CN114258111A

CN114258111A - Method and communication device for determining anchor point cell under non-independent networking

Info

Publication number: CN114258111A
Application number: CN202011007777.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卢静静; 赵志华; 徐自翔; 魏珍荣
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-23
Filing date: 2020-09-23
Publication date: 2022-03-29
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-23
Also published as: WO2022062939A1; CN114258111B

Abstract

The application provides a method and a communication device for determining an anchor point cell under non-independent networking, which can be applied to an NSA networking architecture, and the method comprises the following steps: receiving indication information, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the parsing of the system information block; analyzing the system information block according to the indication information; and determining whether an anchor cell exists according to the analysis result, wherein the anchor cell is a dual-connection cell supporting an NR access technology and an LTE access technology. According to the method for determining the anchor cell under the non-independent networking, the searched cell is distinguished to be the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell by analyzing the SIB in the network searching process, whether the anchor cell exists around the searched cell is determined, and therefore a user can distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

Description

Method and communication device for determining anchor point cell under non-independent networking

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and a communications apparatus for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking.

Background

In the initial networking stage, the fifth Generation (5G) system or the New Radio (NR) communication system mostly adopts a non-independent Networking (NSA) mode. Currently, most networking modes in the NSA mode use Option 3(Option 3x) as a preferred networking mode, that is, the 5G base station is preferentially accessed to the 4th Generation (4G) core network, that is, both the 5G base station and the 4G base station are accessed to the 4G core network, and communication is performed between the 4G core network and the data network.

For NSA, NR cannot search as an independent access technology. Two Long Term Evolution (LTE) base stations exist in a network architecture, one LTE base station supports evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) and NR dual connectivity (E-UTRA NR dual connectivity, EN-DC) dual connectivity, that is, a cell covered by the LTE base station supports EN-DC dual connectivity, and this cell may be referred to as an anchor cell. Another LTE base station does not support EN-DC dual connectivity, i.e. a cell covered by the LTE base station does not support EN-DC dual connectivity, and such a cell may be referred to as a non-anchor cell. The anchor cell can support the 5G cell as the auxiliary cell, so that the dual-connection of the 5G network and the 4G network can be realized, the non-anchor cell only supports the 4G network, and does not support the NR cell as the auxiliary cell. In other words, the anchor cell may be understood as an LTE cell supporting the addition of an NR cell as a secondary cell. At present, when a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone) manually searches for a network, even in an area covered by a 5G network, a user defaults all searched cells to non-anchor cells by using the terminal device in the manual network searching process, and all cells are processed according to 4G. That is to say, with the existing manual network searching technology, since the terminal device cannot distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell, even if there is 5G network coverage, the terminal device cannot rely on the current manual network searching to select the anchor cell to reside, and then uses the 5G network, which seriously affects the user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a communication device for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking, which can enable terminal equipment to distinguish the anchor cell from a non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

In a first aspect, a method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be either a terminal device or a chip applied to the terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: receiving indication information, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the parsing of the system information block; analyzing the system information block according to the indication information; and determining whether an anchor cell exists according to the analysis result, wherein the anchor cell is a dual-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

In the method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking provided by the first aspect, under an NSA networking architecture, the SIB is analyzed in a network searching process, and a system information block is analyzed to distinguish a searched cell as an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell, so as to determine whether the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell exist around the cell, so that a user can distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

For example, the method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking provided by the present application may be applied in the scenario of the networking mode of Option 3(Option 3), Option 3a (Option3 a), and Option 3x (Option 3x) under the NSA networking architecture.

In the embodiment of the present application, the anchor cell may support the 5G cell as the secondary cell, so that dual connectivity between the 5G network and the 4G network may be achieved, and the non-anchor cell only supports the 4G network and does not support the NR cell as the secondary cell. In other words, the anchor cell may be understood as an LTE cell supporting the addition of an NR cell as a secondary cell.

In the embodiment of the application, after the terminal device starts the manual network search, the terminal device may send information of "start the manual network search" to the network device through a signaling, for example, the terminal device may send a manual 5G network search request to the network device, where the manual 5G network search request carries indication information for indicating the terminal to start the manual network search. After receiving the request for manually searching for the 5G network, the network device determines that the terminal device needs to manually search for the 5G network, and the network device can send indication information to the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the indication information includes: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

the network searching type indication information is used for indicating a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list in a system information block, and the RAT indication information is used for indicating that a specified RAT is NR or LTE.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a case that a preset CGI set is locally stored in the terminal device, analyzing the system information block according to the indication information includes:

parsing a system information block SIB1 according to the indication information; determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1;

determining whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGIs of at least one anchor cell; and determining that the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell when the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set.

The CGI included in the preset CGI set may be understood as a CGI of an anchor cell a priori, and the CGI is used to identify a cell. A priori the anchor cell may be understood as: the cell that was previously the anchor cell, i.e., the cell that was previously the anchor cell, was previously camped on by the terminal device.

under the condition that the CGI does not belong to the preset CGI set, analyzing a system information block SIB2, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGIs of at least one anchor cell; in the case where the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, it is determined that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a case that a preset CGI set is not locally stored in the terminal device, analyzing the system information block according to the indication information includes:

parsing a system information block SIB2 according to the indication information; and under the condition that the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, determining that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell, wherein the preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and after determining an anchor point cell, stopping analyzing the system information block. In this implementation, this condition is used as a criterion for ending the search for the anchor cell, and the search speed is fast and the time is short.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and after determining an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, stopping analyzing the system information block. In the implementation mode, the condition is used as the standard for finishing searching the anchor point cell, the searching speed is high, the searched cell can meet the residing condition, the user can select to reside on the anchor point cell, and the searching efficiency is high.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and stopping analyzing the system information blocks after analyzing the system information blocks corresponding to all the cells in the full frequency band. In this implementation, the search is more comprehensive using this condition as a criterion for ending the search for the anchor cell. The terminal device may search for a plurality of anchor cells, or may search for a plurality of anchor cells that satisfy the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, or may not search for anchor cells.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and displaying the information of the anchor cell to a user.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and re-camping the cell on the anchor cell meeting the cell camping threshold and the S criterion.

In a second aspect, a method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking is provided, where an execution subject of the method may be either a network device or a chip applied to the network device. The method comprises the following steps: the network equipment generates indication information, and the indication information is used for indicating the analysis of the system information block; the network equipment sends the indication information to the terminal equipment; the network equipment sends a system information block to the terminal equipment, wherein the system information block is used for the terminal equipment to determine whether an anchor point cell exists, and the anchor point cell is a dual-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

In the method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking provided in the second aspect, in an NSA networking architecture, the terminal device may analyze a system information block in a network searching process by sending indication information and the system information block to the terminal device, and determine whether the anchor cell exists around the terminal device by analyzing the system information block to distinguish the searched cell as the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell, so that a user may distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the indication information includes: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the system information block includes: system information block SIB1 and system information block SIB 2.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes means for performing each step in the above first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided that includes means for performing the steps of the second aspect above or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising at least one processor and a memory, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of the first aspect above or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a communications apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of the second aspect above or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of the above first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of the second aspect above or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a terminal device, including any one of the communication apparatuses provided in the third, fifth or seventh aspects.

A tenth aspect provides a network device comprising any one of the communication apparatuses of the fourth, sixth, or eighth aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises a computer program for performing the method of any of the first to second aspects or any possible implementation manner of any of the first to second aspects, when the computer program is executed by a processor.

In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, having stored thereon a computer program for performing the method of any one of the first to second aspects or any possible implementation manner of any one of the first to second aspects, when the computer program is executed.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a chip, comprising: a processor configured to call and run a computer program from the memory, so that the communication device on which the chip is installed performs the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, or performs the method in any possible implementation manner in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect.

According to the method for determining the anchor cell under the non-independent networking, under the NSA networking framework, the SIB is analyzed in the network searching process of the terminal equipment, whether the searched cell is the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell is determined by analyzing the SIB, and therefore the terminal equipment can distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of specific networking modes of option3, option 3a, and option 3x under the NSA networking architecture.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a manual network searching process of a conventional multimode terminal device.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of a display interface when a user performs a manual network search according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example of a display interface for a user to start a detection function of a 5G network according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an overall architecture of a terminal device implementing the method provided by the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of an example of a method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of another method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of another method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of another example of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a structure of another example of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of another example of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 15 is a schematic block diagram of a structure of another example of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, "/" means "or" unless otherwise specified, for example, a/B may mean a or B; "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more than two.

In the following, the terms "first", "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present embodiment, "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to an LTE system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5G system or an NR system, and the like.

Terminal equipment in the embodiments of the present application may refer to user equipment, access terminals, subscriber units, subscriber stations, mobile stations, remote terminals, mobile devices, user terminals, wireless communication devices, user agents, or user devices. The terminal device may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for future evolution, and the like, which are not limited in this embodiment.

The network device in this embodiment may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, where the network device may be a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, may also be a base station (NodeB, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, may also be an evolved node b (eNB, or eNodeB) in an LTE system, may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network, or a network device in a PLMN network for future evolution, and the like, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited.

The method provided by the present application can be applied to the NSA networking architecture, and the NSA networking architecture suitable for the present application embodiment is described below with reference to fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 shows specific networking modes of Option 3(Option 3), Option 3a (Option3 a) and Option 3x (Option 3x) under the NSA networking architecture. A diagram in fig. 1 shows an Option3 networking mode, where user plane data and control plane data of the 5G base station are both connected to the 4G core network through the enhanced 4G base station, that is, data information and control information are not directly exchanged between the 5G base station and the 4G core network. The b diagram in fig. 1 shows an Option 3a networking mode, user plane data of the 5G base station is directly connected to the 4G core network, and control plane data continues to be anchored to the 4G base station. Namely, only the user plane data interaction is carried out between the 5G base station and the 4G core network. The graph c in fig. 1 shows an Option 3x networking mode, in which user plane data of the 5G base station is divided into two parts, one part directly interacts with the 4G core network through the 5G base station, and the other part interacts with the 4G core network through the 4G base station. The control plane data continues to be anchored to the 4G base station.

Under the networking architecture shown in fig. 1, when a user uses a multimode terminal device to perform a manual network search, the manual network search scheme of a pure 4G single-mode terminal device is completely used, that is, when the user performs the manual network search, the user selects to reside in an LTE cell, and the user is triggered to perform a network search process through a modem (modem) instruction, at (attention) + Common Open Policy Service (COPS).

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a manual network searching process of a conventional multimode terminal device. As shown in fig. 2, the manual network searching process of the existing multimode terminal device mainly includes steps 1 to 8:

step 1: the terminal equipment resides in an LTE cell, and a mobility management control module (MMC) triggers a user to perform manual PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) network search through AT + COPS.

Step 2: a multi-service credit control Module (MSCC) sends a manual PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) network search request to the MMC.

And step 3: and the MMC starts the manual PLMN LIST network searching according to the received manual PLMN LIST network searching request.

And 4, step 4: the MMC sends a manual PLMN list network searching request to an LTE mobile management module (LMM), and the network searching type is designated as PLMN list network searching.

And 5: and the MMC waits for the manual network searching result fed back by the LMM.

Step 6: and the LMM searches the network by using the PLMN list in a background network searching mode and sends the manual network searching result to the MMC.

And 7: and the MMC sends the PLMN list network searching result to the MSCC.

And 8: and the MMC exits the PLMN list network searching.

The BackGround search (BackGround search) may be understood as a type of search performed by the terminal device under a normal network-resident condition and in a no-service state. A single-mode terminal device may be understood as a terminal device supporting a Radio Access Technology (RAT), for example, LTE Access Technology. A multimode terminal device may be understood as a terminal device supporting multiple radio access technologies, e.g. supporting LTE access technology and NR access technology. The existing manual network searching scheme can not distinguish whether the searched cell is an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell, and the cells are processed according to 4G, namely the cells are processed according to the non-anchor cell. The user cannot know whether the cell currently camped on is the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell, and cannot select the 4G network and the 5G network.

For example, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a display interface when a user performs an operation when the user performs a manual network search. As shown in a in fig. 3, it is assumed that there is 5G network coverage in the area where the user is located in the china telecommunication, and the display policy of the signal bar of the mobile phone of the user may display the 5G network signal in the china telecommunication. The user clicks a 'setting' menu on the screen, a displayed interface is shown as b in figure 3, the user clicks a 'mobile network' menu, the displayed interface is shown as c in figure 3, the user clicks a 'manual network searching' menu, the manual network searching is opened, the displayed interface is shown as d in figure 3, and 46010 represents the PLMN number of the China Unicom network. As can be seen from d in fig. 3, although there is a signal coverage of the 5G network in the area where the user resides, the result of the manual network search shows that the china telecommunication is only the 4G network, and the user cannot select to reside in the 5G cell and cannot use the 5G network. That is, in the scenario shown in fig. 3, with the manual network searching scheme shown in fig. 2, when a Radio Access Technology (RAT) is LTE, even if there is an anchor cell, a user cannot distinguish whether a searched cell is an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell, and the user cannot camp on the anchor cell to use a 5G network.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a display strategy of a signal bar of a mobile phone of a user, which can display a 5G network signal existing in the chinese telecom. Another possible scenario is: the area where the user is located actually has 5G network coverage in the chinese telecom, but the display policy of the signal bar of the user's mobile phone is that it is not possible to display the 5G network signal in the chinese telecom, i.e. in the signal display bar in fig. 3, the chinese telecom still displays 4G signals. In this case, the user may ask the operator to determine whether a 5G network exists in the area where the user is currently located, and after determining that the 5G network exists, the result of the manual network searching performed by the user is still consistent with that shown in d in fig. 3. Even if there is an anchor cell in fact, the user cannot distinguish whether the searched cell is the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell by using the existing manual network searching scheme, and the processing is carried out according to the non-anchor cell. The user cannot camp on the anchor cell to use the 5G network.

Therefore, with the existing manual network searching scheme, even if 5G networks cover the cell where the user resides, the user can only use the 4G network on the non-anchor cell because the terminal device regards the searched cells as the non-anchor cells. That is to say, in an area covered by a 5G network, an anchor cell and a non-anchor cell are mixed together, and by using the existing manual network searching method, the existence of the 5G network cannot be self-checked, the anchor cell and the non-anchor cell cannot be distinguished, a user cannot preferentially select an anchor to reside, the 5G network cannot be used, and the user experience is seriously influenced.

In view of this, the present application provides a method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking, in an NSA networking architecture, a System Information Block (SIB) is analyzed in a network searching process, and whether a searched cell is an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell is distinguished by analyzing the system information block, so as to determine whether there is an anchor cell around the searched cell, thereby enabling a user to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

In the embodiment of the application, considering that the 5G network scanning time is long, the traditional manual network searching and the 5G network detection can be separated, a display interface is arranged on an application layer of the terminal device, when a 5G network detection switch is turned on, the display interface can independently prompt a user whether to start 5G network coverage condition scanning, the user clicks a 'confirm' button to issue a 5G network searching instruction, and the terminal device starts the 5G network detection. For example, fig. 4 is a schematic operation diagram illustrating an example of a detection function for starting a 5G network, as shown in a in fig. 4, for clicking a "setup" menu, a displayed interface is shown in b in fig. 4, a user clicks a "5G switch" menu, an interface displayed to the user is shown in c in fig. 4, the user is reminded whether to start 5G network coverage monitoring, and the user clicks an "ok" menu, so that the detection function of the 5G network is started. The displayed interface is as shown in d in fig. 4, and the user may click on the "mobile network" menu to manually search for the 5G network, thereby executing the method for determining the anchor cell under the non-independent networking provided by the present application.

In order to implement the method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking provided by the present application, some configurations need to be performed on a terminal device, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is a multimode terminal device, and the specific configurations include:

a physical layer (PHY) of a protocol stack of a terminal device supports full band (fullband) network searching for parsing a system information block 2 (SIB 2);

a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer of a protocol stack of the terminal equipment supports the initiation of the scanning of an anchor cell in an NSA networking mode, and reports the scanning result to an application layer;

a non-access stratum (NAS) and access stratum (NAS) add interface, configured to implement a specified RAT (e.g., LTE or NR), and further, the interface may be further configured to implement a list search function indicating a specified RAT priority band (prefband), and provide a corresponding AT interface, configured to perform a manual network search of an anchor cell;

a 5G network scanning interface is newly added in a Radio Interface Layer (RIL) for upper application to call;

the upper layer application calls a 5G network scanning interface and displays a scanning result (an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell) to a user;

the terminal device scans available 5G cells (5G network), and can automatically initiate registration, residence and the like of the anchor cell.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall architecture of a terminal device for implementing the method provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5: a user clicks a display interface on an application layer of a terminal device, for example, as shown in fig. 4, a 5G network search is started, the information is transmitted to a radio interface layer RIL through an application framework layer (frame) of the terminal device, the information is transmitted through a 5G network scanning interface of the radio interface layer, the information is transmitted to a core network side through NAS signaling, the NAS sends a command to a new radio physical layer (NR physical, NPHY) through a New Radio Resource Control (NRRC) for determining an anchor cell, and sends a command to an LTE physical layer (LTE physical, LPHY) through an LTE Radio Resource Control (LRRC) for determining an anchor cell. After determining the detection results, the LPHY and the NPHY report the detection results to the LRRC and the NRRC respectively, the detection results are transmitted to an RIL layer of the terminal equipment through NAS signaling, the detection results are transmitted to an application layer through a 5G network scanning interface of the RIL layer, and finally the scanning results are displayed to a user in the application layer.

The application framework layer provides an Application Programming Interface (API) and a programming framework for an application of the application layer. The application framework layer may include some predefined functions, such as functions for receiving events sent by the application framework layer. Optionally, the application framework layer may include a window manager, an explorer, a notification manager, a view system, and the like.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method 100 for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied in a scenario of non-independent networking, such as that shown in fig. 1. It should be understood that the method provided by the present application may also be applied to other systems that are not independently networked, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited herein.

In the following description, the method provided by the book application is explained by taking a terminal device and a network device as main execution bodies. By way of example and not limitation, the execution subject of the execution method may also be a chip applied in a terminal device and a network device.

As shown in fig. 6, the method 100 shown in fig. 6 may include S110 to S140. The various steps in method 100 are described in detail below in conjunction with fig. 6.

S110, the network device sends indication information to the terminal device, wherein the indication information is used for indicating and analyzing the system information block. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the indication information.

S120, the network device sends a system information block to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the system information block.

And S130, the terminal equipment analyzes the system information block according to the indication information.

And S140, the terminal equipment determines whether an anchor cell exists according to the analysis result, wherein the anchor cell is a dual-connection cell supporting an NR access technology and an LTE access technology.

In S110, after the terminal device starts the manual network search, the terminal device may send information of "start the manual network search" to the network device through a signaling, so as to notify the network device that the terminal device performs (or starts) the manual network search for the 5G network. For example, the terminal device may send a manual search 5G network request to the network device, where the manual search 5G network request carries indication information for indicating the terminal to start a manual search. After receiving the request for manually searching for the 5G network, the network device determines that the terminal device needs to manually search for the 5G network, and the network device may send indication information to the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to analyze the SIB during network searching. In other words, in the embodiment of the present application, the indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device needs to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell in the manual network searching. For example, the indication information may be specifically used for instructing the terminal device to parse SIB1 and SIB2 when searching for a network.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the network searching type specified by the manual network searching 5G request may be a PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) network searching.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be a multimode terminal device, a network operator that provides a network for the terminal device has deployed a 5G network, and the terminal device may utilize a 4G network and a 5G network.

After the terminal device receives the indication information, it can determine that the SIB needs to be parsed. In S120, the network device may transmit the SIB to the terminal device. Specifically, the network device may send SIB1 and SIB2 to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives SIB1 and SIB2 transmitted by the network device.

In S130 and S140, after receiving the SIB, the terminal device may parse the SIB. For example, the terminal device may parse SIB1, or SIB1 and SIB 2. Therefore, whether the cell where the terminal equipment resides currently is an anchor cell or not is determined, or whether the cell existing in the current environment has the anchor cell or not is determined, and the terminal equipment is enabled to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, as a possible implementation manner, the indication information includes: at least one of search network type indication information and RAT indication information.

In this embodiment, the network searching type (SRCH TEYP) indication information is used to indicate the terminal device to analyze a PLMN list in the system information block, where in this embodiment, the terminal device analyzing the PLMN list means that the terminal device needs to analyze an SIB when searching for a network, that is, needs to distinguish an anchor cell from a non-anchor cell. The RAT indication information indicates that the specified RAT is NR or LTE. The designated RAT is NR or LTE, which means that the terminal device also needs to analyze SIB when searching for a network, i.e., needs to distinguish between an anchor cell and a non-anchor cell.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, there is no limitation on the specific content included in the indication information and the form of the indication information, as long as the indication information is used for instructing the terminal device to parse the SIB (including SIB1 and SIB2) when searching for the network, so as to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. For example, the indication information may also carry other content for instructing the terminal device to parse the SIB when searching for the network. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, in the process of analyzing the SIB for network searching, the terminal device may search (analyze) the SIB in a background network searching manner (or may also be referred to as background network searching). For example, the terminal device resolves SIB1 in the form of background network searching, or SIB1 and SIB 2. In other words, the terminal may analyze the SIB using the background network searching, so as to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell.

Optionally, in some possible implementation manners of the present application, taking fig. 7 as an example, based on the method steps shown in fig. 6, S130 in the method 100 may specifically include: s131 to S133, and S140 may specifically include: s141:

s131, the terminal device parses the system information block SIB1 according to the indication information.

S132, the terminal device determines a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1.

S133, the terminal device determines whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, where the preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell.

S141, in a case that the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set, the terminal device determines that the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell.

The description of S110 and S120 shown in fig. 7 may refer to the description of these several steps in fig. 6, and for brevity, will not be described again here.

In S131, when the terminal device locally stores the preset CGI set, the terminal device receives SIB1 and then parses SIB 1. The preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell, and the CGIs included in the preset CGI set may be understood as CGIs of an anchor cell a priori, and the CGIs are used for identifying the cell. A priori the anchor cell may be understood as: the cell that was previously the anchor cell, i.e., the cell that was previously the anchor cell, was previously camped on by the terminal device.

In S132, the terminal device may determine the CGI included in SIB 1. In S133, the terminal device determines whether the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell, that is, determines whether the CGI in SIB1 belongs to a preset CGI set.

In S141, if the CGI in SIB1 belongs to the preset CGI set, that is, the CGI in SIB1 is the same as a certain CGI in the preset CGI set, it is proved that the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is an anchor cell, and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) dual link may be added to the cell. The cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is the cell in which the terminal device currently resides, i.e., the serving cell. In this case, the terminal device does not need to resolve the SIB2 corresponding to the cell.

If the CGI in SIB1 does not belong to the preset CGI set, it cannot be determined whether the cell is an anchor cell using the CGI in SIB 1. In this case, one possible implementation is: it is directly determined that the cell identified by the CGI is not an anchor cell. Therefore, it is necessary to continue searching whether another cell is an anchor cell. For example, the terminal device continues to parse CGIs in SIB1 corresponding to other cells, and determines whether other cells are anchor cells, for example, in a method similar to S133.

Optionally, in some possible implementation manners of the present application, in a case that the terminal device locally stores a preset CGI set, taking fig. 8 as an example, based on the method steps shown in fig. 6, S130 in the method 100 may specifically include: s131 to S134. S140 may specifically include: and S142.

S131, the terminal device parses SIB1 according to the indication information.

S132, the terminal device determines the CGI according to the SIB 1.

S133, whether the terminal device CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, where the preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell.

S134, in case that the CGI does not belong to the preset CGI set, the terminal equipment block SIB 2.

S142, if the SIB2 includes an Upper Layer Indication (ULI), the terminal device determines that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell.

The descriptions of S110 and S120 shown in fig. 8 may refer to the descriptions of these steps in fig. 6 above, and are not repeated here for brevity.

In S134, under the condition that the CGI does not belong to the preset CGI set, it is proved that the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is not the prior anchor cell, and it cannot be determined whether the cell is the anchor cell by using the CGI in SIB 1. In this case, as another possible implementation manner, the terminal device may continue to parse SIB2, and determine whether the cell indicated by SIB2 is an anchor cell by using a result of parsing SIB2, in this embodiment of the present application, the cell indicated by SIB2 and the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 are the same cell, and the cell is a cell where the terminal device currently resides, that is, a serving cell. In S142, the terminal device determines whether the ULI is included in the SIB2 according to the result of parsing the received SIB 2. If the ULI is configured in SIB2, the cell indicated by SIB2 is proved to be an anchor cell.

If the ULI is not configured in SIB2, it can be proven that the cell in which the terminal device currently resides is not an anchor cell. In this case, the terminal device needs to continue the background network searching process, i.e. continue to search the SIB1 corresponding to the additional cell, or continue to search the SIB1 and the SIB2 corresponding to the additional cell until the anchor cell is searched.

Optionally, in other possible implementation manners of the present application, when the preset CGI set is not locally stored in the terminal device, taking fig. 9 as an example, based on the method steps shown in fig. 6, S130 in the method 100 may specifically include: and S135. S140 may specifically include: and S142.

Based on the instruction information, the system information block SIB2 is parsed S135.

S142, in a case that the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, determining that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell, where the preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell.

The description of S110 and S120 shown in fig. 9 may refer to the description of these several steps in fig. 6, and for brevity, will not be described again here.

The terminal device may not parse the SIB1 if the terminal device does not locally store the preset CGI set. Specifically, the terminal device may not parse the CGI in SIB1, but directly parse SIB2 after receiving SIB2, and in S142, the terminal device determines whether the ULI is included in SIB2 according to a result of parsing SIB 2. If the ULI is configured in SIB2, the cell indicated by SIB2 is proved to be an anchor cell.

If the ULI is not configured in SIB2, the cell in which the terminal device currently resides is proved not to be the anchor cell. In this case, the terminal device needs to continue the background network searching process, i.e. continue to search the SIB1 corresponding to the additional cell, or continue to search the SIB1 and the SIB2 corresponding to the additional cell until the anchor cell is searched.

In other words, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may search for the anchor cell by using any one of the following three network searching methods:

the first mode is as follows: under the condition that the terminal device locally stores the preset CGI set, the terminal device performs background anchor point cell search by using the network search procedure (i.e., only parsing SIB1) as shown in fig. 7, and determines whether the cell where the terminal device currently resides is an anchor cell.

The second mode is as follows: in the case that the terminal device locally stores the preset CGI set, anchor cell background search is performed by using the network search procedure (parsing SIB1 and SIB2) as shown in fig. 8, and it is determined whether the cell where the terminal device currently resides is an anchor cell.

The third mode is as follows: under the condition that the terminal device does not locally store the preset CGI set, searching for an anchor cell by using the background of the network searching process (only analyzing SIB2, not analyzing CGI in SIB1) as shown in fig. 9, and determining whether the cell where the terminal device currently resides is the anchor cell.

It should be understood that the three different approaches described above are directed to the process of searching for an anchor cell of the same cell. For any cell, the terminal device may search for the anchor cell using any one of the three manners described above.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, when a network search is performed by using any one of the three network search processes, and when any one of the following first to third conditions is satisfied, the network search process is ended:

the first condition is that: and after determining an anchor point cell, stopping analyzing the SIB, namely stopping searching the network.

For example, if the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell, it is determined that the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is the anchor cell, and the background network searching procedure is stopped. For example, the SIB2 corresponding to the cell and the SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB2) corresponding to other cells are stopped from being analyzed.

Or, the CGI in SIB1 is different from the CGI of the prior anchor cell, but the SIB2 includes the ULI, it is determined that the cell in which the terminal device currently resides is the anchor cell, and the background network search procedure is stopped. For example, the SIB corresponding to other cells (including SIB1 and SIB2) is stopped from being parsed.

Or, in the case that the preset CGI set is not locally stored in the terminal device, but the SIB2 includes the ULI, it is determined that the cell in which the terminal device currently resides is an anchor cell, and the background network searching procedure is stopped. For example, the SIB corresponding to other cells (including SIB1 and SIB2) is stopped from being parsed.

The second condition is that: and after determining an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, stopping analyzing the SIB, namely stopping searching the network. The S criterion is used to determine whether a certain cell may be a cell where the terminal device resides, in other words, the S criterion may be used to determine whether the terminal device may be handed over from one cell to another cell. In the embodiment of the present application, if a certain anchor cell that is searched meets the cell camping threshold and the S criterion, the terminal device may select to camp on the cell.

For example, the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell, and if the CGI identifier in SIB1 is small enough to satisfy the cell camping threshold and the S criterion, the SIB2 corresponding to the cell and the SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB2) corresponding to other cells stop being analyzed. If the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 does not satisfy at least one of the cell camping threshold and the S criterion, it is proved that although the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell, the user cannot camp on the anchor cell, in which case the terminal device needs to be able to resolve SIB1, or SIB1 and SIB2, corresponding to other cells by using any one of the three manners described above. If it is determined that a certain anchor cell satisfies the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, the background network searching process is stopped, for example, the SIB corresponding to another cell (including SIB1 and SIB2) is stopped being analyzed.

Or: if the CGI in SIB1 is not the same as the a priori anchor cell CGI, or the terminal device does not locally store a preset CGI set, if the SIB2 includes an ULI, it is determined whether the anchor cell indicated by SIB2 satisfies the cell camping threshold and the S criterion. If the anchor cell indicated by the SIB2 meets the cell camping threshold and the S-criteria, the SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB2) corresponding to other cells stop being parsed. If the anchor cell indicated by SIB2 does not satisfy at least one of the cell camping threshold and the S-criteria, then the search for SIBs (including SIB1 and SIB2) corresponding to additional cells continues. The terminal device may continue to search for an anchor cell satisfying the cell residence threshold and the S criterion by using any one of the three network searching methods, and stop analyzing the SIB until an anchor cell satisfying the cell residence threshold and the S criterion is searched.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the Srxlen value is greater than zero, and the Squal value is greater than zero indicates that the S criterion is satisfied, where:

Srxlen＝Qrxlevmeas-(Qrxlevmin+Qrxlevminoffset)–Pcompensation；

Squal＝Qqualmeas–(Qqualmin+Qqualminoffset)。

wherein Qrxlevmeas represents a Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) of the detected cell, and Qrxlevmin is a minimum acceptable level of the cell, and is generally-128 dbm; qrxlevminooffset represents the offset of the lowest accepted level, typically set to 0; pcompensation ═ max (Pmax-Pumax, 0), Pmax represents the maximum transmit power allowed by the terminal device in the current serving cell; pumax represents the maximum uplink transmission power of the terminal equipment; qqualmeas refers to the detected Reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ); qqualmin refers to the lowest acceptable reference signal quality, typically set to-18, and Qqualminoffset refers to the lowest reference signal received quality offset, also typically set to 0. An Srxlen value greater than zero, and a Squal value greater than zero indicates that the S criterion is satisfied.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the cell camping threshold may be preconfigured or predefined for a protocol.

The third condition is that: and stopping analyzing the SIB after analyzing the system information blocks corresponding to all the cells in the full band (full band).

For the third condition, the terminal device needs to perform anchor cell search over the full frequency band, that is, for each cell over the full frequency band, the anchor cell is continuously searched by using any one of the three above-mentioned network searching methods, and each cell needs to analyze SIB1, SIB1 and SIB2, or SIB2, so as to determine whether the searched cell is the anchor cell. In this case, the terminal device may search for a plurality of anchor cells, or may search for a plurality of anchor cells satisfying the cell camping threshold and the S criterion, or may not search for anchor cells.

In the embodiment of the application, whether to finish the search of the anchor point cell is judged by using the first condition, the search speed is high, the time is short, however, the searched cell may not meet the residence condition, and the user cannot select to reside on the anchor point cell. And judging whether to finish searching the anchor point cell by using the second condition, wherein the searching speed is high, the searched cell can meet the residing condition, and the user can select to reside in the anchor point cell. And judging whether to finish searching the anchor point cell by using a third condition, wherein the searching is comprehensive, but the searching speed is low, and the required time is long.

It should also be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, if the first condition or the second condition is used as a condition for ending the search of the anchor cell, the search process of the anchor cell may be ended in advance compared to when the third condition is used as a condition for ending the search of the anchor cell. If there is no anchor cell that satisfies the first condition or the second condition, it is necessary to wait until the entire fullBand search is finished to determine whether there is an anchor cell.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, after the terminal device finishes searching the anchor cell, the terminal device may display the information of the searched anchor cell to the user. For example, the terminal device may display to the user whether there is an anchor cell present.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, after searching for the anchor point cell, or searching for an anchor point cell that satisfies the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, the user may re-camp the terminal device on the anchor point cell from the currently camped cell, or on the anchor point that satisfies the cell residence threshold and the S criterion. For example, the terminal device may reselect to an anchor cell using a cell reselection procedure. If a plurality of anchor cells are searched, or a plurality of anchor cells satisfying the cell camping threshold and the S criterion are searched, the terminal device may select the anchor cell having the best signal among them for camping.

The following describes, with reference to specific examples, a method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a method 200 for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking according to an example of the present application, where as shown in fig. 10, the method 200 includes: s201 to S214.

S201, a user issues an AT command through an interface of the terminal device by using a newly added AT interface, and a flow of manually searching for 5G is triggered. For example, the user may click on "mobile network" as shown by d in fig. 4, triggering the flow of manual search 5G.

S202, the MSCC module sends a request for manually searching the 5G network to the MMC, and the network searching type specified by the request is a PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) network searching request.

S203, after receiving the request of the manual 5G network search, the MMC module sends a notification of entering a network search state to a register manager (REGM).

S204, the REGM replies to the MMC that the network searching state is successfully entered.

S205, the MMC sends a request for manually searching for a 5G network to the LMM, where the request specifies that the network searching type is PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) search, and the request carries a specified RAT as LTE, and optionally, the specified RAT may also be NR.

S206, the LMM issues a request for manually searching the 5G network to the LRRC, the request specifies that the network searching type is PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) searching, and the request carries a specified RAT and is LTE. Optionally, the specified RAT may also be NR.

S207, the LRRC issues a request to the LHPY to start background search LTE and specifies parsing SIB2 type background search.

S208, the LHPY replies to the LRRC with a start background search SIB2 confirmation message.

S209, after the SIB2 is searched successfully by the LHPY background, if the SIB2 is analyzed to configure the ULI, wherein the ULI is used for indicating that the current cell is the anchor cell, the current cell is identified as the anchor cell. The current cell may be understood as a cell where the terminal device currently resides, and the cell where the terminal device currently resides may also be referred to as a serving cell. If the ULI is not configured in SIB2, the current cell is considered to be a non-anchor cell. If the current cell is an anchor cell, it needs to be further determined whether the anchor cell satisfies the camping condition (e.g., whether the cell camping threshold and the S-criteria are satisfied).

S210, if the anchor cell meets the camping condition (e.g. meets the cell camping threshold and the S criterion), the LHPY replies a confirmation message (confirm) of successful manual 5G network search to the LRRC, where the message carries the information of the anchor cell.

S211, the LRRC reports the successful confirmation information of the manual 5G network search to the LMM.

S212, the LMM reports the successful confirmation information of the manual 5G network search to the MMC.

S213, the MMC reports the confirmation information of success of manual 5G network searching to the MSCC.

S214, the MSCC reports the successful results of the manual 5G network search to the application layer, and the application layer displays the network search results to the user. For example, the web search result includes: whether an anchor cell exists.

The flows shown in fig. 10 include NAS flows and Access Stratum (AS) flows. Fig. 11 is a specific flowchart of the AS flow in the flow shown in fig. 10, specifically, a specific flowchart of interaction between the LRRC and the LHPY, and AS shown in fig. 11, the specific flowchart specifically includes: s301 to S314.

S301, an LTE Non-access stratum (LNAS) sends a request for manually searching a 5G network to an LRRC, wherein the RAT specified by the request is LTE and carries a PLMN LIST (PLMN LIST) network searching type of resolving SIB 2. S301 corresponds to S206 in the flow shown in fig. 10.

S302, the LRRC sends a request to start background search SIB2 to the LPHY, and S302 corresponds to S207 in the flow shown in fig. 10.

S303, the LPHY replies an acknowledgment to the LRRC to start the background search of SIB2, where S303 corresponds to S208 in the flow shown in fig. 10.

S304, the Cell Selection (CSEL) module sends a cell search request to the LPHY.

S305, the LPHY sends cell (cell) search confirmation information to the CSEL.

S306, the CSEL sends a request to obtain a system information block to the LPHY.

S307, the LPHY obtains a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), where the PBCH is used to receive a main system information block (MIB), and the LPHY obtains a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) according to the PBCH, where the PDSCH is used to receive an SIB.

S308, the LPHY receives and analyzes the SIB, and judges whether the anchor cell exists.

And S309, after the background search anchor cell is finished, the LPHY sends a background search finish request to the CSEL.

S310, the CSEL sends a background search termination request to a cell selection process control (CSELPC) module.

S311, the CSELPC sends a background search end request to a cell selection background (CSELBG) module.

S312, the CSELBG sends a background search ending request to the LPHY.

S313, the LPHY sends a background search completion acknowledgement message to the CSELBG.

S314, the CSELBG sends the searched information of the anchor cell to the LNAS. After receiving the information of the anchor cell, the LNAS may report the confirmation information that the manual 5G network search was successful on the application layer, and the application layer displays the search result of the anchor cell to the user.

In S308, in the process of searching for the anchor cell in the physical layer background, SIB1 may be analyzed first, and whether the anchor cell is determined according to the CGI in SIB 1. Specifically, it is determined whether the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori anchor cell. If the CGI in SIB1 is the same as the CGI of the a priori cell, then the cell identified by the CGI in SIB1 is the anchor cell.

If the anchor cell is not prior locally, or the CGI in SIB1 is not the same as the CGI of the anchor cell prior, then SIB2 can be analyzed continuously to determine whether the anchor cell is the anchor cell according to whether the ULI exists in SIB 2. And after searching the anchor point cell and recording the information of the anchor point cell, sending the information of the anchor point cell to the LNAS. If the anchor cell is not searched or the searched anchor cell does not meet the residence threshold and the S criterion, the cell search process is continuously executed, namely, the SIB1 and SIB2 corresponding to the next cell are continuously analyzed.

And in the case that any one of the following three conditions is met, the background search anchor point cell is ended:

the first condition is that: and finishing searching an anchor point cell.

The second condition is that: and finishing searching an anchor point cell meeting the residence threshold and the S criterion.

The third condition is that: and (4) searching a full band, and ending after all cells on the full band are searched.

For each cell, the process of determining whether the cell is an anchor cell may determine whether the cell is an anchor cell in a manner shown in S308.

After the background anchor point searching cell is finished, the terminal device can display the searching condition of the manual anchor point searching to the user in an application layer and inform the user whether the 5G network is covered.

After the anchor point cell meeting the residence threshold and the S criterion is searched, or after the anchor point cell meeting the residence threshold and the S criterion is determined in the searched anchor point cell, the cell reselection process can be triggered by the user, so that the user can use the 5G network when residing on the anchor point cell, and the communication quality and the user experience are improved.

According to the method for determining the anchor cell under the non-independent networking, under the NSA networking framework, the SIB is analyzed in the network searching process, and whether the searched cell is the anchor cell or the non-anchor cell is distinguished through analyzing the system information block, so that whether the anchor cell exists in the periphery or not is determined, and a user can distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

It should be understood that the above description is only for the purpose of helping those skilled in the art better understand the embodiments of the present application, and is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Various equivalent modifications or changes will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above examples given, for example, some steps may not be necessary or some steps may be newly added in various embodiments of the above-described methods 100-300, etc. Or a combination of any two or more of the above embodiments. Such modifications, variations, or combinations are also within the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments of the present application focus on highlighting differences between the various embodiments, and that the same or similar elements that are not mentioned may be referred to one another and, for brevity, are not repeated herein.

It should also be understood that the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by the function and the inherent logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, "preset" or "predefined" may be implemented by saving a corresponding code, table, or other manners that may be used to indicate related information in advance in a device (for example, including a terminal and a network device), and the present application is not limited to a specific implementation manner thereof.

It should also be understood that the manner, the case, the category, and the division of the embodiments are only for convenience of description and should not be construed as a particular limitation, and features in various manners, the category, the case, and the embodiments may be combined without contradiction.

It is also to be understood that the terminology and/or the description of the various embodiments herein is consistent and mutually inconsistent if no specific statement or logic conflicts exists, and that the technical features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships.

The method for determining an anchor cell in non-independent networking according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 11. Hereinafter, a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 12 to 15.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus 400 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication apparatus 400 may correspond to the terminal device described in the foregoing methods 100 to 300, and may also be a chip or a component applied to the terminal device, and each module or unit of the communication apparatus 400 is respectively configured to execute each action or processing procedure executed by the terminal device in each embodiment of the foregoing methods 100 to 300, and as shown in fig. 12, the communication apparatus 400 may include: a communication unit 410 and a processing unit 420.

The communication unit 410: receiving indication information, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the parsing of the system information block;

a processing unit 420, configured to parse the system information block according to the indication information;

the processing unit 420 is further configured to determine whether there is an anchor cell according to the analysis result, where the anchor cell is a dual connectivity cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

The communication device provided by the application analyzes SIB in a network searching process under an NSA networking framework, and determines whether the periphery has anchor cells or not by analyzing a system information block to distinguish the searched cells as the anchor cells or the non-anchor cells, so that a user can distinguish the anchor cells from the non-anchor cells. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the indication information includes: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the processing unit 420 is further configured to:

parsing a system information block SIB1 according to the indication information;

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1;

determining whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGIs of at least one anchor cell;

and determining that the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell when the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set.

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1;

under the condition that the CGI does not belong to the preset CGI set, analyzing a system information block SIB2, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGIs of at least one anchor cell;

in the case where the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, it is determined that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell.

parsing a system information block SIB2 according to the indication information;

and under the condition that the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, determining that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell, wherein the preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell.

and after determining an anchor point cell, stopping analyzing the system information block.

and after determining an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion, stopping analyzing the system information block.

stopping analyzing the system information block after analyzing the system information blocks corresponding to all the cells on the full frequency band

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the processing unit 420 is further configured to: and displaying the information of the anchor cell to a user.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the processing unit 420 is further configured to: and re-camping the cell on the anchor cell meeting the cell camping threshold and the S criterion.

It should be understood that, for the specific process of each unit in the communication apparatus 400 to execute the corresponding steps described above, reference is made to the foregoing description in conjunction with the steps executed by the terminal device in fig. 4, fig. 6 to fig. 11, and the related embodiments in the methods 100 to 300. For brevity, no further description is provided herein.

Optionally, the communication unit 410 may include a receiving unit (module) and a sending unit (module) for performing the steps of receiving and sending information by the terminal device in the foregoing respective method embodiments. Optionally, the communication device 400 may further include a storage unit for storing instructions executed by the processing unit 420 and the communication unit 410. The processing unit 420, the communication unit 410 and the storage unit are in communication connection, the storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 420 is used for executing the instructions stored by the storage unit, and the communication unit 410 is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processing unit 420.

It should be understood that the communication unit 410 may be a transceiver, an input/output interface or interface circuit, or the like. The storage unit may be a memory. The processing unit 420 may be implemented by a processor. As shown in fig. 13, the communication device 500 may include a processor 510, a memory 520, and a transceiver 530.

The communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 12 or the communication apparatus 500 shown in fig. 13 can implement the steps performed by the terminal devices of the respective embodiments of the aforementioned methods 100 to 300 and the related embodiments shown in fig. 6 to 11. Similar descriptions may refer to the description in the corresponding method previously described. To avoid repetition, further description is omitted here.

It should also be understood that the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 12 or the communication apparatus 500 shown in fig. 13 may be a terminal device, or a terminal device may include the communication apparatus 400 shown in fig. 12 or the communication apparatus 500 shown in fig. 13.

Fig. 14 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus 600 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication apparatus 600 may correspond to the network device described in the foregoing method 100, and may also be a chip or a component applied to the network device, and each module or unit of the communication apparatus 600 is respectively configured to execute each action or process performed by the network device in each embodiment of the foregoing methods, as shown in fig. 14, the communication apparatus 600 may include: a processing unit 610 and a communication unit 620.

A processing unit 610, configured to generate indication information, where the indication information is used to instruct a terminal device to parse a system information block;

a communication unit 620 for transmitting the indication information;

the communication unit 620 is further configured to send the system information block, where the system information block determines whether there is an anchor cell with the terminal device, and the anchor cell is a dual connectivity cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

The communication device provided by the application, under the NSA networking framework, sends the indication information and the system information block to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can analyze the system information block in the network searching process, and distinguishes the searched cell as an anchor cell or a non-anchor cell by analyzing the system information block to determine whether the periphery has the anchor cell, thereby enabling a user to distinguish the anchor cell from the non-anchor cell. The method and the device realize that the terminal equipment can automatically detect whether the 5G network is covered around, and then preferentially select the cell residing in the anchor point to use the 5G network under the condition that the 5G network is covered, thereby improving the communication quality and the user experience.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present application, the system information block includes: system information block SIB1 and system information block SIB 2.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit in the communication apparatus 600 to execute the corresponding steps described above refers to the foregoing description in conjunction with the steps executed by the network devices of the related embodiments in fig. 4, fig. 6 to fig. 9, and the method 100. For brevity, no further description is provided herein.

Optionally, the communication unit 620 may include a receiving unit (module) and a sending unit (module) for performing the steps of receiving and sending information by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments. Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include a storage unit for storing instructions executed by the processing unit 610 and the communication unit 620. The processing unit 610, the communication unit 620 and the storage unit are in communication connection, the storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 610 is used for executing the instructions stored by the storage unit, and the communication unit 620 is used for executing specific signal transceiving under the driving of the processing unit 610.

It should be understood that the communication unit 620 may be a transceiver, an input/output interface or interface circuit, or the like. The storage unit may be a memory. The processing unit 610 may be implemented by a processor. As shown in fig. 15, the communication device 700 may include a processor 710, a memory 720, and a transceiver 730.

The communication apparatus 600 shown in fig. 14 or the communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 15 can implement the steps performed by the network devices of the various embodiments of the foregoing method 100 and the related embodiments shown in fig. 6 to 9. Similar descriptions may refer to the description in the corresponding method previously described. To avoid repetition, further description is omitted here.

It should also be understood that the communication apparatus 600 shown in fig. 14 or the communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 15 may be a network device, or alternatively, the network device may include the communication apparatus 600 shown in fig. 14 or the communication apparatus 700 shown in fig. 15.

It should also be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical entity, or may be physically separated. And the units in the device can be realized in the form of software called by the processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; part of the units can also be realized in the form of software called by a processing element, and part of the units can be realized in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element separately set up, or may be implemented by being integrated into a chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and a function of the unit may be called and executed by a processing element of the apparatus. The processing element, which may also be referred to herein as a processor, may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, the steps of the method or the units above may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor element or in a form called by software through the processor element.

In one example, the units in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. As another example, when a unit in a device may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other processor capable of invoking programs. As another example, these units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including: the terminal device and the network device provided by the embodiment of the application are provided.

The present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program code, where the computer program includes instructions for executing any one of the methods for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking provided in the embodiments of the present application. The readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM) or a Random Access Memory (RAM), which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a terminal device, a network device to correspond to the corresponding operations in the above method.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip located in a communication device, where the chip includes: a processing unit, which may be, for example, a processor, and a communication unit, which may be, for example, an input/output interface, a pin or a circuit, etc. The processing unit may execute computer instructions to cause the communication device to perform any one of the methods for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking provided by the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the computer instructions are stored in a storage unit.

Optionally, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, and the like, and the storage unit may also be a storage unit located outside the chip in the terminal, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or another type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and the like. The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for executing programs for controlling the transmission method of the feedback information. The processing unit and the storage unit may be decoupled, and are respectively disposed on different physical devices, and are connected in a wired or wireless manner to implement respective functions of the processing unit and the storage unit, so as to support the system chip to implement various functions in the foregoing embodiments. Alternatively, the processing unit and the memory may be coupled to the same device.

The communication device, the computer-readable storage medium, the computer program product, or the chip provided in this embodiment are all configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, so that the beneficial effects achieved by the communication device, the computer-readable storage medium, the computer program product, or the chip may refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

It will be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a ROM, a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be RAM, which acts as external cache memory. There are many different types of RAM, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synclink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct bus RAM (DR RAM).

The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

Various objects such as various messages/information/devices/network elements/systems/devices/actions/operations/procedures/concepts may be named in the present application, it is to be understood that these specific names do not constitute limitations on related objects, and the named names may vary according to circumstances, contexts, or usage habits, and the understanding of the technical meaning of the technical terms in the present application should be mainly determined by the functions and technical effects embodied/performed in the technical solutions.

In the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or conflicting with respect to logic, the terms and/or descriptions in different embodiments have consistency and may be mutually cited, and technical features in different embodiments may be combined to form a new embodiment according to their inherent logic relationship.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

The methods in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server that integrates one or more available media.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a readable storage medium, which includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned readable storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives indication information, wherein the indication information is used for indicating and analyzing the system information block;

the terminal equipment analyzes the system information block according to the indication information;

and the terminal equipment determines whether an anchor point cell exists according to the analysis result, wherein the anchor point cell is a dual-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication information comprises: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

the network searching type indication information is used for indicating a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) list in a system information block to be analyzed, and the RAT indication information is used for indicating that a specified RAT is NR or LTE.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the terminal device parses the system information block according to the indication information, including:

the terminal equipment analyzes a system information block SIB1 according to the indication information;

the terminal equipment determines a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1;

the terminal equipment determines whether the CGI belongs to a preset CGI set, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGIs of at least one anchor cell;

and under the condition that the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set, the terminal equipment determines the cell identified by the CGI as an anchor cell.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the terminal device parses the system information block according to the indication information, including:

under the condition that the CGI does not belong to a preset CGI set, the terminal equipment analyzes a system information block SIB2, wherein the preset CGI set comprises CGIs of at least one anchor cell;

in the case that the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, the terminal device determines that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in a case that the terminal device does not locally store a preset CGI set, the terminal device parses the system information block according to the indication information, including:

the terminal equipment analyzes a system information block SIB2 according to the indication information;

and under the condition that the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, the terminal device determines that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell, wherein the preset CGI set includes CGIs of at least one anchor cell.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment stops analyzing the system information block after determining an anchor point cell.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment stops analyzing the system information block after determining an anchor point cell meeting the cell residence threshold and the S criterion.

8. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment stops analyzing the system information blocks after analyzing the system information blocks corresponding to all the cells in the full frequency band.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

and the terminal equipment displays the information of the anchor point cell to a user.

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

and the terminal equipment re-parks the cell on the anchor cell meeting the cell parking threshold and the S criterion.

11. A method for determining an anchor cell under non-independent networking, comprising:

the network equipment sends indication information, and the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to analyze the system information block;

and the network equipment sends the system information block, the system information block determines whether an anchor cell exists by using the terminal equipment, and the anchor cell is a dual-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indication information comprises: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the system information block comprises: system information block SIB1 and system information block SIB 2.

14. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit: the system comprises a receiving module, a processing module and a sending module, wherein the receiving module is used for receiving indication information which is used for indicating to analyze a system information block;

the processing unit is used for analyzing the system information block according to the indication information;

the processing unit is further configured to determine whether there is an anchor cell according to the analysis result, where the anchor cell is a dual-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

15. The communications apparatus of claim 14, wherein the indication information comprises: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

16. The communications device according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

resolving a system information block SIB1 according to the indication information;

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1;

and under the condition that the CGI belongs to the preset CGI set, determining that the cell identified by the CGI is an anchor cell.

17. The communication device of claim 14 or 15, the processing unit to further:

determining a global cell identity (CGI) according to the SIB 1;

analyzing a system information block SIB2 in case that the CGI does not belong to a preset CGI set, the preset CGI set including CGIs of at least one anchor cell;

determining that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell, if the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI.

18. The communication apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, wherein in a case where the communication apparatus does not locally store a preset CGI set, the processing unit is further configured to:

resolving a system information block SIB2 according to the indication information;

and under the condition that the SIB2 includes an upper layer indication ULI, determining that the cell indicated by the SIB2 is an anchor cell, wherein the preset CGI set includes CGI of at least one anchor cell.

19. The communications device of any of claims 16-18, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

20. The communications device of any of claims 16-18, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

21. The communications device of any of claims 16-18, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and stopping analyzing the system information blocks after analyzing the system information blocks corresponding to all the cells in the full frequency band.

22. The communications device of any of claims 14-21, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and displaying the information of the anchor cell to a user.

23. The communications device of any of claims 14-22, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and re-camping the cell on the anchor cell meeting the cell camping threshold and the S criterion.

24. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the processing unit is used for generating indication information, and the indication information is used for indicating the terminal equipment to analyze the system information block;

a communication unit configured to transmit the indication information;

the communication unit is further configured to send the system information block, where the system information block determines whether there is an anchor cell with the terminal device, and the anchor cell is a dual-connection cell supporting a new wireless NR access technology and a long term evolution system LTE access technology.

25. The communications apparatus of claim 24, wherein the indication information comprises: at least one of network searching type indication information and radio access technology RAT indication information;

26. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 24 or 25, wherein the system information block comprises: system information block SIB1 and system information block SIB 2.

27. An apparatus for communication, the apparatus comprising at least one processor coupled with at least one memory:

the at least one processor configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the at least one memory to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 10 or to perform the method of any of claims 11 to 13.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program or instructions, which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10, or to perform the method of any one of claims 11 to 13.

29. A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory so that a communication device in which the chip is installed performs the method of any one of claims 1 to 10, or performs the method of any one of claims 11 to 13.