high-standard network may include, but is not limited to: 2G network to 3G network; 2G network to 4G network; 2G network to 5G network; 2G to 6G networks; 3G network to 4G network; 3G network to 5G network; 3G to 6G networks; 4G to 5G networks; 4G to 6G networks; 5G network to 6G network. Scenarios from high-system network to low-system network may include, but are not limited to: 6G to 5G networks; 6G network to 4G network; 6G network to 3G network; 6G network to 2G network; 5G network to 4G network; 5G network to 3G network; 5G network to 2G network; 4G network to 3G network; 4G network to 2G network; 3G network to 2G network. It should be understood that, with iteration of the communication network, the above-mentioned scenario of inter-heterogeneous network interoperation may include other scenarios, which are not described herein again. It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the inter-heterogeneous network interoperation may be caused by various situations, such as a service change requirement on the terminal device side, and/or mobility of the terminal device, and/or a signal quality change of a serving cell of the terminal device, and/or a management requirement on the network device side, which is not limited in this application. The inter-heterogeneous network interoperation mode may include, but is not limited to, a switching mode, a redirection mode, and the like, which is not limited in the present application.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment," "an implementation," "one embodiment," or "an example," "an example" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment," "in one implementation," "in one embodiment," or "in an example" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Additionally, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship. The term "at least one" as referred to herein means one, or more than one, i.e. including one, two, three and more; "plurality" means two, or more than two, i.e., including two, three, and more than two. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. 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 multiple. It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B can be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may be determined from a and/or other information. And, unless stated to the contrary, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and do not limit the sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having" in the description of the embodiments and claims of the present application and the drawings are not intended to be exclusive. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or modules is not limited to only those steps or modules listed, but may include other steps or modules not listed.

It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application may be applied to the 2th Generation mobile communication technology (2G) network architecture, the 3th Generation mobile communication technology (3G) network architecture, the 4th Generation mobile communication technology (4G) network architecture, the 5th Generation mobile communication technology (5G) network architecture, the sixth Generation mobile communication technology network architecture, the future communication technology network architecture, and the like.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, if a signal measurement result of a serving cell where a terminal device currently resides does not satisfy a relevant condition, and/or there is no inter-system target cell having a specific association relationship with the serving cell, inter-system network interoperation may be performed according to the manner shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or other manners, which is not limited in this application. In the following embodiments of the present application, a scenario in which an inter-heterogeneous network interoperation scenario of a second cell that satisfies a second condition and a scenario in which a signal measurement result of a serving cell satisfies a related condition are mainly concerned, and hereinafter, the scenarios will not be distinguished one by one.

Fig. 3 illustrates a network system including a first network device, a second network device, and a terminal device. Fig. 3 is only an example, and does not limit the number of network devices and the number of terminal devices included in the network system. The first network device and/or the second network device may each be configured with one or more antennas, and the terminal device may also be configured with one or more antennas. It should be understood that the first network device or the second network device may also include a number of components related to signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, etc.).

In a scenario where heterogeneous networks coexist, the first network device may adopt a first network standard, the second network device may adopt a second network standard, and the first network standard is different from the second network standard. The first network device and the second network device may communicate through a wired connection, for example, through an X2 interface, an Xn interface, or may communicate through an air interface. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram, and the network system may further include other network devices, such as a core network device, a wireless relay device, and a wireless backhaul device, which are not shown in fig. 3. In some embodiments, the first network device and the second network device may be co-sited, which is not limited in this application.

The first/second network device may provide radio access related services for the terminal device, implementing one or more of the following functions: radio physical layer functions, resource scheduling and radio resource management, quality of service (Qos) management, radio access control, and mobility management functions. The terminal device may communicate with the network device over an air interface.

Generally, a plurality of network devices may exist near a terminal device, the terminal device may select a cell as a serving cell according to service quality (e.g., signal quality) of cells of each network device, there may be a difference in service quality of cells of different network devices, and the terminal device should reside in a cell with better service quality. The terminal device resides in a cell 1 managed by the first network device, the cell 1 is a serving cell of the terminal device, and a cell 2 managed by the second network device is adjacent to the cell 1 and is an adjacent cell of the cell 1. Due to mobility of the terminal device or a change in network signal quality or a terminal side service change, the terminal device may be handed over from cell 1 to access cell 2 or from cell 2 to access cell 1. In the embodiment of the present application, for convenience of differentiation, the cell 1 managed by the first network device may also be referred to as a first cell, and the cell 2 managed by the second network device may also be referred to as a second cell. A first network device to which the terminal device is currently accessed is also referred to as a source network device, a second network device to which the terminal device is to be accessed is a target network device, a cell managed by the source network device and serving the terminal device is a serving cell, and a cell managed by the target network device is a target cell. The interoperation of the terminal device between cells adopting different network systems is called cell interoperation, and may also be called heterogeneous system interoperation, heterogeneous frequency interoperation, or the like.

The terminal device can access the data network through the first network device or the second network device to realize specific services. Various services can be deployed on the data network to provide services such as data and/or voice for the terminal equipment. The data network may be, for example, the Internet (Internet), an IP Multimedia Service (IMS) network, a data network dedicated to some applications (e.g., Tencent video data network), an ethernet network, an IP local network, etc., which is not limited in this application.

The network device and the terminal device may communicate with each other through a licensed spectrum (licensed spectrum), may communicate with each other through an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed spectrum), or may communicate with each other through both the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum. The network device and the terminal device may communicate with each other through a frequency spectrum of 6 gigahertz (GHz) or less, through a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more, or through both a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or less and a frequency spectrum of 6GHz or more. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used between the network device and the terminal device.

The system architecture and the service scenario described in the embodiment of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and do not form a limitation on the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person of ordinary skill in the art knows that along with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The embodiment of the application provides a method for accessing a wireless network. The method may be applied to the network system shown in fig. 3. The specific steps of the method for accessing a wireless network are described in detail below with reference to a flowchart of the method shown in fig. 4.

Referring to fig. 4, the method of accessing a wireless network includes the steps of:

s410: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment sends first information to terminal equipment, the first information is used for informing the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal equipment currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network system.

In this embodiment, a first network device manages a first cell, and may provide a wireless access-related service for a terminal device residing in the first cell, and implement one or more of the following functions: radio physical layer functions, resource scheduling and radio resource management, quality of service (Qos) management, radio access control, and mobility management functions. The second network device may manage the second cell, and may provide radio access-related services for the terminal device camped on the second cell, implementing one or more of the above-described functions. In some embodiments, the first network device and the second network device may be co-sited access network devices, which is not limited in this application. In some embodiments, the first network device and/or the second network device may be a radio network controller RNC, and information interaction is implemented between the first network device and/or the second network device and the terminal device by performing information transparent transmission through a corresponding access network device, which is not described herein again.

In a possible design, the first network device may send the first information to the terminal device after the terminal device accesses the first cell and establishes the user service, so as to notify the terminal device to perform signal measurement on the first cell. The first information includes measurement indication information, and the terminal device may start signal measurement on the currently camped first cell according to the measurement indication information, and report a measurement report to the first network device in real time or periodically, where the measurement report includes a signal measurement result of the terminal device in the first cell.

The measurement indication information may comprise any information for instructing the terminal device to perform signal measurements on the first cell. Under different network standards, the content included in the measurement indication information may be different or have different names. Illustratively, in a GSM network, the measurement indication information is used to indicate a downlink reception level of a measurement serving cell. In the UMTS network, the measurement indication information is used to instruct the terminal device to measure Received Signal Code Power (RSCP). In the LTE network or the 5G network, the measurement indication information is used to indicate a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP).

S420: and the terminal equipment sends the signal measurement result of the terminal equipment in the first cell to the first network equipment.

S430: the first network equipment receives a signal measurement result of the terminal equipment in the first cell from the terminal equipment, and sends second information to the terminal equipment according to the signal measurement result. The second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to access to a second cell. The second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type.

S440: and the first network equipment of the terminal equipment receives the second information and accesses a second cell managed by the second network equipment according to the second information.

As an example, the terminal device may report a measurement report including a signal measurement result of the first cell through one of the following two implementation manners. First, the terminal device reports the measurement result of the signal of the first cell measured recently in the same measurement report. Secondly, the terminal device reports the measurement results of the signals of the first cell measured for multiple times in the same measurement report. The terminal device may periodically perform signal measurement on the first cell, and may also periodically report a measurement report, where the measurement period and the reporting period may be the same or different, and the present application does not limit this.

The signal measurement result reported by the terminal device may include measurement values of downlink reception level, RSCP, RSRP, and the like of the serving cell. The measurement values of the downlink reception level, RSCP, RSRP, etc. of the serving cell may indicate the signal strength of the first cell, from which the first network device may then determine the signal quality of the first cell accordingly. The second cell may be a heterogeneous neighbor cell having a specific association relationship, which is configured in advance for the first cell. Since the second cell is a cell having a specific association with the first cell, there is similarity in signal quality between the two cells, and the signal quality of the second cell can be estimated according to the signal quality of the first cell. Therefore, when the inter-system network interoperation is carried out based on the result of the signal quality estimation so as to enable the terminal equipment to be accessed into the second cell, the probability of step-on-air off-line of the terminal equipment can be effectively reduced, and even the step-on-air off-line can be avoided.

In one possible design, the second cell may be a heterogeneous neighbor cell configured in advance for the first cell. The first network device may obtain neighboring cell configuration information and/or an interoperation condition that is configured for an interoperation scene between heterogeneous networks and is satisfied by the terminal device when performing the interoperation between the heterogeneous networks. The neighboring cell configuration information may include information of the first cell and/or information of the second cell, and may be used to indicate a relationship between the first cell and the second cell, for example, a relationship between a first coverage area of the first cell and a second coverage area of the second cell. The interoperation condition may include, for example, a first condition that a signal measurement result of a first cell should satisfy when inter-operation between heterogeneous networks is triggered. In S430, after receiving the signal measurement result of the first cell from the terminal device, the first network device may determine whether the signal measurement result of the first cell meets a corresponding first condition, and/or determine whether to allow the terminal device to be instructed to access the second cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell according to the cell relationship indicated by the neighboring cell configuration information. If the signal measurement result of the first cell satisfies the first condition and the terminal device is allowed to access the second cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, the first network device may send second information to the terminal device in S440 to indicate the terminal device to access the second cell. The second information may include, for example, information of a second cell, the information of the second cell may include, for example, a frequency point of the second cell or an identifier of the second cell, and the terminal device may start a corresponding inter-heterogeneous network interoperation procedure according to the information of the second cell, so as to access the second cell.

For ease of understanding, the cell relationships are first described below with reference to fig. 5A-5C. It should be understood that circles of different sizes in fig. 5A-5C schematically represent coverage areas of two cells and possible associations between coverage areas of two cells, but do not represent any limitation on coverage areas of cells or associations between different cells. In other embodiments, the coverage area of the cell may also be a sector with a predetermined angle and/or direction, for example, and will not be described herein.

As shown in fig. 5A to 5C, in an actual network deployment, due to the influence of multiple factors, such as the position, azimuth angle, and antenna tilt angle of an antenna of a deployed network device, the coverage area of a first cell (cell ID 1) managed by a first network device and the coverage area of a second cell (cell ID 2) managed by a second network device may be presented as follows:

as shown in fig. 5A, case a: cell ID 1 does not overlap with cell ID 2.

As shown in fig. 5B, case B: the cell ID 1 is adjacent to the cell ID2, and the partial areas are overlapped.

Specifically, the method may include, B1: the area S1 of the overlapping region of cell ID 1 and cell ID2 is small; b2: the area S2 of the overlapping region of cell ID 1 and cell ID2 is large.

As shown in fig. 5C, case C: cell ID 1 and cell ID2 are concentrically overlaid.

Specifically, the method may include 1) that the cell ID 1 and the cell ID2 are concentric circle coverage, that is, the coverage of the two cells is concentric and different in coverage distance. As C1: the coverage area of the cell ID 1 is included in the coverage area of the cell ID2, and the overlapping area S1 of the two cells is the coverage area of the cell ID 2; c2: the coverage area of the cell ID2 is included in the coverage area of the cell ID 1, and the overlapping area S2 of the two cells is the coverage area of the cell ID 1.

2) The cell ID 1 and the cell ID2 are in the same coverage, that is, the coverage of the two cells is in the same center and the same coverage distance. As C3: the cell ID 1 and the cell ID2 cover the same, and the overlapping area S3 of the two cells is the coverage area of both the cell ID 1 and the cell ID 2.

For the different situations shown in fig. 5A-5C, the larger the overlapping area between the cell ID 1 and the cell ID2, the more similar the signal quality between the cell ID and the cell ID2, and further, the higher the accuracy when estimating the signal measurement result of another cell based on the signal measurement result of one cell. Correspondingly, when interoperation between different-mode networks is carried out according to the estimation result, the probability of step-on and off-line of the terminal equipment is reduced. Meanwhile, the signal quality of the target network of the different systems does not need to be measured, so that the network delay in the interoperation between the different systems can be greatly shortened, and the service continuity of the terminal equipment side is effectively guaranteed.

In this embodiment of the present application, the neighboring cell configuration information may be used to determine whether the signal measurement result according to the first cell can be used as one of the bases for indicating the terminal device to access the second cell. In different embodiments, the content included in the neighboring cell configuration information may be different, and accordingly, the manner in which the first network device performs inter-heterogeneous network interoperation processing to access the wireless network may also be different, which is described below by way of example.

In one example, according to an actual network deployment situation, the cell relationship between the first cell and the second cell may be, for example, a case where the coverage area shown in fig. 5C appears to be concentric coverage, when the terminal device is allowed to be instructed to access the second cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell. The neighboring cell configuration information includes the related information of the different-system neighboring cell configured for the first cell according to the situation shown in fig. 5C. At this time, the neighboring cell configuration information may implicitly indicate that the second coverage area of the second cell and the first coverage area of the first cell are covered concentrically, and at this time, the first network device may perform an inter-system network interoperation procedure by using a signal measurement result of the first cell as one of the bases for indicating that the terminal device is accessed to the second cell according to the neighboring cell configuration information.

For example, as shown in table 1 below, the neighboring cell configuration information may include: first cell information, such as an identifier ID of the first cell, a first network type, a frequency point of the first cell, and the like; and second cell information, for example, an identifier ID of the second cell, a second network type, a frequency point of the second cell, and the like. The frequency points are numbers for fixed frequencies. The transmission frequency can be designated based on the frequency point replacement frequency in the corresponding network. It should be understood that the following table only schematically represents the frequency points of the cell that may be included in the neighboring cell configuration information, and does not represent any limitation on the frequency points of the cell.

TABLE 1

Wherein A, B, C, D respectively denote cell identities. i. j, l and m respectively represent network systems adopted by the cells.

Taking the second behavior example in table 1, since the first cell a and the second cell B are adjacent cells of different systems, the terminal device can perform inter-network inter-operation of different systems between the first cell a and the second cell B to achieve network balance. When inter-system-network interoperation is performed between the first cell a and the second cell B, in order to avoid step-on-air network disconnection, for example, the first condition may be set to include any one of: the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; the signal intensity indicated by the signal measurement result is within a preset range, the preset range is composed of a first preset threshold and a second preset threshold, and the first preset threshold is smaller than the second preset threshold. In S420, when it is determined that the signal measurement result of the first cell meets the first condition, the first network device may send second information to the terminal device, so as to trigger the terminal device to perform a corresponding inter-system network interoperation procedure. It should be understood that the first preset threshold and the second preset threshold are only exemplary, and values of the preset thresholds may be different in different situations, which is not limited in this application.

Example one: assuming that the priority of the first network system i is lower than the priority of the second network system l, the terminal device currently resides in the first cell a, and the user service performed in the first cell a is a voice service, in order to ensure that the data service on the terminal device side obtains a better transmission rate, the terminal device needs to be connected to the high-system network after the voice service performed in the first cell is finished. Assuming that the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, the signal quality of the first cell is better, and it is also better to estimate the signal quality of the second cell based on the signal quality of the first cell, the interoperation condition is satisfied, and the first network device may send second information including information of the second cell B to the terminal device, so that the terminal device is accessed to the second cell B adopting a high network system, and performs a data service in the second cell and obtains a better transmission rate.

Example two: if the priority of the first network system i is higher than that of the second network system l, the terminal device currently resides in the first cell a, the user service performed in the first cell a is a data service, and the first cell a does not support a voice service, if the terminal device desires to establish the voice service, it needs to be connected to the low-system network. Assuming that the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the first cell is better, and it is also better to estimate the signal quality of the second cell B based on the signal quality of the first cell, the interoperation condition is satisfied, and the first network device may send second information including information of the second cell B to the terminal device, so that the terminal device is accessed to the second cell B using a low network system, thereby performing a voice service in the second cell and obtaining better voice quality.

Example three: assuming that the priority of the first network system i is higher than that of the second network system l, the terminal device currently resides in the first cell a, the user service performed in the first cell a is a data service, but the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result of the first cell is within a preset range formed by a first preset threshold and a second preset threshold, and the first preset threshold is smaller than the second preset threshold. The signal strength smaller than the second preset threshold represents that the signal quality of the first cell is poor, and the signal strength larger than the first preset threshold represents that the signal quality of the corresponding low-standard network is good, so that the interoperation condition is met. At this time, the first network device may send the second information including the information of the second cell B to the terminal device, so that the terminal device accesses the second cell B adopting the low network type, thereby performing a data service in the second cell and obtaining a better transmission rate.

Therefore, based on the neighboring cell configuration information shown in table 1, when the signal measurement result of the first cell meets the corresponding first condition and allows the terminal device to be instructed to access the second cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, the first network device may send the second information including the second cell information to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can perform inter-operation between different-system networks quickly, and at the same time, reduce the probability of occurrence of step-on and off-line, or even avoid step-on and off-line. If the signal measurement result of the first cell does not satisfy the first condition, and/or the neighboring cell configuration information does not include information of a second cell that is concentrically covered with the first cell, the first network device may instruct the terminal device to perform inter-system network interoperation according to the method shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or other methods, which is not described herein again.

In an example, according to an actual network deployment situation, for example, the neighbor cell configuration information shown in table 2 below may be obtained, including: first cell information, such as an identifier ID of the first cell, a first network type, a frequency point of the first cell, and the like; and second cell information, such as a second network type, an identifier ID of a second cell using the second network type, a frequency point of the second cell, and the like. That is, there is a heterogeneous neighbor cell B, C, D in the first cell, which uses at least one network system. At this time, the neighboring cell configuration information may implicitly indicate that the second coverage area of each second cell and the first coverage area of the first cell are covered concentrically, and at this time, the first network device may perform an inter-system network interoperation procedure by using a signal measurement result of the first cell as one of the bases for indicating that the terminal device is accessed to the second cell according to the neighboring cell configuration information.

TABLE 2

Wherein A, B, C, D respectively denote cell identities. i. j, k, l, m and n respectively represent network systems adopted by the cells.

Taking the second, third and fourth rows in table 2 as an example, the first cell a may have at least one heterogeneous neighbor cell B, C, D using different network standards, for example. In S420, for example, the first network device may determine the second network type according to the first network type, the service type of the user service being performed at the terminal device side, and/or the service type of the service to be switched to the network, and determine the second cell adopting the second network type according to the neighboring cell configuration information of the first cell shown in table 1. The second cell may be, for example, a heterogeneous neighbor cell that is concentrically covered with the first cell as shown in table 1. Then, the first network device may send, to the terminal device, second information including information of the determined second cell to enable the terminal device to access the second cell, when it is determined that the signal measurement result of the first cell satisfies the first condition.

As an example, if the terminal device currently accesses the 3G network and the user service performed in the first cell is a voice service, the first network device may determine that the priority of the second network type is higher than the priority of the first network type, for example, a 4G network, a 5G network, and the like, so that after performing inter-system network interoperation and enabling the terminal device to access the second cell in the 4G network and the 5G network, the data service performed in the second cell by the terminal device may obtain a better data transmission rate. Or, if the terminal device currently accesses the 4G network, the user service performed in the first cell is a data service, and a network is to be switched to establish a voice service (non-VOLTE service), the first network device may determine that the priority of the second network type is lower than the priority of the first network type, such as the 2G network, the 3G network, and the like, so that after the inter-system networks are interoperated and the terminal device is accessed to the second cell in the 2G network and the 3G network, the voice service performed in the second cell by the terminal device may obtain better voice quality. It should be noted that, under the same communication capability, the network system with higher priority may be preferentially selected, so as to ensure the service quality and service continuity of the terminal device.

Therefore, based on the neighboring cell configuration information shown in table 2, the first network device may first determine the priority of the network type of the target network and the corresponding second cell, and then send the second information including the information of the second cell to the terminal device when the signal measurement result of the first cell meets the corresponding first condition, so that the terminal device can perform inter-operation between the networks of different types quickly, and at the same time, reduce the probability of occurrence of step-on and talk-off, or even avoid step-on and talk-off. If the signal measurement result of the first cell does not satisfy the first condition, and/or the neighboring cell configuration information of the first cell does not include the information of the second cell, the first network device may instruct the terminal device to perform inter-system network interoperation according to the method shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or other methods, which is not described herein again.

In an example, according to an actual network deployment situation, a cell relationship between the first cell and the second cell may be, for example, a situation that there is an adjacent overlapping area as shown in fig. 5B, and the neighboring cell configuration information includes related information of the heterogeneous neighbor cell configured for the first cell according to the situation shown in fig. 5B. The neighboring cell configuration information may indicate non-concentric coverage of the second cell and the first cell, and may also indicate an overlapping rate of a second overlapping area of the second cell and a first overlapping area of the first cell, where the overlapping rate is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area.

For example, as shown in table 3 below, the neighbor cell configuration information may include: first cell information, such as an identifier ID of the first cell, a first network type, a frequency point of the first cell, and the like; the second cell information, for example, an identifier ID of the second cell, a second network type, information indicating whether to be concentric, an overlapping ratio of the second cell and the first cell, a frequency point of the second cell, and the like.

TABLE 3

Wherein A, B, C respectively denote cell identities. i. l respectively represents the network system adopted by the cell.

Taking the second and third rows in table 3 as an example, the first cell a may have at least one heterogeneous neighbor cell B, C with non-concentric coverage. In S420, the first network device may determine, for example, according to the overlapping rate of the second cell B, C and the first cell a in table 3, that the terminal device is allowed to be instructed to access to the second cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell. Wherein, the second cell to which the terminal device is instructed to access in S430 should satisfy the following second condition: the overlapping rate of the second coverage area of the second cell and the first coverage area of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold. The overlapping ratio is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping area of a second coverage area of the second cell and a first coverage area of the first cell, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area. Before the first network device sends the second information, it is further determined that the overlapping rate of the second coverage area and the first coverage area is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold based on the neighboring cell configuration information. As an example, if the first preset threshold is 90%, the heterogeneous neighbor cell B in the second row in table 3 is determined as a second cell to which the indication of the terminal device is allowed to access according to the signal measurement result of the first cell. The second information sent by the first network device to the terminal device includes an identifier or a frequency point of the second cell B, so as to indicate that the terminal device is accessed to the second cell B. And if the different-system neighboring cell C in the third row in table 3 does not satisfy the relevant condition regarding the overlapping rate, it is not allowed to instruct the terminal device to access the different-system neighboring cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, and at this time, if only the different-system neighboring cell C in the third row is included in table 3, even if the signal measurement result of the first cell satisfies the corresponding first condition, the second information including the information of the cell C is not sent to the terminal device, and the target network is accessed by using the manner shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or other manners, which is not described herein again.

Therefore, based on the neighboring cell configuration information shown in table 3, the first network device may determine, according to the cell overlap ratio, that it is allowed to instruct the terminal device to access the second cell according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, and then send the second information including the information of the second cell to the terminal device when the signal measurement result of the first cell meets the corresponding first condition, so that the terminal device can perform inter-network operation of different systems quickly, and at the same time, reduce the probability of occurrence of step-on and talk-off, or even avoid step-on and talk-off. If the signal measurement result of the first cell does not satisfy the first condition, and/or the neighboring cell configuration information of the first cell does not include the second cell that satisfies the condition, the first network device may instruct the terminal device to perform inter-system network interoperation according to the method shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or other methods, which is not described herein again.

It should be understood that, the above description is only an example of the neighboring cell configuration information shown in tables 1 to 3, and the corresponding processing manner of the inter-heterogeneous network interoperation method of the present application under different situations is illustrated without any limitation. If the coverage area of a cell may also be, for example, a sector with a predetermined angle and/or direction, the second condition may be: the overlapping rate of the second cell and the first cell is greater than or equal to a second preset threshold, and/or the predetermined angle difference or direction of the two sector cells meets a predetermined rule, which is not limited in the present application. In addition, the neighboring cell configuration information may also include configuration information of a neighboring cell that uses the same network standard as the first cell, which is not limited in this application.

It should be understood that, in an example, the neighboring cell configuration information may only include at least one second cell adopting the second network standard and having a relationship with the first cell appearing to be in a concentric coverage (including a same coverage or a concentric coverage), for example, three cases C1C 2, C3 shown in fig. 5C. In another example, the neighboring cell configuration information may include at least one second cell adopting the second network standard and having a relationship with the first cell that the overlapping ratio is greater than the preset threshold, for example, three cases C1C 2 and C3 shown in fig. 5C and a case B2 shown in fig. 5B. This is not limited in this application.

It should be understood that, in implementation, the first condition and/or the neighboring cell configuration information may be specifically obtained by any one of the following manners: the operation and maintenance personnel configure and locally store in the first network equipment according to the deployment condition of the network system and the antenna information of the first cell and/or the second cell; the first network equipment is configured and generated according to locally stored antenna information of a first cell and antenna information of a second cell; the first network equipment acquires the antenna information of the second cell from the second network equipment and then configures and generates the antenna information according to the antenna information of the first cell and the antenna information of the second cell; the specific control device is configured to obtain the antenna information of the first cell and the antenna information of the second cell, where the first network device obtains the antenna information of the first cell from the specific control device in real time, or the first network device obtains the antenna information of the second cell from the specific control device and then stores the antenna information locally, and the like. For example, the antenna information of the cell may include information such as a position, an azimuth, a station height, an antenna tilt angle, a frequency band, a network system, and the like of the antenna, which is not limited in this application.

It should be noted that, because communication technologies used by networks of different systems are different, in an inter-operation scenario between networks of different systems, the first condition and/or the second condition may be different or not completely the same, and the application does not limit this.

After determining that a second cell meeting the conditions exists, the first network device may use an identifier or a frequency point of the second cell or other information capable of performing inter-system interoperation as information of the second cell, and send the second information including the information of the second cell to the terminal device at an appropriate time to trigger an inter-system interoperation process of the terminal device, so as to access the terminal device to the target network.

In an example, the first network device may determine a mode used by the terminal device for inter-system network interoperation, and send the second information to the terminal device to trigger a flow of inter-system network interoperation of the terminal device when it is determined that the terminal device is capable of inter-system network interoperation. According to different service types of the first service performed by the terminal equipment in the first cell, the time for the terminal equipment to perform inter-operation between different-mode networks can be different.

For example, if the first network device determines that the inter-heterogeneous network interoperation mode of the terminal device is redirection, the second information may be an RRC release message including a frequency point of the second cell. If the user service performed by the terminal device in the first cell is a voice service, the first network device may send an RRC release message to the terminal device after determining that the voice service performed by the terminal device in the first cell is already executed. The RRC release message includes a frequency point of the second cell, and the terminal device may first release the RRC connection with the first network device in response to the RRC release message, and then establish the RRC connection with the second network device according to the frequency point of the second cell to redirect to the second cell. If the first service is a data service, the time for triggering the terminal device to perform the inter-operation between the heterogeneous networks may not be limited.

For example, if the first network device determines that the inter-heterogeneous network interoperation mode of the terminal device is handover, the second information may be a handover command. If the user service performed by the terminal device in the first cell is a voice service, the first network device may send a handover command to the terminal device after determining that the voice service performed by the terminal device in the first cell is executed, where the handover command includes an identifier of the second cell, and the terminal device may request the second network device to handover to the second cell according to the identifier of the second cell in response to the handover command. If the first service is a data service, the time for triggering the terminal device to perform the cell switching process may not be limited.

In an example, in order to further ensure that step-on-air network disconnection does not occur when the terminal device performs inter-heterogeneous network interoperation, in this embodiment of the present application, the inter-heterogeneous network interoperation process may be started only when the terminal device itself is located within a coverage area of the second cell.

Taking the case C1 shown in fig. 5C as an example, when the terminal device switches from the access cell 1 to the access cell 2, if the terminal device happens to be located on the circular ring outside the coverage area of the cell 1 and within the coverage area of the cell 2, the terminal device may not receive the downlink signal of the second network device, and at this time, if the inter-heterogeneous networks interoperate to access the target network, the inter-heterogeneous networks may still be stepped on to be disconnected. And if the terminal device is located in the coverage area of the cell 2, it indicates that the terminal device can receive the downlink signal of the second network device, and the risk of step-on and offline is small when the inter-system network interoperation is performed.

In implementation, in an example, the measurement report reported by the terminal device to the first network device may include location information of the terminal device. The neighboring cell configuration information may include antenna information of the first cell and/or antenna information of the second cell. Before the first network device sends the second information (for example, the RRC release message or the handover command) to the terminal device, the first network device may perform estimation according to the antenna information of the first cell and/or the antenna information of the second cell and the location information of the terminal device, and determine that the terminal device is located within the coverage area of the second cell. It should be understood that the first network device may also obtain the antenna information of the second cell from the second network device or a specific control device, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, due to the mobility of the terminal device and the continuity of the service, the measurement results obtained by the terminal device performing signal measurement on the first cell at different times may be different, and the different measurement results may affect the decision result of the first network device. In order to avoid the step-on-air off-line when the terminal device performs inter-operation between different-mode networks, before the first network device sends the second information, whether the process of accessing the terminal device to the second cell can be triggered or not can be judged according to whether the newly received signal measurement result of the first cell meets the first condition or not. If the measurement report received by the first network device last includes multiple measurement results, the first network device may determine whether the terminal device can be triggered to perform inter-heterogeneous network interoperation according to a probability of occurrence of a measurement result satisfying the first condition among the multiple measurement results, for example. For example, if the latest received measurement report includes measurement results for 3 times, and each measurement result does not satisfy the first condition, it is determined that the inter-system network interoperation procedure from the terminal device to the second cell cannot be triggered. And if the latest received measurement report comprises the measurement results for 3 times, and the number of the measurement results meeting the first condition is greater than or equal to 1, judging that the inter-system network interoperation process from the terminal equipment to the second cell can be triggered.

Therefore, according to the embodiment, after detecting that the terminal device is accessed to the first cell and establishes the user service, the first network device notifies the terminal device to perform signal measurement on the first cell where the terminal device currently resides, and then indicates the terminal device to be accessed to the second cell managed by the second network device according to the signal measurement result of the first cell and the configuration information of the neighboring cell. The second cell is a different-system adjacent cell which is configured for the first cell in advance and has a specific incidence relation, and the signal quality of the second cell can be estimated according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, so that the risk of step-on and air-off is favorably reduced, and even step-on and air-off are avoided when interoperation between different-system networks is carried out. In addition, the signal for measuring the different-system target network is not required to be started after the first service on the terminal equipment side is finished, so that the time delay of the interoperation between the different-system networks of the cell is greatly reduced.

For better understanding of the embodiment of the present application, the following describes an inter-system network interoperation process under different inter-system network interoperation scenarios with reference to flowcharts shown in fig. 6 to 7. It should be understood that the method steps shown in fig. 6 to fig. 7 are only simple illustrations, and details related to specific implementations may be referred to the above description in conjunction with fig. 1 to fig. 5C, and are not repeated herein.

Example 1

As shown in fig. 6, taking an example of switching from accessing a UMTS network to accessing an LTE network and taking user traffic as voice traffic, the first network device may include a radio network controller RNC in the UMTS network, and the second network device includes an access network device (e.g., an LTE base station eNB) in the LTE network, and fig. 6 only schematically illustrates a scenario of inter-heterogeneous network interoperation by using the UMTS RNC and the LTE network, rather than any limitation on a functional entity for implementing inter-heterogeneous network interoperation. The inter-system network interoperation process may include:

s601: the terminal equipment accesses a first cell in the UMTS network and establishes a voice service.

S602: and the UMTS RNC transparently transmits the measurement indication information to the terminal equipment through the access network equipment in the UMTS network so as to indicate the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on the first cell which is resided currently.

S603: and the terminal equipment responds to the received measurement indication information, performs signal measurement on the first cell, reports a measurement report to access network equipment in the UMTS network, and transparently transmits the measurement report to the RNC by the access network equipment, wherein the measurement report comprises a signal measurement result of the first cell, and the signal measurement result of the first cell comprises a RSCP (received signal code Power) measurement value for indicating the signal strength.

S604: the RNC determines that the voice service of the terminal device in the first cell is ended (released).

S605: the RNC judges whether the RSCP measurement value in the signal measurement result of the first cell meets a first condition, wherein the first condition is that the signal strength indicated by the RSCP measurement value is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold.

If not, the process proceeds to S608, that is, the terminal device is accessed to the LTE network by adopting another manner, for example, as shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or another manner.

If yes, the process proceeds to S606: and the RNC determines whether a second cell meeting a second condition exists according to the neighboring cell configuration information. Wherein the second condition may include, for example: the overlapping rate of the second overlapping area of the second cell and the first overlapping area of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; and/or the second overlapping area of the second cell and the first overlapping area of the first cell are concentrically covered, which may be referred to the above description and is not described herein again.

If not, the process proceeds to S608, that is, the terminal device is made to access the LTE network by using another method, for example, as shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or another method.

If yes, the process proceeds to S607: and the RNC sends second information to the terminal equipment through the access network equipment, wherein the second information comprises information of the second cell and is used for indicating the terminal equipment to access the second cell. And if the RNC judges that the terminal equipment adopts a redirection mode to carry out inter-system network interoperation, the second information is an RRC release message comprising the frequency point of the second cell. And if the RNC judges that the terminal equipment directly performs the inter-operation between the different-system networks in a switching mode, the second information is a switching command comprising the identifier of the second cell. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S609.

S609: and the terminal equipment executes the inter-system network interoperation process according to the second information and accesses a second cell in the LTE network.

Example two

As shown in fig. 7, taking an example of switching from accessing an LTE network to accessing a UMTS network and taking user traffic as data traffic, the first network device may include an access network device (e.g., an LTE base station eNB) of the LTE network, and the second network device may include a radio network controller RNC of the UMTS network, and fig. 7 only schematically illustrates a scenario of inter-heterogeneous network interoperation by using the UMTS network and the LTE base station eNB, without any limitation on a functional entity for implementing inter-heterogeneous network interoperation. The inter-system network interoperation process may include:

s701: the terminal equipment is accessed to a first cell in the LTE network and establishes a data service.

S702: and the LTE base station eNB sends measurement indication information to the terminal equipment to indicate the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on the first cell.

S703: and the terminal equipment responds to the received measurement indication information, performs signal measurement on the first cell, and reports a measurement report to an LTE base station eNB, wherein the measurement report comprises a signal measurement result of the first cell, and the signal measurement result of the first cell comprises a measurement value of RSRP used for indicating signal strength.

S704: the LTE base station eNB determines that the terminal device is to establish a second service, for example, a voice service (non-VOLTE service). In other embodiments, the LTE base station eNB may determine that the RSRP measurement value is smaller than the second preset threshold, and needs to access to the low-standard network to ensure the quality of the data service at the terminal device side.

S705: the LTE base station eNB determines whether the RSRP measurement value satisfies a first condition, for example, that the signal strength indicated by the RSRP measurement value is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold.

If not, S708 is entered, i.e. the terminal device is accessed to the UMTS network by other means, such as shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 or other means.

If yes, the process proceeds to S706: and the LTE base station eNB determines whether a second cell meeting a second condition exists according to the adjacent cell configuration information. Wherein the second condition may include, for example: the overlapping rate of the second overlapping area of the second cell and the first overlapping area of the first cell is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; and/or the second overlapping area of the second cell and the first overlapping area of the first cell are concentrically covered, which may be referred to the above description and is not described herein again.

If yes, the process proceeds to S707: and the LTE base station eNB sends second information to the terminal equipment, wherein the second information comprises information of the second cell and is used for indicating the terminal equipment to access the second cell. If the LTE base station eNB judges that the terminal equipment adopts a redirection mode, the second information is an RRC release message comprising the frequency point of the second cell. And if the LTE base station eNB judges that the terminal equipment is directly switched by adopting a switching mode, the second information is a switching command comprising the identifier of the second cell. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S709.

S709: and the terminal equipment executes the inter-system network interoperation process according to the second information and accesses to a second cell in the UMTS network.

Therefore, through the inter-system network interoperation process, no matter in a scene from a low-system network to a high-system network or a scene from the high-system network to the low-system network, the first network device informs the terminal device to perform signal measurement on the first cell after detecting that the terminal device is accessed to the first cell and establishes user services, and then indicates the terminal device to switch from being accessed to the first cell to being accessed to a second cell managed by the second network device according to a signal measurement result of the first cell and adjacent cell configuration information. The second cell is a different-system adjacent cell which is configured for the first cell in advance and has a specific incidence relation, and the signal quality of the second cell can be estimated according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, so that the risk of step-on and air-off is favorably reduced, and even step-on and air-off are avoided when interoperation between different-system networks is carried out. In addition, the signal for measuring the different-system target network is not required to be started after the user service at the terminal equipment side is finished, so that the time delay of the interoperation between the different-system networks is greatly reduced.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the present application is mainly introduced from the perspective of interaction between a network device and a terminal device. It is understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the network device and the terminal device include hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to the respective functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

As shown in fig. 8, which is a possible exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for accessing a wireless network according to the present application, the apparatus 800 may exist in the form of software or hardware. The apparatus 800 may include a receiving unit 810 and a transmitting unit 820. The receiving unit 810 and the sending unit 820 are used to support communication of the apparatus 800 with other network entities. In some embodiments, the apparatus 800 may further comprise a processing unit 830 and/or a storage unit 840, the processing unit 830 being adapted to control the actions of the apparatus 800, and the storage unit 840 being adapted to store program codes and data for the apparatus 800.

The processing unit may be a processor or a controller, and may be, for example, a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processing (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The storage unit may be a memory. The communication unit is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the communication unit is an interface circuit of the chip for receiving a signal from another chip or device, or an interface circuit of the chip for transmitting a signal to another chip or device.

The apparatus 800 may be the network device in any of the above embodiments, and may also be a chip for the network device. For example, when the apparatus 800 is a network device, the processing unit may be a processor, and the receiving unit and the transmitting unit may be a transceiver, for example. Optionally, the transceiver may comprise radio frequency circuitry and the storage unit may be, for example, a memory. For example, when the apparatus 800 is a chip for a network device, the processing unit may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin, a circuit, or the like. The processing unit may execute a computer execution instruction stored in a storage unit, optionally, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, and the like, and the storage unit may also be a storage unit located outside the chip in the network device, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or another type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and the like.

In an embodiment, the sending unit 820 is configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information is used to notify the terminal device to perform signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal device currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network standard; the receiving unit 810 is configured to receive, from a terminal device, a signal measurement result of the terminal device in a first cell; the sending unit 820 is further configured to send, according to the signal measurement result, second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to access a second cell, where the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type.

In a possible implementation method, the sending unit 820 is further configured to: and after the terminal equipment accesses the first cell and establishes user service, sending the first information to the terminal equipment.

In a possible implementation method, the sending unit 820 is configured to: when it is determined that the signal measurement result satisfies any one of the following, transmitting the second information to the terminal device: the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold and less than a second preset threshold.

In one possible implementation method, the processing unit is configured to: determining, based on the neighboring cell configuration information, that an overlapping rate of the second coverage area and the first coverage area is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, where the overlapping rate is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit is further configured to: and determining that the second coverage area and the first coverage area are covered in a same center based on the neighboring cell configuration information.

In a possible implementation method, before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is further configured to: and determining that the terminal equipment is in the coverage range of the second cell.

In one possible implementation, the signal measurement comprises a signal based on any one or more of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), and downlink received level of a serving cell, for indicating the signal strength.

In a possible implementation method, the priority of the second network type is higher than the priority of the first network type; or the priority of the second network system is lower than that of the first network system.

In a possible implementation method, the second information includes second cell information, and the second cell information includes a frequency point of the second cell or an identifier of the second cell.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus is any one of the following: a radio network controller RNC evolves base stations eNB and 5G base stations gNB.

It can be understood that, when the apparatus is used in the above inter-heterogeneous network interoperation method, a specific implementation process and corresponding beneficial effects may refer to the related description in the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described here again.

As shown in fig. 9, a schematic diagram of an apparatus provided by the present application is that the apparatus may be a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing embodiment, or may be an information sending apparatus or an information receiving apparatus in the foregoing embodiment. The apparatus 900 includes: a processor 902, a communication interface 903, and a memory 901. Optionally, the apparatus 900 may also include a communication line 904. Wherein the communication interface 903, the processor 902, and the memory 901 may be connected to each other through a communication line 904; the communication line 904 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The communication lines 904 may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 9, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

The processor 902 may be a CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits configured to control the execution of programs in accordance with the teachings of the present application.

The communication interface 903 may be any device, such as a transceiver, for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as an ethernet, a Radio Access Network (RAN), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a wired access network, and the like.

The memory 901 may be, but is not limited to, a ROM or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a RAM or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be separate and coupled to the processor via a communication line 804. The memory may also be integral to the processor.

The memory 901 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the scheme of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 902 to execute. The processor 902 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 901, so as to implement the information sending method and/or the information receiving method provided by the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application program codes, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: the various numbers of the first, second, etc. mentioned in this application are only used for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application, but also to indicate the sequence. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one" means one or more. At least two means two or more. "at least one," "any," or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of singular or plural items. 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 multiple. "plurality" means two or more, and other terms are analogous. Furthermore, for elements (elements) that appear in the singular form "a," an, "and" the, "they are not intended to mean" one or only one "unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, but rather" one or more than one. For example, "a device" means for one or more such devices.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized 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, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device including one or more available media integrated servers, data centers, and the like. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The various illustrative logical units and circuits described in this application may be implemented or operated upon by design of 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. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the 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 herein 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 RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. For example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such 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.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be evident that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and figures are merely exemplary of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are intended to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a wireless network, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends first information to terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to carry out signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal equipment currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network standard;

the network equipment receives a signal measurement result of the terminal equipment in the first cell from the terminal equipment;

and the network equipment sends second information to the terminal equipment according to the signal measurement result, wherein the second information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to access a second cell, the second cell is a cell adjacent to the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device sends the first information to the terminal device, and wherein the sending comprises:

and the network equipment sends the first information to the terminal equipment after the terminal equipment accesses the first cell and establishes user service.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the network device sends the second information to the terminal device according to the signal measurement result of the first cell, and the method comprises:

the network device sends the second information to the terminal device when determining that the signal measurement result satisfies any one of the following conditions:

the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold;

the signal strength indicated by the signal measurement result is greater than or equal to the first preset threshold and less than a second preset threshold.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein before the network device sends the second information to the terminal device, the method further comprises:

the network device obtains neighboring cell configuration information, where the neighboring cell configuration information is used to indicate a relationship between a first coverage area of the first cell and a second coverage area of the second cell.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

the network equipment determines that the overlapping rate of the second coverage area and the first coverage area is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold value based on the neighboring cell configuration information; the overlapping ratio is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping region of the second coverage region and the first coverage region, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage region and the first coverage region.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the network device determines that the second coverage area and the first coverage area are concentric coverage based on the neighboring cell configuration information.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-6, wherein prior to sending the second information to the terminal device, the method further comprises:

the network device determines that the terminal device is within the coverage of the second cell.

8. The method according to any of claims 2-7, wherein before the network device sends the second information to the terminal device, the method further comprises:

and the network equipment determines that the user service performed by the terminal equipment in the first cell is executed and ended.

9. The method according to any one of claims 4-8, wherein the signal measurements comprise any one or more of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), and downlink received level of a serving cell, for indicating the signal strength.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9,

the priority of the second network system is higher than that of the first network system; or,

the priority of the second network system is lower than the priority of the first network system.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the second information includes second cell information, and the second cell information includes a frequency point of the second cell or an identifier of the second cell.

12. The method according to any of claims 1-11, wherein the network device is any of: a radio network controller RNC, an evolution type base station eNB and a 5G base station gNB.

13. An apparatus for accessing a wireless network, comprising a receiving unit and a transmitting unit;

the sending unit is configured to send first information to a terminal device, where the first information is used to notify the terminal device to perform signal measurement on a first cell where the terminal device currently resides, and the first cell adopts a first network standard;

the receiving unit is configured to receive, from the terminal device, a signal measurement result of the terminal device in the first cell;

the sending unit is further configured to send second information to the terminal device according to the signal measurement result, where the second information is used to indicate that the terminal device accesses a second cell, where the second cell is a neighboring cell of the first cell, and a second network type adopted by the second cell is different from the first network type.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the sending unit is configured to:

and after the terminal equipment accesses the first cell and establishes user service, sending the first information to the terminal equipment.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the sending unit is configured to:

when it is determined that the signal measurement result satisfies any one of the following, transmitting the second information to the terminal device:

16. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13-15, further comprising a processing unit;

before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is configured to:

and acquiring neighboring cell configuration information, wherein the neighboring cell configuration information is used for indicating the relationship between the first coverage area of the first cell and the coverage area of the second cell.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

determining, based on the neighboring cell configuration information, that an overlapping rate of the second coverage area and the first coverage area is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold, where the overlapping rate is a ratio of a first area to a second area, the first area is an area of an overlapping area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area, and the second area is a total area of the second coverage area and the first coverage area.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and determining that the second coverage area and the first coverage area are covered in a same center based on the neighboring cell configuration information.

19. The apparatus according to any of claims 13-18, wherein before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is further configured to: and determining that the terminal equipment is in the coverage range of the second cell.

20. The apparatus according to any of claims 14-19, wherein before the sending unit sends the second information to the terminal device, the processing unit is further configured to:

and determining that the user service performed by the terminal equipment in the first cell is executed and ended.

21. The apparatus of any one of claims 16-20, wherein the signal measurements comprise any one or more of: reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), downlink received level of a serving cell, and a signal strength indicator (RSSI).

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 13-21,

23. The apparatus according to any of claims 13-22, wherein the second information comprises second cell information, and the second cell information comprises a frequency point of the second cell or an identifier of the second cell.

24. The apparatus according to any one of claims 13-23, wherein the apparatus is any one of: a radio network controller RNC, an evolution type base station eNB and a 5G base station gNB.

25. An apparatus for accessing a wireless network, comprising: a processor and interface circuitry, the processor to communicate with a terminal device through the interface circuitry and to perform the method of any of claims 1-12.

26. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-12.

27. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-12.