CN114157992A

CN114157992A - Multicast service processing method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114157992A
Application number: CN202010939951.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 辛婷玉; 李秉肇; 陈磊; 于海凤
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-08
Filing date: 2020-09-08
Publication date: 2022-03-08
Also published as: WO2022052841A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a multicast service processing method and device. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first device receives information of a first terminal from a second device, the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service; the first device sends first indication information to the second device, the first indication information is used for indicating the first device or the third device to transmit multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting multicast service. By adopting the embodiment of the application, the multicast service is transmitted cooperatively through the plurality of devices, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Description

Multicast service processing method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for processing a multicast service.

Background

With the development of wireless communication technology, in order to improve network coverage and network capacity, when a terminal (e.g., User Equipment (UE), a tablet computer (pad), etc.) is located within a coverage area of at least two cells, access network devices to which the at least two cells belong may be used to provide services for the terminal.

Multicast services (e.g., Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS), etc.) are mainly applicable to services for multiple terminals, such as video conferencing, tv broadcasting, video on demand, online education, etc.

Single Cell Point to Multi-Point (SC-PTM) is a technology that transmits the same service to multiple terminals simultaneously by using shared data information, and the SC-PTM technology only relates to multicast service transmission in a Single Cell and does not relate to transmission of multicast service among base stations. A Multimedia Broadcast multicast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) may be used for multiple cells to transmit multicast services. However, MBSFN requires multiple cells to transmit multicast service synchronously, and there is no problem of co-coverage of multiple cells or multiple access network devices. Therefore, the SC-PTM technique and the MBSFN technique are not suitable for performing multicast service transmission in a communication network formed by at least two access network devices corresponding to the at least two cells, and how to perform multicast service transmission in the communication network is a technical problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application discloses a multicast service processing method and device, and the multicast service is cooperatively transmitted through a plurality of devices, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses a method for processing a multicast service, including: the method comprises the steps that a first device receives information of a first terminal from a second device, the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service; the first device sends first indication information to the second device, the first indication information is used for indicating the first device or the third device to transmit multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the first indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, the information of the first terminal is used to indicate a number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal; the sending, by the first device, the first indication information to the second device specifically includes: if the first condition is met, the first equipment sends first indication information to the second equipment, wherein the first condition comprises that the number of at least one terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold value; and/or the first condition comprises that the number of terminals served by each cell included by the second device in the first terminal is less than or equal to a second threshold; and/or the second device comprises at least one access network device, the first condition comprises the number of the at least one access network device being greater than or equal to a third threshold. Therefore, the first indication information is sent to the second equipment when the first condition is met, and the accuracy of sending the first indication information can be improved.

In one possible example, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the method further includes: and the first equipment sends second indication information to the third equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the third equipment to transmit the multicast service and/or the second equipment to stop transmitting the multicast service. Therefore, the third device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the second device through the second indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses another multicast service processing method, including: the first device receives information of a second terminal, the second terminal is served by a third device, the second terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting the multicast service; the first device sends third indication information to the second device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate the second device to transmit the multicast service, and the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the third indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, the information of the second terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal; the sending, by the first device, the third indication information to the second device specifically includes: if the second condition is met, the first equipment sends third indication information to the second equipment, wherein the second condition comprises that the number of the at least one terminal is smaller than or equal to a fourth threshold value; and/or the second condition comprises that the number of at least one of the second terminals served by the second device is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold; and/or the second device comprises at least one access network device, the second condition comprises the number of the at least one access network devices each being less than or equal to a sixth threshold. Therefore, the third indication information is sent to the second equipment when the second condition is met, and the accuracy of sending the third indication information can be improved.

In one possible example, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the method further includes: and the first equipment sends fourth indication information to the third equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the third equipment to stop transmitting the multicast service and/or the second equipment to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the third device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the second device through the fourth indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, the first device is a third device, and the receiving, by the first device, the information of the second terminal includes: the first equipment receives information of a third terminal from the second terminal, wherein the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal; and/or the first equipment receives information of a fourth terminal from the second equipment, wherein the fourth terminal is a terminal except for the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal. Therefore, the information of the second terminal is sent to the first equipment in different modes, and data omission can be avoided.

In one possible example, the first device is a third device, and after the first device sends the third indication information to the second device, the method further includes: and the first equipment sends sixth indication information, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating a sixth terminal to reselect the second equipment, and the sixth terminal is located in the coverage range of the second equipment and the third equipment and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the sixth terminal reselects the second device based on the sixth indication information, and can receive the multicast service transmitted by the second device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and facilitating the improvement of the service quality.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses another multicast service processing method, including: the second device sends information of the first terminal to the first device, the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service; the second device receives first indication information from the first device, the first indication information is used for indicating the first device or the third device to transmit multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the first indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, after the second device receives the first indication information from the first device, the method further comprises: and the second device sends fifth indication information, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating a fifth terminal to reselect a third device, and the fifth terminal is located in the coverage range of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the fifth terminal reselects the third device based on the fifth indication information, and can receive the multicast service transmitted by the third device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and facilitating the improvement of the service quality.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses another multicast service processing method, including: the second device receives third indication information from the first device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate the second device to transmit the multicast service, where the third indication information is received after the first device receives information of the second terminal, the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service, the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service, the second terminal is served by the third device, and the second terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service from the third device, and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the third indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In a possible example, the first device is a third device, the information of the second terminal includes information of a third terminal sent by the second terminal to the first device, and/or information of a fourth terminal sent by the second device to the first device, the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal, and the fourth terminal is a terminal other than the third terminal in the at least one terminal included in the second terminal. Therefore, the information of the second terminal is sent to the first equipment in different modes, and data omission can be avoided.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is a first device, and includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive information of a first terminal from a second device, where the second device includes at least one cell and is configured to transmit a multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service; a sending unit, configured to send first indication information to a second device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first device or a third device to transmit a multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the first indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, the information of the first terminal is used to indicate a number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal; the sending unit is specifically configured to send first indication information to the second device if a first condition is met, where the first condition includes that the number of the at least one terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold; and/or the first condition comprises that the number of the first terminals located in the coverage area of each cell in at least one cell included in the second device is less than or equal to a second threshold value; and/or the first condition comprises that the second device comprises a number of at least one access network device greater than or equal to a third threshold. Therefore, the first indication information is sent to the second equipment when the first condition is met, and the accuracy of sending the first indication information can be improved.

In a possible example, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the sending unit is further configured to send second indication information to the third device, where the second indication information is used to instruct the third device to transmit the multicast service, and/or the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. Therefore, the third device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the second device through the second indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses another communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is a first device, and includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive information of a second terminal, where the second terminal is served by a third device, and the second terminal includes at least one terminal that receives a multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting the multicast service; and sending third indication information to the second device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate the second device to transmit the multicast service, and the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the third indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, the information of the second terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal; the sending unit is specifically configured to send third indication information to the second device if a second condition is met, where the second condition includes that the number of the at least one terminal is less than or equal to a fourth threshold; and/or the second condition comprises that the number of second terminals located within the coverage area of at least one cell comprised by the second device is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold; and/or the second condition comprises the second device comprising a number of at least one access network device less than or equal to a sixth threshold. Therefore, the third indication information is sent to the second equipment when the second condition is met, and the accuracy of sending the third indication information can be improved.

In a possible example, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the sending unit is further configured to send fourth indication information to the third device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second device to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the third device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the second device through the fourth indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In a possible example, the first device is a third device, the receiving unit is specifically configured to receive information of the third terminal from the second terminal, and the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal; and/or receiving information of a fourth terminal from the second device, wherein the fourth terminal is a terminal except the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal. Therefore, the information of the second terminal is sent to the first equipment in different modes, and data omission can be avoided.

In a possible example, the first device is a third device, and the sending unit is further configured to send sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate that a sixth terminal reselects to the second device, and the sixth terminal is located in a coverage area of the second device and the third device and receives and/or is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the sixth terminal reselects the second device based on the sixth indication information, and can receive the multicast service transmitted by the second device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and facilitating the improvement of the service quality.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses another communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is a second device, and the communication apparatus includes: a sending unit, configured to send information of a first terminal to a first device, where a second device includes at least one cell and is configured to transmit a multicast service, and the first terminal is served by the at least one cell and includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service; the receiving unit is configured to receive first indication information from the first device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first device or a third device to transmit a multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the first indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

In a possible example, the sending unit is further configured to send fifth indication information, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that a fifth terminal reselects to a third device, and the fifth terminal is located in a coverage area of the second device and the third device and receives and/or is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the fifth terminal reselects the third device based on the fifth indication information, and can receive the multicast service transmitted by the third device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and facilitating the improvement of the service quality.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application discloses yet another communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus is a second device, and the communication apparatus includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive third indication information from the first device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate that the second device transmits the multicast service, where the third indication information is received after the first device receives information of the second terminal, the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service, where the second terminal is served by the third device, and the second terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service from the third device, and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the third indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, or the third aspect, or the fifth aspect, or the seventh aspect, or any one of possible examples, in one possible example, the first indication information includes first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, and/or the first time information is used to indicate a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. Therefore, the time for the third device to start transmitting the multicast service and/or the time for the second device to stop transmitting the service is indicated by the first time information, so that the interruption of the multicast service can be avoided, and the service quality can be improved conveniently.

With reference to the first aspect, or the third aspect, or the fifth aspect, or the seventh aspect, or any one of the possible examples, in one possible example, the information of the first terminal includes at least one of: service identification information of a multicast service of a first terminal; location information of the first terminal; channel state information of the first terminal. Therefore, the number of the first terminals under different limited conditions can be obtained through the information of the different first terminals, the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved conveniently, communication resources and energy sources are saved, the multicast service quality is guaranteed, and the user experience is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, or the second aspect, or the third aspect, or the fourth aspect, or the fifth aspect, or the sixth aspect, or the seventh aspect, or any one of the possible examples, in one possible example, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device. Therefore, under different conditions, the second device and the third device can respectively or jointly provide wireless communication service for the same terminal, the flexibility of access network equipment and service deployment is improved, the frequency spectrum utilization rate is improved, the network coverage rate is improved, and the network capacity is improved.

With reference to the second aspect, or the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect, or any one of the possible examples, in one possible example, the third indication information includes second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second time information is used to indicate a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service. Therefore, the time for the second device to start transmitting the multicast service and/or the time for the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service are/is indicated by the third time information, so that the interruption of the multicast service can be avoided, and the service quality is improved conveniently.

With reference to the second aspect, or the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect, or any one of the possible examples, in one possible example, the information of the second terminal includes at least one of: service identification information of the multicast service of the second terminal; location information of the second terminal; channel state information of the second terminal. Therefore, the number of the second terminals under different limited conditions can be obtained through the information of the different second terminals, the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved conveniently, communication resources and energy sources are saved, the multicast service quality is guaranteed, and the user experience is improved.

With reference to the second aspect, or the sixth aspect, or any one possible example, in one possible example, the sixth indication information may include any one or more of the following: identification information of the second device; configuration information of multicast service of the second device; second configuration information of the frequency point priority of the third equipment and the second equipment; the third device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service. In this way, the sixth terminal may reselect to the second device based on the above different sixth indication information, which may improve the accuracy of reselection.

With reference to the third aspect, or the seventh aspect, or any one possible example, in a possible example, the fifth indication information may include any one or more of the following: identification information of the third device; configuration information of multicast service of the third device; first configuration information of frequency point priorities of third equipment and second equipment; the second device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service. In this way, the fifth terminal may reselect to the third device based on the above different fifth indication information, which may improve the accuracy of reselection.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled with a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store one or more programs, which are executed by the processor to implement the method of any of the above aspects or possible examples.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the above aspects or possible examples.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of the above aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a chip, including a processor, configured to call up and execute instructions stored in a memory, so that a terminal device in which the chip is installed performs the method of any one of the above aspects or possible examples.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides another chip, which may be a chip in a first device or a second device, the chip comprising: the system comprises an input interface, an output interface and a processing circuit, wherein the input interface, the output interface and the circuit are connected through internal connection paths, and the processing circuit is used for executing the method of any one aspect or possible example.

In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides another chip, comprising: the input interface, the output interface, and the processor, optionally, further comprising a memory, the input interface, the output interface, the processor, and the memory being connected by an internal connection, the processor being configured to execute code in the memory, the processor being configured to perform the method of any of the above aspects or possible examples when the code is executed.

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including the first device and the second device in any one of the above aspects or possible examples.

By implementing the embodiment of the application, the second device and/or the third device respectively acquire information of terminals which are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service in the coverage area of the second device and/or the third device, and then cooperatively transmit the multicast service according to the indication information indicating whether the second device and/or the third device transmits the multicast service, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Drawings

The drawings used in the embodiments of the present application are described below.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an SC-PTM transmission manner provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of MBMS service counting according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a first multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a second multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a third multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a fourth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a fifth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of a scene of ABS subframe transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a scene schematic diagram of time-frequency resource division according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a sixth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a seventh multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic flowchart of an eighth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the communication system includes at least one terminal (e.g., terminal 101, terminal 102, terminal 103, terminal 104, and terminal 105), and at least one access network device (e.g., access network device 111, access network device 112, access network device 121, and access network device 122).

The communication System in this embodiment may include a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) System corresponding to The second Generation Mobile communication technology, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) System between The second Generation Mobile communication technology and The third Generation Mobile communication technology, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) System corresponding to The third Generation Mobile communication technology (3 rd Generation communication, 3G), a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) System and a Universal Mobile communication System (UMTS), a Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) System corresponding to The fourth Generation Mobile communication technology, a New Radio technology (NR) System corresponding to The fifth Generation Mobile communication technology, and a future communication System.

The Terminal in this embodiment may be a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a User, and may be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a mobile station (mobile station), a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a station (station), a Terminal Equipment (TE), and so on. The terminal may be a cellular phone (cellular phone), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Wireless modem (modem), a hand held device (hand held), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a cordless phone (cordless phone), a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet (pad), or the like. With the development of wireless communication technology, devices that can access a wireless communication network, can communicate with a wireless network side, or communicate with other objects through a wireless network may be terminals in the embodiments of the present application. Such as terminals and automobiles in intelligent transportation, home appliances in smart homes, electricity meter reading instruments in smart grids, voltage monitoring instruments, environment monitoring instruments, video monitoring instruments in intelligent security networks, cash registers, and the like. The terminals may be stationary or mobile. In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the terminal is a mobile phone.

The access network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a Base Station (BS) or a Base Station controller (bsc) in wireless communication. The access network equipment is a device deployed in a wireless access network and used for providing a wireless communication function for a terminal, and the access network equipment has the main functions of: management of radio resources, compression of Internet Protocol (IP) headers and encryption of user data streams, selection of Mobility Management Entity (MME) when a user equipment is attached, routing of user plane data to Serving Gateway (SGW), organization and transmission of paging messages, organization and transmission of broadcast messages, configuration of measurement and measurement reports for mobility or scheduling, and the like. In systems using different radio access technologies, names of access network devices having a base station function may be different, for example, in a communication system corresponding to a third generation mobile communication technology, referred to as a node b (node b); in an LTE system, referred to as an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB); in the NR system, it is called next generation Base Station (gNB) or the like. As communication technology evolves, the name base station may change. The base station may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, femto base stations, home base stations, relay nodes (APs), Access points, and the like. For convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, the above-mentioned apparatuses providing a wireless communication function for a terminal are collectively referred to as access network equipment. In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the access network device is a base station.

In the embodiment of the present application, the access network device includes at least one cell, and it is understood that one or more cells exist under the access network device. The area where the cell provides service for the terminal may be referred to as a coverage area of the cell, and the areas corresponding to the coverage areas of all cells under the access network device may be referred to as a coverage area of the access network device. When the coverage area of the first cell includes the coverage areas of one or more second cells, the logical entity corresponding to the first cell is referred to as a third device, and the logical entity corresponding to the second cell is referred to as a second device. The third device may be an access network device, a base station, a macro base station, a High Power High Tower (HPHT), and the like, and the second device may be an access network device, a base station, a micro base station, a femto base station, a home base station, a relay node, and the like. Compared with the third equipment, the second equipment has the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmission power. It can also be understood that the third device has the characteristics of wide coverage and high transmission power compared with the second device. Optionally, the radius of the cell of the third device is tens of kilometers. The form of the second device and the third device is not limited in the present application, and it should be noted that the number of the second device and the third device may be one or more. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, a third device and one or more second devices are described, and the third device is described as an access network device.

It is to be understood that the second device and the third device each comprise at least one cell, and that the same coverage exists for at least one cell between the second device and the third device. In one possible example, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device. That is, the coverage between the third device and the second device is the same, or the third device has a larger coverage than the second device. A terminal in the coverage area of the cell under the second device may be served by the cell, and may also be served by a cell in the third device, which has the same coverage area as the cell, so that the third device and the second device may provide a wireless communication function for the same terminal. Under different conditions, the second device and the third device can respectively or jointly provide wireless communication service for the same terminal, so that the flexibility of access network equipment and service deployment is improved, the frequency spectrum utilization rate is improved, the network coverage rate is improved, and the network capacity is improved.

For example, as shown in fig. 1, the coverage area of a cell included in the access network device 111 is a position corresponding to an area D1, the coverage area of another cell that may also be included in the access network device 111 is a position corresponding to an area D2, and the area D1 includes an area D3 and an area D4. The position corresponding to the area D3 is a coverage area of a plurality of cells included in the access network device 121, and the position corresponding to the area D4 is a coverage area of a plurality of cells included in the access network 122. The coverage area of access network device 111 is greater than the coverage area of each of access network device 121 and access network device 122, and the same coverage area exists for cells between access network device 111, access network device 121, and each of access network device 122. If the access network device 111 is the third device and both the access network device 121 and the access network device 122 are the second devices, the terminal 101 and the terminal 102 located in the ranges of the area D1 and the area D3 may be served by at least one cell corresponding to the area D3 through the access network device 121, and may also be served by a cell corresponding to the area D1 through the access network device 111. The terminal 103 and the terminal 104 located in the areas D1 and D4 may be served by at least one cell corresponding to the area D4 through the access network device 122, and may also be served by a cell corresponding to the area D1 through the access network device 111.

The access network equipment and terminals may be deployed on land, e.g., indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted, etc. The access network equipment and terminals may also be deployed on the water surface, as well as on aerial aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiment of the application does not limit the application scenes of the access network equipment and the terminal.

The access network device and the terminal, the access network device and the access network device, and the terminal can communicate through a licensed spectrum (licensed spectrum), can also communicate through an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed spectrum), and can also communicate through the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum at the same time. The embodiment of the application does not limit the frequency spectrum resources used between the access network device and the terminal.

In making the description of the embodiments of the present application, some concepts used in the following description will first be explained.

(1) Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected state.

The RRC connected state (RRC connected, in this embodiment, referred to as a connected state for short) refers to that an RRC connection is established between the terminal and the access network device, and the terminal may receive and transmit dedicated data, and according to activity of the terminal, air interface resources and power consumption of the terminal may be saved through Discontinuous Reception (DRX).

(2) non-RRC connected state.

The non-RRC connected state (simply referred to as a non-connected state in the present embodiment) refers to a state in which an RRC connected state between the terminal and the access network device is not a connected state. In systems using different radio access technologies, the RRC connected state corresponding to the unconnected state may be different. For example, in the LTE system, the connected state corresponding to the unconnected state includes an RRC idle state (RRC idle, which is simply referred to as idle in this embodiment of the present application); in the NR system, the connection states corresponding to the non-connection state include an idle state and an RRC inactive state (RRC inactive, which is referred to as an inactive state in this embodiment).

The idle state means that no RRC connection is performed between the terminal and the access network device, and the terminal needs to periodically initiate location update, cell selection and reselection procedures, receive paging, and the like.

The inactive state is a new RRC state introduced in the NR system in order to enable the terminal to quickly enter the connected state to send data, and reduce signaling overhead caused in the mobility process and the state transition process. In an inactive state, the terminal moves in a certain Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) range without notifying Access Network equipment, the terminal can retain a certain configuration, and if the terminal has data to transmit, the terminal needs to migrate to a connected state, and the retained configuration is restored for data transmission.

(3) And (4) multicast service.

The multicast service refers to a service in which an access network device provides a wireless communication function service for a plurality of terminals at the same time, and may be referred to as a multicast service or a broadcast service, and is mainly applicable to services oriented to a plurality of terminals, such as a video conference, television broadcasting, video on demand, online education, and the like.

For example, as shown in fig. 1, the coverage area of a cell included in the access network device 111 is a position corresponding to an area D1, the coverage area of another cell that may also be included in the access network device 111 is a position corresponding to an area D2, and the area D1 includes an area D3 and an area D4. The position corresponding to the area D3 is a coverage area of a plurality of cells included in the access network device 121, and the position corresponding to the area D4 is a coverage area of a plurality of cells included in the access network 122. The terminal 101 and the terminal 102 are located in the range of the region D3, the terminal 103 and the terminal 104 are located in the range of the region D4, and the terminal 205 is not located in the range of the region D1, the region D2, the region D3, and the region D4, then at least one cell corresponding to the region D3 may provide or simultaneously provide the multicast service for the terminal 101 and the terminal 102, and at least one cell corresponding to the region D4 may provide or simultaneously provide the multicast service for the terminal 103 and the terminal 104. And the terminal 101, the terminal 102, the terminal 103 and the terminal 104 are located within the range of the region D1, at least one cell corresponding to the region D1 may provide the multicast service for the terminal 101, the terminal 102, the terminal 103 and the terminal 104 or simultaneously provide the multicast service.

The multicast service may establish a dedicated bearer for the terminal through the access network device, and send the dedicated bearer to the terminal in a unicast (point-to-point, PTP) transmission mode (may be referred to as a unicast PTP mode in this application, or may be referred to as a PTP for short) by the access network device, or send the dedicated bearer to the terminal in a multicast (point-to-multipoint, PTM) transmission mode (may be referred to as a multicast PTM mode in this application, or may be referred to as a PTM for short) by the access network device by establishing a bearer for the multicast service. When a large number of terminals need to receive a certain multicast service, sending the service in a unicast PTP manner needs to establish a dedicated bearer for each of the large number of terminals, and a data packet of the multicast service can be sent to the terminal through the dedicated bearer of each terminal, which results in a large resource consumption in this transmission manner. If the method is a multicast PTM mode, the data packet of the multicast service can be transmitted through the load of the multicast service, and all terminals interested in the multicast service can receive the multicast service through the load, so that the air interface resources are saved, the frequency spectrum utilization rate is improved, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

The access network device transmits the multicast service, which means that the access network device can provide the multicast service for at least one terminal or simultaneously provide the multicast service, and the transmission mode can be a multicast PTM mode. The access network device stops transmitting the multicast service, which may indicate that the access network device does not transmit all multicast services any more, or indicate that the access network device provides the multicast service for the terminal in a unicast PTP manner. In this embodiment, the access network device stops transmitting the multicast service, so that the access network device does not transmit all multicast services again for example.

In systems using different radio access technologies, the name of the Multicast Service may be different, for example, in LTE systems, it is called Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS); in the NR system, it is called Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) or the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, both the second device and the third device may be configured to transmit a multicast service.

(4) And (4) MBMS service.

The MBMS service is a service generally provided by a broadcast transmission method. The MBMS service may include two transmission modes, a Single Cell Point to Multi-Point (SC-PTM) technology and a Multimedia Broadcast multicast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN).

The SC-PTM transmission mode is a technology for transmitting the same service to a plurality of terminals simultaneously by using shared data information, a group of terminals receiving the same service uses the same downlink configuration to receive the service, and a communication link of each terminal is not required to be established. As shown in fig. 3, the SC-PTM has a Single Cell Multicast Control Channel (SC-MCCH) and a Single Cell Multicast Transport Channel (SC-MTCH), and both Downlink logical channels (Downlink logical channels) are mapped onto a Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) in the Downlink Transport channels (Downlink Transport channels). The SC-MCCH includes a service identifier and configuration information for receiving a Multicast Traffic logical Channel (MTCH), and the SC-MTCH is used to transmit service data. The multicast control information carried on the SC-MCCH is hereinafter referred to as SC-MCCH information. The SC-MCCH information is transmitted in a Period, the Period comprises a Repetition Period (RP) and a Modification Period (MP), each Repetition Period transmits one SC-MCCH information, and each Modification Period comprises a plurality of Repetition periods and the content of the SC-MCCH information in the Modification Period is unchanged.

In addition, as shown in fig. 3, a Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH), a Common Control Channel (CCCH), a Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH), and a Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) in the downlink logical Channel are also mapped on the DL-SCH. The BCCH is also mapped to a Broadcast Channel (BCH). A Paging Control Channel (PCCH) in the downlink logical Channel is mapped to a Paging Channel (PCH) in the downlink transport Channel. A Multicast Control Channel (MCCH) and a Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) are mapped to a Multicast Channel (MCH).

The MBSFN transmission scheme involves synchronous transmission of a plurality of cells. In MBSFN technology, a Multi-Cell/Multicast Coordination Entity (MCE) is included. The MCE is a logical entity, and may exist as a separate network element, or may be a part of other network elements; the same MCE refers to a logically same MCE, and it is understood that MCEs may be located in multiple network elements, but have the same identification. When multi-cell transmission is performed, the MCE is connected to one or more enbs in the same MBSFN area through an M2 interface, and is mainly used for allocating, managing and controlling radio resources of all enbs in the MBSFN area. The MBSFN transmission mode relates to synchronous transmission among a plurality of cells, so that frequency resources can be saved, and the frequency spectrum utilization rate is improved. In the LTE system, each cell may include at least one MBMS subframe for transmitting an MBMS service, a terminal may receive MBMS data by receiving the MBMS subframe, and the terminal may receive the MBMS subframe in an idle state or a connected state, and an access network device (i.e., eNB) in the LTE system may not need to know which terminals are receiving the MBMS service.

(5) Counting function in MBMS service.

The MBMS counting function allows the MCE to request the access network equipment (i.e., eNB) to count and report the area of one or more MBSFN services to determine the number of (connected) terminals receiving or interested in the MBMS service. Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a complete MBMS service counting process. In fig. 4, terminals within the coverage of the eNB include terminal 1, … … and terminal N. Optionally, N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. Based on M2 interface between MCE and eNB, and based on Uu interface between eNB and terminal, the process includes following steps S401-S405, wherein:

s401: the MCE transmits a multicast SERVICE COUNTING REQUEST message (MBMS SERVICE COUNTING REQUEST message) to the eNB.

S402: the eNB sends a multicast SERVICE COUNTING RESPONSE message (MBMS SERVICE COUNTING RESPONSE message) to the MCE.

Wherein the MBMS SERVICE COUNTING RESPONSE is used in RESPONSE to receiving the MBMS SERVICE COUNTING REQUEST from the MCE, it is understood that the eNB has received the message. It should be noted that, if the eNB cannot correctly perform the COUNTING operation corresponding to step S401, the eNB may send an MBMS SERVICE COUNTING failure message (MBMS SERVICE COUNTING failure message) to the MCE.

S403: the eNB transmits a multicast counting request message (MBMSCountingRequest message) to terminals within the coverage of the eNB.

The MBMSCountInquequestmessage is carried by the eNB on a multicast control channel MCCH corresponding to the MBSFN area and is sent to the terminal in the coverage area of the eNB. The terminal in the coverage of the eNB knows that the eNB is counting (some) users of the MBMS service by receiving the MBMS counting request message carried on the MCCH.

S404: a terminal interested in and/or receiving the MBMS service transmits a multicast counting response message (MBMSCountingResponse message) to the eNB.

S405: and the eNB collects the information fed back by the terminal.

Step S406: the eNB sends a multicast Service Counting Results Report message (MBMS Service reporting message) to the MCE.

It should be noted that terminals not interested in the MBMS service and/or terminals not receiving the MBMS service may not send the MBMS countresponse message. In another possible implementation manner, an MBMS counting response message is sent to a terminal that is not interested in the MBMS service and/or a terminal that does not receive the MBMS service, where the MBMS counting response message is used to indicate the terminal that is not interested in the MBMS service and/or does not receive the MBMS service. Considering that the number of corresponding terminals under the eNB may be large, optionally, the eNB will collect corresponding feedback information for a period of time. The time may be an MCCH modification period, such as 5.12 seconds or 10.24 seconds. It can be understood that the eNB determines that the collection of the terminal feedback information is completed when the MCCH modification period arrives. The time may also be a predefined fixed value, or may be a time determined by the eNB or the MCE according to the auxiliary information (e.g., past experience, channel quality, location information, number of MBMS services, transmission condition, etc.), and the like, which is not limited herein.

SC-PTM only relates to the multicast service transmission of a single cell, does not relate to the transmission of multicast service among a plurality of cells, and does not relate to the application scene of multicast service transmission among a plurality of cells and/or a plurality of access network devices according to the negotiation information corresponding to the load condition. However, the second device and the third device may include a plurality of cells. The SC-PTM technique is therefore not suitable for multicast service transmission in a communication network comprising the above-mentioned third device and at least one second device.

The MBMS is transmitted in the MBSFN mode, multiple cells are required to transmit the MBMS simultaneously, and the problem of simultaneous coverage of multiple cells or multiple access network devices is solved. Therefore, the MBSFN technology is not suitable for multicast service transmission in a communication network formed by the third device and at least one second device.

Based on this, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing a multicast service, where a plurality of devices cooperatively transmit the multicast service, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and user experience is improved.

The method may be applied to a communication network composed of a third device and at least one second device (e.g., access network device 111, access network device 121, access network device 122, and access network device 123 in fig. 1), and may also be applied to a communication network composed of a third device, at least one second device, and a multicast control unit (e.g., access network device 211, access network device 221, access network device 222, access network device 223, and multicast control unit 230 in fig. 2). The multicast control unit may be configured to control transmission of a multicast service, and optionally, includes whether an access network device in a communication network transmits the multicast service, where the transmission mode of the multicast service is a unicast PTP mode and/or a multicast PTM mode, and a service identifier of the transmitted multicast service.

It should be noted that the multicast control unit may be a separate logical unit/physical unit, or may be a part of the third device. When the multicast control unit is a single logical unit/entity unit, the multicast control unit is connected with the second device and the third device in the communication network, and can send information to the second device and the third device respectively. The information sent by the multicast control unit to the second device or the third device, for example, indication information, request information, etc. of the multicast service, is not limited herein. Optionally, the Multicast Control unit is a Multicast Control Function, which may be referred to as an MCF for short.

In this embodiment, the second device may be an access network device, and at least one cell exists under the second device and may be used for transmitting a multicast service. The third device may be an access network device and may be configured to transmit multicast traffic. It should be noted that, the second device and the third device cooperatively transmit the multicast service, which may be understood as that, when the third device starts the multicast service, the second device may close the multicast service. When the third device closes the multicast service, the second device can open the multicast service. It may also be understood that, when the third device transmits the first multicast service, the second device may transmit a multicast service other than the first multicast service and/or stop transmitting the first multicast service. The first multicast service may be transmitted by the second device when the third device stops transmitting the first multicast service. The first multicast service is not limited in the present application, and may be any multicast service.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a first multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to a communication network as shown in fig. 2. Before implementing the method, the multicast control unit determines that the third device does not perform transmission of the multicast service. It can be understood that the multicast service that the third device has the capability or can transmit has not started to transmit; and/or the multicast service that the third device has the capability or can transmit has already started, but the third device has not transmitted. If the multicast control unit determines that the third device performs multicast service transmission, please refer to fig. 7. As shown in fig. 5, wherein:

optionally, S501: the multicast control unit sends a first request to the second device.

In the embodiment of the application, the first request is used for acquiring information of the first terminal. The first terminal is served by at least one cell existing under the second device, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service. The terminal interested in the multicast service includes a situation that the terminal wants to receive the multicast service which is not started to be transmitted, or the terminal wants to receive the multicast service which is being transmitted but does not receive the multicast service for some reasons. The first terminal is served by at least one cell existing under the second device, which may be understood as that the location of the first terminal is located in a coverage area of a cell of the second device, or may be understood as that the first terminal is served by at least one cell included in the second device, or may be a cell in which the first terminal resides and/or a cell to which the first terminal accesses and/or a cell to which the first terminal is to access, and/or a cell in which the first terminal can receive a service. The location of the first terminal may be within the coverage of the cell of the third device when the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device. Similarly, the first terminal may also be served by the third device or a cell of the third device, and the cell of the third device may also be a cell where the first terminal resides and/or a cell where the first terminal accesses, and/or a cell where the first terminal is to access, and/or a cell where the first terminal can receive a service.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, if the second device is the access network device 222, and the terminal 203 and the terminal 204 receive the multicast service transmitted by the access network device 222; the terminal 206 is interested in multicast services that the access network device 222 is transmitting, or has not started transmitting, or is transmitting in a unicast PTP manner; terminal 207 does not currently receive the multicast service and is not interested in the multicast service, then the first terminals may be terminal 203, terminal 204 and terminal 206.

The information of the first terminal is not limited in the present application, and in a possible example, the information of the first terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal. The information of the first terminal may include, but is not limited to, the following information: the number of terminals receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the transmitted or to be transmitted multicast service within the coverage of the second device; the number of at least one terminal comprised by the first terminal; identification information of the first terminal; service identification information of a multicast service which is interested in and/or received by the first terminal; location information of the first terminal; channel state information of the first terminal; a measurement result of the first terminal; capability information of the first terminal, etc. The service identification information of the multicast service that the first terminal is interested in and/or receiving may also be information of whether the first terminal is interested in a certain multicast service(s). The information of the first terminal may be described by using a bitmap (bitmap) or other means, whether the terminal is receiving and/or interested in a certain multicast service(s). Wherein, a 1 in the bitmap may indicate that the terminal is interested in or receiving a certain multicast service(s), and a 0 in the bitmap may indicate that the terminal is not interested in and/or does not receive any multicast service(s).

In the embodiments of the present application, the service identification information of the multicast service may be used to identify the multicast service. As an example of the first multicast service, the service identifier information of the multicast service may be identifier information of an application corresponding to the first multicast service, or may be a Temporary Mobile Group Identifier (TMGI), a service identifier (service ID), or a Radio Network identifier (e.g., a Global System for Mobile communications-Radio Network Temporary Identity, G-RNTI) corresponding to the first multicast service for scheduling a group of terminals to receive the first multicast service, or identification information for identifying a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session in which the first multicast service is transmitted, or identification information for identifying the multicast session in the multicast session transmitting the first multicast service (for example, when the multicast service is MBS, the identification information of the multicast session may be identification information of MBS session), and the like. The service identification information of the multicast service may be understood as identification information of the multicast service itself, or may be understood as identification information carried in the process of transmitting the multicast service, or identification information renamed for distinguishing other services (or multicast services).

The location information may be longitude and latitude information in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction of the first terminal, which is represented by a satellite coordinate, or may be location information indicated by a 3GPP positioning technology, or may be location information of a cell to which the first terminal belongs, or may be Tracking Area (TA) information to which the first terminal belongs, or device information of an access network device or a second device to which the first terminal belongs.

The channel state information may include signal-to-noise ratio, signal quality, signal strength, etc. The measurement result may be understood as an RRC layer result that the terminal completes measurement according to the measurement configuration and generates, may be a measurement result of a first physical layer (layer1), and may also be a measurement result based on a beam (beam).

The identification information of the terminal is used to identify the terminal. For example, the identification information of the first terminal is used to identify the first terminal, and may be an identification of the first terminal, for example, a Media Access Control Address (MAC) Address, an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol) Address, and the like. The identification information of the first terminal may also be a User identification of the multicast service corresponding to the first terminal, for example, a User Equipment Identity (UE ID) and the like.

The capability information is used to describe whether the first terminal can support the reception of the multicast service, whether multiple multicast services can be received, in what manner (e.g., entering a connected state and/or in any RRC state) the multicast service can be received, the radio frequency capability of the first terminal, the baseband capability, whether the first terminal can access/reside in the second device or/and the third device, and so on.

The type and role of the information of the above terminal are not limited here.

It can be understood that, according to the service identification information of the terminal, the number of the first terminals interested in the multicast service and/or receiving the multicast service can be counted; the number of the first terminals that are interested in and/or receiving different multicast services may also be different multicast services, the different multicast services may be multicast services required to be counted in the first request, or the terminals may report according to their own interest and/or receiving multicast services, or may be multicast services that can be provided by the second device or the third device. According to the service identification information of the terminal, the number of first terminals which are interested in a certain multicast service(s) and/or receiving the multicast service(s) within the coverage area of the second device, are/is served by/from the cell of the second device can be counted.

The channel quality condition of the terminal can be obtained according to the measurement result and/or the channel state information, and the channel quality condition can be used to determine whether the terminal can receive the multicast service data through PTM and/or PTP, or determine what transmission mode (for example, PTM, PTP, PTM and PTP are transmitted simultaneously) the terminal can receive the multicast service data. The number of the first terminals under different limited conditions can be obtained through the information of the different first terminals, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved conveniently, communication resources and energy sources are saved, the multicast service quality is ensured, and the user experience is improved. The type and role of the information of the above terminal are not limited here.

The content of the first request is not limited in the present application, and the type of the information of the first terminal may be specified, for example, the type of the information of the first terminal is the number of terminals corresponding to service identifiers of different multicast services, the number of first terminals in a coverage area of a cell or a second device, or identification information of the first terminal. The request of the first terminal may also specify a statistics list for acquiring the multicast service, where the statistics list may be used to acquire information of the first terminal, and the statistics list may acquire, in the form of the aforementioned bitmap, the number of terminals interested in the multicast service being received/transmitting or about to start transmitting, the number of terminals corresponding to service identifiers of different multicast services, and the like.

The present application does not limit the execution condition of step S501, and the multicast control unit may send the first request to the second device at intervals, for example, at the fifth time. The fifth time may be a fixed time, and is the same for all devices and all multicast services; or a different time corresponding to each multicast service; the time may be a dynamic time determined by the access network device or the multicast control unit, that is, the time is not a certain value, and the time may be determined by the access network device or the multicast control unit according to past experience (for example, the number of terminals that receive/stop the multicast service is generally exceeded in the past), channel quality conditions, network load conditions, and the like, which is not limited herein. In another possible implementation manner, the multicast service transmitted by the third device and/or the second device reports to the multicast control unit when the first constraint condition is satisfied, so as to execute step S501. The first constraint includes, but is not limited to, the following information: the new multicast service is about to start transmission or starts transmission already; the multicast service received before is ended or transmission is stopped; the number of multicast services transmitted by the second device exceeds a threshold, etc. Here, the threshold may be a seventh threshold, which may be an upper limit of processing for the second device to simultaneously transmit the multicast service, or an upper limit of the number of terminals that receive the multicast service and are supported by the second device; the second device may further include a third threshold, where the third threshold is configured by the multicast control unit or the third device, or an upper limit of the number of terminals supported by the second device that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service, or an upper limit of the number of terminals supported by the second device that are receiving a certain multicast service and/or interested in a certain multicast service. The eighth threshold may also be a series of thresholds, each sub-threshold corresponding to multicast traffic present in one network. Illustratively, when the number of terminals served by the second device and receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service exceeds the sub-threshold of the multicast service, the second device reports to the multicast control unit, thereby performing step S501.

Optionally, S502: the second device sends a first response message to the multicast control unit.

The first response message may be used to respond to receiving a first request from the multicast control unit, or to instruct the second device to perform an operation corresponding to the first request. The multicast control unit may determine that the second device has received the first request according to the first response message. If the second device cannot correctly perform the request of step S501, the second device may transmit indication information indicating that the first request response failed to the multicast control unit.

Optionally, S503: the second device sends a second request to terminals within the coverage of the second device.

As shown in fig. 5, the terminal located in the coverage of the second device includes a terminal p₁… …, terminal p_s. Optionally, S is an integer greater than or equal to 0. In an embodiment of the present application, the second request may be used to obtain information of a terminal in the coverage area of the second device that is receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service. The second request may also be used to acquire identification information of a terminal that is receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service within the coverage of the second device, or may be used to acquire service identification information, location information, channel state information, capability information, and the like of the multicast service that is receiving and/or interested in, which is not limited herein. It is to be understood that the second request is for obtaining information of the first terminal.

The execution condition of step S503 is not limited in this application, and the second request may be sent by the second device to the terminal in the coverage area of the second device at intervals, or may be sent to the terminal in the coverage area of the second device when the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition, or after the multicast service transmitted by the third device satisfies a constraint condition, the second device is requested to send to the terminal in the coverage area of the second device, and the time and constraint condition may refer to the description of the execution condition of step S501, and is not described here again.

Optionally, S504: and the terminal in the coverage range of the second equipment sends the first information of the terminal to the second equipment.

The terminal that sends the first information to the second device may include a terminal within a coverage area of the second device, or include a terminal that receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service within the coverage area of the second device, and may also be understood as the first terminal. It should be noted that a terminal that is not interested in the multicast service and/or a terminal that does not receive the multicast service may not transmit the information of the terminal. In another possible implementation, the information sent to the terminal that is not interested in the multicast service and/or the terminal that does not receive the multicast service may send information indicating that the terminal is not interested in the multicast service and/or does not receive the multicast service to the second device. The first information may include, but is not limited to: the identification information of the terminal, the service identification information of the multicast service being received by the terminal, the service identification information of the terminal that is interested in the multicast service, the service identification information of the multicast service that is not interested in the terminal, the location information of the terminal, the channel state information of the terminal, the measurement result of the terminal, the capability information of the terminal, and the like may refer to the description of the information of the first terminal, and are not described herein again.

The first information may be information that is required to be reported in the second request in step S503, or may be information that the terminal reports to the second device according to its own interest and/or multicast service being received, and the like, which is not limited herein. If the first information is the first information spontaneously reported by the terminal, the first information can be reported to the second device according to time, or the first information can be reported to the second device when the multicast service of the terminal meets the second constraint condition. The second constraint includes, but is not limited to, the following information: the terminal is interested in a new or about to start multicast service; the multicast service being received by the terminal is ended or the reception is interrupted; the number of multicast services received by the terminal exceeds a threshold, etc. The above time and constraint conditions may refer to the description of the execution conditions of step S501, and are not described herein again. The first information may also be reported to the second device when a signal state parameter between the terminal and the second device satisfies a second constraint condition. The second preset condition may be that the signal quality, the signal strength or the network load in the signal status parameter is less than a threshold, and the threshold may be a ninth threshold, and the ninth threshold may be based on past experience, for example, how much data is not received in general before, and the like, which are not limited herein.

Optionally, S505: the second device acquires information of the first terminal.

The method for acquiring the information of the first terminal by the second device is not limited in the present application, and the second device may use the first information as the information of the first terminal, and the second device may also count, based on the first information of each terminal obtained in step S504, the number of terminals that are receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in each cell existing under the second device and/or other information, and may also count, based on the first information of each terminal obtained in step S504, the number of terminals that are receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in all cells existing under the second device and other information. The other information may include identification information of the terminal, service identification information of the multicast service being received by the terminal, service identification information of the terminal that is interested in the multicast service, service identification information of the multicast service that is not interested in the terminal, location information of the terminal, channel state information of the terminal, measurement results of the terminal, capability information of the terminal, and the like, and may refer to the description of the information of the first terminal, which is not described herein again.

The second device may perform statistics according to the service identification information, or perform statistics according to the service identification information in the bitmap. It can be understood that the second device performs statistics based on different multicast services. For example, by using the first multicast service in the multicast service, the second device may count first information of terminals that receive and/or are interested in the first multicast service in each cell that exists under the second device, and may also count first information of terminals that receive and/or are interested in the first multicast service in all cells that exist under the second device. The first multicast service may be a service that the second device may transmit/is about to start/is transmitting, or a multicast service that is required to be counted in the first request sent by the multicast control unit, and the like, which is not limited herein.

Step S505 may be that the second device performs statistics based on the first request in step S501, or performs statistics based on other requests sent by the multicast control unit, or the second device performs statistics based on the second request, or performs statistics based on the service identification information of the multicast service provided by the second device, or performs statistics based on the request of the multicast service received by the second device, and the like, which is not limited herein.

Considering that the number of corresponding terminals under the access network device may be large, optionally, the second device will count the first information for a period of time. The time may be an MCCH modification period, a predefined fixed value, or may be a time determined by the access network device or the multicast control unit according to the auxiliary information (e.g., past experience, channel quality, location information, multicast service amount, transmission condition, etc.), and the like, which is not limited herein.

S506: the second device sends the information of the first terminal to the multicast control unit.

The information of the first terminal may include the multicast service received in the coverage area of the second device, and/or service identification information, location information, channel state information, measurement results, identification information, capability information, and the like of the multicast service of the terminal interested in the multicast service, and reference may be made to the description of the information of the first terminal in step S501, which is not described herein again.

In the method shown in steps S501-S506, the multicast control unit may obtain statistical information of terminals that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service in the coverage area of the second device by sending a request to the second device, so as to determine that the multicast service is being received and/or the multicast service is interested in the coverage area of the second device.

It should be noted that, when the second device transmits the multicast service, the third device may transmit the multicast service in a unicast PTP manner. That is, the third device may transmit the multicast service to terminals within the coverage area of the third device that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in transmitting or about to start transmitting the multicast service. The multicast control unit may also count information of a terminal under a third device, and in a possible example, as shown in fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a second multicast service processing method provided by the present application, and includes the following steps S611 to S616, where:

optionally, S611: the multicast control unit sends a third request to the third device.

Wherein the third request may be used to obtain the coverage area of the third device in a unicast PTP mannerInformation of terminals interested in receiving the multicast service and/or the multicast service being transmitted and/or about to start transmission and/or that a third device can transmit. As shown in fig. 6, the terminal located in the coverage of the third device includes a terminal k₁… …, terminal k_M. Optionally, M is an integer greater than or equal to 0. In the embodiment of the present application, a terminal that is receiving the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service to start transmission in the coverage of the third device is referred to as a seventh terminal. That is, the third request is for acquiring information of the seventh terminal. It should be noted that the seventh terminal may be a terminal that resides in or accesses a cell existing under the third device, is receiving the multicast service in a unicast PTP manner, and/or is interested in the multicast service that the third device is about to start transmitting. The information of the seventh terminal may refer to the description of the information of the first terminal, and is not described herein again.

The execution condition of step S611 may refer to the execution condition of step S501, where the multicast control unit sends the third request to the third device at intervals, or the multicast service transmitted by the third device and/or the second device is reported to the multicast control unit when the first constraint condition is satisfied, so as to execute step S611, and details are not described herein.

Optionally, S612: the third device sends a second response message to the multicast control unit.

The second response message may be used to respond to receiving a third request from the multicast control unit, or to instruct the third device to perform an operation corresponding to the third request. The multicast control unit may determine that the third device has received the third request according to the second response message. If the third device cannot correctly perform the request of step S611, the third device may transmit indication information indicating that the third request response fails to the multicast control unit.

Optionally, S613: the third device sends a fourth request to terminals within the coverage of the third device.

Wherein the fourth request may be used to obtain information of terminals within the coverage area of the third device that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service being transmitted or about to start transmitting. The fourth request may also be used to acquire identification information of a terminal that is receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service that will start to be transmitted within the coverage area of the third device, or may be used to acquire service identification information, location information, channel state information, capability information, and the like of the multicast service that is receiving and/or interested in the multicast service that is being transmitted or will start to be transmitted, which is not limited herein. It is to be understood that the fourth request is for acquiring information of the seventh terminal.

The execution condition of step S613 is not limited in this application, and may be that the third device sends to the terminal in the coverage area of the third device at intervals, or sends to the terminal in the coverage area of the second device when the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition, or requests the second device to send to the terminal in the coverage area of the second device after the multicast service transmitted by the third device satisfies a constraint condition, and the like, where the time and constraint condition may refer to the description of the execution condition of step S501, and is not described herein again.

Optionally, S614: and the terminal in the coverage range of the third equipment sends the second information of the terminal to the third equipment.

The terminal that sends the second information to the third device may include a terminal within the coverage of the third device, or include a terminal that receives the multicast service within the coverage of the third device, and/or a terminal that is interested in the multicast service being transmitted or about to start transmitting, and may also be understood as the seventh terminal. It should be noted that a terminal that is not interested in the multicast service and/or a terminal that does not receive the multicast service may not transmit the information of the terminal. In another possible implementation, the information sent to the terminal that is not interested in the multicast service and/or the terminal that does not receive the multicast service may send information indicating that the terminal is not interested in the multicast service and/or does not receive the multicast service to the second device.

The second information may include, but is not limited to: the description of the first information may be referred to for identification information of the terminal, service identification information of a multicast service being received by the terminal, service identification information of a multicast service that is interested by the terminal, service identification information of a multicast service that is not interested by the terminal, location information of the terminal, channel state information of the terminal, a measurement result of the terminal, capability information of the terminal, and the like, and is not described herein again.

The second information may be information that is required to be reported in the fourth request in step S613, or information that the terminal reports to the third device according to its own interest and/or multicast service being received, and the like, which is not limited herein. If the second information is the second information that is spontaneously reported by the terminal, the second information may be reported to the third device according to time, or the second information may be reported to the third device when the multicast service of the terminal meets the second constraint condition, and the time and the second constraint condition may refer to the description in step S504, and are not described herein again.

Optionally, S615: the third device acquires information of the seventh terminal.

The method for acquiring the information of the seventh terminal by the third device is not limited in the present application, and the third device may use the second information as the information of the seventh terminal, count, by the third device, the number of terminals that are receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in each cell existing under the third device and/or other information based on the second information of each terminal obtained in step S614, and count, by the third device, the number of terminals that are receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in all cells existing under the third device and other information based on the second information of each terminal obtained in step S614. Other information, such as the identification information of the seventh terminal described in the information of the first terminal, the service identification information of the multicast service being received by the seventh terminal, the service identification information of the multicast service that the seventh terminal is interested in by the multicast service, the service identification information of the multicast service that the seventh terminal is not interested in, the position information of the seventh terminal, the channel state information of the seventh terminal, the measurement result of the seventh terminal, the capability information of the seventh terminal, and the like, is not described herein again. The third device may perform statistics according to the service identification information, or perform statistics according to the service identification information in the bitmap. It can be understood that the third device performs statistics based on different multicast services. For example, refer to the description of step S505, which is not repeated herein.

Step S615 may be that the third device performs statistics based on the third request in step S611, or performs statistics based on other requests sent by the multicast control unit, or the third device performs statistics based on the fourth request, or performs statistics based on the service identification information of the multicast service provided by the third device, or performs statistics based on the request of the multicast service received by the third device, and the like, which is not limited herein.

Considering that the number of corresponding terminals under the access network device may be large, optionally, the third device will count the first information within a period of time, where the period of time may be an MCCH modification period, a predefined fixed value, or may be a time determined by the access network device or the multicast control unit according to auxiliary information (e.g., past experience, channel quality, location information, multicast service number, transmission condition, etc.), and the like, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, S616: the third device sends the information of the seventh terminal to the multicast control unit.

The information of the seventh terminal may include the multicast service received within the coverage of the third device, and/or service identification information, location information, channel state information, measurement results, identification information, capability information, and the like of the multicast service of the terminal interested in the multicast service, and reference may be made to the description of the information of the first terminal in step S501, which is not described herein again.

In the method shown in steps S611-S616, the multicast control unit may determine that the multicast service is being received in the coverage area of the third device and/or the multicast service to be transmitted is interested in by sending a request to the third device, and obtaining statistical information of the terminals that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service to be transmitted or to be transmitted.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the time between the multicast control unit executing step S501 and step S611 is not limited, and the transmission may be performed at the same time or at different times.

Optionally, S507: the multicast control unit determines that a first condition is satisfied.

If the multicast control unit determines that the first condition is satisfied, the multicast control unit performs step S508 and step S509. If it is determined that the first condition is not met, the second device may continue to provide the multicast service for the first terminal, or may set a time, for example, a sixth time, where the time may refer to the fifth time described in step S501, and details are not described here again. The time may be set according to the number of the first terminals and the decimal line, etc., and is not limited herein. The tenth threshold may refer to the description of the seventh threshold or the eighth threshold, and is not described herein again. When the sixth time arrives, the multicast control unit executes step S501. The first condition may also be that when the multicast service of the second device and/or the third device in the communication network changes, for example, a new multicast service is about to start transmission or has already started transmission; the multicast service received before is ended or transmission is stopped; the step S502 is executed if the number of multicast services transmitted by the second device exceeds a threshold, or the step S501 is executed if the number of multicast services exceeds the threshold. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the execution time of step S508 and step S509 is not limited, and the timing sequence in fig. 5 is a possible one, and step S508 and step S509 are executed simultaneously.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first condition may include that the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold. The number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal may be the number of first terminals that are receiving a certain multicast service (e.g., a first multicast service) or interested in the multicast service, or may be the number of all first terminals that are receiving any multicast service or interested in any multicast service. The first threshold is not limited in the present application, for example, the first threshold is 5, and if the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal is 7, the first condition is satisfied. It can be understood that, when the number of first terminals receiving and/or interested in multicast services being transmitted and/or about to start transmission in the coverage area of the cell included by the second device is smaller than the first threshold, it indicates that there are fewer first terminals in the area, and the multicast services can be transmitted through the second device with smaller transmission power, and at this time, a third device with larger power is not used for multicast service transmission, so as to optimize the energy consumption of the network and reduce the power consumption; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of the first terminals is greater than or equal to the first threshold, it indicates that there are more first terminals in the area, and the multicast service may be transmitted through a third device with a larger coverage and a larger transmission power. That is to say, the third device transmits the multicast service in a centralized manner, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved, the communication resources and the energy can be saved, the communication quality of the multicast service can be improved, and the user experience can be improved.

The multicast service transmitted by the third device may be understood as that at least one cell of the third device transmits all multicast services. All multicast services herein may be multicast services that the third device has the capability of transmitting. At this time, if the third device starts the transmission of the multicast service, the second device performing the multicast service transmission before the third device is started may not need to perform the transmission of the multicast service.

The multicast service transmitted by the third device may also be understood as that at least one cell of the third device transmits some multicast services. That is, the third device and the second device may transmit different multicast services at the same time. Some multicast services may be divided according to the first threshold. The multicast services may be all multicast services, for example, assuming that the number of different multicast services being transmitted and/or about to start in the communication network at this time is 10, and the first threshold is 7, the number of multicast services transmitted by the third device is 3, and the number of multicast services transmitted by the second device is 7. The above-mentioned multicast service may also be for different multicast services, for example, assuming that the first threshold is 7, for the first multicast service, the number of first terminals receiving and/or interested in the first multicast service is 10, and for the second multicast service, the number of first terminals receiving and/or interested in the first multicast service is 5, the third device performs transmission of the first multicast service, the second device does not transmit the first multicast service any more, and the second device may transmit the second multicast service. It is to be understood that multicast traffic exceeding the first threshold may be transmitted by the third device and multicast traffic not exceeding the first threshold may be transmitted by the second device. The third device and the second device cooperatively transmit the multicast service, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

The first condition may include that the number of terminals served by each cell included by the second device among the first terminals is less than or equal to a second threshold. The second threshold is not limited in the present application, and for example, the second threshold is 2. For example, as shown in fig. 2, the position corresponding to the area D1 is a coverage area of one cell existing under the access network device 211, the position corresponding to the area D3 is a coverage area corresponding to all cells existing under the access network device 221, and the position corresponding to the area D4 is a coverage area corresponding to all cells existing under the access network device 222. Terminal 201 and terminal 202 are not located in the same cell corresponding to region D3, terminal 206 and terminal 207 are located in the same cell corresponding to region D4, terminal 203 and terminal 204 are not located in the same cell corresponding to region D4, and are not located in the cells in which terminal 206 and terminal 207 are located. Assuming that all the terminals are the first terminals and are all served by the cell corresponding to the located area, and the second threshold is 2, the number of the terminals in the cell to which the first terminals belong is less than or equal to the second threshold.

It can be understood that when the number of at least one terminal served by the second device in the first terminal exceeds the second threshold, it indicates that there are more terminals in the coverage area of the second device, and the multicast service can be transmitted in a centralized manner through the second device, and at this time, a third device with higher power is not used for multicast service transmission, so as to optimize the energy consumption of the network and reduce the power consumption; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of terminals served by each cell included in the second device in the first terminal is less than or equal to the second threshold, it indicates that there are fewer terminals in each cell serving the first terminal in the second device, and the third device with a larger coverage and a larger transmission power transmits the multicast service, thereby improving the transmission efficiency and spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service, saving communication resources and energy, improving the communication quality of the multicast service, and improving user experience.

The first condition may include the second device comprising a number of at least one access network device greater than or equal to a third threshold. The third threshold is not limited in the present application, for example, the third threshold is 1, and if the second device includes two access network devices, the first condition is satisfied. It can be understood that when the number of access network devices included in the second device to which the cell serving the first terminal belongs is smaller than the third threshold, it indicates that there are fewer access network devices in the area, and multicast service can be transmitted separately through each access network device, and at this time, the multicast service transmission is not performed by the third device with higher power, so that the energy consumption of the network is optimized, and the power consumption is reduced; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of the access network devices is greater than or equal to the third threshold, it indicates that the terminal that is receiving and/or interested in the multicast service may be distributed under multiple access network devices, and it can also be understood that the distribution range of the terminal that is receiving and/or interested in the multicast service is wider, the multicast service can be transmitted through the third device that has a larger coverage and a larger transmission power, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and user experience is improved.

The first condition may also include that the number of terminals (or first terminals) served by each of the at least one access network device comprised by the second device is less than or equal to the eleventh threshold. The eleventh threshold is not limited in the present application, and for example, the eleventh threshold is 3. For example, as shown in fig. 2, the position corresponding to the area D1 is a coverage area of one cell existing under the access network device 211, the position corresponding to the area D3 is a coverage area corresponding to all cells existing under the access network device 221, and the position corresponding to the area D4 is a coverage area corresponding to all cells existing under the access network device 222. Terminal 201 and terminal 202 are located within the range of region D3, and terminal 203, terminal 204, terminal 206 and terminal 207 are located within the range of region D4. Assuming that all the terminals are first terminals and are served by the access network device corresponding to the located area, both the access network device 221 and the access network device 222 are second devices, the access network device 211 is a third device, and the eleventh threshold is 3, the number (2) of the first terminals in the access network device 221 is less than or equal to the eleventh threshold, and the number (4) of the first terminals in the access network device 222 is greater than the eleventh threshold, so that the first condition is not satisfied.

It can be understood that, when the number of terminals (or first terminals) in the coverage area of the access network device exceeds the eleventh threshold, it indicates that the terminals (or first terminals) distributed in the coverage area of the access network device are relatively concentrated, and the multicast service may be transmitted through each access network device included in the second device, so that the transmission quality of the multicast service may be improved. When the number of the first terminals in the coverage area of the access network device is smaller than or equal to the eleventh threshold, it indicates that the first terminals distributed in the coverage area of the access network device are relatively dispersed, and the multicast service can be transmitted through the third device, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, meanwhile, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and user experience is improved.

For another example, as shown in fig. 1, the range of the area D1 is a coverage area of one cell existing under the access network device 111, the range of the area D3 is a coverage area corresponding to all cells existing under the access network device 121, and the range of the area D4 is a coverage area corresponding to all cells existing under the access network device 122. Terminal 101 and terminal 102 are located within the range of region D3, and terminal 103 and terminal 104 are located within the range of region D4. Assuming that the terminals are all first terminals and are all served by the access network device corresponding to the located area, the access network device 121 and the access network device 122 are both second devices, the access network device 111 is a third device, and the eleventh threshold is 3, the number (2) of the first terminals in the access network device 121 is less than or equal to the eleventh threshold, and the number (2) of the first terminals in the access network device 122 is less than or equal to the eleventh threshold, so as to satisfy the first condition, the multicast service can be transmitted through the access network device 111, and at this time, the multicast service transmission is performed without using the third device with higher power, so that the energy consumption of the network is optimized, and the power consumption is reduced; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided.

It should be noted that the first condition does not constitute a limitation to the embodiment of the present application, and in practical applications, the first condition includes that the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and the number of terminals served by each cell included in the second device of the first terminal is less than or equal to a second threshold; or the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, and the number of at least one access network device included in the second device is greater than or equal to a third threshold value; alternatively, the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and the number of terminals (or first terminals) served by the respective access network devices included in the second device is less than or equal to the eleventh threshold, and the first condition may also be defined with other embodiments. For example, the channel state information of the first terminal is greater than or equal to a threshold, which is exemplified by signal quality/channel condition/channel quality in the channel state information. It is understood that when the signal quality/channel condition/channel quality of the terminal exceeds a threshold, the signal of the terminal is better, and the multicast service can be transmitted through a third device with higher transmission power. Otherwise, if the signal quality is lower than the threshold, it indicates that the signal of the terminal is poor, and the multicast service may be transmitted through the second device that is closer to the terminal, so that the transmission quality of the multicast service may be improved. The threshold may be obtained by evaluating the channel state according to past experience, and is not limited herein. When the signal quality/channel condition/channel quality satisfies a threshold and the terminal that is receiving and/or interested in the multicast service belongs to the first terminal.

The first condition may include one or more thresholds, and when the conditions corresponding to the included thresholds are all satisfied, the first condition is considered to be satisfied.

It should be noted that, when steps S611 to S616 are executed, it is further determined whether the information of the first terminal and the information of the seventh terminal satisfy the first condition.

S508: the multicast control unit sends the first indication information to the second device.

S509: the multicast control unit sends the second indication information to the third device.

In this embodiment, the first indication information may be used to instruct the third device to transmit the multicast service. The multicast service transmitted by the third device may refer to the description in step S507, and is not described herein again.

In one possible example, the first indication information includes first time information indicating a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service and/or a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. The first time information is not limited in the present application, and the first time information may include a time of a timer, for example, 5 seconds. Taking the time of the timer in the first time information as 5 seconds for example, the third device starts to count time after step S505, starts to transmit the multicast service when 5 seconds are reached, and the second device starts to count time after step S504, or starts to count time after receiving the first indication information, and stops transmitting the multicast service when 5 seconds are reached. The first time information may also include a frame number or a subframe number, and it may be understood that the operation corresponding to the first indication information is performed when data corresponding to the frame number or the subframe number is received. The first time information may further include a first time, which is a time when the third device starts to transmit the multicast service.

In this embodiment, the second indication information may be used to instruct the third device to transmit the multicast service, and/or the second device to stop transmitting the multicast service. The multicast service that the second device stops transmitting may be a multicast service that the third device starts transmitting, a multicast service that the third device does not transmit in a PTM manner, or the like. The third device transmits the multicast service and the multicast service that the second device (stops) transmitting may refer to the description of the first indication information, which is not described herein again. And when the second device stops starting the transmission of the multicast service, the second device which performs the multicast service transmission before the third device is started does not need to perform the transmission of the multicast service.

In one possible example, the second indication information includes third time information indicating a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service and/or a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. The third time information is not limited in this application, and the third time information may include time of a timer, a frame number or a subframe number, and the like, and may further include a second time, where the second time is a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. The second indication information may refer to the description of the first indication information, and is not described herein again. It should be noted that the second time may be earlier than or equal to the first time, so as to avoid interruption of the multicast service, and facilitate improvement of the service quality. The second indication information may be transmitted by the multicast control unit to the third device when the first condition is satisfied.

The first time and the second time are not limited in the present application, and may be determined according to past experience (for example, time required for the second device to receive the multicast service to the currently connected terminal, etc.), a channel quality condition, a network load condition, and the like. It can be understood that when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service or before the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, the terminal of the second device completes the configuration of the multicast service, which can avoid the interruption of the multicast service and is convenient for improving the service quality.

It should be noted that the first indication information may also include the second time information, and the second indication information may also include the first time information. The first indication information and the second indication information may be the same indication information, and the first time information and the second time information may be the same time information.

Optionally, S510, the second device sends fifth indication information.

In an embodiment of the present application, the fifth indication information may be used to indicate that the fifth terminal reselects to the third device. The fifth indication information may be broadcasted by the second device within a coverage area of the second device, and may be understood as being broadcasted by a cell under the second device, or broadcasted by a cell in which a fifth terminal exists under the second device, and the like, which is not limited herein. The fifth terminal may belong to the first terminal. The fifth terminal may be located within the coverage of the second device and the third device and receive and/or be interested in the multicast service. It should be noted that the fifth terminal includes a terminal residing in a cell of the second device; for the terminal accessed to the cell of the second device, the auxiliary carrier can be added based on the carrier aggregation technology, or the terminal is switched to the third device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and improving the service quality.

The specific content of the fifth indication information is not limited in the present application, and the fifth indication information may be in a display or implicit mode. The fifth indication information includes identification information of the third device, which can be used to identify the third device. The terminal may reselect to the third device corresponding to the identification information based on the identification information in the fifth indication information. Or, the fifth indication information may indicate that the frequency point priority of the third device is the highest priority, and the terminal may reselect to the third device based on the frequency point with the highest priority. Or the fifth indication information may indicate frequency point priority information of the third device, and optionally, the fifth indication information may include first configuration information of the frequency point priorities of the third device and the second device, where the configuration information may include configuration parameters, such as offset parameters (offset), and the like. At this time, the fifth indication information indicates that the priority of the frequency point of the third device is increased when the cell reselection is performed. Or the fifth indication information may include configuration information of the multicast service or some multicast services, where the configuration information may be used to indicate how the multicast service is transmitted, and/or all the multicast services or some of the multicast services are multicast services that the second device is to stop transmitting. The configuration information may be specifically used to obtain the transmission priority of the multicast service, the frequency point priorities of the third device and the second device, the frequency point priority of the third device being the highest priority, the control scheduling information of the multicast service, and the like. The terminal may determine that the second device will stop transmission of the multicast service based on the configuration information of the multicast service in the fifth indication information, and reselect to the third device. The access network device to be connected can be determined to be the third device through the configuration information, so that the terminal can reselect the third device corresponding to the identification information. The fifth indication information may also be indication information that the second device stops transmitting the multicast service, and the fifth indication information may be understood as that the fifth indication information indicates that the second device stops transmitting the multicast service, and the terminal within the coverage of the second device performs the network searching step to determine the device that transmits the multicast service, so as to reside in the third device. It can be understood that after the fifth terminal reselects to the third device, the third device may transmit the multicast service to the fifth terminal, which may avoid interruption of the multicast service, and facilitate improvement of the service quality. The fifth indication information may be one or more contents of the above possibilities, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, S511: the second device sends the first acknowledgement information to the third device.

The first confirmation information may be used to indicate that the terminal corresponding to the second device has reselected to the third device. The first confirmation information may be sent to the third device after the second device determines that the second device is located within the coverage of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or the terminal interested in the multicast service has reselected to the third device, or may be sent to the third device after the second device determines to stop transmitting the multicast service. The first acknowledgement information may be sent by the second device to the third device before the time corresponding to the first time information arrives.

It can be understood that, if the third device receives the first confirmation information, it indicates that the terminal is located in the coverage areas of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or has reselected to the third device, so that the terminal can receive the multicast service through the third device, thereby avoiding service interruption and facilitating improvement of service quality.

The first request, the first response message, the second request, the first information, the information of the first terminal, the third request, the second response message, the fourth request, the second information, the information of the seventh terminal, the first indication information, the second indication information, and the like may all be sent through a multicast service control channel, for example, the MCCH, or include system information, or RRC information, and the like, which is not limited herein.

In the method shown in fig. 5, after the third device does not perform transmission of the multicast service, the multicast control unit receives, from the second device, information of a terminal within a coverage area of the second device and interested in the multicast service or the multicast service, and then sends indication information of the multicast service to the second device and the third device, respectively. Furthermore, the second device and the third device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 7, in accordance with the multicast control unit, the second device and the third device in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, fig. 7 provides a third multicast service processing method for the present application, which is applied to the communication network shown in fig. 2. Before implementing the method, the multicast control unit transmits the multicast service, wherein:

optionally, in S701: the multicast control unit transmits a fifth request to the third device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the fifth request may be used to acquire information of the second terminal. The second terminal is served by the third device and may include at least one terminal that receives the multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service. The second terminal may be all terminals that are receiving the multicast service transmitted by the third device, and/or all terminals that are interested in the multicast service transmitted by the third device and/or are about to start transmission and/or have the ability to transmit, and may also be terminals corresponding to some/part of the multicast service, for example, terminals of the multicast service that are not transmitting but do not reach the first condition in step S507, or a designated first multicast service, etc. As shown in FIG. 7, the firstThe terminals in the coverage area of the three devices comprise a terminal W₁… …, terminal W_JWherein J is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

It is to be understood that the second terminal is served by the third device, it is to be understood that the location of the second terminal is within a coverage area of a cell of the third device, it is also to be understood that the second terminal is served by at least one cell included in the third device, and it is also to be said that the cell of the third device may be a cell where the second terminal resides, and/or a cell to which the second terminal accesses, and/or a cell to which the second terminal is to access. When the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the location of the second terminal may be located within the coverage of the cell of the third device, and similarly, the second terminal may also be served by the cell of the second device, and the cell of the second device may also be a cell where the second terminal resides and/or a cell where the second terminal accesses, and/or a cell where the second terminal is to access.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, if the third device is the access network device 211, the second device is the access network device 221, and the terminal 201 receives the multicast service transmitted by the access network device 211, and the terminal 202 is interested in the multicast service transmitted by the access network device 211, the second terminal may be the terminal 201 and the terminal 202.

The information of the second terminal is not limited in the present application, and in a possible example, the information of the second terminal may be used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal. The information of the second terminal includes, but is not limited to, the following information: receiving the multicast service and/or the number of terminals interested in the multicast service in the coverage area of the second device; the number of at least one terminal comprised by the second terminal; identification information of the second terminal; service identification information of the multicast service which is interested in and/or received by the second terminal; location information of the second terminal; channel state information of the second terminal; a measurement result of the second terminal; capability information of the second terminal, etc. The above information of the second terminal can refer to the description of the information of the first terminal, and is not described herein again.

The content of the second request is not limited in the present application, and the type of obtaining the information of the second terminal may be specified, or a statistical list of obtaining the multicast service may be specified. The execution condition of step S701 is not limited in this application, and may be that the multicast control unit reports to the third device at intervals, when the third device and/or the second device meets the first constraint condition. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of step S501, which is not repeated herein.

Optionally, S702: the third device sends a third response message to the multicast control unit.

The third response message may be used to respond to receiving a fifth request from the multicast control unit, or to instruct the third device to perform an operation corresponding to the fifth request. The multicast control unit may determine that the third device has received the third request according to the third response message. If the third device cannot correctly perform the request of step S701, the third device may transmit indication information indicating that the fifth request response fails to the multicast control unit.

Optionally, in S703: and the third equipment sends a sixth request to the terminal in the coverage range of the third equipment.

Wherein the sixth request may be used to obtain information of terminals within the coverage area of the third device that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service being transmitted or about to start transmitting. The sixth request may also be used to acquire identification information of a terminal that is receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service being transmitted or about to start transmitting within the coverage area of the third device, or may be used to acquire service identification information, location information, channel state information, capability information, and the like of the multicast service being received and/or interested, which is not limited herein. It is to be understood that the sixth request is for obtaining information of the second terminal.

The sixth request may further include information of the second device where the second terminal resides or is accessed before residing in and/or accessing the third device, or information of the second device to which the second terminal currently resides, or information of one or more cells where the second terminal currently may reside, which are determined by measurement, which belong to the second device. The information of the second device herein may include, but is not limited to, identification information of the second device, the number of all terminals in the coverage area of the second device that are receiving any multicast service and/or interested in any multicast service that is transmitting or is about to start transmitting, the number of terminals in the coverage area of the second device that are receiving a certain multicast service and/or interested in a certain multicast service that is transmitting or is about to start transmitting, channel state information of terminals in the coverage area of the second device, capability information, and the like. The identification information of the second device may include an identifier of the second device, for example, a device ID, an IP identifier, a port number, a geographic identifier or a cell identifier corresponding to a location of the second device, and the like, which is not limited herein.

The execution condition of step S703 is not limited in this application, and may be that the third device sends the multicast service to the terminal in the coverage area of the third device at intervals, or sends the multicast service to the terminal in the coverage area of the second device when the multicast service transmitted by the third device satisfies a constraint condition, or requests the third device to send the multicast service to the terminal in the coverage area of the third device after the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition, and the like, where the time and constraint condition may refer to the description of the execution condition of step S501, and is not described here again.

Optionally, S704: and the terminal in the coverage range of the third equipment sends the third information of the terminal to the third equipment.

The terminal sending the third information to the third device may include a terminal within the coverage of the third device, or include a terminal within the coverage of the third device that receives the multicast service, and/or a terminal interested in the multicast service being transmitted or about to start transmitting, which may also be understood as the second terminal. It should be noted that a terminal that is not interested in the multicast service and/or a terminal that does not receive the multicast service may not transmit the information of the terminal. In another possible implementation, the information sent to the terminal that is not interested in the multicast service and/or the terminal that does not receive the multicast service may send information indicating that the terminal is not interested in the multicast service and/or does not receive the multicast service to the third device.

The third information may include information of a terminal that sends the third information, for example, identification information, service identification information of a multicast service being received, service identification information of a multicast service that is interested in the multicast service, service identification information of a multicast service that is not interested in, location information, channel state information, measurement results, capability information, and the like, which may refer to the description of the first information and will not be described herein again.

The third information may further include identification information of the second device and information of the second device, where the second terminal is camped on or accessed to before camping on and/or accessing the third device, or include identification information of the second device and information of the second device corresponding to a cell where the second device may currently camp on. The identification information and the information of the second device may refer to the description of step S703, and are not described herein again. It is understood that the information of the second device may be acquired through the identification information of the second device. The cell where the second device can currently camp may be a terminal in the coverage of the third device, and after receiving the sixth request, the cell meeting the camping condition is obtained by performing measurement.

The third information may be information that is required to be reported in the sixth request in step S703, or information that the terminal reports to the third device according to its own interest and/or multicast service being received, and the like, which is not limited herein. If the third information is the third information that is spontaneously reported by the terminal, the third information may be reported to the third device according to time, or the third information may be reported to the third device when the multicast service of the terminal meets the second constraint condition, and the time and the second constraint condition may refer to the description in step S504, and are not described herein again.

Optionally, S705: the third device acquires information of the second terminal.

The method for acquiring information of the second terminal by the third device is not limited in this application, and the third device may use the third information as information of the second terminal, the third device may also count, based on the third information of each terminal obtained in step S704, the number and/or other information of terminals that are receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in each cell or all cells existing within the coverage area of the third device, or count, before each terminal resides in and/or accesses the third device, the number and other information of terminals that are receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in each cell or all cells existing under the second device that resides in or accesses the third device, or count the number of terminals currently receiving and/or interested in the multicast service in each or all cells existing in the second device where each terminal can currently camp or access, and other information. The other information may include identification information of the second terminal, service identification information of the multicast service being received by the second terminal, service identification information of the multicast service interested by the second terminal, service identification information of the multicast service not interested by the second terminal, location information of the second terminal, channel state information of the second terminal, measurement result of the second terminal, capability information of the second terminal, and the like, and may refer to description of information of the first terminal, which is not described herein again. The other information may also include the device identifier of the second device where the terminal resides or accesses before residing and/or accessing the third device, or the second device where the terminal may currently reside or access, and the information of the second device, which may refer to the description of the sixth request and will not be described herein again. The information of the second terminal may include one or more of the above-mentioned information, which is not limited herein. In this way, the multicast control unit or the third device may determine whether the third device continues to transmit all multicast services or continues to transmit some multicast services, according to the information of the second terminal.

The third device may perform statistics according to the service identification information, or perform statistics according to the service identification information in the bitmap. It can be understood that the third device performs statistics based on different multicast services. For example, refer to the description of step S505, which is not repeated herein.

Step S705 may be that the third device performs statistics based on the fifth request in step S701, or performs statistics based on other requests sent by the multicast control unit, or the third device performs statistics based on the sixth request, or performs statistics based on the service identification information of the multicast service provided by the third device, or performs statistics based on the request of the multicast service received by the third device, and the like, which is not limited herein.

In the method shown in steps S701-S706, the multicast control unit may obtain statistical information of terminals that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service in the coverage area of the third device by sending a request to the third device, so as to determine that the multicast service is being received and/or the multicast service is interested in the coverage area of the third device.

S706: the third device sends the information of the second terminal to the multicast control unit.

The present application does not limit the method for receiving the information of the second terminal. In one possible example, step S706 may refer to the following two ways, wherein:

in a first mode, the third device receives information of a third terminal from the second terminal, where the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

In a second manner, the third device receives information of a fourth terminal from the second device, where the fourth terminal is a terminal other than the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

It can be understood that, when a terminal in the second terminal can directly send uplink data to the third device, the terminal may serve as the third terminal to send information of the third terminal to the third device through the first method, and may also serve as the fourth terminal to send information of the fourth terminal to the third device through the second method. When the third terminal can not send uplink data to the multicast control unit, the third terminal can be used as a fourth terminal to send the information of the fourth terminal to the third equipment through a second mode, and therefore data omission is avoided.

Optionally, S707: the multicast control unit determines that the second condition is satisfied.

If the multicast control unit determines that the second condition is satisfied, step S708 and step S709 are executed. If it is determined that the second condition is not satisfied, the multicast service setting of the second device and the third device may not be changed, or a time may be set, and step S708 or step S709 may be executed when the time arrives. The time can refer to the description of step S507, and is not described herein again. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the execution time of step S708 and step S709 is not limited, and the timing sequence in fig. 7 is a possible one, and step S708 and step S709 are executed simultaneously.

In an embodiment of the present application, the second condition may include that the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal is less than or equal to a fourth threshold. The number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal may be the number of second terminals that are receiving a certain multicast service (e.g., the first multicast service) or interested in the multicast service, or may be the number of all second terminals that are receiving any multicast service or interested in any multicast service. The fourth threshold is not limited in the present application, and the fourth threshold may be the same as or different from the first threshold. It can be understood that, when the number of second terminals receiving and/or interested in multicast services being transmitted and/or about to start transmission is smaller than a fourth threshold in the coverage area of the cell included by the second device, it indicates that there are fewer second terminals in the area, and multicast services can be transmitted through the second device with smaller transmission power, and at this time, a third device with larger power is not used for multicast service transmission, so as to optimize energy consumption of the network and reduce power consumption; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of the second terminals is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold, it indicates that there are more second terminals in the area, and the multicast service may be transmitted through a third device with a larger coverage and a larger transmission power. That is to say, the third device transmits the multicast service in a centralized manner, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved, the communication resources and the energy can be saved, the communication quality of the multicast service can be improved, and the user experience can be improved.

The second condition may include the number of at least one terminal served by the second device by the second terminal being greater than or equal to a fifth threshold. The second device here may be a second device corresponding to a cell where the second terminal may currently camp on after measurement reporting is performed by the second terminal, or may be a second device where the second terminal camps on or is accessed before camping on and/or accessing a third device. The second terminal herein includes a terminal that receives the multicast service transmitted by the third device and/or is interested in the multicast service transmitted by the third device, and may also include a terminal that receives the multicast service transmitted by the second device and/or is interested in the multicast service transmitted by the second device.

The fifth threshold is not limited in the present application, and the fifth threshold may be the same as or different from the second threshold. It can be understood that when the number of at least one terminal served by the second device by the second terminal exceeds the fifth threshold, it indicates that there are more terminals in the coverage area of the second device, and the multicast service can be transmitted in a centralized manner through the second device, and at this time, the multicast service transmission is not performed by the third device with higher power, so as to optimize the energy consumption of the network and reduce the power consumption; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of the terminals served by each cell included in the second device by the second device is less than or equal to the fifth threshold, it indicates that fewer terminals in the coverage area of the cell serving the second terminal are in the second device, and the third device with a larger coverage area and a larger transmission power can transmit the multicast service, thereby improving the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service, saving communication resources and energy, improving the communication quality of the multicast service, and improving user experience.

The second condition may include the second device including a number of at least one access network device each less than or equal to a sixth threshold. The sixth threshold is not limited in the present application, and the sixth threshold may be the same as or different from the third threshold. It can be understood that when the number of access network devices included in the second device to which the cell serving the second terminal belongs is smaller than the sixth threshold, it indicates that there are fewer access network devices in the area, and multicast service can be transmitted separately through each access network device, and at this time, a third device with higher power is not used for multicast service transmission, so that energy consumption of the network is optimized, and power consumption is reduced; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of the access network devices is greater than or equal to the sixth threshold, it indicates that the terminal that is receiving and/or interested in the multicast service may be distributed under multiple access network devices, and it can also be understood that the distribution range of the terminal that is receiving and/or interested in the multicast service is wider, the multicast service can be transmitted through a third device that has a larger coverage and a larger transmission power, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and user experience is improved.

The second condition may comprise that the number of terminals or (second terminals) served by each of the at least one access network device comprised by the second device is less than or equal to a twelfth threshold. The twelfth threshold is not limited in the present application, and the twelfth threshold may be the same as or different from the eleventh threshold. It can be understood that when the number of terminals served by the access network device exceeds the twelfth threshold, it indicates that the terminals distributed in the coverage area of the access network device are relatively concentrated, and the multicast service can be transmitted through each access network device included in the second device, and at this time, the multicast service transmission is not performed by the third device with relatively high power, so as to optimize the energy consumption of the network and reduce the power consumption; meanwhile, the use of air interface resources is optimized, potential communication interference between the second equipment and the third equipment is avoided, the deployment difficulty is reduced, and the waste of air interface resources is avoided. When the number of the terminals served by the access network device is less than or equal to the twelfth threshold, the terminals distributed in the coverage area of the access network device are dispersed, and the multicast service can be transmitted through the third device, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

It should be noted that the foregoing second condition does not constitute a limitation to the embodiment of the present application, and in practical applications, the second condition includes that the number of at least one terminal included in the foregoing second terminal is less than or equal to a fourth threshold, and the number of at least one terminal served by the second device in the second terminal is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold, or the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal is less than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of at least one access network device included in the second device is less than or equal to a sixth threshold; or, the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal is less than or equal to the fourth threshold, and the number of terminals served by at least one access network device included in the second device is greater than or equal to the twelfth threshold, and the second condition may also be defined by using other embodiments, which may refer to the description of the first condition, and will not be described herein again. The second condition may include one or more thresholds, and the second condition is considered to be satisfied when the conditions corresponding to the included thresholds are satisfied.

S708: and the multicast control unit sends the third indication information to the second equipment.

In this embodiment, the third indication information may be used to instruct the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or instruct the second device to transmit the multicast service. The third device stops transmitting the multicast service, which may be understood as that the cell of the third device closes the multicast service, and the cell of the second device opens the multicast service. It can also be understood that the second device is responsible for the transmission of the multicast service after the third device stops transmitting the multicast service.

In one possible example, the third indication information includes second time information, which may be used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service and/or indicate a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service. The second time information may include the time of the timer, a frame number or a subframe number, and the like, and may further include a third time, and the third time is a time when the second device starts to transmit the multicast service. The third indication information and the second time information may refer to descriptions of the first indication information and the first time information, respectively, and are not described herein again.

S709: and the multicast control unit sends the fourth indication information to the third equipment.

The fourth indication information may be used to indicate the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second device to transmit the multicast service. The fourth indication information may include fourth time information indicating a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service and/or indicating a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service. The fourth time information may include the time of the timer, a frame number or a subframe number, and the like, and may further include a fourth time, and the like. The fourth time is the time when the third device stops transmitting the multicast service. The fourth indication information and the fourth time may refer to the description of the second indication information and the second time, and are not described herein again. It should be noted that the fourth time may be earlier than or equal to the third time, so as to avoid interruption of the multicast service, and facilitate improvement of the service quality.

The third time and the fourth time are not limited in the present application, and may be determined according to past experience (for example, time required for the second device to receive the multicast service to the currently connected terminal, etc.), a channel quality condition, a network load condition, and the like. It can be understood that when or before the second device starts to transmit the multicast service, the terminal of the third device completes the configuration of the multicast service, which can avoid the interruption of the multicast service and is convenient for improving the service quality.

It should be noted that the third indication information may also include fourth time information, and the fourth indication information may also include third time information. The third indication information and the fourth indication information may be the same indication information, and the third time information and the fourth time information may be the same time information.

Optionally, S710: the third device transmits sixth indication information.

Wherein the sixth indication information may be used to indicate that the sixth terminal reselects to the second device. The sixth indication information may be broadcasted by the third device within the coverage of the third device, and may be understood as being broadcasted by a cell under the third device, or broadcasted by a cell in which a sixth terminal exists under the second device, and the like, which is not limited herein. The sixth terminal may belong to the second terminal. The sixth terminal may be located within the coverage area of the second device and the third device and receive and/or be interested in the multicast service. It should be noted that the sixth terminal includes a terminal that resides in a cell of the third device. For the terminal of the cell accessed to the third device, the auxiliary carrier can be added based on the carrier aggregation technology, or the terminal is switched to the second device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and improving the service quality.

The specific content of the sixth indication information is not limited in the present application, and the sixth indication information may be in a display or implicit mode. The sixth indication information may include at least one of the following information: identification information of the second device; configuration information of multicast service of the second device; second configuration information of the frequency point priority of the third equipment and the second equipment; the third device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service, and the like. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the fifth indication information in the step, which is not described herein again. It should be noted that the second configuration information may be used to indicate that the frequency point priority of the second device is the highest frequency point priority, or improve the frequency point priority of the second device. It can be understood that after the sixth terminal reselects to the second device, the second device may transmit the multicast service to the first terminal, which may avoid interruption of the multicast service, and facilitate improvement of the service quality.

Optionally, S711: the third device sends second acknowledgement information to the second device.

The second confirmation information may be used to indicate that the terminal corresponding to the third device has reselected to the second device. Step S711 may be sent to the third device after the second device determines that the terminal is located in the coverage of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service and has reselected to the second device, or after the third device determines to stop transmitting the multicast service, and so on. The second acknowledgement information may be sent to the second device by the third device before the time corresponding to the second time information arrives.

It can be understood that, if the third device receives the second confirmation information, it indicates that the terminal is located in the coverage areas of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or has reselected to the second device, so that the terminal can receive the multicast service through the second device, thereby avoiding service interruption and facilitating improvement of service quality.

The fifth request, the third response message, the sixth request, the third information, the information of the second terminal, the third indication information, the fourth indication information, the sixth indication information, the second confirmation information, and the like may all be sent through a multicast service control channel, for example, the MCCH, or include system information, or RRC information, and the like, which is not limited herein.

In the method shown in fig. 7, after the third device performs transmission of the multicast service, the multicast control unit receives the multicast service or information of a terminal interested in the multicast service within the coverage of the third device, and then sends indication information of the multicast service to the second device and the third device, respectively. Furthermore, the second device and the third device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a fourth multicast service processing method according to the embodiment of the present application, where the method is consistent with the second device and the third device in the embodiment shown in fig. 5. The method is applied in a communication network as shown in fig. 1. Before implementing the method, the third device does not perform transmission of the multicast service. As shown in fig. 8, wherein:

optionally, S801: the third device sends a first request to the second device.

Optionally, S802: the second device sends a first response message to the third device.

Optionally, S803: the second equipment sends a second request to the terminal within the coverage range of the second equipment;

optionally, S804: the second equipment sends first information of the terminal to the second equipment to the terminal in the coverage range of the second equipment;

optionally, S805: the second device acquires information of the first terminal.

S806: information of the first terminal is transmitted from the second device to the third device.

As shown in fig. 8, the terminal located in the coverage of the second device includes a terminal p₁… …, terminal p_sWherein S is an integer greater than or equal to 0. The first request and the second request may be for obtaining information of the first terminal. The first terminal is served by at least one cell comprised by the second device and the first terminal may comprise at least one terminal receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service. The first response message may be used to indicate that the second device has received the first request, or indicate that the second device may perform an operation corresponding to the first request. The first information is information of the first terminal. The steps S801 to S806 can refer to the descriptions of the steps S501 to S506, and are not described herein again.

It should be noted that, when the second device transmits the multicast service, the third device may transmit the multicast service in a unicast PTP manner. That is, the third device may transmit the multicast service to terminals within the coverage area of the third device that are receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service being transmitted or about to begin transmitting. The multicast control unit may also count information of the terminal in the third device, and optionally, the method shown in fig. 8 further includes the following steps S8011 to S8013 (not shown in fig. 8),

wherein:

s8011: the third equipment sends a fourth request to the terminal within the coverage range of the third equipment;

s8012: the third equipment sends the second information of the terminal to the third equipment to the terminal in the coverage of the third equipment;

s8013: and the third equipment counts the second information to obtain the information of the seventh terminal.

The seventh terminal is a terminal which is receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service to be transmitted in the coverage area of the third device, and may be a terminal which is residing in or accessing to a cell existing under the third device, receiving the multicast service in a unicast PTP manner, and/or interested in the multicast service to be transmitted by the third device. The fourth request may be for obtaining information of the seventh terminal. The second information may include, but is not limited to: the description of the first information may be referred to for identification information of the terminal, service identification information of a multicast service being received by the terminal, service identification information of a multicast service that is interested by the terminal, service identification information of a multicast service that is not interested by the terminal, location information of the terminal, channel state information of the terminal, a measurement result of the terminal, capability information of the terminal, and the like, and is not described herein again. The information of the seventh terminal may refer to the description of the information of the first terminal, and steps S8011 to S8013 may refer to the descriptions of steps S613 to S615, which are not described herein again.

Optionally, S807: the third device determines that the first condition is satisfied.

If the third device determines that the first condition is satisfied, step S808 is executed. The first condition may include at least one of: the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal is less than or equal to a first threshold value; the number of terminals served by each cell included by the second device in the first terminal is less than or equal to a second threshold; the second device comprises a number of at least one access network device greater than or equal to a third threshold; the number of terminals served by each access network device in at least one access network device included in the second device is less than or equal to the eleventh threshold, and so on, which may refer to the description of step S507 and is not described herein again.

It should be noted that, if steps S8011 to S8013 are executed, it is further determined whether the information of the first terminal and the information of the seventh terminal satisfy the first condition.

S808: the third device sends the first indication information to the second device.

The first indication information may be used to indicate the third device to transmit the multicast service, and/or the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. The first indication information may include first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, and/or indicate a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service, which may refer to the description of step S505 and step S509, and is not described herein again.

Optionally, S809: the second device transmits fifth indication information.

Wherein the fifth indication information may be used to indicate that the fifth terminal reselects to the third device, and the fifth indication information may include at least one of: identification information of the third device; configuration information of multicast service of the third device; first configuration information of frequency point priorities of third equipment and second equipment; the second device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service, and the like. The fifth indication information may refer to the description of S510, which is not described herein. It can be understood that, after the fifth terminal reselects to the third device according to the fifth indication information, the third device may transmit the multicast service to the fifth terminal, which may avoid interruption of the multicast service, and facilitate improvement of the service quality.

Optionally, S810: the second device sends the first acknowledgement information to the third device.

The first confirmation information may be used to indicate that the terminal corresponding to the second device has reselected to the third device. Step S511 may be sent to the third device after the second device determines that the second device is located within the coverage of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or reselects the terminal interested in the multicast service to the third device, or after the second device determines to stop transmitting the multicast service. The first acknowledgement information may be sent by the second device to the third device before the time corresponding to the first time information arrives.

In the method shown in fig. 8, after the third device does not perform transmission of the multicast service, the third device receives, from the second device, information of the multicast service or a terminal interested in the multicast service within the coverage of the second device, and then sends indication information of the multicast service to the second device. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the first indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a fifth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method is consistent with the second device and the third device in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 and fig. 7. The method is applied in a communication network as shown in fig. 1. Before implementing the method, the third device performs transmission of a multicast service, wherein:

optionally, S901: the third device sends a sixth request to terminals within the coverage of the third device.

As shown in fig. 9, the terminals in the coverage of the third device comprise terminal W₁… …, terminal W_JWherein J is an integer greater than or equal to 1. The sixth request is for obtaining information of a second terminal, the second terminal being served by the third device, and the second terminal comprising at least one terminal receiving the multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service. The present application does not limit the execution condition of step S901, and the execution condition may be that the third device reports to the third device at intervals, when the second device meets the first constraint condition, or the third device executes step S901 when meeting the first constraint condition. The sixth request may refer to the descriptions of step S501 and the fourth request, and step S901 may refer to the description of step S701, which is not described herein again.

Optionally, S902: the third device receives third information from the second terminal.

The information of the second terminal is not limited in the present application, and in a possible example, the information of the second terminal may be used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal. The information of the second terminal includes, but is not limited to, the following information: receiving the multicast service and/or the number of terminals interested in the multicast service in the coverage area of the second device; the number of at least one terminal comprised by the second terminal; identification information of the second terminal; service identification information of the multicast service which is interested in and/or received by the second terminal; location information of the second terminal; channel state information of the second terminal; a measurement result of the second terminal; capability information of the second terminal, etc. The second terminal, the third information of the second terminal, may refer to the description of step S701 and step S704.

In one possible example, step S902 specifically includes the following two ways, among which:

in a first manner, the third device receives third information of a third terminal from the second terminal, where the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

In a second manner, the third device receives, from the second device, third information of a fourth terminal, where the fourth terminal is a terminal other than the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

It can be understood that, when a terminal in the second terminal can directly send uplink data to the third device, the terminal may serve as the third terminal to send the third information of the third terminal to the third device through the first method, and may also serve as the fourth terminal to send the information of the fourth terminal to the third device through the second method. When the third terminal can not send uplink data to the multicast control unit, the third terminal can be used as a fourth terminal to send the information of the fourth terminal to the third equipment through a second mode, and therefore data omission is avoided.

Optionally, S903: the third device acquires information of the second terminal.

Step S903 may refer to the description of step S705, which is not described herein again.

Optionally, S904: the third device determines that the second condition is satisfied.

Wherein the second condition may comprise at least one of: the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal is less than or equal to a fourth threshold; the number of at least one of the second terminals served by the second device is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold; the second device comprises at least one access network device less than or equal to a sixth threshold; the number of terminals served by each access network device in at least one access network device included in the second device is less than or equal to the twelfth threshold, and so on, which may refer to the description in step S707 and is not described herein again.

S905: the third device sends third indication information to the second device.

In this embodiment, the third indication information may be used to instruct the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or instruct the second device to transmit the multicast service. It can be understood that the cell of the third device turns off the multicast service, and the cell of the second device turns on the multicast service. It can also be understood that the second device is responsible for the transmission of the multicast service after the third device stops transmitting the multicast service.

In a possible example, the third indication information may include second time information, where the second time information may be used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service, which may refer to the description of step S708 and is not described herein again.

Optionally, S906: the third device transmits sixth indication information.

The sixth indication information can refer to the foregoing, and is not described herein again. The sixth indication information may be used to indicate that the sixth terminal reselects to the second device, and the sixth indication information may include at least one of: identification information of the second device; configuration information of multicast service of the second device; second configuration information of the frequency point priority of the third equipment and the second equipment; the third device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service. It can be understood that, after the sixth terminal reselects to the second device according to the sixth indication information, the second device may transmit the multicast service to the sixth terminal, which may avoid interruption of the multicast service, and facilitate improvement of the service quality.

Optionally, S907: the third device sends second acknowledgement information to the second device.

The second confirmation information may be used to indicate that the terminal corresponding to the third device has reselected to the second device. Step S907 may be sent to the third device after the second device determines that the terminal is located in the coverage of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service and has reselected to the second device, or after the third device determines to stop transmitting the multicast service, and so on. The second acknowledgement information may be sent to the second device by the third device before the time corresponding to the second time information arrives.

The sixth request, the third information, the information of the second terminal, the third indication information, the sixth indication information, the second acknowledgement information, and the like may all be sent through a multicast service control channel, for example, the MCCH, or include system information, or RRC information, and the like, which is not limited herein.

In the method shown in fig. 9, after the third device performs transmission of the multicast service, the third device sends indication information of the multicast service to the second device after receiving information of the second terminal. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the third indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

The cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) technique is suitable for Interference control of a Downlink (DL) control channel. An Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) is a Subframe introduced in an enhanced ICIC (eICIC) technique, and a time domain ICIC is added to the Subframe. The ABS subframe contains only control information and cell-specific reference signals, does not contain user data, and is transmitted at reduced power. As shown in fig. 10, the coverage of eNB1 is greater than that of eNB2, and when elcic techniques are used, eNB1 will transmit the above-described control information and reference signals in a reduced power manner on ABS subframes in a downlink radio frame (DL radio frame). At this time, the eNB2 transmits user data to a terminal (e.g., terminal 101) located at an edge of a cell existing under the eNB2 using a subframe corresponding to an ABS subframe on a DL radio frame, so that the terminal 101 can receive information based on the ABS subframe of the DL radio frame of the eNB1 and the subframe corresponding to the ABS subframe on the DL radio frame of the eNB 2.

In a communication network where a third device and a second device correspond to each other, if frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, the third device with high power may generate large interference to the second device. However, if the third device uses the elcic technique to reduce the power transmission multicast service, the coverage of the third device will be reduced. Therefore, the elcic technique is not suitable for multicast service transmission in the communication network formed by the third device and the second device.

Based on this, the present application proposes a sixth multicast service processing method, which may be applied to communication networks corresponding to the second device and the third device, and may be the communication network shown in fig. 1, or may be the communication network shown in fig. 2, which is not limited herein. And the coverage area of the third device comprises the coverage area of the second device, the second device and the third device are deployed at the same frequency, and time-frequency resources between the third device and the second device are different. As shown in fig. 11, the coverage area of the third device 1110 includes the coverage areas of the second device 1120, the second device 1121, and the second device 1122, the time-frequency resources used by the third device 1110 are the gray regions corresponding to the portion a in fig. 11, and the time-frequency resources used by the second device 1120, the second device 1121, and the second device 1122 are the gray regions corresponding to the portion B in fig. 11. It can be understood that the time-frequency resources used by the third device 1110 and the second device 1120, and the second device 1121 and the second device 1122 are different, and by dividing the time-frequency resources, the third device can be prevented from generating interference on the second device, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, meanwhile, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a sixth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, wherein:

optionally, S1201: the second device sends a seventh request to the third device.

In an embodiment of the present application, the seventh request may be used to instruct the third device to allocate resources for the second device. The seventh request may include resource information of the second device, e.g., resources used by the second device to transmit all services; the second device transmits all resources used by the multicast service; the second device transmits the resource used by each multicast service; the allocated resources of the second device; resources to be allocated/left over by the second device; resource usage by the second device, etc. The seventh request further includes information of the second device, for example, service identification information corresponding to the multicast service transmitted on the second device; service identification information corresponding to the service transmitted on the second device; the priority of the multicast service; the priority of the service; a device identification of the second device; a priority of the second device; location information of the second device; capability information of the second device; information of a terminal served by a cell existing under the second device, and the like.

The priority of the service and the priority of the multicast service may be the priority of the allocated resources, or the priority of the service itself. The priority of the second device may be a priority of resource allocation, or a priority of multicast traffic transmitted in the second device and/or a priority of transmission traffic, and the like. The information of the terminal served by the cell existing in the second device may refer to the description of the information of the first terminal, and the device identifier, the location information, and the capability information of the second device may also refer to the description of the device identifier, the location information, and the capability information of the first terminal, which is not described herein again. The service identification information of the service is used to identify the service, which is exemplified by the first service, and the service identification information of the first service may be identification information of an application corresponding to the first service, and may also be TMGI or service ID, or a radio network identifier (e.g., G-RNTI) corresponding to the first service and used to schedule a group of terminals to receive the first service, or identification information used to identify a PDU session in a PDU session transmitting the first service, and so on. When the first service is a first multicast service in the multicast service, the service identification information of the first multicast service may further include identification information used for identifying the multicast session in which the first multicast service is transmitted (for example, when the multicast service is MBS, the identification information of the multicast session may be identification information of MBS session), and the like.

The present application is not limited to the above information, and some of the above information, for example: the priority of the service, the priority of the multicast service, the device identifier of the second device, the location information, the capability information, and the information of the terminal served by the cell existing under the second device, etc. may be used to obtain the priority of the second device. The device identifier can be used for identifying the second device, the service identifier information of the service can be used for identifying the service, and the service identifier information of the multicast service can be used for identifying the multicast service; the priority of the service, the priority of the multicast service and the priority of the second equipment all influence the allocation sequence of the resources; the allocated resources, and/or the resources to be allocated, and/or the remaining resources may affect the allocated number of the resources of the multicast service; the information of the terminals served by the cells present under the second device may also influence the resource allocation of the second device. It can be appreciated that the third device may allocate resources to the second device based on the information in the seventh request, which improves the accuracy of resource allocation.

The present application does not limit the execution condition of step S101, and the seventh request may be sent to the third device by the second device at a time interval, or sent to the third device when the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition. The above-mentioned time and constraint conditions can refer to the description of step S501, and are not described herein again.

Optionally, S1202: and the second equipment sends the seventh indication information to the third equipment.

In this embodiment, the seventh indication information may be used to indicate the unallocated resource occupied by the second device. The resource may be a resource that is not allocated to the second device, or may be a resource that is not allocated to a certain service or a certain multicast service, and the like, which is not limited herein. It is to be understood that, when the multicast service transmitted by the second device has a high priority or is in an emergency, the second device may send the seventh indication information to the third device after occupying part of the unallocated resources preferentially. Therefore, the third device avoids using the resources occupied by the second device through the seventh indication information, thereby avoiding interference between the second device and the third device, improving the resource utilization rate and facilitating improvement of the service quality.

The seventh indication information is not limited in this application, and may include unallocated resources occupied by the second device, and may also include other resource information of the second device, for example: the second device transmits the resources used by all services; the second device transmits all resources used by the multicast service; the second device transmits the resource used by each multicast service; the allocated resources of the second device; a second device or resource to be allocated/remaining; resource usage by the second device, etc. The seventh indication information may further include information of the second device, for example, service identification information corresponding to the multicast service transmitted on the second device; service identification information corresponding to the service transmitted on the second device; the priority of the multicast service; the priority of the service; a device identification of the second device; a priority of the second device; location information of the second device; capability information of the second device; information of a terminal served by a cell existing under the second device, and the like.

S1203: the third device acquires/evaluates fourth information of the third device.

In an embodiment of the present application, the fourth information may include at least one of the following information: the third equipment transmits the resources used by the service and/or the residual resources; the third device transmits the resources used by the multicast service and/or the residual resources; allocated resources and/or unallocated resources of the third device; the resource information such as resources that can be optimized in the terminal that is camped and/or accessed in the cell of the third device is not limited herein.

The resources to be allocated of the third device may include remaining resources of the third device, unallocated resources, optimizable resources, and the like. In this embodiment, the fourth information may perform resource statistics on resource information corresponding to all services, may perform resource statistics on different services and/or different multicast services, or perform resource statistics on a specified service and/or multicast service, or perform resource statistics on a multicast service provided by a cell existing in the third device, and the like, which is not limited herein.

The method for acquiring/evaluating the fourth information is not limited in the present application, and may be that the third device counts resource usage of the third device to acquire, or evaluates channel state information or measurement results of a terminal residing in/accessed to the third device to obtain channel quality of the terminal, thereby determining whether optimizable resources exist or not. It can be understood that when the channel quality of the terminal is good, resources can be saved by increasing the code rate, so that the optimizable resources can be obtained according to the evaluated channel quality.

Step S1203 may be that the third device acquires, at intervals, fourth information that the third device transmits the multicast service, or that the multicast control unit (or the second device) requests, at intervals, resource information that the third device reports to the multicast control unit. Or reporting to the third device when the multicast service transmitted by the third device satisfies a constraint condition, or reporting to the third device when the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition, so as to execute step S1203, where the time and the constraint condition may refer to the description of step S501, and are not described herein again. Step S1203 may also be executed based on the seventh request in step S1201 or the seventh indication information in step S1202, and the like, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, S1204: the third device sends an eighth request to the second device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the eighth request is used to acquire resource information of the second device. The eighth request may be a resource statistics request (e.g., a resource information request, etc.), and may be used to acquire resource information for the second device to transmit the multicast service. The eighth request may indicate the content of the resource information of the second device, and describe the resource information (e.g., bitmap map), and the like, which are not limited herein. The eighth request may be that the third device acquires, at intervals, fourth information of the multicast service transmitted by the third device, or that the multicast service transmitted by the third device is reported to the third device when a constraint condition is satisfied, or that the multicast service transmitted by the second device is reported when a constraint condition is satisfied, so as to execute step S1204, and the like, where the above time and constraint condition may refer to the description of step S501, and are not described herein again. The eighth request may also be sent to the second device when the third device determines that there are remaining resources or optimizable resources in step S1203.

Optionally, S1205: the second device sends fifth information to the third device.

In this embodiment, the fifth information may include resource information of the second device, for example: the second device transmits the resources used by all services; the second device transmits all resources used by the multicast service; the second device transmits the resource used by each multicast service; the allocated resources of the second device; a second device or resource to be allocated/remaining; resource usage by the second device, etc. The fifth information may further include information of the second device, for example, service identification information corresponding to the multicast service transmitted on the second device; service identification information corresponding to the service transmitted on the second device; the priority of the multicast service; the priority of the service; a device identification of the second device; a priority of the second device; location information of the second device; capability information of the second device; information of a terminal served by a cell existing under the second device, and the like are not limited herein. The fifth information is the resource information of the second device as described in the seventh request, and the third device can perform resource allocation through the above information, so that the accuracy of resource allocation is improved.

The fifth information may count used/to-be-allocated/remaining resources in all services, or may count used/to-be-allocated/remaining resources in different services or multicast services, or may count used/to-be-allocated/remaining resources in a specified service or multicast service, or may count used/to-be-allocated/remaining resources in a cell existing under the second device, or may count used/to-be-allocated/remaining resources in the cell, or may count resources according to priority of the service or multicast service, or the like, without limitation herein.

The execution condition of step S1205 is not limited in this application, and may be that the second device sends the resource information to the third device at intervals, or that the multicast control unit (or the third device) requests the second device to report the resource information to the multicast control unit at intervals. Or when the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition, or when the multicast service transmitted by the third device satisfies a constraint condition, requesting the second device to report, so as to execute step S1203, etc. It may also be performed based on the eighth request in step S1204. When the second device preferentially occupies a part of the unallocated resources, the fifth information may be carried in the seventh indication information and sent to the third device. It is to be understood that the method does not perform step S1205 again when performing step S1202.

Optionally, S1206: and the third equipment acquires the eighth indication information according to the fourth information and/or the fifth information.

The eighth indication information may be used to indicate that the second device performs service transmission, or multicast service transmission, or how to perform service transmission (for example, what kind of service or multicast service is transmitted, and whether the transmission is performed in a unicast PTP manner or a multicast PTM manner, etc.) according to a time-frequency resource different from that of the third device. The method for acquiring the eighth indication information is not limited, and the allocation resources in the eighth indication information can be allocated according to the priority of the service and/or the multicast service and/or the second device, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the service are improved, the communication resources and the energy are saved, the communication quality of the service is improved, and the user experience is improved. The third device may allocate according to the used/to-be-allocated/remaining resources in the fourth information. For example, when there are many remaining resources, some more time-frequency resources may be allocated to the second device, and so on. The third device may perform resource allocation according to the fifth information to obtain eighth indication information. For example, when there are many resources to be allocated to the second device, some more time-frequency resources may be allocated to the second device. The third device may also perform resource allocation according to the seventh indication information to obtain eighth indication information. For example, the resource occupied by the second device is allocated to the second device, so that no other device is allocated the resource, and so on.

S1207: and the third equipment sends the eighth indication information to the second equipment.

The execution condition of step S1207 is not limited in this application, and may be that after step S1206, the resource information is sent to the second device, or the multicast control unit (or the third device) requests the second device to report to the multicast control unit at a certain interval. Or when the multicast service transmitted by the second device satisfies a constraint condition, or when the multicast service transmitted by the third device satisfies a constraint condition, requesting the second device to report, so as to execute step S1203, etc. It may also be performed based on the eighth request in step S1204. When the second device preferentially occupies a part of the unallocated resources, the fifth information may be carried in the seventh indication information and sent to the third device. It is to be understood that the method does not perform step S1205 again when performing step S1202.

Optionally, S1208: the second device sends third acknowledgement information to the third device.

Wherein the third acknowledgement information may be used to indicate that the eighth indication information has been received, or may be used to indicate that the second device has transmitted the multicast service according to the resource allocated in the eighth indication information.

In the method shown in fig. 12, when the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequency between the third device and the second device is the same, after the third device obtains the fourth information that the third device transmits the multicast service, the eighth indication information is sent to the second device, so as to instruct the second device to transmit the multicast service according to the time-frequency resource different from that of the third device, which can avoid the third device from interfering with the second device, improve the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service, save communication resources and energy, improve the communication quality of the multicast service, and improve user experience.

Referring to fig. 13, please refer to fig. 13, which is a flowchart illustrating a seventh multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application, consistent with the embodiments shown in fig. 5 and fig. 7. Before implementing the method, the third device does not perform transmission of the multicast service. As shown in fig. 13, the method is applied to a second device, and includes the following steps S1301 and S1302, where:

s1301: the second device sends the information of the first terminal to the first device.

Wherein, the first device is a third device or a multicast control unit. The second device may comprise at least one cell and may be configured to transmit a multicast service, the first terminal may be served by the at least one cell comprised by the second device, and the first terminal may comprise at least one terminal receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service.

S1302: the second device receives the first indication information from the first device.

The first indication information may be used to indicate that the first device or the third device transmits a multicast service, the third device is an access network device, and the third device may be used to transmit the multicast service.

In one possible example, the first indication information may include first time information, wherein the first time information may be used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, and/or the first time information may be used to indicate a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service. Therefore, the time for the third device to start transmitting the multicast service and/or the time for the second device to stop transmitting the service is indicated by the first time information, so that the interruption of the multicast service can be avoided, and the service quality can be improved conveniently.

In one possible example, the information of the first terminal may comprise at least one of: service identification information of a multicast service of a first terminal; location information of the first terminal; channel state information of the first terminal. Therefore, the number of the first terminals under different limited conditions can be obtained through the information of the different first terminals, the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved conveniently, communication resources and energy sources are saved, the multicast service quality is guaranteed, and the user experience is improved.

In one possible example, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device. Therefore, under different conditions, the second device and the third device can respectively or jointly provide wireless communication service for the same terminal, the flexibility of access network equipment and service deployment is improved, the frequency spectrum utilization rate is improved, the network coverage rate is improved, and the network capacity is improved.

In one possible example, after step S1302, the method shown in fig. 13 further includes: and the second device sends fifth indication information, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating a fifth terminal to reselect a third device, and the fifth terminal is located in the coverage range of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service. Therefore, the fifth terminal reselects the third device based on the fifth indication information, and can receive the multicast service transmitted by the third device, thereby avoiding the interruption of the multicast service and facilitating the improvement of the service quality.

In one possible example, the fifth indication information may include at least one of: identification information of the third device; configuration information of multicast service of the third device; first configuration information of frequency point priorities of third equipment and second equipment; the second device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service. In this way, the fifth terminal may reselect to the third device based on the above different fifth indication information, which may improve the accuracy of reselection.

In the method shown in fig. 13, after the third device does not perform multicast service transmission, the second device sends information of the first terminal to the first device, and receives first indication information sent by the first device and used for indicating the first device or the third device to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the first indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 14, please refer to fig. 14, which is a flowchart illustrating an eighth multicast service processing method according to an embodiment of the present application, consistent with the embodiments shown in fig. 5 and fig. 8. Before implementing the method, the third device performs transmission of the multicast service. As shown in fig. 14, the method is applied to a second device, and includes the following step S1401, in which:

s1401: the second device receives the third indication information from the first device.

Wherein, the first device is a third device or a multicast control unit. The third indication information may be used to instruct the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or instruct the second device to transmit the multicast service. The third indication information is received after the first device receives the information of the second terminal, and the second device may include at least one cell and may be used to transmit the multicast service. The third device is an access network device and can be used for transmitting multicast services. The second terminal is served by a third device and the second terminal comprises at least one terminal receiving the multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service.

In one possible example, the third indication information may include second time information, where the second time information may be used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second time information may be used to indicate a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service. Therefore, the time for the second device to start transmitting the multicast service and/or the time for the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service are/is indicated by the third time information, so that the interruption of the multicast service can be avoided, and the service quality is improved conveniently.

In one possible example, the first device is a third device, and the information of the second terminal may include information of a third terminal sent by the second terminal to the first device, and/or information of a fourth terminal sent by the second device to the first device, where the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal, and the fourth terminal is a terminal other than the third terminal in the at least one terminal included in the second terminal. And the information of the second terminal is sent to the third equipment in the two modes, so that data omission can be avoided.

In one possible example, the information of the second terminal may comprise at least one of: the second terminal is receiving the multicast service, and/or service identification information of the multicast service of interest, location information of the second terminal, and channel state information of the second terminal. Therefore, the number of the second terminals under different limited conditions can be obtained through the information of the different second terminals, the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service can be improved conveniently, communication resources and energy sources are saved, the multicast service quality is guaranteed, and the user experience is improved.

In the method shown in fig. 14, when the third device performs multicast service transmission, the second device receives third indication information from the first device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or instruct the second device to transmit the multicast service. Therefore, the second device can cooperatively transmit the multicast service with the third device through the third indication information, so that the transmission efficiency and the spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, the communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and the user experience is improved.

The method of the embodiments of the present application is set forth above in detail and the apparatus of the embodiments of the present application is provided below.

Referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one possible example, the communication device may be a first apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit 1501, configured to receive information of a first terminal from a second device, where the second device includes at least one cell and is configured to transmit a multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service;

a sending unit 1502, configured to send first indication information to a second device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a first device or a third device transmits a multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service.

Optionally, the information of the first terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal; the sending unit 1502 is specifically configured to send first indication information to the second device if a first condition is met, where the first condition includes that the number of at least one terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold; and/or the first condition comprises that the number of terminals served by each cell included by the second device in the first terminal is less than or equal to a second threshold; and/or the first condition comprises that the second device comprises a number of at least one access network device greater than or equal to a third threshold.

Optionally, the first indication information includes first time information, where the first time information is used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, and/or the first time information is used to indicate a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send second indication information to the third device, where the second indication information is used to indicate the third device to transmit the multicast service, and/or the second device stops transmitting the multicast service.

Optionally, the information of the first terminal includes at least one of the following: service identification information of a multicast service of a first terminal; location information of the first terminal; channel state information of the first terminal.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send the first request to the second device.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive first response information sent by the second device.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the multicast control unit further includes a processing unit (not shown in fig. 15) configured to determine whether the first condition is satisfied.

In another possible example, the communication device may be a first apparatus comprising:

the receiving unit 1501 is configured to receive information of a second terminal, where the second terminal is served by a third device, and the second terminal includes at least one terminal that receives a multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is configured to transmit the multicast service;

a sending unit 1502 is configured to send third indication information to the second device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate the second device to transmit the multicast service, where the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service.

Optionally, the information of the second terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal; the communication unit is specifically configured to send third indication information to the second device if a second condition is met, where the second condition includes that the number of the at least one terminal is less than or equal to a fourth threshold; and/or the second condition comprises the number of at least one of the second terminals served by the second device being greater than or equal to a fifth threshold.

Optionally, the information of the second terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal; the communication unit is specifically configured to send third indication information to the second device if a second condition is met, where the second condition includes that the number of the at least one terminal is less than or equal to a fourth threshold; and/or the second condition comprises the second device comprising a number of at least one access network device each being less than or equal to a sixth threshold.

Optionally, the third indication information includes second time information, where the second time information is used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second time information is used to indicate a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the third device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second device transmits the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the receiving unit 1501 is specifically configured to receive information of a third terminal from the second terminal, and the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal; and/or receiving information of a fourth terminal from the second device, wherein the fourth terminal is a terminal except the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

Optionally, the information of the second terminal includes at least one of the following: service identification information of the multicast service of the second terminal; location information of the second terminal; channel state information of the second terminal.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate that a sixth terminal reselects to the second device, and the sixth terminal is located in a coverage range of the second device and the third device, and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service.

Optionally, the sixth indication information may include any one or more of the following: identification information of the second device; configuration information of multicast service of the second device; second configuration information of the frequency point priority of the third equipment and the second equipment; the third device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send a fifth request to the third device.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive third response information sent by a third device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send a sixth request to a terminal in a coverage area of the third device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive third information from a terminal in a coverage area of the third device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the communication apparatus further includes a processing unit (not shown in fig. 15) configured to obtain information of the second terminal.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive a seventh request sent by the second device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive seventh indication information sent by the second device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processing unit is further configured to acquire/evaluate fourth information of the third device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send an eighth request to the second device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive fifth information sent by the second device.

Optionally, the processing unit is further configured to obtain eighth indication information according to the fourth information and/or the fifth information.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send eighth indication information to the second device.

In another possible example, the communication device may be a second apparatus, including:

a sending unit 1502 is configured to send information of a first terminal to a first device, where the second device includes at least one cell and is configured to transmit a multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service;

the receiving unit 1501 is configured to receive first indication information from a first device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first device or a third device transmits a multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send fifth indication information, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that a fifth terminal reselects to a third device, and the fifth terminal is located in a coverage range of the second device and the third device, and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service.

Optionally, the fifth indication information may include any one or more of the following: identification information of the third device; configuration information of multicast service of the third device; first configuration information of frequency point priorities of third equipment and second equipment; the second device stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive a first request sent by the first device.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send a first response message to the first device.

Optionally, the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send a second request to a terminal within the coverage of the second device.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive first information sent by a terminal in the coverage of the second device.

Optionally, the communication device further includes a processing unit (not shown in fig. 15) configured to obtain information of the first terminal.

the receiving unit 1501 is configured to receive third indication information from the first device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate that the second device transmits the multicast service, where the third indication information is received after the first device receives information of the second terminal, the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service, where the second terminal is served by the third device, and the second terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service from the third device, and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the information of the second terminal includes information of a third terminal sent by the second terminal to the first device, and/or information of a fourth terminal sent by the second device to the first device, the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal, and the fourth terminal is a terminal other than the third terminal in the at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive second acknowledgement information sent by the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send a seventh request to the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send the seventh indication information to the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive an eighth request sent by the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send the fifth information to the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the receiving unit 1501 is further configured to receive eighth indication information sent by the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the sending unit 1502 is further configured to send the third acknowledgement information to the third device.

It should be noted that the implementation of each unit may also correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiments shown in fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 9, and fig. 12.

Referring to fig. 16, fig. 16 is a block diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device includes a processor 1601 and a memory 1602 coupled to the processor 1601.

The memory 1602 may be a device with a storage function, including but not limited to a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or a portable read-only memory (CD-ROM), and is used for related computer programs and collateral data. Communication interface 1603 is used to receive and transmit sidestream data.

The processor 1601 may be a device having a processing function and may include one or more processors. The processor may be a general purpose processor, or a special purpose processor, etc. The processor may be a baseband processor, or a central processor. The baseband processor may be configured to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be configured to control the communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

In one possible example, the communication apparatus may be a first device, and the processor 1601 in the first device is configured to read the computer program code stored in the memory 1602 to perform the following:

receiving information of a first terminal from a second device, wherein the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service;

and sending first indication information to the second equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first equipment or the third equipment to transmit the multicast service, and the third equipment is access network equipment and is used for transmitting the multicast service.

Optionally, the information of the first terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal; the processor 1601 is specifically configured to perform the following operations: if the first condition is met, sending first indication information to the second equipment, wherein the first condition comprises that the number of at least one terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold value; and/or the first condition comprises that the number of the terminals in the first terminal, which are served by each cell included by the second device, is less than or equal to a second threshold; and/or the second device comprises at least one access network device, the first condition comprises the number of the at least one access network device being greater than or equal to a third threshold.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending second indication information to the third device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the third device to transmit the multicast service and/or the second device to stop transmitting the multicast service.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: a first request is sent to a second device.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving first response information sent by the second equipment.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: it is determined whether a first condition is satisfied.

In another possible example, the communication apparatus may be a first device, and the processor 1601 in the first device is configured to read the computer program code stored in the memory 1602 to perform the following:

receiving information of a second terminal, wherein the second terminal is served by a third device, the second terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting the multicast service;

and sending third indication information to the second device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate the second device to transmit the multicast service, and the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service.

Optionally, the information of the second terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal; the processor 1601 is specifically configured to perform the following operations: if the second condition is met, the first equipment sends third indication information to the second equipment, wherein the second condition comprises that the number of the at least one terminal is smaller than or equal to a fourth threshold value; and/or the second condition comprises that the number of at least one of the second terminals served by the second device is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold; and/or the second device comprises at least one access network device, the second condition comprises the number of the at least one access network devices each being less than or equal to a sixth threshold.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending fourth indication information to the third equipment, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the third equipment to stop transmitting the multicast service and/or the second equipment to transmit the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the processor 1601 is specifically configured to perform the following operations: receiving information of a third terminal from the second terminal, wherein the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal; and/or receiving information of a fourth terminal from the second device, wherein the fourth terminal is a terminal except the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending sixth indication information, wherein the sixth indication information is used for indicating a sixth terminal to reselect the second device, and the sixth terminal is located in the coverage range of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: a fifth request is sent to the third device.

Optionally, the first device is a multicast control unit, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving third response information sent by the third equipment.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending a sixth request to the terminals within the coverage range of the third equipment.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: third information is received from terminals within the coverage of the third device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and acquiring the information of the second terminal.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving a seventh request sent by the second device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving seventh indication information sent by the second equipment.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: fourth information of the third device is acquired/evaluated.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: an eighth request is sent to the second device.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving fifth information sent by the second equipment.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and acquiring eighth indication information according to the fourth information and/or the fifth information.

Optionally, the first device is a third device, the coverage area of the third device includes the coverage area of the second device, and the frequencies between the second device and the third device are the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and transmitting the eighth indication information to the second device.

In another possible example, the communication apparatus may be a second device, and the processor 1601 in the second device is configured to read the computer program code stored in the memory 1602 to perform the following operations:

the method comprises the steps that information of a first terminal is sent to a first device, a second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service;

and receiving first indication information from the first equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first equipment or the third equipment to transmit the multicast service, and the third equipment is access network equipment and is used for transmitting the multicast service.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending fifth indication information, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating a fifth terminal to reselect a third device, and the fifth terminal is located in the coverage range of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: a first request sent by a first device is received.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: a first response message is sent to the first device.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending the second request to the terminals within the coverage range of the second equipment.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving first information sent by a terminal in the coverage of the second equipment.

and receiving third indication information from the first device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicating the second device to transmit the multicast service, the third indication information is received after the first device receives the information of the second terminal, the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting the multicast service, the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting the multicast service, the second terminal is served by the third device, and the second terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service from the third device, and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service.

Optionally, the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving second confirmation information sent by the third equipment.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: a seventh request is sent to the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and transmitting the seventh indication information to the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving an eighth request sent by the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and transmitting the fifth information to the third device.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and receiving eighth indication information sent by the third equipment.

Optionally, the coverage of the third device includes the coverage of the second device, the frequency between the second device and the third device is the same, and the processor 1601 is further configured to perform the following operations: and sending the third confirmation information to the third equipment.

It should be noted that the implementation of each operation may also correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiments shown in fig. 5, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 9, and fig. 12.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a communication apparatus, configured to perform any method and function related to the first device or the second device in any of the foregoing embodiments.

The communication device may be an access network device, a chip applied to the access network device, or other combined devices and components capable of implementing the functions of the device. When the communication device is an access network device, the receiving unit may be a receiver, the transmitting unit may be a transmitter, the receiving unit and the transmitting unit may also be an integrated transceiver, antenna, or radio frequency circuit, and the processing unit may be a processor, such as a baseband chip. When the communication device is a component having the above-mentioned apparatus functions, the receiving unit and the transmitting unit may be an integrated radio frequency unit, and the processing unit may be a processor. When the communication device is a system-on-chip, the receiving unit may be an input interface of the system-on-chip, the transmitting unit may be an output interface of the system-on-chip, and the processing unit may be a processor of the system-on-chip, for example: a Central Processing Unit (CPU).

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, where the system includes at least one first device and at least one second device involved in any of the above embodiments.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes at least one processor, a memory and an interface circuit, where the memory, the interface circuit and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, and a computer program is stored in the at least one memory; the method flows shown in fig. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 are implemented when the computer program is executed by a processor.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is run on a communication device, the method flows shown in fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 9, and fig. 12 are implemented.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, and when the computer program product runs on a communication device, the method flows shown in fig. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 are implemented.

In summary, by implementing the embodiment of the present application, the second device and/or the third device respectively obtain information of a terminal that is receiving the multicast service and/or interested in the multicast service within a coverage area of the second device and/or the third device, and then cooperatively transmit the multicast service according to the indication information indicating whether the second device and/or the third device transmits the multicast service, so that transmission efficiency and spectrum utilization rate of the multicast service are improved, communication resources and energy are saved, communication quality of the multicast service is improved, and user experience is improved.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by hardware associated with a computer program that can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the above method embodiments. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store computer program code, such as ROM or RAM, magnetic or optical disks, etc.

Claims

1. A method for processing multicast service, comprising:

a first device receives information of a first terminal from a second device, wherein the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service;

the first device sends first indication information to the second device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first device or a third device to transmit the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information of the first terminal is used to indicate the number of at least one terminal included in the first terminal; the sending, by the first device, first indication information to the second device specifically includes:

if a first condition is met, the first device sends the first indication information to the second device, wherein the first condition comprises that the number of the at least one terminal is greater than or equal to a first threshold value;

and/or

The first condition includes that the number of terminals served by each cell included by the second device in the first terminal is less than or equal to a second threshold;

and/or

The second device comprises at least one access network device, and the first condition comprises the number of the at least one access network device being greater than or equal to a third threshold.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first indication information comprises first time information, the first time information is used for indicating a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, and/or the first time information is used for indicating a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first device is a multicast control unit, the method further comprising:

and the first device sends second indication information to the third device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the third device to transmit the multicast service and/or the second device to stop transmitting the multicast service.

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the information of the first terminal comprises at least one of:

service identification information of the multicast service of the first terminal;

location information of the first terminal;

channel state information of the first terminal.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the coverage of the third device comprises the coverage of the second device.

7. A method for processing multicast service, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first device receives information of a second terminal, wherein the second terminal is served by a third device, the second terminal comprises at least one terminal which receives multicast service from the third device and/or at least one terminal which is interested in the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used for transmitting the multicast service;

the first device sends third indication information to a second device, where the third indication information is used to indicate the first device or the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate the second device to transmit the multicast service, and the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the information of the second terminal is used for indicating the number of at least one terminal included in the second terminal; the sending, by the first device, third indication information to the second device specifically includes:

if a second condition is met, the first device sends the third indication information to the second device, wherein the second condition includes that the number of the at least one terminal is smaller than or equal to a fourth threshold;

and/or

The second condition comprises that the number of at least one of the second terminals served by the second device is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold;

and/or

The second device comprises at least one access network device, and the second condition comprises the number of the at least one access network device being less than or equal to a sixth threshold.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the third indication information comprises second time information, and the second time information is used for indicating a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second time information is used for indicating a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first device is a multicast control unit, the method further comprising:

and the first device sends fourth indication information to the third device, wherein the fourth indication information is used for indicating the third device to stop transmitting the multicast service and/or the second device to transmit the multicast service.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7-10, wherein the first device is the third device, and the receiving information of the second terminal comprises:

the first equipment receives information of a third terminal from the second terminal, wherein the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal;

and/or

The first device receives information of a fourth terminal from the second device, wherein the fourth terminal is a terminal except for the third terminal in at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

12. The method according to any of claims 7-11, wherein the information of the second terminal comprises at least one of:

service identification information of the multicast service of the second terminal;

location information of the second terminal;

channel state information of the second terminal.

13. The method of any of claims 7-12, wherein the coverage of the third device comprises the coverage of the second device.

14. The method according to any one of claims 7-9 or 11-13, wherein the first device is the third device, and after the first device sends third indication information to the second device, the method further comprises:

the first device sends sixth indication information, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate a sixth terminal to reselect the second device, and the sixth terminal is located in a coverage area of the second device and the third device, and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the sixth indication information comprises at least one of:

identification information of the second device;

configuration information of the multicast service of the second device;

second configuration information of the frequency point priorities of the third device and the second device;

and the third equipment stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service.

16. A method for processing multicast service, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a second device sends information of a first terminal to a first device, wherein the second device comprises at least one cell and is used for transmitting multicast service, the first terminal is served by the at least one cell, and the first terminal comprises at least one terminal for receiving the multicast service and/or at least one terminal interested in the multicast service;

the second device receives first indication information from the first device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the first device or a third device to transmit the multicast service, and the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the first indication information comprises first time information, wherein the first time information is used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device starts to transmit the multicast service, and/or the first time information is used to indicate a time when the second device stops transmitting the multicast service.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the information of the first terminal comprises at least one of the following:

service identification information of the multicast service of the first terminal; location information of the first terminal; channel state information of the first terminal.

19. The method of any of claims 16-18, wherein the coverage of the third device comprises the coverage of the second device.

20. The method according to any of claims 16-19, wherein after the second device receives the first indication information from the first device, the method further comprises:

and the second device sends fifth indication information, wherein the fifth indication information is used for indicating a fifth terminal to reselect the third device, and the fifth terminal is located in the coverage range of the second device and the third device and receives the multicast service and/or is interested in the multicast service.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the fifth indication information comprises at least one of:

identification information of the third device;

configuration information of the multicast service of the third device;

first configuration information of the frequency point priorities of the third device and the second device;

and the second equipment stops transmitting the indication information of the multicast service.

22. A method for processing multicast service, comprising:

the second device receives third indication information from the first device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or indicate that the second device transmits the multicast service, where the third indication information is received after the first device receives information of a second terminal, the second device includes at least one cell and is used to transmit the multicast service, the third device is an access network device and is used to transmit the multicast service, the second terminal is served by the third device, and the second terminal includes at least one terminal that receives the multicast service from the third device, and/or at least one terminal that is interested in the multicast service.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the third indication information comprises second time information, and wherein the second time information is used to indicate a time when the first device or the third device stops transmitting the multicast service, and/or the second time information is used to indicate a time when the second device starts transmitting the multicast service.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, wherein the first device is the third device, and the information of the second terminal includes information of a third terminal sent by the second terminal to the first device, and/or information of a fourth terminal sent by the second device to the first device, wherein the third terminal is at least one terminal included in the second terminal, and the fourth terminal is a terminal other than the third terminal in the at least one terminal included in the second terminal.

25. The method according to any of claims 22-24, wherein the information of the second terminal comprises at least one of:

location information of the second terminal;

channel state information of the second terminal.

26. The method of any of claims 22-25, wherein the coverage of the third device comprises the coverage of the second device.

27. A communication device comprising a receiving unit and/or a transmitting unit corresponding to the method according to any of claims 1-15.

28. A communication device comprising a receiving unit and/or a transmitting unit corresponding to the method according to any of claims 16-26.

29. A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled with a memory, wherein the memory is to store one or more programs, which are executed by the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1-26.

30. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-26.

31. A communication system comprising a communication apparatus according to claim 27 and a communication apparatus according to claim 28.